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
From the years of 1941 to 1949, there was an increase in suspicion and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a Communist country ruled by a dictator while America was a capitalist democracy that valued freedom. Their completely different beliefs and aims caused friction to form between them, which contributed to the creation of the Cold War.
During the cold war, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union.
During WWII there was a power struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States. Then after the atomic bomb that the U.S. sent to Japan it was heightened because of the threat of the nuclear war. This then was the beginning of the Cold War. It was the struggle between two world superpowers. Although the bomb was the “beginning” of the Cold War there were many other causes to this war. For example the two both had different political systems. The U.S. is based on democracy, capitalism and freedom. U.S.S.R. is based on dictatorship and communism and control which was a big no to America because they feared of a communist attack. In the end the two allied forces broke up. Truman also disliked Stalin which was another
Right after the Second World War ended, the prolonged Cold War between communism and capitalism began. This war lasted about 45 years between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the fall of the common enemy, Nazism, these two nations became instant global rivals. They fought over human rights, democratic elections, individual liberties, and religious freedom. America wanted every nation to be free like itself. This push for the Soviet Union to be the same started the Cold War. Just like any other war, after it was over it brought many different new challenges to America, like great lost from war, the Red Scare, and new threats.
The Cold War (1941-91) was a time of political and military tension between Soviet Russia and the United States. During this time, there was a great deal of fear between the 2 international superpowers as they both possessed nuclear weapons capable of wiping each other out. The Americans were in constant fear of Communism and Soviet spies. The paranoia was exacerbated by some politicians who suggested that Soviet spies were everywhere. This fear made some Americans to accuse their own neighbors of being Communist sympathizers.
After WWII America had become the largest economic super power in the world, with the Soviet Union being right alongside them. The USA and USSR were polar opposites, one being communist and the other capitalist. The Soviet Union made their intentions clear, they planned to convert the whole world to communism and rule under one nation. The US therefore stood for freedom and capitalism and swore to contain communism. This is the origin of the cold war.
Eerily, it seems that during the Cold War and the War on Terror, many of the feelings that citizens felt were the same, but what America called the enemy was different. Following the September 11th attacks, there was a feeling of paranoia felt throughout America similar to the paranoia felt during the Cold War. Americans did not feel safe, and an attack could come at any time. The fight on the home front looked different during the Cold War and the War on Terrorism. During the Cold War there was more of a correlation between fighting Communism, and buying consumer goods. During the war on terrorism Americans were asked to give up some of their rights in order to maintain their safety.
For almost 15 years the U.S. has been in a constant state of war. Various terrorist organizations, from al-Quade, to the Taliban, and now Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have maintained our focus so much so that we have almost forgotten about prior threats. Ten years prior to the start of the conflict in the Middle East, the Cold War had officially concluded, ending almost 45 years of server political and military tensions between the U.S. and Russian following WWII. During this period of time, Russia was the central focus of the U.S., although China and North Korea also posed a significant threat. While terrorist threats and activates remain a significant threat, Russia recent annexation of Crimea proves that they are still a very
The so-called Cold War between the United States and The Soviet Union started after Winston Churchill's Fulton speech in August 16, 1945 and in fact ended only when the USSR collapsed. The Cold War was a period of tense relationship between the two countries and not once the world stood at the brink of World War III. However the American interpretation of history turns the Soviet Union into an evil aggressor, meanwhile the United States did their best to defense their country and democracy around the world. Ask any
The U.S and the Soviet Union had mistrusted each other from the beginning, which started the Cold War. when the U.S was attacked on December 1941, The Soviet Union had made an alliance with them along with Britain, which soon followed with the U.S supplying their allies with military supplies. During their alliance against the fascist powers, Stalin was suspicious which made “The Soviets believed that the Western Allies had
Between the Cold War and the War on Terror The United States have had a large involvement with ideology that was dangerous or threatening towards not only The United States but to towards the World.
The Cold War was the name given to the time period from 1945 to 1991. After World War II, tensions began between the United States and the Soviet Union. Fighting between the United States and Soviet Union did not happen directly against each other. Instead they fought with arms races, space races, and spying. Both superpowers set aside their differences to defeat Adolf Hitler, even before the war the United States distrusted the Soviet Union. The United States disliked the way the Soviet Union ran government. They believed that the Soviet Union wanted to overthrow the non-communist governments.
After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two new superpowers and as archrivals. The United States wanted to keep the Soviet Union from spreading communism by force so the United States came up with a plan of containment, which was to block the Soviet Union wherever possible to contain the spread of communism therefore beginning the Cold War. (Davidson et al., 2005)
The United States developed into a world super power following World War II. Many of the Allies were deeply affected by the war financially and were struggling, thus leaving a vacuum that needed to be filled. The United States was thrust into the position of “policing” and assisting nations around the world. The Cold War was in many ways a psychological illusion however there were many factors that led to this illusion which were well founded. The Cold War stemmed from a multitude of factors, the difficult war against Nazi’s and Japan, Stalin behaviors were not trustworthy, Berlin blockade, Poland puppet government, the fall of China, the build up of arms and the birth nuclear weapons all fed fear-based anti-communist policies. In
The origin of the Cold War began with the Russian Revolution in nineteen-seventeen, which created a Soviet Russia. The Soviet Russia did not have the same economic and ideological state as the United States. The Civil war in Russia in which Western powers unsuccessfully intervened, dedicated to the spreading of communism. This fueled an environment of mistrust and fear between Russia and the rest of Europe. The United States pursued a policy of isolationism; however the situation