Tension During The Cold War

¨As American and Russian influence and strength began to grow after World War Two, the two countries began to feel the mounting tension...the Cold War was devastating to US-Russia relations.¨ (Aken 4). This quote is referring to the process of how the USA and USSR both became involved in a Cold War. First, the USA and USSR were superpowers, or countries that had a great influence on the world. After World War Two, tension began to arise between the two war-time allies. During the war, the Soviet Union and the USA were fighting with the Allies, and against Nazi-Germany and the Axis Powers. However, once the war ended, the countries began to notice the differences between them and tension began to form. Both countries were the complete opposite

The Cold War also included events which were very critical to the relations between the Soviet Union and the USA, for example, the initial tensions that caused the Cold War, the Space Race, and espionage. The initial tensions that start the Cold War are important to relations between the USSR and the USA because they are the causes of the Cold War, and the root causes of the tension throughout the Cold War. The Space Race was a major tension in the Cold War because both countries physically raced each other to attempt to beat the other in space exploration. Lastly, espionage was a major tension between the countries because both the countries wanted to get secret information to beat the other country, almost like ¨cheating.¨ If one country was caught spying this could cause major tensions because it provides physical proof that one country is attempting to gain information and beat the other country, which increases the rivalry. All of these events are important because they mount the tension between the Soviet Union and the USA drastically. These events are only a few of the many events that were the Cold

During this event, the USA was caught spying on Russia. The U-2 Spy Plane Incident occured on May 1, 1960. A U-2 American Spy Plane was shot down by the Soviets, and its pilot, Francis Gary Powers was captured. When president Dwight D. Eisenhower was confronted with the evidence, he had to admit that the CIA or the Central Intelligence Agency was conducting spy missions for several years. Powers was sentenced to 10 years of jail on espionage charges, however was released after only two years because the USA had caught a Soviet spy. They were in a ¨spy-swap¨ where both spies were released to their own countries. This event caused many tensions between the USA and the USSR. As a result of this event, both the USSR and USA lost complete trust in each other. This event increased the tension which then escalated the Cold War.

Lastly, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were two Soviet spies who were living in the USA. They both were ¨accused of heading a spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the Atomic Bomb to the Soviet Union.¨(¨Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Executed¨ 1). Although their case was highly controversial, they were executed because of the doubt of espionage. The USA did not want to take a chance of people being spies, they both were