Cold war refers to the intense post World War II tensions between the two superpowers, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the United States (US), that have emerged at the end of World War II. During the cold war, there was never a direct confrontation between the two superpowers. Both superpowers antagonized each other through political maneuvering, military coalitions, espionage, propaganda, nuclear weapons, economic aid, and proxy wars between other nations like Korea, Afghanistan, and Vietnam.
The USSR and the US had fought alongside against the Nazi Germany during World War II, however, the alliance began to crumble when the war ended in 1945. During the Tehran Conference, USSR wanted to redefine Poland’s eastern border …show more content…
One huge factor was the conflict of ideologies of both states. The USSR believed in communism; a system of social organized in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party. While the US believed in Capitalist Democracy; a political, economic and social ideology that involves the combination of a democratic political system with a capitalist economic system. Both USSR and US believed that the other ideology was a threat to their own ideology, and have truly thought that the world will only progress if they adopted their ideologies. With completely different ideologies, both the USSR and US were distrustful of each other’s motives; they fear that the other party was trying to dominate the world with their own ideology. Therefore, both states were extremely distrustful and suspicious of each …show more content…
As a mean to end the war, the US bombed Japan’s cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, putting World War II officially into an end. The atomic bombs could be motivated to show US’s military prowess to the USSR and intimidate the USSR which the US was wary of. At the Potsdam Conference, President Truman had hinted of possessing an extraordinary weapon but had not elaborated further. Stalin had seen it as a veiled threat from the US to the USSR. With the US possessing the technology of atomic bomb, USSR began speeding up their plan to build atomic bombs. And from there on, it was an arm race. Both states are competing with the amount of arms they possessed and the technology advancement of those arms. Eventually, with the deterrence of a Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) policy, no direct confrontation has ever occurred. However, small scaled wars in other countries, such as Vietnam and Korea are resultant of the said deterrence. Both the US and USSR have supported and provided monetary aid to the parties that aligned with their ideologies to prevent the other party from taking over the country, and in turn stop the spread of the ideologies of either the US or
The USSR and the US had fought alongside against the Nazi Germany during World War II, however, the alliance began to crumble when the war ended in 1945. During the Tehran Conference, USSR wanted to redefine Poland’s eastern border …show more content…
One huge factor was the conflict of ideologies of both states. The USSR believed in communism; a system of social organized in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party. While the US believed in Capitalist Democracy; a political, economic and social ideology that involves the combination of a democratic political system with a capitalist economic system. Both USSR and US believed that the other ideology was a threat to their own ideology, and have truly thought that the world will only progress if they adopted their ideologies. With completely different ideologies, both the USSR and US were distrustful of each other’s motives; they fear that the other party was trying to dominate the world with their own ideology. Therefore, both states were extremely distrustful and suspicious of each …show more content…
As a mean to end the war, the US bombed Japan’s cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, putting World War II officially into an end. The atomic bombs could be motivated to show US’s military prowess to the USSR and intimidate the USSR which the US was wary of. At the Potsdam Conference, President Truman had hinted of possessing an extraordinary weapon but had not elaborated further. Stalin had seen it as a veiled threat from the US to the USSR. With the US possessing the technology of atomic bomb, USSR began speeding up their plan to build atomic bombs. And from there on, it was an arm race. Both states are competing with the amount of arms they possessed and the technology advancement of those arms. Eventually, with the deterrence of a Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) policy, no direct confrontation has ever occurred. However, small scaled wars in other countries, such as Vietnam and Korea are resultant of the said deterrence. Both the US and USSR have supported and provided monetary aid to the parties that aligned with their ideologies to prevent the other party from taking over the country, and in turn stop the spread of the ideologies of either the US or