Cold War Impacts

Cold War Impacts

Dale Bryant

HIS/135

May 8, 2011

Nicholas Foster

Cold War Impacts

By the end of the Second World War, the two allies that were affected the most by the Cold War were the United States and Russia. These two allies emerged from World War II as superpowers only to become enemies and thus igniting what became known as the Cold War (Davidson, 2006).

During the Cold War, both sides were skeptical of each other. Stalin was interested in spreading communism throughout Europe and the United States was concerned that people in these weakened countries might find “communism irresistible (Davidson, 2006).” The United States was firmly in favor of capitalism and thus began a conflict between these former allies whom both wanted to be the chief superpower.

The United States was intimidated by communism and knew that they had to stop the spread of it. Policies were implemented in order to stop the advancement of communism into Western Europe and the United States. It was believed that “by applying firm diplomatic, economic, and military counter pressure, the United States could block Russian aggression (Davidson, 2006).”

The United States began then to help stabilize the economies of some Western European countries such as Greece and Italy, to help stop the spread of communism into those countries. Through the Truman doctrine and the Marshall plan, the United States gave support to Western European countries by giving them money to help in their fight against communism in their countries and provide a sort of incentive to reject communism and transition into a more stable capitalist economy and government built on democracy.

Reference

Davidson, J. (2006). Nation of Nations: A Concise Narrative of the American Republic (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.