The Cold War was a time of hatred, animosity, and lots of speculation between the United States and the Soviet Union. This time in history was focused on advancement, strength, and perseverance of either the Communist system or the Capitalist system, depending on what side of the world that you are on. This time in history provided an excellent backdrop, for major sporting events to take place, fictional or not. This allowed for two separate nations to be pinned against one another for supremacy, without people losing their lives on a battlefield. Movies such as Rocky IV and Miracle, both capture a sense of nationalism in America, during a time of hardship and conflict between the USSR and the United States.
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.
America had free elections, a democratic country, and richest world power. America had freedom of media and was capitalist with the ideal of “Survival of the fittest”, while the Soviet Union was in the opposite situation. There were no elections, it was autocratic and was ruled by a dictator, had a poor economic base, there was total censorship, and it was a communist country with the ideal of “Everybody helps everybody” (History Learning Site). The main events and personalities of the Cold War were: the Iron Curtain, the Truman Doctrine, NATO, the Korean War, the Warsaw Pact, Sputnik, the Soviet Army, the Hungarian uprising and secret police, the Suez Canal War, the Berlin Wall, The Cuban Missile Crisis, Fidel Castro, The Nuclear Arms Race and Nuclear Winter, the B52 Bomb, the Russian Invasion of Afghanistan, and Project Azorian (History Learning Site).
The Cold War was a time where the citizens of the United States lived in fear. During the nuclear arms race in the 1950’s, the Student Peace Union (SPU) strongly “desired a restructuring of the American society” and fewer nuclear weapons. The result of fewer nuclear weapons would mean the end of the Cold War and the Red Scare. At the time of the Red Scare Joseph McCarthy, an American politician from 1947 to 1957, strengthened the fear of the American people with his methods of McCarthyism. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.
The Cold War is a very significant event, and perhaps one of the most important throughout US history. The Cold War shaped American in many aspects like, foreign policy, political ideology (ism’s), economy, the presidency, and lives of American’s. According to APA, (American Psychological Association) the Cold War was, “intense economic, political, military, and ideological rivalry between nations, short of military conflict; sustained hostile political policies and an atmosphere of strain between opposed countries.” The Cold War on foreign policy had to step up against the Soviet Union, the strategy they implemented was called “containment”. Containment was a policy used by the US using strategies to prevent the spread of communism overseas
The Cold War lasted forty plus years and these conflicting ideologies threatened peace throughout the world, consequently the battle verses communism and democracy was at the root of the Cold War conflict. Social, political, and economic conditions of the world were influenced by the ongoing threats of the Cold War. In the Soviet Union, communist rulers firmly controlled all aspects of Soviet life and they dominated Eastern Europe through imperialism. The Soviet government held a tight grip on its citizens and used fear to control them, hence western influences were forbidden because the government thought it would poison and threaten their beliefs. The government and economy was often unstable and was frequently on the verge of collapse,
During the Cold War, hysteria in the U.S. ensued over the perceived threat of Communism. This mass hysteria became known as ‘The Red Scare’ due to Communist’s loyalty to the red flag. These fears were not totally unfounded, as the USSR had been spying inside America for a long time. The Red Scare became influential to world history by causing leaders to pass acts that would not have been passed otherwise that reduced the Communist Party to a shadow of its past self..
"The Cold War was an ideological contest between the western democracies especially the United States and the Communist countries that emerged after the Second World War" (Tindall 972). The United States and the Soviet Union had differences over issues such as human rights, individual liberties, economic freedom, and religious belief. "Mutal suspicion and a race to gain influence and control over the so called nonaligned or third world countries further polarized" (Tindall 945). After the WWII Soviets dominate European countries and thought the U.S. had the same motives.
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 was called that because no side ever dropped a nuclear bomb causing it to go “hot”. After World War II where both countries fought together tension grew when the Soviet Union began to take over eastern
The Cold War Era started in 1946 and lasted until 1989 when the Berlin war fell signifying its end. Many events happened through this time period that shaped American culture and brought us to where we are today. It all started in march 1947, which reflected the combativeness of president Harry Truman. Secretary George c Marshall told Europe that that policy of the United States was not directed “ against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos.” in 1947 the brutish announced that they could no longer support the pro western governments of the Mediterranean in their fight against communism. If the US could not take up the burden the whole region was in danger of falling under communist roll.
The fatal noise of sirens ring out, while children in your class duck under desks for safety. This was one of the reasons the United States wanted containment in the world. During this time period of containment, the Cold War was going on with the U.S. and the Soviet Union (now Russia). This cold war was a name for the period of conflict between the Soviet Union and her communist allies and the United States and her democratic, capitalist allies. The Cold War lasted from 1945 to 1991 when the Soviet Union fell apart.
Around 1945, tensions began arising between the US and the USSR, which lead to the Cold War. During a 40 year time period, each nation tried to spread their political and economic systems. Both the US and the USSR wanted to spread their ideologies across the world. The origin of the Cold War was distrust; in “fighting” this war, the political and military tactics were the most effective.
Edward Ayers stated in their book, The American Anthem, the Cold War was an time period when the US and the Soviet Union were against each other because of when they had conflicts between each other, but mostly from the Berlin Crisis (819). A Belief that all property and resources are owned by a certain person (Ayers 594). Two of the most superpower nations were struggling with each other
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.