Following World War II, the United States and the USSR were the only two world super powers left. Because of different economic systems, strategic interests, and atomic weapons the US and USSR entered a Cold War. This war was not a typical war. It was strictly economical and political fighting, there was no physical fighting. The USSR believed that peace would only come from worldwide communism, but the US wanted to stop the spread of communism immediately. President Truman tried to offer financial aid to countries nearing turmoil and facing communism, in order to stop the spread of communism entirely. The United States was successful in that it did not actually fall to communism itself, and that the US was able to partially contain communism …show more content…
After World War II, nationalistic and communist ideas and ways of government inspired many Latin American countries. Dwight D Eisenhower stated, “By the middle of 1954 Latin America was free, for the time being at least, of any fixed outpost of Communism.” In Cuba, Fidel Castro leads a revolution and the communist and him took control of Cuba. Shortly after, he nationalized the sugar plantations, and in response the US placed an embargo on Cuba. In a speech that was heard over the radio and was televised, Castro states, “If they blockade our country they will exalt our nation, because we will resist… We are part of humanity and we run the necessary risks, yet, we are not afraid.” He was willing to do anything in his power in order to continue the spread of communism. The Bay of Pigs was an attempt made by the US to overthrow Castro’s communism, but it failed. The citizens of Cuba desperately wanted to be set free from his communist ways. Some even went as far as making precarious voyages in hopes of reaching the Florida coast. The United States also caught the Soviets building Silos for missiles in Cuba. Because of this, the US and Soviets came near to war, possibly starting World War Three. Everyone thought that once the Berlin Wall fell and the Iron Curtain was lifted, that countries, including Latin American countries, under communist control would soon rise above communism. But instead, communism began to violently spread throughout the region. With all of the desperate attempts of the United States to cease the spread of communism, they were not competent
During the 1960s through the 1990s the United States was involved in a diplomatic standoff with the Soviet Union. Both nations were preparing nuclear weapons to immediate the other. Throughout the world communism was being spread by the power Soviet forces and the United States created the Truman Doctrine to stop the spread of communism in Turkey and Greece. They continued to combat the spread through wars and “rebellions”. Through the extent of the Cold War, the United States made it their mission to stop the spread of communism. This plan both worked and failed in diplomacy throughout Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
On December 26th 1991, presidents of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed the Belavezha Accords, effectively ending the existence of the Soviet Union. Since then, questions of whether the Soviet Union had been reformable and thus worth saving have been raised. Detractors of the Soviet Union claim the intrinsic irreformable nature of the Soviet Union as being the reason for which the USSR folded on itself without much of a struggle. However, defenders of the USSR say that not only was the USSR reformable, but that it had already begun to reform itself under Gorbachov, before President Yeltsin signed the Union’s death warrant.
Throughout the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War the main problem was communism. Although the United States and the Soviet Union were allies in World War Two, during the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were known as enemies. The Soviet leaders bragged to other nations that communism would “scrape apart” free-enterprise systems around the world. This attitude angered the capitalists which led into the fifty year Cold War. The United States tried creating many tactics and strategies to contain the “bleeding” of communism, but during the cold war, communism spread faster then it could be restrained. The United States used the Marshall Plan , the Trueman Doctrine, and the Berlin Airlift to help lead people to a capitalist form of government.
In 1947, the Truman Doctrine announced that the United States needs to take responsibility for defending people throughout the world from communist aggression. The battle between communism and capitalism affected Americans for decades. Known as the Cold War, this conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the two dominant world powers after World War II, never actually resulted in a battle. However, the tension itself led to a change in the social, political, and economic aspects of society in America.
Although, the Cold War was not (for the most part) a physical war, it did cause a lot of damage. During this time, the Soviet Union and the United States, became the most powerful nations. They were powerhouses that could not be more different from each other. From political to economic views, they are totally opposite. The Soviet Union, were communists, and believed in shared property and government control.
When Stalin began to invade his neighboring countries, many Americans believed that he truly was just trying to protect himself from future attacks (Document H), but it soon became evident that he just wanted the power. The United States and the Soviet Union had an alliance during World War II because they had a mutual enemy, but in truth, they were foes. As they fought against the fascist countries, their differences created more and more tension and suspicion. They worked together and defeated the fascist threat, then returned to the rocky relationship that they had initially, only that it had more animosity. Once they did not have to tolerate each other when World War II ended, they both committed actions that the other opposed with until eventually all they had was antagonism, antagonism that led to the Cold War.
The Cold War consisted of geopolitical tensions around the world and with that came the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine had, “officially embraced the containment of Soviet communism as the foundation of American foreign policy.” The fight was against communism and Truman wanted to defeat it. During his speech, Truman made it clear to, “set a precedent for American assistance to anti-communist regimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union.” The United States fought in wars overseas to help fight communism and to improve factors domestically. The war in Korea during the 1950s was a fight against communism in which North Korea invaded
America feared that the Soviet Union intended to spread communism to other nations and in 1947 President Harry Truman issued what would become known as the Truman Doctrine. This was a pledge that the US would help any nation resist communism in order to prevent its spread.This foreign policy centered on the "containment" of communism, both at home and abroad in an attempt to contain communism through economic and military aid. This was a demonstration to the world that the US would take an active role in world affairs. This tension between the Soviet Union and the United States became known as the Cold War and was an important cause in the Korean War. Relations between the two occupying powers of the Soviet Union and United States in North
Following the conclusion of World War II, two countries that once stood as allies found themselves on the brink of war with each other. America and the Soviet Union were divided by politics and ideology, “…capitalism versus communism - each held with almost religious conviction, formed the basis of an international power struggle with both sides vying for dominance, exploiting every opportunity for expansion anywhere in the world” (Trueman, 2014). History would define this battle as the Cold War in that neither country fired a weapon directly at the other.
The Cold War was an intense economic, political, military, and ideological rivalry between Russia and the United States that took place from the 1940s to the 1990s, as a result of political differences.From chess tournaments to hockey games, Russia and the United States found every possible way to compete against one another without physically fighting. The United States and the USSR originally feuded over Berlin. When the Allies decided that they wanted to make Berlin part of West Germany, and it would be a democracy, the USSR blockaded West Berlin, wanting to make the city the capital of East Germany. This led to the United States ferrying supplies to the now cut-off country. The United States wanted a democracy, and the USSR wanted communism,
The cold war, an issue of global importance in 1947-1991 that prompted the creation of the H-bomb in 1949 when the Soviets had successfully detonated an atomic bomb (The First hydrogen bomb test, 2011). By using the previously developed formulas and techniques that made the atomic bomb, the combination of nuclear fission and fusion created the H-bomb, a weapon of significantly higher destructive power than the nuclear bomb during this time (The Development and Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, n.d.). While the atomic bomb used fission to get its destructive power the thermonuclear bomb used a combination of both. Fission would work as a trigger to the fusion. For the process that the H-bomb goes through it is necessary to have fission happen
After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and United States had become the strongest nations in the world. Although these two countries began as allies, their differing ideas about government and economics caused the Cold War. The Soviet Union, which is a communist country, had a government that held all the power over its people. The United States was a capitalist country, which meant the people had more power over their lives and property. These competing ideologies about the world after the war kept the US president Harry Truman and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin from staying at peace. The Cold War started in Europe after the Soviet Union gained control of Eastern Europe. Stalin wanted to prevent Germany from remilitarizing and to pay huge
In the history of the cold war it was expressed by political conflict and economic competition instead of armed military conflict. With the end of World War II in 1945 began the Cold War. There were a post-war negotiation by three of the strongest world powers, the United States, Britain, and the Union Soviet socialist Republics. The United States and the Union Soviet socialist Republics were both reluctant to settle their conflicts, there disagreement had evolved to create tension between them being inevitable. Both United States and Soviet Union were two mainly powerful countries in the cold war with the orthodox historians as well as first generation historians blame the Union Soviet Socialist Republic for the whole war .The cold war was
Kids today play video games that simulate warfare comically that learning about the ins and outs of WWI would not have the same impact as it did in the past. In some ways, students today might have a greater knowledge of tactical warfare, thanks to video games. I think starting at the cold war earlier, learning about what created the modern world that students live in right now would be far more engaging to younger students, and may encourage them to continue with History in senior school. The cold war has many different events, such as the space race, the Cuban missile crisis, the 1982 Olympics, these events can show students at a younger age how diverse History can be. Exploring the Space Race and 1982 Olympics in Year 8 or 9 would be far
The year is 1947 the world has just gone through its second Great War. This time in life is confusing for all the countries involved in the war. Everyone is trying to rebuild from what they have lost. Vulnerable are the weak ones to a higher super power country that would be hungry to take over. But there is no time to waste! The Cold War was just heating up between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, which is now known as the country of Russia. The United States of America felt a perceived need for protection from fear of the Soviet Union taking over all of Western Europe and perhaps even our own country one day soon. The current president of this day in age was a man named Harry S. Truman. President Truman felt that the country