Hiroshima And The Cold War Essay

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki drastically altered international politics by changing the scope and consequences of international warfare, as well as causing a widespread hysteria over the use of nuclear warfare that led to conflicts such as the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. On August 6, 1945, the world was changed forever. On that fateful day the United States plunged the world into the chaos of nuclear warfare by dropping the first nuclear bomb in world history. The bomb brought with it an absolutely unparalleled level of destruction to the Japanese city of Hiroshima. In less than a second, the lives of more than 100,000 people were brought to a sudden, fiery conclusion. In that instant, the meaning of warfare …show more content…
At the height of The Cold War, both countries were shockingly close to launching long range nuclear strikes on their enemy. In the US, fear was spreading that communism would spread throughout the world, and that democracy would be defeated. This fear was largely in response to the growing power of the Soviet Union, an influential communist power. American legislators believed that if one more country fell to communism, then all of the East would follow suit. This came to be known as the Domino Theory (Thro, p …show more content…
During The Cold War, the conflict between democracy and communism teetered on the edge of nuclear war. A growing fear of apocalyptic doom led to the incarceration of falsely accused spies in the United States. Senator Joseph McCarthy added fuel to the fire by accusing legislators, actors, and other celebrities of having communist ties. The ensuing panic resulted in the execution of hundreds of innocent US civilians. Abroad, the two rival nations funded proxy wars and uprisings around the globe, causing thousands of deaths and creating political strife that lasted for decades (Thro, p