After the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers and subsequently a period of tension and hostility arose, known as the Cold War. During this time, a new possibility of complete nuclear destruction that would claim the lives of many emerged, therefore “the easing or relaxing of tensions” on both sides was needed, this period would be known as detente. Both countries had been guaranteed mutually assured destruction as they had both managed to stay ahead in the development of nuclear arsenals. By the late 1960s the Soviets had surpassed the United States in intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) by 1,300 to 1,054. Although the U.S was still ahead in various categories, it no longer enjoyed the immense nuclear advantage as before. However, neither side was prepared for the risk of a full scale war. Apart from the possibility of a disastrous nuclear war, factors in both the U.S and the Soviet Union also motivated the need for a relaxation of tensions.Both countries were in severe economic crisis due to the arms race and needed to diverge the funds to rebuild the economy. In the United States public opinion in America indicated that the Cold War was 'unjustifiable both economically and morally' due to the ongoing war in Vietnam. All these factors would eventually lead to the establishment of detente.…
Although the WWII had ended, Americans now have to worry about another war, the Cold War. Americans had worried about the war in Europe against the Germans, but now they had to go against one of their allies during the war (the trust was very weak between the United States and Soviet Union which made the alliance very weak overall). Americans now feared for a frontal assault from the Soviets. After WWII, the Soviets (under Stalin's command) had made advances in their military and were standing toe to toe with the United States in military power. The problem of Massive Retaliation came from the idea that the Soviet Union had the technology to send missiles directly towards the United States (U.S. New and World Report E). Missiles now had the power to be launched for long distances and explode at an enemy country. This brought up fear amongst the Americans because not only were they behind in military technology, but they had the ability to blow up a part of America from a long distance away. In a response to this,…
With increased US involvement in foreign affairs and the containment of communism, the US gained a new identity as a world power. Early in the cold war, Americans and President Truman were confident that they could win the cold war and stop communism (Document 3). America developed a new fear of communism which led to a second Red Scare and a new fear of nuclear warfare because of new technological…
Truman dropped atomic bombs in a frantic attempt to end the war before Russia could rapidly acquire territory. Russia made a promise to the US at the Yalta Conference in 1943 (back when Roosevelt was President) that…
Given this potential problem, Truman chose to use atomic bomb” (Schaller et al. 867). Actually, the U.S wanted to enter the war to stop the Soviet Union from taking Japan to have a pivotal moment and spread the communist influence throughout Asia. The communist party significantly increased in Greece, Czechoslovakia, and Italy from 1935-1945. This proved that “communism was a powerful force in the postcolonial world” (870). Furthermore, Soviets expanded its ambition.…
After World War 2 the United States moved from an isolationist policy to a policy of engagement. The United States of realize that in order to prevent the expansion of Communism it would need to have a more active engagement. Potsdam would be the final time that Stalin and Truman would cooperate for a long time. The struggle between these two superpowers that believe their own economic and political systems were superior to the others would become known as the Cold War, a decade-long struggle for technological and ideological Supremacy.…
Several WAISers disagreed with Christopher Jones, who denied Reagan's role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. Harry Papasotiriou writes: "The Soviet Union certainly collapsed of its own weight, but Reagan helped speed up the process. The following paragraphs are from a forthcoming book that I am co-authoring. Reagan’s conviction that the Soviet Union was both a dangerous military power and a collapsing economic system derived not from any deep knowledge of the Soviet Union. Yet he proved to be the proverbial right man in the right place at the right time.…
Numerous expected that the Cold war was for the most part about the conviction that the more atomic weapons on nation had, the all the more capable and prevailing they were. This unquestionably had a colossal impact in the United States' Domestic arrangement and American culture. The entire world was in Danger, USA blasted the H-bomb in 1953. The Soviets additionally delivered a H-Bomb in 1953. They both started developing stockpiles of atomic weapons.…
One of the main reasons was that there were huge differences in the way that the East and West were led and the disagreements about this point. The West was a democratic state, while the East was a one-party state. Overshadowing all these initial Cold War issues of 1945 was the Atomic bomb. The new weapon used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki presented a category of problems. Einstein wrote a letter to FDR asking him to start work on a new super-weapon before the Germans had developed one…
But as soon as the war ended, and there was no one else left to fight, the Soviet Union decided to test the waters and upset the United States. The Soviet Union was a very selfish country, they were upset with the United States for coming into the war late, which led to the deaths of millions of Russians. Their grievances turned into distrust and enmity. After the War ended, most American officials agreed to a strategy called “containment”, in hopes that they could contain communism against the Soviet Union.…
The 1950s also saw a vast increase in the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Successes of the communists in developing nuclear weapons had led to increases in funding for the US nuclear program. Advancements, such as the hydrogen bomb, and increase in ballistic missile technology would lead to fear in the US of all-out war with the USSR. 1960s- This decade would see the US continue its policy of containment of communist forces.…
was wanted to drop the bomb not on Germany but rather Japan. The next September, the U.S. furthermore, British pioneers consented to use the bomb against Japan. Around spring 1945, with Japan in a terrible and weak position, the United States was considering the accompanying methods for conveying the long war to an end: attack the Japanese terrain in November 1945, request that the Soviet Union join the war against Japan, guarantee continuation of the ruler framework, or utilize the nuclear bomb. The U.S. accepted that if the nuclear bomb could end the war, Soviet impact after the war would be confined and locally the colossal expense of improvement would be advocated (Why Did the U.S. Decide to Drop the Bomb on Japan?,…
In a way you expected, issues between The Soviet Union and U.S may have started before the conclusion of The Second World War. Before 1941, The Soviets helped the Axis achieve it agenda. However, due to a betrayal on Hitler’s part, The Soviets decide to help the Allies by conquering Berlin of April 30, 1945, leading to the suicide of Hitler and his wife Eva. Afterwards, U.S release merciless hell upon the Japanese by using the disastrous Atomic Bomb. Soon afterwards, The Axis power surrender under the mighty force of The Allies.…
Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. History , 2009 The United States, Britain, and France along with other Western European nations grew further apart from the Soviet Union after World War II. The USSR, which had been their World War II ally, was increasingly seen as a potential aggressor. The United States and several Western European nations agreed that potential Soviet aggression warranted a stronger alliance among them. What resulted was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The USSR had detonated its first atomic bomb in 1949, thereby raising additional concerns and solidifying the consensus in Western Europe that if the United States pulled out of Europe and went back to its former isolationist ways, Western Europe would face a Russian threat. American leaders began to believe that it would be easier to prevent another global war than to win one after it began. The United States also realized that the oceans that had protected it for years were no longer a strong defense against Russian air and missile technology. The North Atlantic Treaty bound together the United States, Canada, and most Western European nations as a bloc promising each other assistance in case any of them were attacked. Though there was no mention of the USSR in the treaty, it was abundantly clear that it was a Soviet attack that was feared. By 1955, the Allies formally ended their occupation of Germany and gave the new West German Republic full sovereignty. This new country was given full membership in NATO and began to rearm itself for the first time since Hitler's defeat. The creation of NATO and the resurgence of Western Germany encouraged the USSR to create an alliance with its satellite nations—the Warsaw Pact. The USSR had essentially controlled or at least held strong influence over Poland, Albania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. The Warsaw Pact codified the existing relationships the USSR had with those countries and both formally and…
“It is true that liberty is precious; so precious that it must be carefully rationed.” Vladimir Lenin said this, he was the founder of the Soviet Union, a command economy that collapsed in 1991. This quote summarizes the type of control that he believed was required to create a utopian country. In a command economy, the government makes all decisions on jobs, land, and production, which leads to many social and political ramifications. This fact, along with a multitude of other factors, led to the Soviet Union’s collapse. In general, there is scarcely a command economy in history that has had success, this due to the fact that the negatives of a centrally controlled economy far outweigh the positives. The elements that led to the failure of…