The Cold War: A Comparative Analysis

The twentieth century saw several worldwide conflicts, such as World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. These wars were waged between countries that formed alliances based on common political and economic reasons and necessities. An alliance is “a formal political, military or economic agreement between two or more nations” (www.alphahistory.com). The alliance partners usually helped each other in wars. The two world wars were rooted in “Europe, but involved many other countries all over the world. The alliances of both sides shifted and changed slightly, but generally stayed the same. The main players of the Cold War, were the US and the USSR. They also formed alliances which included countries in all parts of the world.

Before WWI,

President Wilson shared his vision of a peacekeeping alliance between nations. He tried to shift the goals of alliances from supporting in war to helping to keep peace. Some European powers, however, were still bitter and didn’t feel like making peace, especially not with Germany, which was seen as the main aggressor in WWI. Also, Russia with its new communist government was not a favored treaty partner for western powers. The peace treaty of Versailles had created a lot of hatred between nations, especially Germany, which was left humiliated and isolated. When Germany gained power again and resisted the obligations of Versailles, other European powers became alert and saw the need for new alliances. They all feared another war. Nationalist fascist leaders gained power in Germany, Italy, and Spain. These nations were very militaristic and probed for a new war, especially Germany. It wanted to get rid of its financial obligations and restrictions of the treaty of Versailles. Germany started arming rapidly and spread fear throughout

The Soviet Union was the leading power of the communist bloc, which included Eastern European satellite states as well as Eastern Germany. They built an alliance called the Warsaw Pact. The United States led the opposing bloc, called the democratic or capitalist bloc. They built an alliance called NATO. Asian, African and Latin American nations were forced to choose one of the sides if they wanted financial aid or military support. This era was called the Cold War because the opponents were not in a real fight, but it was a war of words, economic means, and weapon strength. The United Nations were a loose worldwide alliance created to keep peace between the nations. Alliances shifted constantly during the 20th century. They were made to wage war or to prevent them. In the 1900's, alliance partners had political or economic reasons to join their forces in alliances. Treaties were usually made according to the countries' needs or desires, not because of friendship. They don't want to give, but to gain. Nations went after their selfish aims, as they always did and will always