The Cold War
The Cold War
1949-1991
The cold war was not really a war but a race between two countries. It was an
arms race, build up of nuclear weapons, and competition between the communists and the
capitalists. The communists were the Soviet Union and the capitalists were the United
States. The cold war started in 1949 and ended in 1991. At the end of World War II the
United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the world’s most powerful nations.
Relations with the two countries were never that great. The rivalry between the United
States and the Soviet Union had become tense. Soon a race between the two countries
emerged the winner of the race would become the world’s most powerfull country.
During the cold war there was also a race between the two contries to be the first to be in
outter space. The Soviet Union were the first to launch a satilite, which was called
Sputnik I. The United States, however, were the first to land on the moon.
This is a chart that shows the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.
This is a picture of Sputnik I.
There was a
race to get the most nuclear weapons and the most weapons. The United States was the
first to develope atomic weapons. In the cold war there were never battles against the
countries. President Harry Truman had began a policy of containment, which would last
until the end of the Cold War. This policy was proposed to contain any attempts by the
Soviet Union to expand its power around the globe. There were wars to stop the spread
of communism. The reason why the wars got started was a theory called the dimino
effect, which meant that if one country fell to communism the others would follow. The
countries that the United States feared would fall to communism were Korea and
Vietnam. The Korean War broke out in 1950, it would last three years. It ended in 1951.
The Vietnam lasted through five presidents. Another thing that came from the cold war
was the Cuban missle crisses. This was when Cuba placed missles that would face toward
the United States and wich could reach the U.S. and take out any point. Cuba was
communist. The United States feared that Cuba would use them against the United States
if a war had broke out between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Cuba was an allie of the
Soviet Union not the United States.
NATO was formed to defend against a possible Soviet invasion of Europe. The allience
that NATO formed was with the countries of the U.S., Canada,Italy, Portugal, Denmark,
Norway, Iceland, Greece, Turkey, West Germany, Britain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg,
and the Netherlands. The Soviets proposed Warsaw pact to go against NATO. The
allience that Warsaw pact formed was with the countries of the Soviet Union, Poland,
East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Rumania. With the NATO
allience and the Warsaw pact alliance Europe was divided by the Soviet controlled east
and the U.S. influenced west. This devision of Europe was called the iron curtain.
The Soviet political system was baised on the "Soviet Bloc," and the U.S. was the leader
of the "Free World."
The Communitsts (Soviet Union) believed in:
1. Personal property should be limited in order to make the standard of living more equal
among all members of society.
2. Only one political party is necessary, however the members of the members of theis
party should be elected by the peopl.
3. The government should own most businesses.
4. The government should provide a large number of social services.
The Capitalist (United States) believed in:
1. Personal property is a fundamental right of any individual.
2. Most businesses should be owned by private citizens.
3. The government should provide a small number of social services.
The economic systems of the U.S. and the Soviet Union was a main reason why the Cold
War had been in effect. It was a war between Capatilists and Communists.
The Soviet Union formed the Council of Mutual Ecomomic Assistance. This organization
closely linked the economies of Eastern Europe: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East
Germany, Rumania, Bulgaria, as well as Cuba, and Mongolia.
The United States hardly traded with the Soviet Union. When the countries did trade the
U.S. would only accept the U.S. dollar for goods and services.
How did the cold war come to an end?
The president of the Soviet Union, Gorbacav, proposed the ideas of glasnost and
perastroka. The idea of glastnost proposed in 1985 was to open up the Soviet Union to
foriegn businesses. Percrestroika proposed in 1987 was proposed to restucture the Soviet
economy. After the two ideas were proposed countrys in Eastern Europe started to break
away from communism. The fall of communism in Eastern Europe also broght an end to
the cold war. The fall of the Berlin wall which everyone thought would never happen
brought the most damage to the Soviets. Another reason why the cold war started to
come to an end was when the United States started a huge arms race that the Soviets
could not keep up with at the time. Even in the U.S.S.R. there were problems. Citizens
started to fight for freedom. This divided the Soviets. Finally the communist Soviet
Union fell and Russia and thirteen other states were formed. Communism was gone.
With communism gone the cold war was over. Gorbacav retired and a new president was
elected--Boris Yeltsin.
The U.S.
When Regan became president, he proposed to raise defence spending. This propasal was
proposed to make sure that the Soviet Union could not keep up with the arms race. After
the cold war was over and the fall of the Soviet Union, the United States had become
allies with Russia. The U.S. had good relations with the newly formed Russia. During the
Cold War many of the United States people had feared a nuclear war breaking out.
Expecailly during the Cuban Missle Crisses. Back then that was the most feared thing on
the minds of the American citizens. Today people don’t worry about a nuclear war
breaking out. When people think about the Soviet Union they think of the past and think
of Russia today. They don’t think of the Russians as enemies but as friend’s.
The Berlin Wall
BACK TO THE HOMEPAGE
Email: balic@angelfire.com
