Cold War

12/18/2005

Cont. World

Cold War

The cold war is best defined as a struggle of power between the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) who were communists and the USA who were democratic. The cold war never lead to any fighting. The cold war was mainly a lack of trust, suspicion, and misunderstandings on both sides and their allies. The cold war began in 1945, after WWII, and ended in late 1989. The cold war started because of disagreements on many issues and on Eastern Europe. The USA accused Russia of wanting to spread communism throughout the world and Russia accused the USA of practicing imperialism and wanting to stop other countries revolutionary activity. On account of these disagreements the USA adopted the “get tough” policy towards the USSR. In return the Soviet Union accused the united states of wanting to overthrow its communist government. The two countries split up into two separate sides referred to as blocs. In the 1950’s, the united states lead the Western Bloc which consisted of West Germany, France, Canada, Great Britton, The Philippines, Japan, Latin America, and Western Europe. On the other side the Eastern Bloc lead by the Soviet Union which consisted of East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania. Later in 1949, China joined the Eastern bloc because their government was taken over by communist power. The natural nations or nonaligned (not in any bloc) were, India, Cambodia, Indonesia and most Africa.

As the years past tension grew. Each side accused the other of wanting to take over the world. Each thought that their system of government were better then the other. It was as though a fight between right and wrong. Everyone feared that if WWIII broke out it would be the end of the world. Many economic developments caused power shifts. Japan and West Germany were industrializing rapidly. In 1970, Soviet and West German leaders signed a treaty that stated that their will be peaceful relations between their nations. In 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan because they were protecting their government from rebels. This Invasion made tension greater between the two sides. Following the invasion in the late 1980’s, the US and USSR signed an arms control agreement, which eased tension among themselves.

During 1945, and early 1046, the Soviet Union scratched all contacts between the west and the occupied the territories of Eastern Europe. In March 1946, Churchill warned that “an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent of Europe”. Behind the curtain the USSR rapidly expanded its power. In 1946-1947 and in 1948, the Soviet Union organized communist governments in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The new communist governments were known as Soviet Satellites because they were controlled by the USSR.

May, 1960, the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 spy plane that belonged to the USA. The pilot Francis Gary admitted that he was a spy. Eisenhower admitted that the plane has been taking pictures of Russia for four years and took full responsibility for the incident.

During the summit conference on May