History of the Cold War

World War II was mainly the start of a friendship between the United States and the Soviet Union. They fought as Axis Power and still there was a lot of tension between the two nations. The democratic Americans were wary of the Communist Soviet Union and still, they came together to defeat the common enemy – the Germans. The Soviets did not approve of the refusal of the American nation to recognize them as a legitimate partner belonging to the International field. The community of the countries who were Pro American did not like the rule of Stalin who was called tyrannical and oppressive.

Mutual distrust and sense of enmity

These grievances aggravated and Russians did not approve the late entry of the USA into the World War. As soon the war ended, the grievances took shape of enmity between the nations. The Russian expansion towards the larger part of Eastern Europe caused the Americans to fear that the Soviets want to control the larger part of the World. The Russians found the American Official’s building up of arms and leadership approach towards any International problems to be alarming. This mutual distrust and sense of enmity started the Cold war and this continued for a long time.

Cold war and difference of opinion

The time that is demarcated as the period of the Cold War is 1947 – 1991 and during this period there was no large scale disagreement rupturing into war. There were two sides that were showing a cold shoulder to each other and these nations were the USA and the USSR. The regional wars in Vietnam, Korea, and Afghanistan were supported by both sides as it was justified.

The two superpowers had a lot of differences in the economic field and the political arena. The Russians were Marxists and America was a capitalist country. The American foreign policy to support free people who were fighting subjugation of other states was clearly defined and the Russians continued with their expansion plans. American Containment strategy was to remain vigilant of the expansion plans of Russia and deny any such attempt vehemently.

Causes of cold war

The Americans were in constant fear of attack from any communist countries and American leader Truman disliked the Russian leader Stalin. Russia was in constant fear of the atomic bomb that was in the hands of the Americans. The Americans increased their defense spending up to four-fold based on the National Security Council Report and the policy of containment against Communist expansion.

The committee called House Un-American Activities (HUAC) showed that communist subversion was very much encouraged in the USA. The Soviet Union backed North Korea when they went to war against South Korea. There were other national disputes against each other. The Cold war extended to space as both countries wanted to prove themselves to be better than the other in every sphere.

Beginning of the end

President Nixon brought in ideas of bringing in diplomacy to end the Cold war thought process of the futility of the whole thing. The spread of communism threatened the country even after that. Finally, this scare ended with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev became the Premier and had to fight the severe economic problems in the country. He introduced openness and a better relationship with the world. This was a starting point of the end of the Cold War.