Premium Essay

Causes Of The Cold War

Submitted By
Words 1692
Pages 7
The Cold War was an indirect interaction between the U.S.A and the Soviet Union. The different ideas of government were one of the main reasons of why there was a war between the U.S and the Soviet Union. Not only that, many factors came along with the war, starting from 1945 other Countries and Nuclear weapons created tension between them. Economic competitions, policies, and plans also contributed to the creation of the Cold War and the finalization of it in 1991. The presidents at the time also influenced in big decisions making, and lead to a better or worse situation not only in the U.S and the Soviet Union, but also in many countries that were involved.
During the late 19th Centaury the Soviet Union (USSR) was encouraging the pro-communist …show more content…
This war started with Korea splitting into two. The North was communist and the South democratic and it took a climax when China became communist. At this war, the president of the U.S; President Truman intervened because of the fear that was the cause by the spread of communism in China and help North Korea in the battle by sending out military support and fought between the conflict of Taiwan and China. “From 1949 through the 1960’s, the United States poured millions of dollars of aid into the Taiwanese economy” (Danze et al., 614) at the end the Soviet communism spread in China, but the support of U.S to Taiwan made an improvement in their relationship. The Korean War, this time involved more in combat in comparison to the division in Berlin. This time nuclear weapons where a proposal from Douglas MacArthur in 1951. “MacArthur wanted to continue a full-scale war against China” (Danze et al., 614), but President Truman disagrees and MacArthur ended up fire because of his attempt to disobey and attack with the nuclear …show more content…
The purpose of converting Cuba into communist was to pressure the United Sates; as an example, the Bay of big (1961) or the Cuban missile crisis (1962). At the time the U.S had a new president John Kennedy that intervened with the CIA and using the operation 40, founded by Eisenhower that consisted in creating “Cubans in sabotage tactics and carryout assassinations missions in Cuba” (“Cold War Hot Moments”7). After the missiles in October 27, 1962 there was an agreement in removing the missiles attacks name MAD. After a while another big war came the Vietnam war (1969) and a new president in the U.S was in charge Richard Nixon. Even though the U.S knew it couldn’t win the battle with Vietnam, Nixon decided to continue it because of two economic agreements with China and with Russia and the Soviet Union. In 1972, the Russia agreement S.A.L.T.I was an “Interim agreement between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist republics on certain measures with respect to limitation of strategic offensive arms” (Ruddy 2014). This lead to greater communication with the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, one of the events that helped to end the War with Vietnam was the Pentagon Papers that where released by Daniel Ellsberg and exposed the fact that the U.S didn’t have the possibilities to win the battle and their economic benefits with China. With all the tension descending by

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Causes For The Cold War

...Causes for the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union are mainly two strong nations struggle between one another to become larger than the other. Also the rebuild of Europe and Berlin, differing political views and a severe mistrust in one another. There were many incidents that could have lead the United States and the Soviet Union into WW3, but the ones I choose to bring up are the Cuban missile crisis and the American U2 spy plane being shot down. Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba after seizing the Caribbean islands of Cuba in 1959, Fidel aligned himself with the Soviet Union and relied heavily on them for military and economical aid. On Oct 14, 1962 a American U2 spy plane photographed a Soviet ballistic missile in Cuba,...

Words: 283 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Causes Of The Cold War Dbq

...By the end of the Second World War, a significant conflict arose between Allied powers. The United States and the Soviet Union were the two major nations who had their differences within their goals, values, and beliefs. It was a political and economic struggle for the U.S. and the USSR. Their tense relationship was because they wanted to spread their ideology across the world. The dispute among the powers lasted from 1945 up to 1991. This crucial disagreement between the Americans and the Soviets is known as the Cold War. The United States is responsible for the start of the infamous Cold War because they started the arms race and tried preventing communism by spreading democracy. Nuclear threats were made by the U.S. during the arms race....

Words: 1199 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Causes Of The Cold War Dbq

...to them butting heads. This led to the beginning of one of the longest wars in U.S. history. This war is known as the Cold War. Although it didn’t involve any actual warfare, it would change the world forever. There were many factors that lead to the beginning of the Cold War. Mainly, the biggest factor was the conflicting ideologies of the U.S. and Soviet Union. The U.S. is a capitalistic nation that wanted to prevent the spread of communism and there were many famous and well known cities that were, “in the Soviet sphere and all are subject in one form or another,...

Words: 859 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Cause Of The Cold War Essay

...During World War II, the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against the Axis powers. The relationship between the nations was tense due to the mistrust the U.S. and Great Britain had for the Russian leader, Joseph Stalin. They had been wary of Soviet communism and concerned about Stalin’s tyrannical, blood-thirsty rule of his own country. The Soviets resented the Americans’ refusal to treat the USSR as a part of the international community and they took their delayed entry into World War II personally because of the resulting deaths of tens of millions of Russians. After WWII, Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe fed many Americans’ fears of a Russian plan for world domination. The USSR resented American...

Words: 688 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

How Did The Cold War Cause Changes In American Society

...legally integrated within the country. War had a monumental impact on the progression in this period, as it provided African-Americans with an opportunity to prove their worthiness of American citizenship, experience life and racial tolerance outside of the America and resulted in gaining mass international exposure. The international opinion that arose from this publicity, the change in white attitudes towards Civil Rights and legality during 1877-1981 all also respectively impacted the advancement, and in some cases, the hindrance, of Civil Rights. America’s declaration of war on Germany in 1917 to ensure political liberty and the...

Words: 2113 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Explain How the Attitudes of the Usa and the Ussr in 1945 Helped Cause the Cold War.

...The Americans were more responsible in terms of their attitudes in 1945 for creating the Cold war. As we can see the USSR and the United States, both had different ideologies and points of view which set the base for confrontation after the Second World War. The soviet attitudes were straight-forward. Stalin´s main aim was to safeguard and rebuild the Soviet Union. However, his actions created hostility over the West. His foreign policy was based on taking advantage of the military situation in Europe to strengthen the Soviet influence and prevent another invasion from the west. To the nations of the west this was seen as evidence of the expansionist nature of communism, but Soviet aims were based on attitudes that were more complicated than this. Russia had been invaded from the west 3 times in the 20th century; by Germany in WWI, by those helping the whites during the russian civil war, and by Germany again in WWII. Each time russian loses had been substantial, but the sacrifice required during the WWII was unprecedented. The need to ensure such a devastating war was was not again inflicted upon the Soviet Union was undoubtedly a weighty and pressing concern. The situation in Europe in 1945 provided Stalin with an opportunity to establish a buffer zone of Soviet-influenced states in Eastern Europe, which would act as a barrier against further invasion of the USSR from the West. The soviet obsession with security was difficult for the American government to understand. To...

Words: 675 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Paper

...Cause and Effect of War American Intercontinental University Abstract The following paper will look at a couple of major consequences the cold war had on the United States as a society. The paper will also go into the way the cold war affected the American population as a whole. The paper will also look at the reason the war could have been beneficial or detrimental on the United States. Cause and Effect of War The cold war took place during the mid-40’s and on into the late 80’s. The cold war got its name cold war due to the fact that there was not an active war at all. The cold war later on would cause other hot conflicts or active wars to arise in different parts of the world it led to destructive conflicts like the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The inactivity of the cold was partially due to the fact that the weaponry was stronger than ever, the world had been introduced to nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons if set off could literally destroy the world. This was something on everyone’s mind. The cold war was a long period of tension and hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union. The cold war was a conflict that began at the end of the second world war by the two dominant powers or the superpowers left from the aftermath of world war one. The United States and the Soviet Union both had their views; the Soviet Union advocated communism and most Americans wanted freedom or Democratic society. The Soviet Union wanted to spread it’s ideology of communism...

Words: 1183 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Cold War

...Does the Cold War have its roots in the period prior to WW11? There are many reasons to believe that the seed of conflict between the west and east was planted before the Second War World had begun. Amongst them being factors of ideological differences, agreements such Brest-Litovsk treaty and the Russian Civil War. Other less significant causes being USSR dishonouring their debts they owed to western countries like France as well as the murder of the Tsars. However, it should be asserted how even with these factors there was still a substantial reason for the allied countries to be able to have stable relationship if other causes in the later future after the second war did not occur. These later causes include agreements such as the Nazi-Soviet Pact and Chamberlain’s Appeasement Policy. Events such as these helped increase tensions between the USSR and the USA as well as bringing the conflict into more focus and attention by two parties, causing increased mistrust and panic from both sides. This query will examine whether the Cold War did indeed have its roots in the period before War World Two and if so then to what extent are the factors significant as causes. Starting with the causes prior to the second war, one of the biggest and initial disputes between USSR and the other allies were their differing ideologies. USSR’s values as a communist state were entirely different to the capitalism of the West. Unlike Capitalism, communism supported closed economy in which trading...

Words: 964 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Contemporary History

...DeVry University "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Albert Einstein The Cold War probably one of the most memorable wars to date because of the lack of actual fighting. The Cold War last from 1946 to 1991 when it was finally ended. It was a battle of power with no actual war between the USA and USSR. Yes, there were wars of democracy against communism in such countries of Korean and Vietnam but it wasn’t direct fighting of the two super powers. The Cold War can teach the current world leaders such a significant amount of knowledge. On how such wars are futile and honestly useless because it solves nothing and only frightens the whole world in fear of a nuclear war. The Cold War was started right after World War II when the Allies in World War II alliance fell apart. The reason this powerful alliance fell apart is simple. Stalin believed that the delay of D-Day was Britain and the USA’s attempt to weaken the Soviet Union, along with the fact that Stalin and Churchill argued over how much control Stalin would get over the countries of Eastern Europe. These factors contributed to the start of the Cold War right after World War II. The Cold War was not really a war like previous wars it was a threat from both sides of nuclear war. Both sides had nukes and both were willing to use them in the event of an attack. The Cold War was a war of words and nothing more really. Both sides had ideas and...

Words: 1384 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

History

...were the causes of the world wars? World War one have seven causes; the Franco-Prussian war, the alliance systems, the Balkan Powder Keg, imperialism, Nationalism, Arms Race, the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand occurred. The Assassination of the Archduke, top off world war one, once he was killed, the people were looking for reason to start a war, so they did. World War two also had several causes, such as; nationalistic tensions, unresolved issues, and disapproving result from World War I and the interwar period in Europe, and all these causes were in addition to the Great Depression in the 1930s. What role did nationalism play in the world wars? Nationalism played a major role in World War 1 as well as World War 2. During both of the wars, Germany was involved in both wars. Germany had such a strong patriotism that they felt they would do whatever they had to keep it that way. How are imperialism and colonialism related to the world wars? Imperialism and colonialism related to the world wars because during the wars, the smaller nation were being bullied by the German government and were basically force to do things the German way What was the role of industrialization in the world wars? Basically during the wars, factories were built so they can make weapon for wars better and faster. How do the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality relate to the world wars? The enlightenment ideas of liberty can be related to the world wars, because during...

Words: 498 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

How Far Do You Agree That the Origins of the Cold War in 1945-6 Owed Much to Ideological Differences and Little to Personalities and Conflicting National Interests?

...How far do you agree with the view that the origins of the Cold war in 1945 and 1946 owed much to ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests? The three allied powers had been together fighting against hitler but once the Second World War ended problems between the big three started to appear. I believe that these problems which led later on in 1945 were a cause for the leaders personalities and each nation's national interests not due to ideological differences. The personalities of each of the leaders were definitive for the cold war as we can see how some did not want o could negotiate, also national interests was one of the main causes for the Cold war as for example Russia was looking for expansion for protection and USA was looking for Communist containment. However, I do not think that ideological differences was not one of the main reasons for the cold war as if it was one of the main reasons there would have been a war before with the Russians, however, it is true that their different ideologies caused tension to rise. Firstly, ideology was not at all the main role for the cause of the cold war. I believe that it was just a simple cause for the rise of tension between Russia and the West. If different ideologies owed a lot to The Cold war I think that there would have happened a war earlier or a “hot war” would have occurred. On the other hand, we could also say that their ideological differences clashed, suspicion and...

Words: 798 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

How Did Joseph Mccarthy Changed Our Lives

...The Powerful: Joseph McCarthy Imagine being a communist during 1950-1954 when Joseph R. McCarthy hated all communists. He was very powerful against them. Joseph R. McCarthy, a Senator from Wisconsin,was the leader of this in the United States of America. Other people that had to do with McCarthyism was the government. McCarthy's point of this was to get all of the communists out of America. Because the Senator of Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy was powerful and the Cold War was in full effect, McCarthyism changed many people's lives. One cause of why people changed their lives was how powerful McCarthy was. According to the author of History.com, “Senator McCarthy spent almost five years trying in vain to expose communists and other left-wing ‘loyalty risks’ in the...

Words: 761 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

How Far Do You Agree with the View That the Development of the Cold War in the Period 1945-50 Was the Result of Aggressive Us Foreign Policy?

...I disagree with the question that it was the American foreign policy that was the cause of the cold war, but instead agree with the fact that it was the difference in ideological views that was the most important factor. The American foreign policies, national interests and the personalities of the leaders all had input to the War and therefore, the War reached such extent. The Cold War was a power vacuum which was to drag the bipolar powers into, which happened to be the USA and the Soviet Union. The American foreign policy did have an impact on the Cold War however, was not the cause. This revisionist view presents America to be the cause of the Cold War. America’s main foreign policy was to secure free markets in which they saw the Soviet Union as an obstacle to achieve this. This led to tension between the two superpowers and a more aggressive War between the bipolar powers. The US also used the atomic bomb as a deliberate foreign policy to pressure the Soviet Union. Source K also holds this view that 'after the atomic bomb was created and used... it left the Soviets with but one real option: either they acquiesce in American proposals or be confronted with American power and hostility.' This led to more aggressive Soviet behaviour because by the USA not informing Stalin of such major equipment, he felt as though he could no longer trust the West. However, the Baruch plan in June 1946 proposed joint US and USSR control over the production of atomic weapons in which the...

Words: 1354 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

What Are The Causes Of Ww2 Essay

...The Cold War also known as World War ii began Sep.01, 1939 and lasted for.six years. The Cold War divided the globe into alliances. The Allied powers, and The Axis made up the alliances within the war. The allied powers consisted of France, Great Britain, United States. Poland, and Soviet Union. The Axis were Germany, Italy, Japan, and Hungary. The alliances were divided between NATO, and Warsaw Pact. NATO was one of the alliances within the war, and the acronym was North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The NATO was created 1947, and contain twenty-eight of the countries involved. NATO was created to maintain an allies. The Warsaw Pact was created eight years after the war was formed. The Cold war is said to be triggered by multiple events such as the tension between the countries after WW1, and the need for power on behalf of Germany....

Words: 614 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

End of Cold War

...that the Cold War came to an end because of Mikhail Gorbachev’s new approach to US-Soviet relations in the mid- to late 1980s? The ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 had a strong impact on the Cold War as well as the US-Soviet relations. Gorbachev new political thinking brought about new reforms for the Soviet Union and a much less hostile approach towards the US which lead to a relaxation in the tension between the two great superpowers. It can be argued that other factors such as the pressure from the West and People Power had a much more profound effect in the Cold War and that these factors lead to the end of the war. It can be agreed that Gorbachev’s new approach towards the US had an impact on ending the Cold War up to a point but other factors mentioned previously also had a huge part to play in ending the Cold War. The emergence of Gorbachev brought a great change to the Soviet’s foreign policy both towards the US and eastern Europe. In source 1 the ascension of Gorbachev is said to be the most critical turning point in the cold war’s final phase as Gorbachev himself was a unique individual who deprived the US of the enemy they were fighting. Gorbachev saw that the Russian people could not continue living in the terrible conditions they were in due to the arms race and thus believed that concessions with the West were needed. Just like the source states these concessions changed the US-Soviet relations and eventually lead to the end of the Cold War. Gorbachev’s...

Words: 1050 - Pages: 5