The Impact of the Cold War Can you imagine a war that lasted nearly 50 years and was the cause for many developments in military and technology, but contained no fighting or battles? That war is the Cold War. The Cold War was a conflict between the world’s two superpowers at the time that was a power struggle between them and resulted in many technological advancements and a major arms race, though it never reached a point of actual armed combat. It began after the end of World War II, in 1945, as a result of tension created during the war, and lasted a bit over 45 years, ending in 1991. The two main contenders in the war were the United States and the Soviet Union, though some other countries, such as Cuba and Turkey, were also involved. …show more content…
For example, the tensions created by the war resulted in many new alliances being formed around the world. In 1949, the United States joined eleven other countries in an alliance that would protect the members from a military attack by an outside force, called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO. NATO consisted of the United States, Great Britain, Belgium, Canada, France, Denmark, Portugal, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.(source number one) In addition to NATO, the Warsaw Pact was also created. The Warsaw Pact was an alliance made by the Soviet Union and some of its surrounding countries that was made in 1955 as a response to the new American alliances. Both NATO and the Warsaw Pact were agreements made that stated that the countries involved would assist in the event of an outside attack and provide protection and aid if needed.(book for source) Many technological advancements were also made during the Cold War. For instance, the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in many improvements on the quality and power of nuclear weapons. (pick a source for this) Another example is the space race. The United States and the Soviet Union were both working to make as much progress as possible in the area of space exploration and were fighting to make progress faster than their competition could. The first man-made object to be sent into orbit of Earth was …show more content…
For example, NATO still exists today. Their numbers have grown, however, from the original 12 countries that formed the alliance in 1949 to 29 today, and they work to “guarantee the freedom and security of its members through political and military means”, according to their website. Also, many of the advancements in technology that were made during the Cold War can still be seen in society today; people use many different methods to keep themselves safe on the internet in fear of their security being compromised. (the conversation article) Many of the powerful military forces that some countries hold would not exist were it not for the Cold War, and nuclear weapons may not have been as far developed as they are. Society today has greatly been influenced by the Cold
The Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union had major effects on many regions in the world. After World War II came to an end the United States and Soviet Union started to show differences which turned into conflicts affecting not only both sides but many other regions in the world. Countries started to take sides either communist or non-communist (Doc1). As Winston Churchill describes it as The Iron Curtain Over Eastern Europe (OI). The city of East Berlin in Germany had the dose of communism in that Soviet Russia controlled the sector (3a).
A War of Ideas: Capitalism V.S. Communism With tension rising in Berlin, Germany, between Capitalism and Communism, a war of hostility broke out: the Cold War. The Cold War was a war between the western democracy capitalist United States and the totalitarian communist Soviet Union. These two superpowers held the fate of the world in their hands. Tension rose to an unbearable level during the Cold War, almost entering into World War III.
After the Cold War the threat of nuclear warfare was much smaller and American people were less worried about the world ending from nuclear explosions. Nuclear weapons were not the only thing impacted by the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement was as well. The Civil Rights Movement was greatly impacted by the Cold War. The Soviet Union was not filled with opportunities and did not have hopes of equality, the United
The Cold War was a long period of tension between the democracies in the Western part of the World and the communist countries in Eastern Europe. The United States led the west and the Soviet Union led Eastern Europe. The Cold War ended in 1991 after the Soviet Union fell. After this war, Russia and America’s relationship was going on a downward spiral. The contemporary relationship between Russia and America does mark a Second Cold War, because just because Russia and America have similar hopes to achieve they both have completely different ways of achieve those goals, and in many cases these differences in opinions have caused problems between the two.
The Cold War Era started in 1946 and lasted until 1989 when the Berlin war fell signifying its end. Many events happened through this time period that shaped American culture and brought us to where we are today. It all started in march 1947, which reflected the combativeness of president Harry Truman. Secretary George c Marshall told Europe that that policy of the United States was not directed “ against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos.” in 1947 the brutish announced that they could no longer support the pro western governments of the Mediterranean in their fight against communism. If the US could not take up the burden the whole region was in danger of falling under communist roll.
The Cold War Was Significantly Different From Previous Wars The Cold War was a battle between America and Russia to the fight over power and control. The Cold War began in 1945, soon after World War II ended. The Cold War started because the U.S and U.S.S.R disagreed on the type of political system they wanted. U.S.S.R demanded the spread of communism which was a system where each person worked on their own and is paid according to their ability of work.
From 1945 to 1982, Canada looked to become not only trustworthy trading partners with the U.S, but trustworthy military collaborates with them. With the commencement of the Cold War, both Canada and the United States had to stop, control, and protect the North Atlantic Community from soviet attacks and the spread of communism. A way in which Canada and the United States strengthened their relations during the Cold War was through NATO. Since “The USSR pursued a policy of aggressive military expansion at home and subversion abroad,” the United States and Canada feared Soviets would impose communism on countries such as France, Italy, and Germany. As a result, a military alliance called NATO created between Canada, the United States, Britain,
How did the Cold War affect United States domestic policy and American society? Both socially and economically the Cold War affected the U.S.. It changed our foreign policies, and it forced us to go to space. So I will go over how exactly were we affected by this war. First off domestically, before the Cold War the U.S. was loose with their domestic policy but after it they were very strict with their domestic policy.
During the war “Both sides agreed, during the Cold War, that they would calculate their strengths in a category of power” (Gaddis, 1998). During these competitions the United States wanted to spot the spread of communism and the Soviet Union's impact on Western European nations including France, Italy, and Greece (The Space Race). During the Cold War President Roosevelt said “ ‘There is in this global war literally no question, either military or political, in which the United States is not interested.’ ” Roosevelt is expressing how the United States views the Cold War along with any other war (Schlesinger, 1967). The military and political efforts helped strengthen old alliances and create new ones.
The Warsaw Pact was formed in 1955 as a response to the formation of NATO in 1949. Both alliances saw the other as a potential aggressor and formed their alliances as a deterrent to potential aggression. During the Cold War, both alliances engaged in various forms of military exercises and drills to prepare for potential conflicts. The Warsaw Pact nations conducted large-scale military exercises, such as "Zapad," which involved hundreds of thousands of troops and simulated a war with NATO.
The Cold War is a very significant event, and perhaps one of the most important throughout US history. The Cold War shaped American in many aspects like, foreign policy, political ideology (ism’s), economy, the presidency, and lives of American’s. According to APA, (American Psychological Association) the Cold War was, “intense economic, political, military, and ideological rivalry between nations, short of military conflict; sustained hostile political policies and an atmosphere of strain between opposed countries.” The Cold War on foreign policy had to step up against the Soviet Union, the strategy they implemented was called “containment”. Containment was a policy used by the US using strategies to prevent the spread of communism overseas
Slide 1 Cold War Task 5 By: Cristina Prince Slide 2 The Soviet Union and the United States rose as superpowers, and the world progressed towards bipolar politics, a state in which two rather equally matched sides confronted one another. The United States strengthened much of Europe through the Marshall Plan, giving $12 billion dollars in aid to Western Europe after WWII. Resulting in implementing of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a defense agreement meant to organize opposition to the Soviet Union and China, both politically and militarily.
The pressure for the United States to be better than the Soviet Union caused the education in the United States to be more focused towards math and science. Maddin says, “Sputnik woke the nation up, serving as a “focusing event” that put a spotlight on a national problem. In this case, he said, the problem was education.” The sputnik launched in 1957 and was the first artificial earth satellite. Marsha Thompson even says, “I believe because of sputnik we came as a country to realize that science, scientist, and engineers would make all the difference in our futures.
The first benefit for the United States comes from stronger relations with western European counties through forming the Nato pact. This pact still influences how the world works to this day. Strong relations in terms of politics, trade, values and military were founded through this pact. Making peace with the Chinese improved relations in the Cold War and also gave the US a strong trade partner that still has lasting impacts on our economy today. The biggest victory from the Cold War comes from the de tante period, where the declining economies of the nations in the soviet union gave rise to trade and peace relations between the two super powers of the world.
Along these lines, this exhibits that The alliance system was a reason for WWI in light of the fact that it made superfluous strains all through Europe – therefore, a reason for WWI. Be that as it may, the world at this stage, the post-World War II time, has turned into a quickly advancing and evolving world. Thus, two effective military partners, the Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), have been battling in a war called the Cold War. In the long run prompted the fall of the Warsaw Pact and the survival of NATO driven by the U.S..