World War Two
By: Mike • Essay • 709 Words • February 18, 2010 • 1,018 Views
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The United states have encountered many tough situations since World War Two. The end of the war did not mean peace. Although the United States have not been in a declared war since 1945 the Cold War caused much uproar throughout the world. After World War Two the United States and the Soviet Union have had many close encounters. World War Two did not end the hostility between the two countries but ironically to another war; the Cold War. Many proxy wars occurred during this time period, and it was evident the world was not in peace but in yet another war.
The United states and the Soviet Union were in bi-polarity system during the cold war because they were the two greatest superpowers in the world at the time. They were in an arms race for years to see who can achieve a higher military status. Although they were in a race to develop extremely powerful bombs and weaponry, neither country would ever use them directly on one another. They would support other countries however, in these so called proxy wars over the years. The Soviet Union strongly promoted their idea of communism and helped support poor countries such as Vietnam and Korea to try and turn over to a communist government. The United States on the
other hand obviously promoted democratic policies and did their best to prevent the Soviet Union from converting any of these weaker countries to fall to a communist government.
Having Cuba fall to a communist government was a big drawback for the united
states. This was the first major roadblock for the Truman Doctrine as well. This meant
that the Soviet Union and Cuba were now allies. The United States were very unhappy
with this, especially since Cuba was only ninety miles from the coast of Florida. This
gave the Soviet Union a huge advantage if they ever wanted to attack the United States.
Unfortunately this became a reality when the Cuban missile crisis occurred in October of
1962. The Soviet Union was about to launch numerous bombs towards many major cities
in the United States. Luckily the two superpowers were able to come to an agreement
and the bombs were never launched.
Cuba was not the only country where the United States was unsuccessful in
preventing the spread of communism though. The United States went to war in Korea
and Vietnam as well, to try and stop this spread of communism. In Korea they were able
to stop the civil war and prevent South Korea from falling to a communist government.
Vietnam however was an overall loss. The United States lost almost 60,000