The Cold War Summarized

The period of tension between the world's two superpowers following the Second World War is known as the Cold War. This period was full of tension and fear that the United States and the USSR would destroy each other and the world with their arsenals of atomic weapons. The seeds of this rivalry were planted nearly a quarter of a century before its actual commencement with the Revolution of 1918 in Russia. The Cold War Rivalry would manifest itself in everything from sports in Olympic competition to science and the Space Race. The Cold War did not only take place in the political, athletic and science realms but also heated up in wars and deputes all over the world from Europe, East Asia and the Middle East to South America and off the American shore. From these beginnings until the fall of the USSR in 1989 the Cold War would dominate every aspect of life from school children to the leaders and their policies on both sides.

The cold war began in 1918 with the Russian Revolution, the rise of the Communist Party and the founding of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The revolution came during the First World War at a point in time when the Allies needed all of the support they could get. The revolution was fast and the Bolsheviks took power quickly and pulled Russia out of the war just as quickly. The other Allies, Britain and the U.S. resented the loss of a front on the German Empire and the greater stress it put on them. The Bolsheviks quickly disposed of all opposition with the exception of the Mensheviks who were backed by the U.S. and Britain. The Russian Civil War began and after long and bloody period ended with the Bolsheviks remaining in power and the murder of the Romanovs, the royal family, effectively endi...

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...ng as the world's police and working to secure democracy everywhere.

The cold war had many effects on everything from everyday life to policy issues. The cold war forced the US to go into countries that it would never have gone into otherwise. The era of competition between the worlds two superpowers forced innovations in science that we have never seen before, it took man roughly one-hundred thousand years to develop flight, sixty years later man walked on the moon. The cold war had forced the American people to live in almost consent terror, and to turn on their own citizens. International and domestic politics were dominated by the cold war. During the period of 1936-1990 America and the USSR had nothing but leaders with strong foreign policy issues. It pulled America out of its classic isolationist policy, and laid the groundwork for the America of modern times.