History Group
Question:
scott-locklear
Teacher
Doctorate
What was the Cold War?
Answers:
-
clane Teacher
High School - 10th GradeeNotes Editor
Posted by clane on Monday April 7, 2008 at 6:58 PMThe Cold War describes a period of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. The reason it is known as "cold" is because there was no actual physical combat. There was a race to see who could develop space technology first; there was a lot of espionage that took place; proxy wars were fought where each country used smaller countries to battle each other; there were threats of nuclear warfare and an arms race big enough to alarm countries everywhere. Nuclear warfare meant annihilation of huge parts of the world, and the world knew that the US was not afraid to use them because of the bombings on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
The Cold War ensued because the US and the Soviet Union could not agree on post-World War II rebuilding strategies. Even though the two were allies during WWII, they could not compromise on their visions of the postwar world. The Soviet Union pushed communism, which the US fought hard against.
The Cold War ended in December of 1989 when President George H. W. Bush and Gorbachev terminated hostilities because the Soviet Union was about to collapse.
A really fantastic allegory to read if you're interested in the Cold War is The Golden Kite the Silver Wind by Ray Bradbury.
-
dbello Teacher
High School - 12th GradeeNotes Editor
Posted by dbello on Friday August 15, 2008 at 10:52 PMAfter the Japanese surrender in August 1945 the focus shifted towards rebuilding Europe with representative governments and the democratic processes as its guide. It became increasingly clear that Stalin had no intention of allowing free elections to take place in Germany. The failure of the Allies to reach a peace agreement at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences left post war Europe in a quagmire. The old European powers had disintegrated and in its place, the "superpowers". The United States and the Soviet Union would dominate world politics for more than forty years. The Cold War was a war of idealogies between these two nations. Both nations are guilty of battling their idealogical point of view on nations that were either left vulnerable after the war or were politically unable to withstand their political, and or military might. Most historians agree that with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 that The Cold War has ended, however history is never black and white. All the shades of grey left from The Cold War are responsible for the state of global politics we live with today.
-
jhsierra Teacher
High School - 11th GradeeNotes Editor
Posted by jhsierra on Saturday August 23, 2008 at 8:33 PMThe Cold War refers to the Post-WWII period of increased hostility between the two remaining super-powers, the US and the USSR. It is referred to as Cold because, barring the exceptions of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, it was mostly a war of words and threats rather than bullets.
-
frizzyperm Teacher
College - SeniorPosted by frizzyperm on Wednesday August 27, 2008 at 5:01 AMMany Historians say that ultimatetly The Cold War was a financial war (perhaps all wars are to some extent). The above posts clearly set out the ideaologies and contexts, I'd just like to add that because The Cold War was never supposed to be physically fought (unless one side had a massive military advantage), so it was a war of military developement and build up. America soon realised that it had a more efficient economy that the Soviets and spent trillions on military R+D and stock piling. The Soviets tried to keep up but bankrupted themselves in the process. By the end the Soviet Union had split its economy in two (domestic and military) in an attempt to maintain the savage pace of military spending set by America, but Moscow's stagnant, corrupt, centrally-managed, monopolistic economy simply could not produce enough money and the system collapsed from within.
-
cjokay Teacher
Middle SchoolPosted by cjokay on Monday November 17, 2008 at 2:41 PMA political,ideological, and public relations battle between the United States and Russia from the late 40's to the late 80's.
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
