History Of The Cold War

The Cold War

Between 1948 and 1991 was another time of fear and geopolitical tension. The tension came as a result of World War II and developed over a rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. Historians have indicated that the Cold War began when the Truman Doctrine was signed and that the war ended when the Soviet Union collapsed. The term “cold” was used because there was no actual fighting between the two nations rather, the war was fought with proxy wars that each side supported. The Cold War would include wars like The Korean (1950-53), Vietnam (1954-75), Arab-Israeli (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982), and Afghan (1979-89). These wars were all examples of the superpowers exploiting regional
Japan had led the way with early success against the European powers, this inspired others in Asia to challenge European supremacy. One such country was China, whose civil war between the Communists led by Mao Zedong and the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek had been interrupted by World War II. By 1949, the Communists emerged victoriously, and the West found itself confronted by another Communist power that was heavily backed by the Soviet Union. This would bring Korea into the grasps of the United States and the Soviets. This war would end with ceasefire at the original border, the thirty-eighth parallel. The Korean War had two major results. It contained the spread of Communism, and it also affected Japan where the United States was worried about the further spread of Communism and Soviet power into East Asia. Because of fear of Japan becoming a communist state due to their poor and unstable conditions, the Unites States decided to provide Japan with economic support. With the United States, economic support for Japan flourished to the point of challenging the United States in world trade. The United States would find themselves in another war against the Vietnamese. The Vietnam War, a protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong,
In the East Stalin’s brand of communism was more or less forced. Their economies were slowly rebuilt, but they suffered from the same problems as that of the Soviet Union. Consumer items were not being produced. In East Germany, there was an increasing discontent with Soviet authority and political and social repression. Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia also each had periods of uprisings where they tried to at least lessen Soviet influence. The United States and their allies united their portions of Germany and started setting up political institutions to build a democratic West German state. The U.S. and their allies wanted it to serve as a political and geographic buffer against the Soviet Union. Their goal was to build it up so that it could become a nation of people who wanted to join the West, politically. East Germany became a prison and many Germans tried to escape but were forcibly kept in Soviet threat of violence. In the West Europeans experienced an economic boom with industrial and agricultural growth. Most of the Western European states with colonies in other parts of the world like Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands, gave up their colonies during this time. The Marshall Plan also facilitated this postwar economic