The Blockade's Effect on Relations Between the Superpowers in the Years to 1955

After World War II, only two world superpowers remained: the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The contradictory political regimes of the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union were believed to be mutually exclusive which increased bitterness between them. Inevitably, the apparent tension between the two superpowers led to the Cold War which lasted about 45 years. It was war without bloodshed or battle, instead it was a metaphorical war where the U.S and the Soviet Union increased their weapons and fought for political influence, one always wanting to excel or maintain within the range of the other. The United States’ desperate need to contain the communist political ideology from spreading any further and meet the Soviet Union’s increased development of nuclear weapons led to the their involvement in the Cold War. The impact the Cold War had on life during the 1950’s and 1960’s can be measured through the creation of the House Un-American

Greg Meyer, a Cincinnati Native, has a background in logistics and installations services. Having recently managed furniture installations for numerous school districts nationwide, he plans to use his knowledge and experience to become a strong resource at Loth. In his spare time he enjoys biking, snowboarding, and playing with his two boxer

The event of the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. Fifteen years into the cold war, the two superpowers continued the fierce competition to increase their military strength. In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind the United States in the nuclear arms race. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe, whereas the US missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba which would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union. The fate of millions

The Soviet Union expressed a desire to isolate Berlin and restrain political unification in West Germany in order to discourage the Western powers from enforcing any hold over the land. However, in the second meeting of their London conference, the Western powers chose to proceed with their currency reform. The Soviet Union also finally enacted a full-scale blockade on June 24 by closing the railroads and the Autobahn, Germany’s main expressway connecting West Berlin and West Germany, as well as shutting off the power from the main plant in East Berlin. The communist power set up a meeting with its allies the following day and issued the Warsaw Declaration in retaliation to the decisions made at the London conference. Western powers expressed concern towards West Berliners, the victims of the Soviet Union’s actions, because their lives relied heavily on the resources they received through the blocked routes. The Western Powers then worked to devise a way to aid them.

World War II shocked the world in the 1900s. The United States had a ginormous evolvement in WW II. The US had struggled to officially declare our involvement in the war, until the bombing of Pearl Harbor that gave us an excuse to enter the war. The US prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor sent, was sending supplies to aid the Europeans in the war.

On March 5, 1861, William Henry Seward was appointed Secretary of State by Abraham Lincoln. Seward convinced President Lincoln to establish a blockade around the major Southern seaports. The blockade was put into effect shortly after the attack on Fort Sumter. On April 19, 1861, Lincoln issued a proclamation for a Union blockade to surround South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Later on April 27, Lincoln extended the blockade to include the states of North Carolina and Virginia. The blockade’s purpose was to stop the flow of trade goods, weapons, and supplies between the southern states and other nations. This war tactic placed an enormous amount of pressure on the Confederate states. Since the Union blockade “prevented the importation of supplies in proportion to the demand” there was an increase of “prices placed upon goods of domestic manufacture”. Southern states were denied revenue since the blockade was stopping the exportation of cotton to European countries. The prices of goods in the Confederacy was already high in order to finance the war and to accommodate the influx of refugees pouring into Richmond. The increase in prices went hand in hand with the growing scarcity of food supplies. Since the beginning of the Civil War, Richmond was heavily taxed. Many of the citizens of Richmond tried to help assist the refugees, but the decrease of business resulted in a decrease in income. For example, coffee was considered as a

Containment was very important for the United States during the Cold War as they tried to prevent the spread of communism onto their country. Containment was necessary as the Soviet Union started growing its influence of communism through Eastern Europe, including countries such as China, Korea, and Vietnam. This was the result of Germany invading the Soviet Union twice in the past thirty years. A diplomat named George Kennan suggested the policy of containment as he states in his famous journal article in 1947 called “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” that “In these circumstances it is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of long-term, patient put firm and vigilant containment of Russian

Freedom is defined as the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. There are different forms of freedom, two of which are physical and mental freedom. People advocate the rights of both physical and mental freedom of others who can not. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Malala Yousafzai fought for physical freedom whereas John F. Kennedy fought for mental freedom. In order to be completely free, someone must posses both physical and mental freedom.

Near the end of WWII soviet Russia and America began installing governments elsewhere in the world, with this and the ultimate untrust between the two powers, the conflict began. Near that time, the Soviet Union violated agreements made at yalta and potsdam, they invaded Germany and started to set up small communist states. The US thought of this as another act of war. On April 4, 1949 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO was established by the US. The purpose of this was to counter Soviet armies in central Europe after World War Two. NATO sought to strengthen the Western Allies’ military response to a possible invasion of Europe by the Soviet Union. Ultimately in July 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader in Soviet Russia, announced that Moscow will no longer be setting up communist governments in central and eastern Europe. After this event, NATO transformed into a political alliance, made to maintain international stability and safety in

Within the center of this division lay Berlin. Russia’s communist intentions were becoming clearer to western powers. Stalin had no plans to back down from further conflict. In 1946, Churchill delivered the “Iron Curtain” speech, symbolizing future relations with the communist powers. In 1947, U.S. president Truman established his famous doctrine of containment policy, which outlined in vague terms the west’s distain and containment intentions of further communist expansion by Russia. In 1948, Americans witnessed the pressurized showdown in Berlin between western forces and Russian occupiers, which eventually led to the division of Germany, and the construction of the Berlin Wall. Once, the Russians began developing and testing nuclear weapons, and the subsequent development of space flight, Americans placed their lives in the hands of their government to handle this new, Cold War.

Some proxy wars that occurred because of tensions in the Cold War are the Greek civil war, Korean War, Cuban Revolution, Vietnam War, Bay of Pigs, Afghan Soviet war, Angolan Civil War and more. The cost these proxy wars were overwhelming in both money and manpower. In Korea, Afghanistan, and Vietnam, millions of civilians and soldiers perished, and billions of dollars from the government budget was transferred into these conflicts. These disasters at Korea, Cuba, and Vietnam not only cost the Americans billions of dollars but also weakened the public’s faith in the government. Their inability to subdue communist revolutions in these countries initiated other comparable communist uprisings, described in the “domino theory.” For the Soviet Union,

Once the Soviet Union entrenched itself in order to protect its interests, there was no

How far did peaceful coexistence ease cold war tensions between the Soviet Union and the USA in the years 1953-61?

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.

from the USSR and a war may not have taken place in Cuba. I think all