Essay On Surrogate War And Brinkmanship

The second document highlights the National Security Council 68, a central document of the Cold War that laid out the strategic foundation for American foreign policy after the devastating decline of western European powers during World War II left the United States and Soviet Union as the dominant nations. The National Security Council argues that the Soviet Union poses a threat due to “being animated by a new fanatic faith” in communism to impose “absolute authority over the world” (Doc 2). This type of behavior is anti-ethical to the American values, so the fight between America and the Soviet Union was inevitable. The document outlined possible responses of isolation, diplomatic efforts to negotiate, or the rapid buildup of strength of

In the aftermath of WWII, the US stood as one of the few powers relatively unharmed, as well as the sole nation in possession of nuclear weapons. This afforded the US a great degree of power and leadership in the world. However the USSR was another great power that managed to avoid much destruction from the war, and besides being ideologically opposed, matters were complicated after the USSR developed nuclear weapons for itself. This prompted the formulation of a new foreign policy. Document 7 states that the US “must organize and enlist the energies and resources of the free world in a positive program for peace which will frustrate the Kremlin design for world domination.”

In the context of the Cold War, the fight for power and the establishment of the strongest nation were reflected over several ambits, one of them being the capacity of armament or military power of the nation. Therefore, the military-industrial complex is not only exhibited on the foreign relationships among nations, but the growth of the military power itself. For instance, after World War II ended, the United States, as the strongest nation in military power due to the drop of the two nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the war, decided to keep short the Soviet Union and stop the spreading of the communist ideas, not only in their own nation, but to keep it from spreading in Europe and Asia. And by doing so, the United States needed to create military alliances with smaller nations, offer them protection from external threats, and secure them with an increase in weaponry. So, the United States needed to expand their own military and weaponry industry, thus applying the concept of military-industry complex, where the government increased the investment for national defense and arms production.

Source A presents the American response to the Marshall Plan, including the motivation for its creation being to revive a working economy in the world to prevent chaos, loss of peace and an unbalanced economy. Source B then presents the Soviet response to the Marshall Plan, suggesting that it was a clear threat to its influence in Eastern Europe and it was an attempt to spread their economic and political control. Clearly the superpowers had totally different responses to the creation of the Marshall Plan, and the sources express these responses from both sides in great

After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as global superpowers. Each country had a different type of government and economy. The United States was a democracy and believed in capitalism, while the Soviet Union was led by a dictator and believed in communism. This forced the United States to adopt a new foreign policy known as containment. Containment means Containing communism from spreading .

Hajar AlHayki Ms. Winterfeldt US History 11 January 2018 The cold war is a war that began after the end of World War two, from 1945 until 1991. In which the United States and the soviet Unions were involved in this war. They were fighting for two different ideologies: communism and democracy ‘capitalism’. The United States wanted to spread democracy in Eastern Europe: Germany, in which the soviets wanted to spread communism.

1.NSC 68 The NSC 68 was a private position the US government took after China’s communism rose to power and its own independence. This policy was headed by President Truman and helped the United States of America thwart communism globally. This help support, aid America's military spending. The NSC 68 was also formed in response to the continuing American and Soviet Union conflicts. This term is significant because it dealt with deeper issues than just its disagreements and quarrels against the Soviet Union.

The Cold War is a proxy war that is said to be the root cause of a triumph of capitalism over communism. This geo-political conflict between the United States and The Soviet Union lasted a total of about fort-five years and ended with major economic impacts in both countries. During the Cold War, the Americans took it upon themselves to try and boost the United State’s economy. During President Reagan’s term, he went through with numerous tax cuts and deregulation in order to stimulate the economic growth. Many people believed, “due to the advantageous economic position that the US held in the beginning of the war and continued to have throughout that the US was destined to victory from the outset” (The U.S. Victory in the Cold War).

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.

The Cold War was a “hybrid” war between the United States and the Soviet Union that started right after the end of World War II in 1947 (Two Super…). Both countries had strong political tensions toward each other. During the Cold War, although the two countries did not battle each other militarily, as a result of all the escalating tensions, the threat of an outright war made all parties nervous. The two countries, along with each other’s allies, differed in their opinions on postwar arrangements, with the Soviets backing out of their promise in the Yalta agreement, they were more interested in the spread of communism in the post WWII era.

The United States won the war against the Soviet Union. There is still a debate over the role of the United States in the demise of the USSR. Some say America's sometimes hard-line approach actually prolonged the Cold War by giving political cover to the Soviet leaders who'd rather talk about

Between the years of 1947 and 1991 the USSR and the United States remained in a long period of tension known as The Cold War. This war was a state of political and economical in proxy wars such as the space race and the arms race the lead to the weakening of American society and laws. Marking the end of the Cold War in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed due to their economic failure and their approach to the space race. As the Cold War intensified there was a significant increase in infrastructures and military, a shift in education, and there was an overall fear in society. Education in the United States began to focus on science instead of general education in an attempt to try and win the “space race” against the Soviet Union.

The United States did not get everything their way in the post war era though. The effectiveness of the Marshall plan was dependent on whether or not the Soviets were deterred by the United States’s threats. In 1949 the Soviet Union detonated a fission bomb and threatened America’s status as the leaders of the arms race. Also, there were cases of Communist espionage that came to light in

"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.

Europe remained ravaged by war and thus susceptible to exploitation by an internal and external Communist threat. The only major power in the world that was not significantly damaged was the United States. The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave $13 billion) in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II.