7/25/2019 Causes and Effects of the Cold War

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Causes and Effects of the Cold War

The Soviet-American combat, known as the "Cold War" hung heavy over global affairs for more

than about forty long years; structuring the world with etensive military buildu!s, an unceasingnuclear arms rivalry, intensive surveillance and relentless technological emulations #urtherelaborated are the causes and re!ercussions of this menacing fracas drawn u!on the world by the

two su!er!owers; the $nited States of America and the Soviet $nion

The Cold War dominated the second half of the %&th century, resulting in the colla!se of

communism The Cold War was a !eriod of tension and hostility between the $nited States ofAmerica and the Soviet $nion from the mid-'&s to the late (&s )t began with the end of the

Second World War #ree society would have termed it as World War ))), but instead, used a

whimsical name !ertaining to no direct military confrontation between the two nations, fearingnuclear escalation assured mutual destruction *evertheless, both the nations indulged in indirect

conflicts and !roy wars by su!!orting allied nations in !laces like +orea and ietnam Cuban

missile crisis in ./% was the closest the world ever came to a nuclear war; when an American$% s!y !lane took !hotogra!hs of Soviet intermediate ballistic missiles ca!able of carrying

nuclear !ayloads, sending a total of '% medium range missiles and %' intermediate range

missiles to Cuba The $S, then threatened to invade Cuba over the issue forcing the Soviets toremove the missiles on America0s assurance of not invading Cuba

Role of the Soviet Union

Although the Soviet $nion and China started off as allies in .'., there emerged an

estrangement between them, which was cleverly e!loited by the Americans The $S formed an

alliance with China in .1 to contain the Soviet $nion The Soviet $nion invaded Afghanistan

in .(&, which led to the $nited States and its allies boycotting the .(& 2lym!ic games in3oscow )n retaliation, the Soviet $nion and its allies boycotted the .(' 2lym!ic games in 4os

Angeles, $SA The $S financed and armed the Afghan guerrillas to fight against the Soviettroo!s The Afghan War was a ma5or factor in bankru!ting the Soviet $nion

)n the 0(&s, 6resident 7onald 7eagan of the $S dubbed the Soviet $nion as an "evil em!ire" and

!redicted that it would be consigned to the ash hea! of history 8e announced a ma5or wea!onsbuildu! and the S9) :Strategic 9efense )nitiative also dubbed as "Star Wars" The Soviet $nion

was too economically enfeebled to re!ly in kind )n .(astern >uro!e followed this The Soviet $nion colla!sed in .., marking theend of the Cold War

Causes

The Soviet $nion wanted to s!read its ideology of communism worldwide, which alarmed the

Americans who followed democracy

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The ac?uisition of atomic wea!ons by America caused fear in the Soviets

@oth countries feared an attack from each other adhering to mutual mass destruction

The Soviet $nion0s action of taking control over >astern >uro!e was a ma5or factor for $Ssus!icions

The $S 6resident had a !ersonal dislike of the Soviet leader ose!h Stalin

America was annoyed by the Soviet $nion0s actions in the !art of =ermany it had occu!iedThe Soviets feared that America would use Western >uro!e as a base to attack it

Effects

@oth the $nited States of America and the Soviet $nion built u! huge arsenals of atomic

wea!ons and ballistic missilesThe military blocs, *AT2 and the Warsaw 6act were formed

)t led to destructive conflicts like the ietnam War and the +orean War

The Soviet $nion colla!sed due to economic weaknesses

The @erlin Wall was demolished and the two =erman nations were unified

The Warsaw 6act disintegratedThe @altic States and some former Soviet 7e!ublics achieved inde!endence

America became the sole su!er!ower of the worldCommunism colla!sed worldwide

The Cold War outlined the foreign !olicies for both the countries through the second half of thetwentieth century as both contested for accom!lices to u!hold and broaden their res!ective

realms of sovereignty around the world 8owever, it did not escalate to an a!ocaly!tic World

War ))) The decade-long im!asse between American ca!italists and Soviet Communists ceased

on a nonviolent mutual consent