Essays

Exploring the 1960s

Unit 2 Project

April 03, 2012

`There are primarily three types of war: Hot War, which is actual warfare, Warm War, which is when countries are still talking with hope of a peaceful outcome, but have organized their troops, and Cold War, which describes what went on between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 until 1991. This paper looks at the historical and political conditions of the Cold War era, the specific threats to American citizens, the preparations for attacks on U.S. soil, and concludes with one question for further study on the Cold War era.

The Cold War (1945-1991) is the type of war that developed between the USA and the USSR after World War II. It dominated international affairs for decades. During the Cold War there were many disastrous events, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the Berlin Wall (Farber, 1994). The weapons of mass destruction, such as the nuclear bomb, were what worried Americans the most. In 1945 The Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) was made up of 15 countries including Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Georgia; countries that now exist individually. The USA and the USSR fought as allies during World War II, but their relationship after the war was not friendly (What was the Cold War, 2011). The policy that dominated eastern politics was the Expansion Policy (Cold War, 2000). They believed that if communism did not spread it would die. The policy that dominated Western politics was the Containment Policy, which was to stop the spread of communism. The U.S. believed that if Western Europe was strong then it would block the spread of communism. So they came up with the Marshall Plan in 1947, giving economic aid to western European countries (Cold War, 2000).

Before World War II, America had depicted the Soviet Union as evil, and the Soviet Union had depicted America evil (Farber, 1994). Their being allies during the war was simply the result of having Nazi Germany as a...