The Cold War: Pope John Paul II And Ronald Reagan

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The Cold War was a war that lasted about 45 years. It was fought between the United States of America and its antagonist the Soviet Union. The cold war began because a conflict between communism and capitalism, and it led to many different effects, some positive, others negative. Many events lead to the beginning of the Cold war. One major event that sparked the Cold War was World War II. World War II was an immense war that involved every part of the world. The war was fought between axis powers: Germany, Italy, Japan and the Allies: France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, China was also involved, but on a lower scale (Hughes, 2014). Close to the end of World War II allied leaders met together to make a plan that would …show more content…

Many people played into the end of the war. Two major people in particular were Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. Pope John Paul II played a crucial cause in the end of the Cold War, because he criticized the Communist which helped to move people to the need of communism. Since he was a pope he held the morals of many people. So when he denounced communism many people followed suit and also denounced it. Even though he didn’t directly challenge them he still fought it with his voice. He said the “Communist shouldn’t be allowed to take away people’s rights, especially not the right to worship”. Ronald Reagan was elected president of the United States in 1980. As president Reagan was determined to put an end to the Soviet Union and Communism. He said that the Soviet Union would not survive because they did not treat their citizens’ right. Reagan worked to put an end to Communism he started to build up the American army, which caused the Soviets to weaken as they tried to keep up with U.S. (Pearson and Holdren 2011, …show more content…

Hot wars broke out and countries went to civil wars that are still lasting today. It also drove the Soviet Union into debt trying to keep up with development of western development. The United States and the Soviet Union in the process to out show one another aided countries with weapons that could do nothing, but cause problems. After the war many communist leaders lied and killed to keep their selves in power. The most devastating effect was the loss of lives, many people died during the war and that was something that could never be reversed (Zbigniew Brzezinski,