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Cold War Effects

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The Cold War from 1945 to 1960 exemplified the consequences of having two world super powers. Following the conclusion of World War Two, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the top nations around the world. The two nations were polar opposites. The United States was a flourishing democracy and an ideology of freedom for citizens. The Soviet Union under the control of the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin was a strict totalitarian government with communist ideals. The Cold War period would represent the tension, controversy, and differences between the two nations attempting to be considered the top power militarily, socially, economically and politically. The origins of the Cold War can be explained in the vast number of differences …show more content…

Throughout the Cold War, there was a lingering fear of the domino theory. This meant if one nation fell to communism in an area, the surrounding nations would as well. There was also a fear of Communism reaching the shores of the United States and people beginning to promote it within the nation’s borders. The House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) emerged to combat communism that was in the United States. Also, Senator Joseph McCarthy made claims that he had names of communists in the State Department who were contributing to the demises of the United States during the Cold War. Through fear, interrogation and conspiracy, the United States hoped to eradicate communism at home and continue the good fight for democracy against the Soviet Union. People like the Rosenberg’s, and the Hollywood Ten were targeted as communists. The Rosenberg’s were executed and the Hollywood Ten were blacklisted in society. The patriotism and morality that was an underlying tone to why the United States was in the Cold War helped allow the U.S. to crack down on domestic Communism. However, the fight on domestic Communism can also be attributed to one of the consequences of the Cold War. The fears of communism allowed for hysteria, and paranoia to ensue. People in the United States were too afraid to speak out against things due to the fear of being called “soft on communism.” Also, many people …show more content…

The Soviet Union frequently backed groups that were leaning toward Communism in the hopes that they would adopt that policy. This can be seen in the case of the Korean War. In 1950, Koreans in the North invaded Southern Korea and were backed by the Soviet Union, along with China. Although, there was no victory in the Korean War, the Soviets showed they were willing to back those whose ideologies aligned with their own. This will also happen years later in Vietnam when the communist leader Ho Chi Minh comes to power, and during the Vietnam war will get assistance from the Soviet Union in his effort to stay in power. Later on in 1956, the Hungarians who were a satellite nation to the Soviet Union planned to revolt under the influence of the CIA. However, the Soviet Union stepped in and crushed the revolution due to the lack of assistance from the United States. In this instance, the Soviet Union proved it would rule with a stern hand in order to keep their ideology and their satellite nations. Those satellite nations allowed them to continue to be the top influencing communism power across the

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Joseph McCarthy produce a series of investigations and hearings during the 1950s in an effort to expose supposed communist infiltration of various areas of the U.S. government. The fear of Russia played a major factor in McCarthyism. Around those times there was a deep fear among the American people and government of Russia. This allowed for a much easier path to investigate the alleged communists without any pushback. As McCarthy built up speed there was less and less pushback and more support from pouring in from all corners of America.

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Communists in a critical area of the state allowed the Soviets to gain secret information about atomic weaponry and US government political strategy. The hysteria grew as accusations from McCarthy were investigated

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