THE COLD WAR.   Term Paper ID:30775 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Discusses its dominance in world affairs. The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in ideological, political and economic battle. Use of poor, underdeveloped Third World nations in the battle between the two super powers. Major events of the Cold War. Collapse of the Soviet Union. Nuclear threat. Paper Introduction: The Cold War dominated world affairs for half a century, with the United States and the Soviet Union doing ideological, political and economic battle, and using Third World nations (most significantly Vietnam and Afghanistan) to do indirect military battle with one another. The major events of the Cold War, from the end of World War II to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, can be understood only in this context of mutual fear, hatred and distrust between the two superpowers. Despite the fact they were allies in fighting Hitler's Germany, the two quickly established the Cold War as a way to exert their power at home and abroad and to prevent the other from gaining footholds in the world, again, especially in the poor, underdeveloped nations of the Third World. Paterson writes that "Two nations with quite different Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The years of 1948 and 1949 saw the Berlin Blockade, and theestablishment of NATO, further entrenching the two sides in the Cold Warface-off. The Truman Doctrine was the response to the Soviet incursion intoTurkey and Greece, with containment of communism the goal of that Doctrine(Gaddis 48). The Cold War may be over, but itseffects live on in 2 1. Stalin's eventual replacement, Khrushchev, was ousted in1964 primarily because of his perceived failure in the face-off withKennedy over the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The Cold War had a mind andforce of its own. The 195 s saw the Korean War, which resulted in a division of Korea,and the 196 s saw the Vietnam War, which proved to be a disaster for theU.S., just as Afghanistan would be the Soviets' disaster. Historical memories of the Cold War era guided the creation of a new world order. The Cold War dominated world affairs for half a century, with theUnited States and the Soviet Union doing ideological, political andeconomic battle, and using Third World nations (most significantly Vietnamand Afghanistan) to do indirect military battle with one another. Rise to Globalism. supportedin their war with the Soviets. altered it. Norton, 1992.----------------------- 6 Soviet President Gorbachev in the 198 s, in part forced by social andeconomic reform, tried to ease tensions with the U.S. The two most significant events of the Cold War from this reader'sperspective, again, were the Vietnam and Afghanistan wars, which led todefeat and disillusionment of both superpowers as they learned the limitsof their power. Truman and Stalin set the tone for the hostility and suspicion, whichwould mark American-Soviet relations to the end of the Cold War. TheAmericans saw their role as leaders of the world, and they took an activistrole in shaping the post-war globe, encountering Soviet resistance at everyturn. Past, present, and future, as always, fused" (Paterson ix-x). The Yalta Conference in 1945 concluded with the agreement of thevictors to divide Germany up to prevent a recurrence of wear. A succession of Soviet and American leaders continued the Cold Warthrough the 197 s and 198 s, with periods of detente in which some hope foreasing the Cold War existed, but never proved to be as real as was hoped. In those wars,the superpowers were forced to realize that a brute foreign force cannotalways defeat an indigenous army that is fighting for its homeland. The Soviets, victims ofinvasions throughout history, were distrustful of the Americans, havingbeen invaded by them during their revolutionary period in 192 . Considering the blockade (which the allies overcame by airlifts)and numerous other confrontations (the Cuban Missile Crisis being the othermost dangerous conflict), it is amazing that the Soviets and Americansnever fought militarily in the half century of the Cold War. New York: Penguin, 1993.Gaddis, John Lewis. Work CitedAmbrose, Stephen E. Washington and Moscow often determinedwhether people in other nations voted, where they could travel, how muchthey ate, and what they could print" (Paterson 26). In fact, that nuclear threat is alive today in the battle of the U.S.with the terrorist ring headed by bin Laden (Gerstenzang A1). Now he is not only a "terrorist" but is seenas a potential nuclear threat to the U.S. By four years after the end ofWorld War II, "decisions made in ... The death of Stalin did not alter the Cold War much, any more thanthe change of leaders in the U.S. In the year 2 1, the Cold War issues which still impact Americanforeign and domestic policy become all too clear in examining the currentwar with Afghanistan and the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The wars in Kosovo, Serbia and the other remnants of the formerYugoslavia were direct results of the end of the Cold War, due to theSoviet Union's break-up and that superpower's loss of control over itsEastern European satellites. This exampleshows that the Cold War is, in a sense, all too alive in 2 1, and that theconsequences of a conflict live long after the conflict appears to be over.Bin Laden was among the Afghan "freedom fighters" whom the U.S. Despite the factthey were allies in fighting Hitler's Germany, the two quickly establishedthe Cold War as a way to exert their power at home and abroad and toprevent the other from gaining footholds in the world, again, especially inthe poor, underdeveloped nations of the Third World. New York: W.W. Strategies of Containment. The threat of nuclear war--whether from a rogue state such as Korea,or a regional dispute between states such as India and Pakistan, or from aterrorist group (perhaps gaining nuclear material from the loosely-controlled Soviet stockpile)--is a still living threat remaining from theCold War. A1, A12.Paterson, Thomas G. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 1982.Gerstenzang, James. Paterson writes that "Two nations with quite different ideologiesemerged from the rubble of World War II" and "tried to fill vacuums ofpower" around the world, starting in Europe. The Sovietsreneged immediately, making Eastern Europe its own, and the Cold War wason. The nuclear arms race between the U.S., the Soviets, and then theChinese, was the most frightening aspect of the Cold War, but, as withconventional forces, the feared outbreak of nuclear war between thesuperpowers never occurred. Paterson writes thatthe end of the Cold War has set an agenda for the world just as much as theCold War did when it was active: Like a huge glacier, the Cold War had imposed a distinct topography on international relations; its retreat exposed a scarred, debris-littered landscape much in need of repair and redefinition. The half century of the Cold War is dotted with other major events--the crushing of freedom movements in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in1968, the ongoing arms race, the Bay of Pigs of 1961 and the constructionof the Berlin Wall in the same year (both leading the Soviets to believethat the U.S, was weak), and then the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which theAmericans under Kennedy set up a blockade of Cuba and showed they weretougher than the Soviets believed (Ambrose 118). November 7, 2 1. In 1989 the BerlinWall fell, and, finally, in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and "the ColdWar seemed over once and for all" (Paterson 225). The majorevents of the Cold War, from the end of World War II to the fall of theSoviet Union in 1989, can be understood only in this context of mutualfear, hatred and distrust between the two superpowers. "Bin Laden Seeks to Gain Nuclear Arms, Bush Says."Los Angeles Times. On Every Front. 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