preview

Comparison Between The Cold War And The War On Terror

Decent Essays

The Cold War began during World War II when the U.S. were allied with the Soviet Union to fight against the Axis powers. During that time distrust grew between these two nations. America had always been wary of the communism that was present in Russia and also were “concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical, blood-thirsty rule of his own country” (History.com). On the other side, “the Soviets resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed entry into World War II”, which caused many Russia deaths (History.com). The United States thought that the best defense against the Soviets was containment. This strategy then lead to the idea that …show more content…

For example in the Cold War, because of the fear of communism, U.S. engaged in containing communism and fighting it. In relation to the War on Terror, the U.S. is afraid of terrorist attacks so in turn initiated the War on Terror. The goals in both the Cold War and the War on Terror was to get rid of ideologies that were threating to the United States. The lessons of the Cold War provide many different strategies that worked back in the 1990s, whether those strategies would work in current conflicts and future conflicts is questionable. Back during the Cold War, the threat of mutual destruction between the U.S. and Russia was a major contribution to the reason why the war never escalated. The people in power also play a role in what happens and what strategies to use. Currently the crisis between the Unites States and North Korea is starting to resemble the Cold War. Both nations are threatening nuclear attack, although the current political leaders might not think that just threats are enough and could decide to take action. Also many other nations are rising to power politically economically so they are less likely to fall because of economic instability like the Soviets did during the Cold

Get Access