Brad Trublowski 2/19/13 IAH 221C 002 The Inevitable Cold War At the end of World War II, two super powers emerged: Unites States and Russia. These two countries are the main reason World War II was brought to an end. After the war, there were many disputes on solving the problems in a weak and much damaged Europe. The two superpowers were only allies during the war and they will find out after the war, they will have many conflicts. Russia and the United States had very different political policies which led to the Cold War being inevitable.
The infamous English rock/pop band of the 60’s, originally named The Blackjacks, first began playing in random shows across the UK and running into some deportation troubles in Germany (Lewisohn, 1992 p. 24-25.) As we all know, the Beatles’ golden years were the 60’s; and the 60’s were one hell of a year for change. It held within it’s years the assignation of President Kennedy,
The Soviet Union was on one side of the Cold War and Western Europe and the United States were on the other. The destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989, which was the ultimate symbol of the Cold War, was a major turning point in the collapse of communism which led to the unification of East and West Germany. In 1949, the city of Berlin was divided into East Berlin and West Berlin. The city of Berlin was separated because of the Potsdam Agreement. This agreement put Germany formally under the administration of four wartime Allies.
Also an unforgettable achievement of Reagans was ending the cold war which had been raging all the way back since World War 2 and America’s fear of communisms quest for world domination. He accomplished this by reversing the policy of détente and stood firm against the Soviet Union and giving aid to the rebels battling soviet-backed Marxists from Nicaragua to Angola which was critical in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet empire and ended the cold war. Despite the fact Reagan was excellent at speeches his belief in peace through strength became a realization and in the long run an important achievement. Basically since the military was diminished during the Carter years Reagan had to think of a way to rebuild and strengthen our military. He accomplished this by reviving the B-1 bomber that carter canceled, starting production of the MX missile, and pushing NATO to push Pershing missiles in West Germany.
Nixon, 37th President of the United States, announced his resignation. Nixon was the first to leave office under threat of impeachment. His resignation came as a disastrous peak of mismanagement of the Presidential office and was revealed before the stunned American public as the watched in awe. Many Americans expressed their feelings of relief that this ongoing political nightmare was over “But his accomplishments, or his failures of accomplishments, are the least important part of the saga of Richard M. Nixon. What is important is that here was a man who failed his public trust.
While Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy all had the same same Cold War intention of ending communism, their ways of achieving their goal were different.The Cold War was an angry dispute between the United States and the Soviet Union about whether we should spread or contain communism (Ayres 817). According to Edward Ayres in American Anthem: Reconstruction to the Present all three Presidents used some form of Economic Aid, how we help other countries financially; Military Aid, how we help other countries’ militaries; and finally, Military Use, how we utilise our military (Ayres 817). Their end goal was to completely contain, or confine communism(Truman).
However, the breakdown in relations between the emerging superpowers during the war and the consequences of the disbandment of the Grand Alliance can be interpreted as the start of the Cold War. Tensions during wartime conferences paved the way for post-war conflict and it can be argued that as soon as the common enemy of Hitler was destroyed, the disparity in post-war aims of the superpowers led to the Cold War. The conferences of ‘the Big Thee’ at Yalta and Potsdam produced areas of tension surrounding plans for Germany and Poland, highlighting the USA fear of USSR’s expansion. Therefore Stalin’s policies for these countries can be construed as an attempt to form an ‘Eastern Bloc’, knowing this to be in complete contradiction with Western ideals for a world without spheres of influence. However, there is not much evidence to suggest the USSR’s was pursuing expansionist aims at this point, and in fact was simply securing its borders.
Although the cold war had begun long before the Berlin Blockade it only amplified the suspicion between the USA and the USSR. By the end of the Berlin Blockade America had set up NATO with the aim of “deterring Soviet expansionism”(NATO) meanwhile USSR responded by creating their own military alliance: The Warsaw Pact. After the Berlin Blockade America and the Soviet Union were opposed military, ideologically and economically. The Berlin Blockade was the first point of tension between the two former allies, although the problem originally arose from the US introducing a new currency into Bizonia it was the Soviet’s rash reaction that almost lead to
Because of the disagreement with the foundation of a countries’ structure, the USA and the USSR were strange bedfellows during the Second World War. Their alliance was purely strategic. The underlying differences between the supreme capitalist nation (the USA) and the original communist state (the USSR) were bound to re-emerge once Germany and Japan had been defeated. Both of the Superpowers saw each other as a threat to its continued survival and adopted strategies to preserve their positions, which brought a high level of tension after World War 2. At the final stage of World War Two, it was quite clear that the Allies would get the final victory, so in February 1945, Stalin (USSR), Churchill (UK) and Roosevelt (USA) met at Yalta to discuss
Gorbachev, who was the new General Secretary in 1985, was to a large extent contributed to the break-up of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact. Unlike Stalin and his processors, Andropov and Chernenko , he tried to reform Soviet Union by highly promoting democracy among the Soviet satellites through the democratic programs. Among the two democratic programs which he had carried out, Glasnost was the program which led to the break-up of the USSR while the consideration of economic reform led to the break-up of the Warsaw Pact. Glasnost, which means openness, granted the people more freedom. Such as freedom of speech, voting rights, cutting off the power of the communist party, as well as releasing dissidents like Sakharov.