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War On Terror Vs Cold War

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When comparing the Cold War and the War on Terror, special attention must be paid to the context surrounding these wars, the strategy used, the rationale for entering the war, the costs of the war, and the overall outcome. Each of these areas are vastly explained or rationalized differently in the two “wars.” To fully understand why the United States entered the Cold War, we must first look at the events and circumstances surrounding the Soviet Union and the United States during this time in history. Two examples of these circumstances are, the major shift in distribution power to the United States and the Soviet Union which came after the “defeat of Germany and Japan and the decline of the British and French Empires.” (NSC-68). and, the Soviet …show more content…

Containing Communism to only the Soviet Union and its satellite states, becomes one of the key focuses of the United States during the Cold War, so that other countries and societies have to options to decide what form of government that they will have and so that they can have their own freedom. The United States also focuses on building up a “political, economic, and military strength” that will push us toward achieving our mission, the downfall of the Soviet Union and therefore, Communism. (NSC-68). The United States must have a massive military buildup if it plans on going on the offensive against the Soviet Union and their plan to expand their power globally. Political and economic build up for the United States, means that the U.S. will need to count on other free countries for resources while also creating friendly regimes in areas under Soviet Union control. This strategy is one that calls for deterrence and the plan of containing the enemy rather than direct action. On the other hand, the War on Terror’s strategy is more closely focused in striking fast and hard before the enemy knows what is happening; in other words, their strategy is pre-emptive warfare. Destroying and disrupting the terrorist’s organizations will create a crippling effect in how they will be able to attack us and their ability to plan and operate within their organization. We will attack their leadership, communications, finances, and their control. During the War on Terror, the United States is no longer utilizing the same strategies that have been employed in the past. Rather we are forcing a new path to be forged that takes a direct action against those who hold grievances towards our values and our citizens. There is one thing that we have kept in the new battle strategy from the past, and that is a rapid buildup of our military strength in times of war. While

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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.

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In order to make the American people aware of the growing Soviet threat, the National Security Council create the NSC-68. This document contains information on defense and internal security to deal with the threat. In terms of defense, the NSC-68 “was the result of a review of American foreign and domestic defense policies.” The document outlines the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. It mentions four options for responding to the threat: 1) maintaining and continuing our current policies, 2) “returning to isolationism,” 3) deciding to go to war with the Soviet Union, 4) and “a rapid build-up of political, economic and military strength in the Free World.”

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553 Words | 3 Pages

They can drop troops off in a specific area, scout areas in a larger range, and can now drop bombs. The War on Terror is not really a direct fight. It is more of a strategy fight. There are not that many ground troops anymore, and consists more of bombing with

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1018 Words | 5 Pages

The aftermath of World War II marked the beginning of a new era in global politics - the Cold War. Following USSR expansion, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union had risen, with both sides seeking to expand their spheres of influence and prestige. The Cold War was fought primarily through proxy wars, and the rivalry between the two superpowers was characterized by an intense nuclear arms race, a space race, and a struggle over political ideology. In the United States, fears about the spread of communism triggered a policy of diplomatic containment. However, as China fell to communism and the Korean War broke out, diplomatic strategies shifted to military strategies.

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935 Words | 4 Pages

The Cold War was a war full of politics and beliefs along with brutal fighting. Communism was seen as a major threat to the United States. The Soviet Union was trying to, at the time, influence other countries of its communist beliefs in hopes of gaining allies and resources. The Soviets expanded after WWII and the Americans feared this, adding tense to their “alliance.” The Soviet Union’s main targets were Europe but also to gain global exposure and power as well.

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1438 Words | 6 Pages

Introduction The Cold War was a conflict that began shortly after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union over their differences in ideologies (Koenig, The 1950's and the Cold War 1). The United States being a free market capitalist democracy, while the Soviet Union was a totalitarian communist regime. These two countries came out of World War II as the most powerful and given their difference in ideologies there was a rush to exert their influence onto third world countries to become the undisputed superpower of the world. Cold War gets Hot

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743 Words | 3 Pages

There have been many different wars throughout the history of the United States, and there are has been many different ways of fighting them. One of these methods is the Counter-Insurgency, which is also known as COIN Strategies. It has worked in some of those wars and in some, they did not work at all. Most prominent COIN strategies in United State history have to be the Filipino War, Vietnam War and the fighting terrorist in Afghanistan. Each of these wars had similar core of the COIN Strategies, but they had different results and different ways of doing the COIN strategies.

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“What makes the Soviet threat unique in history is its all-inclusiveness. Every human activity is pressed into service as a weapon of expansion. Trade, economic development, military power, arts, science, education, the whole world of ideas… The Soviets are, in short, waging total cold war.” (President Eisenhower, 1958)

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1230 Words | 5 Pages

Today, our world has to face many crises which can not be solved in a short time such as food, water, economy, and terror. However, the terror tissue is the most challenged thing for all the governments to solve. Since September 11, 2001, not only was the US attacked by the terrorists but the other countries from over the world like Britain, Spain, Indonesia… also became the target as well, and thousands innocent people lost their lives during those surprising attacks of terrorists. Even though after September 11, 2001, US has attacked and destroyed a lot terrorists’ bases in over the world, the terrorists still survive and keep aiming to US and its allies. From the book “War on Terror” of Patrick Coaty, we will be able understand deeply how and

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224 Words | 1 Pages

The Cold War did occur after WWII between the United States and The Soviet Union at the time of President Ronald Reagan administration. The Soviet union and its government had the ideology of spreading communism around the world. The United States was against communism and this why the country went to war with Vietnam. "Containment" was the ultimate goal by the U.S. to preventing communism from happen worldwide. My perception of the Cold War and the War on Terror is due to the lack of the United States government to understanding other countries language, culture and way of life.

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1263 Words | 6 Pages

Both the Soviet Union and

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966 Words | 4 Pages

In the text it states that the U.S. is now facing an enemy unlike one it has ever before faced. Prior to 9/11 there were many restrictions on intelligence. It hadn’t reached its peak of capabilities. Many of the operations being carried out prior to 9/11 were covert. I don’t think anyone was prepared for a catastrophic event like 9/11 to occur on our home soil.

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382 Words | 2 Pages

Variations in Tactics. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack--the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers (Sun Tzu, Art of War). Since 2002, the United States counterinsurgency strategy has shown that it has a heavy credence resembling Clausewitz–esk strategy. Using this type of battle stratagem emphasizes using superior western technology, doctrine fixated on lethal operations, and a misrepresented western view on jus ad bellum (just cause for war). The war in Afghanistan has largely been one fail after another due in part to the generals who following the teachings of 19th century German military strategist Carl Von Clausewitz who advocates for the use of superior

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440 Words | 2 Pages

(Zinn, 2003). the unfortunate events that occurred on September 11th, 2001 are the largest catalyst for a change in US foreign policy since Pearl Harbour in 1941 both of these events have been permanently ‘etched on the nation’s psyche’ (Wittkopf, et al., 2008, p. 3). The involvement of non-American perpetrators such as the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda, much like the involvement of the Japanese meant that this these attacks provided a enemy for the US people to rally behind not dissimilar to Carl Schmitt’s “friend and enemies” (Schmitt, 1929) concept where the state unifies against an external enemy in order to survive. The events of September 11th, 2001 mark a change in the urgency of the application of US foreign policy, increasing the intent and intensity of overseas interventions. Yet It is important to bear in mind that 9/11 is not the only event that has brought analysis on US foreign policy after the end of the Cold War, notably the emergence of economic challenges to the US hegemony from China and the re-emergence of Russia as an economic power as a hegemonic

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995 Words | 4 Pages

The historical roots of strategy and tactics date back to the origins of human warfare and the development of large-scale government and empire (Goodman, 2018). The dense tactical infantry formation of overlapping shields called the phalanx, for example, existed in an early form in ancient Sumer (c.3000 BC). The development of strategy and tactics parallels to some extent the growth, spread, and clash of civilizations; technological discoveries and refinements; and the evolution of modern state power, ideology, and nationalism (Goodman, 2018). There is many parts to war and how we execute these wars, but always having a strategy and having the tactics to execute in war is the most essential part of war. We have fought in many wars and battles since the beginning of the United States but the most recent war we have been fighting has been the War On

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