Cold War Dbq Essay

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

alliance with Western Europe. Now West Germany could not get things like food and were under the threat of communism. The U.S. and Allies step in to airlift food, supplies, and sweets by cargo planes (Document 3). This follows the policies of containment because the United States is giving aid in the form of supplies and food to West Berlin who is under the threat of communism. This also demonstrates rivalry because instead of leaving to avoid conflict, the U.S. finds another way to enter West Berlin and aid those in need. To the Soviet leader’s horror, it was the most successful air relief operation in history and combatted the attempted expansion of communism. This preserved West Berlin and set the stage for the unification of West Germany. Another example was the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War from 1955-1975. After the French Indochina wars, Vietnam split into North and South Vietnam. The North, led by Ho Chi Minh, desired a communist state, and was supported by the Soviet Union. The South, led by Ngo Dinh Diem, wanted a democratic Vietnam, and was supported

Alliances were formed to provide security and maintain peace but tensions about the possibility of war only intensified. For example, the United States other countries joined to form NATO in 1949 to rely on each other for security if the Soviets attack (Document 4). The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was to specifically protect allied countries from Soviet attacks. To counteract this, the Soviets made the Warsaw Pact in 1955 (Document 8). The countries allied with the Soviets were mostly from the Soviet bloc or the eastern side of the iron curtain. However, Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev believes the United States created these alliances to secure their position as a capitalist nation and not to keep peace (Document 5). The United States are fighting to stay dominant in the arms race, but this is seen as threatening to the Soviets and there is fiery tension of a war. This demonstrates that the two nations had a rivalry because the United States and Soviet Union created these alliances to prevent the other from succeeding in their own policies. NATO was created to protect Western Europe, have a military supply at the ready, and contain communism. The Warsaw Pact was created to protect Eastern European countries from Western attacks and spread communism. The creation of these alliances only fueled the possibility of a war. An