Rise and Impact of Cold War
Introduction
Cold war emerged after the Second World War between the superpowers of the US and the Soviet Union, supported by their partners of military alliance. It occurred between 1940s and 1990s happen between the Soviet Union and the US and instead the war about race of arms involving conventional and nuclear weapons, warfare of economy, disinformation and propaganda and alliance of military. The two powers engaged in reinforcing their systems of defense that led to spending a lot of their nation resources.( Dunbabin, 2008)
Discussion
Europe had been divided between West and East since the time the World War II ended and this strengthen by Stalin who put a barrier that was physical across several borders between several countries. This border came to be called the iron curtain. The communist government led the curtain eastern part with economies that were planned centrally while the western part was capitalist economies and it operated as democracies. This resulted to characteristic of polarization of cold war which contributed to tension between the rivals later. At the end of 1980s, various countries in the eastern part of the curtain began say about feelings of anti-soviet that they had. This led to the start of the failure of the Soviet bloc. The relations of East and West existed from when the World war II ended and it was between the United States of America and its enemies, the West, and Soviet union and its enemies, the East.
The Soviet Union and the USA after the war emerged as super powers basing on the ideologies that were opposing, with the interests of global. The USA had influence in the Western Europe security and the Soviet had influence on Eastern bloc countries. The two sides had possession of increasing capabilities of nuclear. There was bipolar split of politics of the world and a period of rivalry and distrust which was mutual and was characterized by differences in ideology, propaganda dissemination, arms build up, threat of the military and crises and misunderstandings that were occasional and all this came to be known cold war. The two sides built up arsenals of nuclear and tried to extend their influence sphere in the developing countries. (Hillstrom, 2006). The first period polarization of cold war was broken down by a split that was ideological between the regimes of communists of the Soviet Union and china.
After the World War II came to an end, the alliance that was between Britain, USA and the USSR came to an end. The cold war was caused by rivalry that was so intense between non-communist and communist countries. It is known as cold war since there was no use of arms or conflict that was hot. When the second war ended, there was a division of Germany into four zones which were under the control of Great Britain, Soviet Union, France and the US. There was lack of agreement that was mutual on the re-unification of German and this led to the beginning of cold war. The United States of America dropped atomic bomb on Japan and this led to annoying the USSR because USA had developed the bomb secretly.
Atlee of Britain, Truman and Churchill got angry because a border treaty was signed between Stalin and Poland. Poland was controlled by Russia. Also other countries that were controlled by Russia include Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and East Germany. What angered the allies is that Stalin promised free elections at conference of Yalta and they were not held and instead a new policy that was foreign was adopted which was about keeping communism in areas that it was in effect already. The doctrine of Truman indicated that any non-communist country would be helped by America to resist the pressure of communist. The plan was about sending a lot of money from America to aid countries that were non-communist to recover from the Second World War. ( Cowley, 2006).
Western Germany was unified by allies in the western to form the Federal Republic of German. There was a reaction to this by the USSR and it was by blockade placing on Berlin. All necessities including food were being taken to Berlin by air. What caused the cold war was a clash between capitalism and communism which are two world views that are opposing. The other cause of the cold war the attitude of both sides that was intransigent. After having been invaded twice, Soviet Union became so concerned about its own security. The other causes of cold war were that, the Soviet Union really wanted to its communism ideology to be spread worldwide and alarmed the US who made sure democracy was followed.
Fear in the soviets was caused by America acquiring atomic bombs and the two countries were in fear of an attack from each other and this led to the cold war. The other cause was the action of the Soviet Union of being in control of countries in the Eastern Europe which caused suspicion to America. Also the president of the US disliked the leader of the Soviet, Stalin. Soviet’s action of occupying part of Germany annoyed America and finally, the Soviets had a fear that the US would the western part of Europe to attack it. (Larres, 2001).
The cold war resulted to a lot of proxy wars and developments in conventional and nuclear weapons and therefore because of the cold war very many countries today are in possession of nuclear weapons that implies a threat that is great to the existence of the world. It also led to great effects in the countries that are neighboring and also those that were far away. These countries lost a lot of wealth and many people lost their lives.
The cold war also led to crisis of Cuban missile that could result to third world war and this caused a lot of fear. Another effect was NATO command exercise which was for ten days and led to simulation of conflict escalation which eventually resulted in a nuclear release that was coordinated well. When the cold war ended, various countries including Soviet Union suffered stagnation of the economy as a result of investing so much in the war. The war effects contributed to the Soviet Union collapse and left the United States as the only superpower. Another effect of the cold war is that it led to inspiration of many writers and movie companies which resulted to a high number of and books.( Sheehan’s, 2001).
Conclusion
The USSR economy was based on a system of administrative planning that was centralized, ownership of the state of production means, control of the investment by the state and ownership of industrial assets by the state. The modern economy complex demands and administration that was inflexible caused constrains to the central planners.
Communism didn’t lead to solving traditional problems of the society. Communism had a doctrine which had lot weaknesses. This elimination of competition and capital led to society stagnation. Press suppression and also suppression of personal opinion led to an environment of fear. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, capitalism can be treated as the correct governing. The collapse of the Soviet Union has indicated that culture of war that is socialist can never win over a culture of war that is capitalist on terms of economy and a new strategy is needed for 21st century revolution. (Taylor, 2008).
Annotated bibliography
Bischof G, & Dockrill, S. (200): Cold war respite: the Geneva summit of 1995. USA: Lousiana state university press.
This book talks about the Geneva conference that took place when the cold war was high and at the time when the cold war had become a feature of the system of international. It highlights the conference purpose, and views of whether the Geneva conference was a trial to solve the conflicts between both sides.
Cowley R. (2006): The cold war: A military history– Random House paperback
It talks about the cold war military aspects. It also explains the inability of the Soviet Union to achieve its strategic objective.
Dunbabin.J.P. (2008): The cold war: the great powers and their allies– Pearson Longman.
Main adversaries of cold war are covered in this book, the Soviet Union and the United States, their influence spheres and allies. Cold war is put into context and it cold war is looked at from both perspectives.
Hillstrom K. (2006): The cold war- Omni graphics
This book examines the events and impacts of the cold war on USSR and the US and the world as a whole. It also looks at the cold war history and the people involved.
Larres K, & Lane A. (2001): The cold war: the essential readings.UK: Blackwell publishers
The author concentrates on how the cold war started and the effects. It also explains how it ended and the collapse of the Soviet Union and the victory of the US as the sole superpower.
Sheehan’s. (2003): The cold war– Pearson Longman
It explains the main events and causes of the cold war, when the Soviet Union and the US checked each other due to mutual distrust and fear and considers what the results would be.
Taylor D. (2008): The cold war– CambridgeUniversity press
It looks at the standoff between the Soviet Union and the US and explains the origins, strategies of nuclear and the Soviet Union breakup.
Westad O.A. (2005): The global cold war: third world interventions and the making of our times-CambridgeUniversity press.
It re-examines the conflicts waged by the Soviet Union and the US during the cold war and how it aided in shaping Asia, Latin and Africa.
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