Throughout the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War the main problem was communism. Although the United States and the Soviet Union were allies in World War Two, during the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were known as enemies. The Soviet leaders bragged to other nations that communism would “scrape apart” free-enterprise systems around the world. This attitude angered the capitalists which led into the fifty year Cold War. The United States tried creating many tactics and strategies to contain the “bleeding” of communism, but during the cold war, communism spread faster then it could be restrained. The United States used the Marshall Plan , the Trueman Doctrine, and the Berlin Airlift to help lead people to a …show more content…
The United States responded to the “Hawks”, President Harry S. Trueman still wanted and continued to keep communism “bottled up”. In result the Marshall Plan was created (Doc. 2). World War Two had left Europe in pieces, and the United States wanted to gain support from them. The plan was to help Europe rebuild. Between 1948 and 1952, the United States provided more than twelve billion dollars in aid. The United States helped reduce the spread of communism in Western Europe. The Trueman Doctrine basically “bribed” Greece and Turkey to think again about communist expansionism. The United States provided them with four hundred million dollars in military and economic aid. The Berlin Airlift also stopped west Berlin from falling into the Soviets arms. The United States and Britain provided helicopters and planes to drop food, fuel, and other supplies to about two million Berliners everyday. Little children would call these planes “chocolate bombers”.
Military forces fought all over the world throughout World War Two. Italy, Japan, and six other nations joined Germany to form the axis powers. These axis powers used communism as there policy. The Soviet Union also used communism. They had totalitarian governments. Peoples lives were basically planned out in front of them. They made practically no choices for themselves, children were “brainwashed” and everyday people lived in a “dictatorship”.
People that lived during the Cold War had to deal
The Marshall Plan demonstrated US commitment to stop communism by providing economic and financial aid to Europe. A Strong Europe would lead the United States to create NATO to oppose Soviet aggression. NATO is a military alliance between western democracies and an attack on one is an attack on all (Doc C). The Soviets would create the Warsaw Pact in response and cold war tensions would rise again. Truman would intervene in the Korean War to stop the spread of communism and the Domino Effect (Doc E). The US is practicing containment with US Troops fighting in proxy
In the next couple of years, Russia began imposing itself upon other nations. Communism was imposed over Hungary in 1947, and in 1948, the Czechoslovakia government was also taken down. In resistance to the Russian force, the United States, Canada, and some European nations created a new defense organization
During the Cold War, the United States sought to defend “freedom” by opposing communism and creating free markets. The United States sometimes succeeded in containing communism and providing aid in the Berlin Airlift, yet other United States actions in Iran undermined the nation’s values of democracy. A main goal for the United States was the containment of
After World War II, a state of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union took place from 1945 to 1991. Although these two nations had previously fought as allies their relationship quickly took a turn for the worst when the argument had risen over whether communism or democracy was the right way of government. The Soviet Union was determined to spread communism all over the world but The United States did everything in their power to try and stop it. Over the course of the Cold War the US gained much potential and power due to their efforts to dominate over the USSR. One of the main reasons the US gained power was because of the Marshall Plan that was signed off by president Truman in 1948. This Plan was devised as a way
When the world famous liberal thinker Francis Fukuyama in his masterpiece declared that we were witnessing the end of the history, he was greeting the new political structure and also the new international environment, which is peaceful[1]. However, developments that occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union showed us that the dissolution of the Soviets was unexpected. The international society was not ready for peace and Fukuyama’s optimistic assumptions were far from becoming real. Moreover, the international society currently started to realise that the tension and the potential of mass destructive war during the Cold War era had provided a
The Cold War was the ideological conflict between the two superpowers of the world, the democratic United States of America and the communist Soviet Union. For over fifty years the two superpowers fought each other indirectly for power and control of the world. The Cold War started after the end of the Second World War in 1945 when the eyes of both superpowers were no longer looking at Nazi Germany, but instead at each other and the fate of the rest of the world. The Cold War began after the Second World War had ended, although tensions between the two new superpowers, United States and Soviet Union, had been lasting since 1917 with the start of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. With the start of the Second World War, tensions were put
The Origins of the Cold War The Cold War period from 1945 to 1985 was a result of distrust and misunderstanding between the USSR and the United States of America. This distrust never actually resulted any fighting between the two superpowers but they came very close to fighting on several occasions. The Cold War was a result of many different events and factors including the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Potsdam Conference of 1945, the differences between communism and capitalism, the 'Iron curtain' speech and Marshall Aid.
In 1961 President John F Kennedy put together a doctrine, which altered from President Eisenhower’s one. It was to “Respond flexibly to communist expansion, especially guerrilla warfare.” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58) It was a time when the Cold War was at its height and nuclear weapons a mass threat and source of power. This doctrine was aimed at using alternative means before opening into combat. This, in light of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, it succeeded in doing.
The US policy toward the USSR influence in the world was to adopt policy of containment, which was to counter these actions by the USSR. The US developed the Truman Doctrine, which supported Greece and Turkey financially so they would not fall to communist ideology. The Marshall plan was also implemented by the US to support western Europe’s rebuilding efforts, this would halt the spread of communist idea to Germany, Italy and France which were financially bankrupt. The cold war between these two super powers generated flare-ups. Three of these were the Berlin Airlift, Korean war and the Cubin Missile Crisis. The Berlin Airlift, initially started when Stalin decided to block all roads and rail traffic to Western Berlin. His plan was to push the western powers out of Berlin with this blockage. The US organized the airlift to provide food and supplies to the two million people in the American, British and French occupied zones. The airlift continued for over a year, Russia realized they had failed and opened travel to Western Berlin in spring of 1949. Another flare up between the two superpowers was the Korean War. In 1950 Koreans people’s army poured across the 38th parallel, the border between
The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in major shift in United States foreign policy. For years, the United States supported tyrannical dictators in return for stable anti-communist government receptive to United States interests. The Cold War resulted in a new world order with the United States as the lone global hegemonic power. In Eastern Europe in particular, the end of the Cold War ushered in an era of economic growth and a large increase in the number of liberal democracies. Although the world saw a large increase in liberal democracies, a new regime type referred to as competitive authoritarianism began to emerge. According to Levitsky and Way, “In competitive authoritarian regimes, formal
Looking back in history you can point out several vicious dictators and leaders that really made a negative impact on the world. These included Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Mao Zedong, and several others. The idea of absolute power to one person is a dangerous concept and can destroy a country in a short amount of time. The Cold War was a time of determination to stop communism in the eyes of the United States. It also was a time for America to better itself and finding the flaws within their own Country. There was a policy set up stating that the States would help out any country in need that was being invaded by a communist country. The U.S. came up with this policy in efforts to stop the expansion of communism across the globe. During this period of change, America went through a great amount of change itself; from true equality to an economic freedom described by the constitution as well as the loyalty within the government systems. Containment was the key element in ending communism for the world, by preventing the communist countries from invading other countries; they were stuck and eventually gave up their efforts.
The end of the Cold War brought about the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, paving the way for an unprecedented new paradigm – one characterised by the end of hostilities between the two dominant ideologies: Soviet communism and American liberal capitalism. This dominant new paradigm encouraged the homogenisation of ideas, in the form of exchanging ethos and values along former cultural, ideological and geographical divides. As such, this integration of world societies has earned the title ‘globalisation’, forcing the global community to appear so united as to warrant the metaphor of a global village. (Note: This paragraph pains me to read – I will eventually re-write it.)
The end of the cold war signified a new era of history that has changed the entire world. The face of Europe and Asia has changed dramatically. Vast changes have been felt socially, politically, and especially economically. Also the effect the cold war had on foreign policy was paramount. The effect of these changes is not only felt across the ocean but can be felt here in America. The goal of this paper is to define what the cold war specifically was, and reflect upon the various choices throughout the world as a result of the end of the cold war.
One of the many effects that brought changes to politics around the world. Khrushchev along with The Soviet Union(USSR) exposed communism to the world, “To attempt to enforce its will on non-communist countries (Berlin and Laos are current examples)” (Doc. 6,II). The USSR pushed its rule around the world in an attempt to spread communism especially between Europe and Southeast Asia. The USSR also supported countries attempting to become communist with with agricultural supplies and military supplies in an attempt to influence other countries, and conflicts between communist influence and democracy broke out through proxy wars, but the USSR enforced communism on East Europe and on Afghanistan was spreading like wildfire . The Soviet Union ruled
Today, although people say the Cold War is over, that is far from reality. Even today, proxy wars continue to haunt mankind. The USA and Russia are still not the best of friends and capitalism and communism still have their differences. “Moscow’s current foe is Washington, and Washington’s is Moscow” as a journalist Michael Kimmage correctly says. This quote seems to summarise all of world politics of the last few decades.