Why Is The Cold War Wrong?

The Cold War was borne out of two fundamentally different forms of governing a society: capitalism and communism. Opposing ideas have never been clearer in history then when looking at the capitalist United States and communist Russia immediately after World War II. Who is to say that free enterprise is wrong? Who is to say that all people working toward the common good is wrong? Sadly, strong opinion coupled with intense fear on both sides could have been disastrous for mankind. While the Cold War was labeled a “war,” it was not a war in the conventional sense, as the United States and Russian militaries never met face to face on a battleground. It was a war over power. Who had more allies? Who had superior weaponry? Who had the mightier military? The United States detonated the very first atomic bomb in 1945. Mere years later, the Russians had developed nuclear weaponry and detonated their own bomb. The United States then developed and detonated something much more powerful than a nuclear bomb: the hydrogen bomb. Within one year, the Russians had done the same. Each country now had the capacity to absolutely devastate the other.
Russia desired a buffer zone between itself and Western Europe immediately after World War II.
Russia had been invaded in both World Wars and the country’s leader, Joseph Stalin, did not want history to repeat itself. Russia took control of surrounding countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania to ensure enough space between itself and the west. The United States government wanted free elections held in those countries, while Russia wanted to install its own governments and to ensure that Germany would never rise to power again. From 1948 to 1951, the United States spent over $12 billion in what was known as the “Marshall Plan” to help Europe rebuild itself after the devastation that was WWII. Russia believed it was simply a trick to lure away its satellite
countries. The Soviets tried to extend their power to Greece and Turkey by promoting insurgents. The United States responded by sending economic and military aid to fight back the communists in the form of the “Truman Doctrine.” The Truman Doctrine essentially said that The United States was not going to sit back as an isolationist country anymore. The creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 stated to the rest of the world that the nations that belonged to this organization such as the United States, Britain, Canada, France and others, stood together in the face of any threat. Attacking any one country would be an attack on them all. Though neither one of these actions by the United States were directly expressed to be combatting Russia, a clear message was sent that trying to spread communism throughout the world was not acceptable. Russia eventually responded to this in 1955 with the Warsaw Pact, which made the same statement as NATO, but Russia had its satellite countries included in the pact. Both the United States and Russia were now posturing; flexing their respective muscles in the face of each other, but neither would dare directly attack the other. There were many issues during the Cold War that certainly could have deteriorated the already awful relations between the United States and the Russians, such as the United States’ U-2 spy plane crashing in Russia and General MacArthur wanting to further attacks on the Chinese and North Koreans. Thankfully, the respective leaders of the United States and Russia decided not to press either issue and exacerbate an already immensely tense situation. The Cold War is a wonderful example of fear and its effects. Both capitalists and communists alike feared the expansion of the other, and viewed the other as the enemy. It is amazing that mankind did not destroy itself during the decades of the cold war.