When World War II ended, the world became chaotic in the struggle between democracy and communism. It is directly connected to the Cold War, in which the United States and the Soviet Union fought over what ideology was the best for the world. The Cold War era was marked by the most significant tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, with both sides competing with each other for global influence. From the world’s perspective, the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union left a great legacy including economic growth, technological advancement, and social stability during the Cold War. However, the Cold War certainly hurt other countries with proxy wars, such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Before Reagan’s election in 1980, the United States and the Soviet Union experienced détente, or a period of relaxed tension. However, Reagan was harsh on the Soviet Union, adopting a harsh anti-communism policy. By doing so, Reagan was able to help end the Cold War and cause the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Reagan saw the Soviet Union as being “prepared to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat”, and that they were “the focus of evil in the modern world” (Kennedy, 690).
After the end of the Second World War in 1945 another war, the Cold War, emerged. The Cold War was a power struggle between communism and capitalism. Many capitalist Americans were terrified of Communists and the chance of being hurled into a nuclear war. The American fear of communism, “the red scare”, caused many citizens to become paranoid.
The Cold War lasted decades and tensions continued to heightened. Trepidation spread among American citizens about the future of their country and world. Would communism take over or would the United States stand their ground and push for democracy? Following the Second World War, the Cold War caused the American people to fear the growth Communism, an economic depression, and a possible nuclear war, yet the Eisenhower Administration successfully addressed these concerns and implemented ways to reduce these fears. First and foremost, the American people feared that communism would spread and take over governments in other nations beyond the Kremlin.
“Mankind must put an end to world war or war will put an end to mankind.” (John F. Kennedy). Before the Cold War, the world was in the second world war of the century, soldiers not only killing soldiers, but also civilians. After World War II countries tried to get freedom from the countries that colonized them. Before the Cold War only one country had and dropped a nuclear bomb, but that would not be the case during the Cold War.
U.S. citizens were afraid that the Great Depression could return. Many Americans were tired of helping out other nations and just wanted the war to be over completely. John Lewis Gaddis, the author of The Cold War: A New History, is talking about the fact that just because the war was over, Americans were not necessarily at peace. There were many different economic and social factors that the United States had to deal with in the post World War II years. April 25, 1945
When talking about the cold war, it is easy to pick America's side and say that Ronald Reagan won the war. What most people tend to tend to leave out is the history behind the actual collapse of the soviet Union and the slow erosion that had been happening since world war two. Just because he was around when the union collapsed does not mean he was the main reason behind. In fact, Reagan and Gorbachev were known to be on good terms and they communicated all the time. The cold war wasn’t just caused by the Russians vs Americans.
Could you imagine living in a time of constant fear of nuclear war? For many people living today, this was once a daily reality. From 1945 to 1991, the two world superpowers, the United States and the USSR clashed in a series of ideological political battles that completely changed and defined the post-WWII world. This was known as the Cold War. After founding and developing Marxist ideologies over two world wars, the USSR naturally wanted to spread communism across the world.
World War Two had just ended. The fear of being attacked once again and exploding into a war was alive. This was the early times of the Cold War, where there was just a conflict on who was the ideology that leaded the world. “The fear of communism, commonly known as Red Scare was a manifestation of political anxiety over the infiltration of international influences, which was of course the USSR. “ (Lazuk)
Cause of the Cold War Because of a nation's divining of government the berlin wall was made, separating Germany right down the middle; separating those who opposed Communism to the east, and those who oppose Capitalism in the west. How did the Cold War begin, what “weapons” were used to fight this war? I believe that communism fighting for control over capitalism, “aiding” other countries with money/weapons, and the separation of nations. Communism trying to overrule and diminish the use of capitalism as a government.
In the 1940s and 50s, for the first time, doomsday was a real threat to humanity. During the 1940s and 50s, America fought long and hard to contain communism from spreading, in a war referred to as the “Cold War.” Cold War means a war without violent fighting. Instead, America and the USSR are in a tense high stake dispute over the best way to run a government. For the first time in history, nukes were ready on hand between both countries.
The Cold War fears of the American people shortly after the second world war was that the economic concept of Communism was going to spread across the recovering European states. I understand that you said the answer is not communism, but you need to think of it in the terms that America did back then: Truman and Eisenhower both employed the foreign policy strategy known as "containment". This meant that the U.S. would try to prevent Communism from spreading through Western Europe. The U.S. did this because the belief was that war is a result of poverty. Poverty in a country allows radicals to take power, which was the case with Stalin in the Soviet Union.
The Cold War is an interesting war, because it seems to be caused by a mutual disinterest in actual war. The Soviet Union seems to hope for peace to rebuild itself in the wake of World War ||, and the United States also did not seem to want conflict. It seems like every issue that arose during the Cold War was directly in relation to both sides wanting to avoid war. Yet even as both sides try to deter the other, they are actively preparing in case deterrence doesn’t work.
There are three competing theories of the causes of the Cold War; the traditional theory, the liberal theory, and the ideological theory. In all three theories lie causes that could have equally contributed to the conflict, but only one is more convincing than the others. The traditional theory says that communists were at fault for the conflict. Communists, specifically Stalin, wanted more control and thus used his political ideology as a means to achieve his desires. Expansionism is a commonly mentioned aspect related the idea of the traditional theory.
Some historians believe the Cold War was inevitable because of the hostilities from both America and the Soviet Union after World War II. America believed that the USSR was an expansionist country trying to spread an evil, communistic idea throughout the world. Although the countries never directly fought against each other, as they only fought in proxy wars, there was still extreme conflict. The United States responded to the Soviets actions in Germany, Europe, and their national actions. These responses were justifiable, or so many Americans at the time believed.
