During the war the Soviet Union and the USA formed a close alliance due to the shared aim of the defeat of Germany. The Soviet Union became a lot more powerful due to Stalin’s five year plans, and became a contender with the USA for the world’s largest superpower. This sparked conflict between the two nations and a race to see who would be the most powerful, the Cold War. One of the main factors that that caused the relationship between the Soviet Union and the USA was the arms race, which consisted of both nations building up their military and economic power to more than the other. A large army, navy, air force and weaponry were maintained and each party aspired to be more powerful with the bigger military force.
Cold war competition Normally competition between rivals can be helpful in overcoming misunderstandings. However within the Cold War, the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, increased tension between them through their competition. The two superpowers were fundamentally different in most ways, and already with a basis of tension they began to compete in many areas ranging from the exclusive ‘Space Race’ to the ‘Arms Race.’ Unduly this competition led to many consequences both during and after. Communism and capitalism, the governments of the USSR and the USA respectively, were fundamentally different from the very beginning raising tensions high. Communism considers the needs of the society higher than that of the individual (#13 Anon, 2002), shunning private ownership of resources and land (#14 Anon, 2010), with equal wages paid out no matter the job or responsibilities.
In what ways did spies during the cold war try to gain information? What did they do with this information and was it beneficial to our country? Tension after World War 2 between the Western world and the Communist world. The largest tension was between the US and the Soviet Union. After the debatable “success” of the atomic bomb there was talk of using it again Every country now wanted to know who had one, where it was kept, and when/if they would be using it Causes Differences between the US and the Soviet Union were intensified by suspicions after the war.
On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 had been launched in to space. On it was Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins. The United States had successfully landed the first men on the moon and brought them back home safely. In conclusion, the Cold War began because the United States was working hard to contain the spread of communism, the United States was worried about Soviet missiles, and the United States was in a race against the Soviet Union to send the first man to the man. Not only did the Cold War push the United States to discover new technological advances, but it also taught the United States how to react when a missile is dangerously close to the
In response to the bombing of Japan, the Soviet Union and Communist China developed their own nuclear weapons. This marked the beginning of the Cold War, the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United Sates was due to the fact that both countries wanted to become the sole superpower of the world, and they also disagreed on what the world should look like postwar. The Cold War lasted for several years and had many period of heightened tension such as the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. World War II impacted America in many ways the GI Bill helped stimulate the economy which led to development and expansion into the west. Due to the financial securities family sizes increased and gave us the baby boom era.
The Cold War changed American culture in a number of important ways. Fear of communism greatly increased due to rising tensions with the Soviet Union. Politicians of both parties often tapped into that fear and ran for office based on how strong they would be against communists. And fighting communism always involved the threat of nuclear war since both the U.S. and Soviet Union had nuclear weapons trained on each other. President Dwight Eisenhower's military plan relied on nuclear stockpiles rather than land forces.
Running in the 1960 Presidential political campaign, candidates had to overcome issues of the world. Some of the issues addressed while running in the 60’s were the integrations of whites and African Americans, the African American “sit-in” protests, which upset many white American citizens. After a plane was shot down over Russia, America admitted sending planes to spy on the Soviets, which resulted in a cancelation of a meeting between President Eisenhower and Khrushchev. This resulted in the United Nations becoming panicked for further outburst of communism. Americans were developing new weapon like the hydrogen bomb to expand American weaponry on foreign countries.
Noah Benckendorf Mrs. Eddleman and Mr. Sturm American Studies 22 October 2012 The Vietnam War The Cold War Era in the United States was nothing if not intense. It was a time of great hesitation on this planet. Everyone was just waiting to see who would launch the first nuclear weapon, the Soviet Union or the United States. This led to intense tension not just between us and Russia but between us and any other communist country too. The four most important of those communist countries are China, North Korea, Cuba and as everyone knows Vietnam.
The Teheran Conference (in Iran) took place in 1943 and the agreement made by the United States and the Great Britain was that the Soviet Union would be granted more territory, such as eastern Poland, Bessarabia, and Bukovina. The United States also provided weapons, food, and other supplies to help support the Soviet Union’s fight against Germany. There was also talk of strategies for how to defeat the Nazi’s (Germany). Stalin wanted to launch a full-scale attack against Germany, but this attack didn’t take place until two years later. This was the start of Stalin not trusting the United States and Great Britain.
The main aspect that lead to the Cuban missile crisis was the arms development between 1945-1963. The competition between the USA and USSR lead to bigger and more dangerous weapons, the increased threat these weapons bought created great tension that could only end with firing upon one another or a significant reduction of nuclear arms. In 1949 the USSR had matched the USA with the development of their own atom bomb. This sparked the battle for dominant power with the rapid development of hydrogen bombs, inter-continental ballistic missiles and huge advancements in satellite and missile delivery systems. These developments changed the US policies of brinkmanship and massive retaliations, as these methods only worked while the USA remained militarily superior.