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Causes Of The Cold War

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The cold war was an intense 45 year struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union after their wartime alliance broke. Each nation tried to increase their own worldwide influence and spread its own economic and political systems. At times the two nations were at an extreme edge of starting a war. This conflict started because of the U.S. beliefs of capitalism and the Soviets belief of communism. It was never fought by actual weapons, however it was fought with NATO and the Warsaw Pact and also, the race for nuclear arms.
After World War II, the Soviet Union developed the Iron Curtain that blocked off Eastern and Central Europe from the other parts of the world that were not communists. This became important in Winston Churchill’s …show more content…

Berlin, the capital of Germany, was divided into two sides, East Berlin which was communist and West Berlin which was capitalist. In 1948, Joseph Stalin tried to block all roads and railways into Berlin, forcing the allies out. However, Truman responded with the Berlin Airlift which flew planes into Berlin to supply to the needs of the people. Because of the Berlin blockade and fears of Eastern bloc military power, Western European countries joined the U.S. to form a military alliance called NATO. Their alliance states, “The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or in North America shall be considered as an attack against them all.They agree that if such an armed attack occurs, each of them will assist the party or parties so attacked. Each will immediately take whatever action it considers necessary to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area” (Doc. 4). This proposes that if any attack against any of them, they will all assist each other and take whatever action is necessary. If need be, they would use armed forces. The Soviet responded with the Warsaw Pact which Poland, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania and the Soviet Union was all apart of (Doc 5). The Warsaw pact was a military treaty which made each country …show more content…

and Soviet Union never fought each other directly however, they used proxies or substitutes to fight the superpower death-struggle between communism and capitalism. Both superpowers then had a race for nuclear arms. The competition of the Cold war turned into a race to see who could build the most deadly weapons of mass destruction. Between 1966 and 1974, the U.S. increased from 400 to 650 Submarine-launched ICBMs, decreased from 700 to 575 Long-range bombers, and remained around 1,000 Land-launched ICBMs. On the other hand, the Soviet Union increased from 100 to 700 Submarine-launched ICBMs, decreased slightly from 200 to 175 Long-range bombers, and increased dramatically from 300 to 1,600 Land-launched ICBMs (Doc 7). This showed how the U.S. and the Soviet Union developed the ability to destroy each other many times. Some viewed this balance of terror as restraint to war, while others feared the use of these weapons.Using some of the missiles, the U.S. placed some in Turkey near the border of the Soviet Union. The Soviets then placed missiles in Cuba which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Truman spoke about the Cuban Missile Crisis saying, “This is an open threat to the peace and security of all Americans. I call upon chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this secret and reckless threat to world peace” (Doc. 8). Truman was afraid of the threat and the protection of the Americans, therefore he called upon Khrushchev to remove the missiles from Cuba.

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After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union became superpowers due to their nuclear capabilities, had political and ideological rivalry which caused many events in the Cold War between 1945 and 1991. It was a “cold” war because there was no direct fighting between the two nations, but both wanted to prevent the other from spreading their political or economic ideas to other countries. The Soviets sought to spread communism while the United States adopted a policy of containment. Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union began in 1945 during the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. Germany and parts of Eastern Europe were to be divided amongst the Allied forces into temporary “spheres of influence” to rebuild these

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America, fearing for their own safety, then put a quarantine around Cuba, not allowing any ships with weapons to enter. (Doc D) Tensions were high, with both capitalist and communist nations having the potential to launch a nuclear strike against the other. After some time, the Soviets decided to retreat. They removed their missiles from Cuba and the threat of a nuclear war subsided.

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Hajar AlHayki Ms. Winterfeldt US History 11 January 2018 The cold war is a war that began after the end of World War two, from 1945 until 1991. In which the United States and the soviet Unions were involved in this war. They were fighting for two different ideologies: communism and democracy ‘capitalism’. The United States wanted to spread democracy in Eastern Europe: Germany, in which the soviets wanted to spread communism.

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In addition, the Nuclear Arms and the Space Race, both of which were competitions of whom could develop technology faster, contributed to the cold war. However, the most dangerous and terrifying decision they made was the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1962 it was discovered that the Soviet Union had nuclear bombs in Cuba, only 90 miles off the coast of the US. The Soviet Union placed the bombs in Cuba out of fear of a nuclear war. This way, if it became necessary, the Soviet Union could be prepared.

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The United States and the Soviet Union’s alliance came to an end from 1945-1950. Then from 1947 to 1991, the Cold War took place and these two nations were competitors at every thing they did during the war. Both nations wanted to have the main influence an impact on life throughout the world. They wanted global charge and other nations to follow the same economic and political systems. The Cold War put both of these nations at test to see who could succeed the most.

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(Document 8). Their job, he said, was to prevent any use of those missiles against any country. He then declared the protection for the Western Hemisphere and called out to Chairman Khrushchev to terminate the “secret and reckless threat to world peace.” (Document 8). Premier Khrushchev responded shortly after with an explanation to why they equipped themselves with weapons.

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The Cold War wasn’t really much a war with large scale fighting between the two sides, the United Sates and the Soviet Union. The war started in 1947 and ended around 1991. The United States saw that The Soviet Union was a trying to spread communism and this was a threat to their effort on trying to let the Eastern Europe countries capitalist countries. The United States formed NATO with other countries to create a protective alliance system. This caused a worry to the Soviet Union, a threat to their security.

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The closest these two global superpowers got to directly fighting each other and starting World War III would be during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States had missiles in Turkey pointing at the Soviet Union if they were ever going to need too. The Soviet Union was obviously not a fan of the situation so they installed their own missile system in Cuba right off the coast of Florida to directly threaten the United States mainland (Koenig,

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The Soviets did this to scare the United States, during this time the U.S. and the Soviets came very close to starting another world war. Luckily the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missile sites in Cuba. The Soviet Union chose to fight for communism, in the hope of spreading the Soviet Union choose actions that would make an impact on others

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The Soviets wanted to force the expansion of communism onto the worn-torn countries of Europe, while the U.S. wanted the war ravaged countries to develop capitalist and democratic societies, in which citizens choose to elect who is in government. The two countries could not see fit to cooperate on the future plans of much of Europe’s ruined countries destroyed by the war’s relentless bombings. The term “iron curtain”, which was coined by Winston Churchill in a speech made in Missouri in 1947, was a symbolic explanation for the Soviets cutting off Eastern Europe from the West (Churchill Delivers…). This aggressive move by the Soviets led to the U.S. developing a policy of containment. The policy of containment was made to stop the further expansion of communism by the Soviets in Eastern Europe.

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The cold war was a battle not like many wars, as wars usually include battles that involved killing and a lot of physical fighting, but the cold war didn’t include to much of things like that. The cold war started after World War Two and was mainly between the Soviet Union and United States. It was a war where instead of face to face fighting, it was a race to gain more arms and build up armies, and to create more and more weapons on the way. It began because of tensions building up between the soviets and the United States when americans were afraid of the possible expansion of the soviet union and their possible plans for world domination. When americans agreed that the soviet union was a threat, the United States started to build up their arms to try and contain the Soviet Union and keep them from

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On October, 22, 1962, Kennedy announced the U.S. had discovered the Soviet Union was building “offensive missile sites” in Cuba that could cause a nuclear strike on the Western Hemisphere. He claimed that he wouldn't allow such a thing to happen. Members of the Soviet Union agreed that the missiles must be removed, but they didn’t agree on how they should be. Robert Kennedy pledged in a secret meeting with Anatoly Dobrynin, that the U.S. would remove the ballistic missiles from Turkey. The Soviet Union decided to compromise and remove the missiles, and Kennedy ended the naval blockade of Cuba which would avoid violent conflict of the Cold War.

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The Soviet leader sent a letter proposing that the USSR would dismantle its missiles in Cuba if the Americans removed their missile installations in Turkey. Kennady indicated that he would remove U.S. missiles in Turkey and Italy if the Soviets removed their missiles in Cuba. This negotiation was kept “secret and was never mentioned [to] the public.” (Source #2). John F. Kennedy's decisions were effective responses because this was the closest the United States and the Soviet Union had been this close to nuclear war and he prevented it from happening.

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At the proceedings, Stalin opposed almost every plan that Truman favored. As a result of these differences, Stalin formed what would be known as the Iron Curtain. This was a divide between the East and West in Europe. For the most part, the West would have democracy, while the East would be ruled by communism. Staling was unsuccessful at his attempts to place Berlin on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain due to the Allied forces still occupying the city.

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When the pilot of an American U2 spy plane was passing over Cuba, photographs were taken of an enormous missile being installed only 90 miles off the coast of Florida. President John F. Kennedy was taken aback by this and immediately wanted the missile removed. Of course, that process would not be easy at all. The confrontation that went on between the United States and Soviet Union was called the Cuban Missile Crisis: The Most Defining Event of the Cold War. This all began when Fidel Castro, a Cuban politician and the Prime Minister of Cuba, aligned himself with the Soviet Union.

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