Cause Of The Cold War Essay

The cold war was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts. It was only limited recourse to weapons. A huge split had happened between the Soviet Union and china in the 1960s and spread over the years, destroying the unity of the communist. An internal cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union is American fear of communist attack. Because America was so afraid of the Domino effect (communism spreading), the stood up to communist regimes.
Another internal cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union is America’s refusal to share nuclear secrets. Since the war was very severe and a lot more nuclear weapons were needed, America and Russia went in a race to build the most military weapons. The last internal cause that I have is Truman’s
dislike of Stalin. When Stalin and Truman met, Truman said in his diary that “The U.S. had ammunition to counter the communist leader.” (which created conflict). These were things that were happening inside.
An external cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union is U.S.S.R.’s expansion into eastern Europe.
The Soviet Union wanted to spread communism in Eastern Europe and create a ‘buffer zone’ of friendly governments as defense against Germany. Next cause was USSR’s actions in the Soviet Zone of Germany. The Soviet Union blocked all roads and rail traffic from Berlin. The blockade turned out to be a terrible diplomatic move by the soviets. The Soviet Union and eventually France were given specific zones to occupy which they had to accept.
The Domino effect is another cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Communism was engulfing most of Europe and Asia. America and its allies tried to stop it during WWII but even then the threat gets bigger after WWII and so it leads to the Cold War. An effect of the collapse of the Soviet Union is in Russia, military spending was out dramatically. Russia’s military expenditure double, which was bad for their citizens and Russia was the third largest country.
Another effect Berlin Warr came down, borders opened, and free elections outed communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Head of the East Germany communist party announces that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. November 9, 1989. Last effect McCarthyism: the fear of war was instigated by arms race. Because everyone hated communism so much in America, it led to McCarthyism. The Cold War instigated strong anti-communism in the
USA.
The end of the Cold War when Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the reins of power in the Soviet Union in 1985. No one predicted the revolution he would bring. Gorbachev introduced the policies of glasnost and perestroika to the USSR. In 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved into its component republics with good speed, the Iron Curtain was lifted, and the Cold War came to an end.