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Cold War Dbq

Decent Essays

After World War 2 ended, the US and the Soviet Union, once allies, developed tense relations with each other. When it was decided at the Yalta Conference that Soviet Union could have Poland, the US became skeptical because the Soviet Union was a communistic country. Having them as neighbors was definitely a problem because of the Soviet’s goal of expanding communism. If both the US and the Soviet Union were to battle, the US would be facing an enemy surrounding them (the division of Berlin into four was set inside the Soviet Union) and they would most likely not win.
In order to stop the Soviet’s threat to spread communism, Truman, president of the US at the time, developed a containment plan. Later, Eisenhower, the next president, realized …show more content…

However, the big difference is that Korea was split across the 38th parallel (North Korea became Soviet’s and South Korea was run by the US) after WW2, similar to the division of Berlin, whilst the Soviet Afghan war was a Soviet invasion. Although, one could argue that they were similar because they were both major proxy wars during the Cold War.

When the Soviets started to notice that their best citizens (like doctors, scientists, and other citizens that play an important part of society) were moving to West Berlin, they decided to put an end to it. They did so by constructing an 11 foot tall wall between East and West Berlin on August 13th, 1961. The Berlin Wall became a physical and historical symbol of the division of two ideologies; communism and capitalism. It also proved that there was a great amount of hostility and tension between the Soviets and Americans. It even showed the world the different ways one could rule a …show more content…

Although the Berlin Wall wasn’t as dangerous/offensive or led to an almost all-out nuclear war, it stood as symbol that competition, division, and conflict was indeed present in the Cold War and that it no longer became an assumption. As time passed, competitive spirits and pride rose throughout both US and the Soviet Union. This morale was also later applied in the scientific and technological industry. Spacecraft launches, advances in technology and science, science-based education, and innovation were all effects from the Space Race. However, this Space Race also affected the attitude of the Cold War.
Ten years into the Cold War, the Space Race began after the Soviets successfully managed to launch Sputnik, “the world’s first artificial satellite” states NASA, into space. The significance of this launch was very important because it destroyed the morale the citizens America had and all of a sudden they felt like they were now the victims/defensive of the Cold War. In other words, this launch essentially triggered the Space Race through competitive

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