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Cold War started shortly after World War II. The United States and the Soviet Union were allies at that time because the biggest threat to both countries - and to all of Europe - was Nazi Germany. Hitler had to be stopped and the United States and the Soviet Union joined forces to crush Germany. And then the war ended and the decisions needed to be made as to how European nations would be supervised by or taken over by; so it was up to the communist Soviet Union and the capitalist U.S. To make those strategic arrangements. Who would have the greatest influence in Europe? That was the question that really led to the tensions driving the Cold War.
At the Yalta conference in February 1945, there was no firm agreement; and at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the argument over the future of Germany and Eastern Europe grew into a tense situation between President Harry Truman and Soviet dictator Stalin. After that meeting ended in angry words, the U.S. exploded two atomic bombs on Japan, creating further tensions between the two superpowers.
Truman's Marshall Plan (helping Europeans rebuild with food and supplies) and Truman's aid sent to the Greek military (helping them defeat communists) showed the U.S. was willing to stand up to the Soviets. When the U.S. tried to unite East and West Germany, Stalin build a blockade into West Berlin, but the U.S. flew supplies in over the blockade to keep their influence strong in Germany. The Soviets resented that. The entire buildup of bad feelings between the two superpowers was ideological and political. The communists wanted to spread their influence, and they began supporting revolutionary movements in Africa, Asia, and in Latin America, to expand communism. President Eisenhower in the 1950s threatened to use nuclear weapons if the Soviets intervened in the Middle East during the Suez Crisis. Basically, the U.S. And Soviets challenged each other to go one better each time a new move was made; it was like a chess match, only the loser might have been both countries because the Soviets had the atomic bomb by 1949, and if one attacked the other, no doubt the retaliation would be severe, and perhaps wipe out millions of people. The Cold War ended in around 1989, when Soviet President Gorbachev introduced reforms and democracy.
Cold War began very shortly after the end of World War II when the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall -- and made other moves in its campaign to spread communism -- and the United States and its allies worked to protect democratic states and to foster democratic advocacy in those states. It was called a "Cold War" because even though both super powers had ample nuclear capability to destroy
In fact, many people believe it was the final factor that led to disintegration of Soviet/U.S. relations, and directly led to the failure of the Moscow Conference of foreign ministers in March 1947. The conference had been convened in an attempt for the two powers to come to an agreement about situations in Europe, including whether or not to unify the German state, but with its failure, relations between
Relations with West improved a lot. Economic liberalization process also started after the rise of Gorbachev as many economic and social problems plagued Soviet Union. In the face of economic issues facing the empire the cost of managing the cold war with respect to the Cold War arms race almost endangered its survival. The Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986 made matters even worse for the Soviet Republic. On American front
Cold War Prior to World War II, American foreign policy had been predicted upon isolationism. Afterward, determined to avoid the mistakes of the pre-war period, American leaders embarked upon an unprecedented era of worldwide commitments. This included entry into a number of alliances with foreign nations, interventions in foreign conflicts (either covertly or overtly) and an unlimited commitment to maintain the nation's military readiness. In doing so, they irrevocably changed this
Cold War Era Many films about the cold war era, especially the early films, speak out against its ideals, while others support these ideals. Below is a consideration of selected Cold War era films, and how these were influenced by the Cold War. Dr. Strangelove Dr. Strangelove is subtitled "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." Its producer/director is Stanley Kubrick and the film was released during 1964. The
They could do it time and time again with success. The first electric car was used on the moon during the Apollo 14 (Endeavor and Falcon) mission (Kennedy Space Center). Meanwhile in Russia While the space program in the United States was busy becoming a popular culture icon, the Russian space program took on a different personality. They still launched missions for "national prestige" (Wade). However, the majority of Soviet missions