The Cold War - A Great Competition

The Great Competition

There have been many great wars in the world with major battles such as the Civil War, World War I, and World War II, but there was one war that did not have any battle or violence, which was how it got its name, the Cold War. The Cold War was a war that was more of a competition than a war between two allied groups against each other: NATO and Warsaw Pact. The conflict with these two groups was that the Warsaw Pact wanted communist governments, and NATO wanted democratic governments. The Cold War started up the rise of NATO, the rise of the Warsaw Pact, and then ended with the fall of the Warsaw Pact.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was formed in 1949 after the start of the Cold War (Cronin, np). This treaty was the first peace treaty under European power that America has ever been in (Benson, Brannen, Valentine, 1157). The treaty involved America and eleven other countries that were against communism (Benson, Brannen, Valentine, 1157). The other countries that were involved were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the UK (Benson, Brannen, Valentine, 1157). NATO offered aid to any democratic nation that were rebuilding after the war, and that was against communism (“The Founding”, 71). NATO’s purpose is to seek protection of the freedom and safety of its members through political and military efforts (Cronin, np). Over the years of the Cold War other countries joined NATO, Greece and Turkey joined in 1952, Germany joined in 1955, and Spain joined in 1982 (Cronin, np). When the Cold War ended in 1991 many thought that NATO would dissolve, but they turned their attentions toward trying to bring peace in countries that were having c...

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...ms in the world with communism but hopefully it will not ever get back as bad as what it was during the Cold War, but if it does hopefully it will stay like this and not turn into an actual nuclear war.

Work Cited

Benson, Sonia, Daniel E. Brannen, and Rebecca Valentine. “North Atlantic Treaty.” UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Eds. Lawrence W. Baker and Sarah Hermsen. Vol. 6: N-Q. Detroit: Gale Cengage, 2009. Print. 8 vols.

Cronin, Bruce. “North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

Goldman, Stuart D. “Warsaw Pact.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.

Maga, Timothy. “To the New Frontier.” The 1960s. New York: Facts On File, 2003. 15. Print.

“The Founding of Nato.” The American Scene: Events: World War 2 and the Cold War: 1942-1958. Vol. 7. Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1999. Print. 9 vols.