The Cold War and Africa
The Cold War
For more than forty years, the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union directly thrented each other with nuclear weapons. This period of time is referred to as the cold war. In my research paper I will be describing the cold war in full details, the people that influence the war, and introducing the major affect that the war played in society.
During the Cold War the containment was hard to control. Mutual suspicion had long existed between the West and the USSR(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), and friction was sometimes manifest in the Grand Alliance during World War II. After the war the West felt threatened by the continued expansionist policy of the Soviet Union, and the traditional Russian fear of incursion from the West continued. Communists seized power in Eastern Europe with the support of the Red Army, the Russian occupation zones in Germany and Austria were sealed off by army patrols, and threats were directed against Turkey and Greece. Conflict sometimes grew intense in the United Nations, which was at times incapacitated by the ramifications of the cold war, at others effective in dealing with immediate issues.
The containment strategy also provided a unprecedented arms buildup in the United States with the help of the atomic bomb. In 1950, a National Security Council Report known as NSC–68 had echoed Truman’s recommendation that the country use military force to "contain" communist expansionism anywhere it seemed to be occurring. To that end, the report called for a four-fold increase in defense spending. American officials encouraged the development of atomic weapons like the ones that had ended World War II. Thus began a deadly "arms race." In 1949, the Soviets tested an atom bomb of their own. In response, President Truman announced that the United States would build an even more destructive atomic weapon: the hydrogen bomb, or "superbomb." Stalin followed suit. As a result, the stakes of the Cold War were
For more than forty years, the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union directly thrented each other with nuclear weapons. This period of time is referred to as the cold war. In my research paper I will be describing the cold war in full details, the people that influence the war, and introducing the major affect that the war played in society.
During the Cold War the containment was hard to control. Mutual suspicion had long existed between the West and the USSR(Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), and friction was sometimes manifest in the Grand Alliance during World War II. After the war the West felt threatened by the continued expansionist policy of the Soviet Union, and the traditional Russian fear of incursion from the West continued. Communists seized power in Eastern Europe with the support of the Red Army, the Russian occupation zones in Germany and Austria were sealed off by army patrols, and threats were directed against Turkey and Greece. Conflict sometimes grew intense in the United Nations, which was at times incapacitated by the ramifications of the cold war, at others effective in dealing with immediate issues.
The containment strategy also provided a unprecedented arms buildup in the United States with the help of the atomic bomb. In 1950, a National Security Council Report known as NSC–68 had echoed Truman’s recommendation that the country use military force to "contain" communist expansionism anywhere it seemed to be occurring. To that end, the report called for a four-fold increase in defense spending. American officials encouraged the development of atomic weapons like the ones that had ended World War II. Thus began a deadly "arms race." In 1949, the Soviets tested an atom bomb of their own. In response, President Truman announced that the United States would build an even more destructive atomic weapon: the hydrogen bomb, or "superbomb." Stalin followed suit. As a result, the stakes of the Cold War were