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Arms race cold war
Impacts of the Cuban missile crisis
Impacts of the Cuban missile crisis
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The Cold War was an argument between the Soviet Union and the United States of America after WWII. During WWII the USA and the Soviet Union were allies fighting a common cause; Adolph Hitler who was attempting to overthrow the surrounding countries. Although the USA and the Soviet Union were allies, the relationship between the two countries was very tense (What Was). Neither country trusted the other.
After WWII their relationship became even more tense due to the building of new weapons capable of destroying entire countries. The USA built and tested a new type of weapon called the Hydrogen Bomb. The Soviet Union became concerned as to whether the USA would actually use such a weapon. Because of this, the Soviet Union began designing a similar weapon. The war became an argument of who had the biggest weapon. However, neither country fired a single missile thus making this a cold war instead of a hot war (200Years).
The USA’s new weapon, the Hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb, was one of the most powerful weapons of the time. In 1950, the H-bomb was tested in the Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands (Cold War History). The reaction was so fierce, the explosion wiped the island off the face of the earth leaving a crater on the ocean floor. The explosion reached a range of 25 square miles and had a mushroom cloud which dropped radioactive fallout on the surrounding areas (The Cold War Museum). This new weapon scared the Soviet Union into creating their own bombs. This buildup of weapons by the two countries started The Cuban Missile Crisis (The Cuban).
Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet leader of the time, was nervous about the buildup of nuclear weapons in Western Europe and Turkey by the United States. He felt a build-up of missiles i...
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...ever at times both governments still have disagreements (The Cold War Museum).
Works Cited
“200 years of US-Russian Relations” (online) . 07 may 2014
“About the Crisis” (online) . 07 May 2014
“Castro Urges Nuclear Attack on America” (Online) < http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/videos/castro-urges-Nuclear-Attack-on-America>. 05 May 2014.
“Cold War” (online) 07 May 2014
"Cold War History" (online) www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history>. 03 April 2014
“The Cold War Museum” (online) . 09 April 2014
“The Cuban Missile Crisis” (online) . 07 May 2014
“What Was The Cold War?” (online) www.history-learningsite.co.uk/what%20was%20the%20cold%20war.htm>. 03 April 2014
A war does not necessarily require physical weapons to fight. From 1947 to 1991, military tension and ideological conflicts held place. Cold War is defined as a state of political hostility existing between countries, characterized by threats, violent propaganda, subversive activities, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular. The causes of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union were the mutual distrust that had taken place in World War II, intense rivalry between the two super powers, and conflicting ideologies. The two superpowers differed in views of political and economic principles and were eager to spread their ideologies to other countries.
The Cold War in 1945 to 1953 brought about a period of tension and hostility due to the feud between the United States and the Soviet Union. The period began with the end of the Second World War. The situation acquired the title for there was no physical active war between the two rivals. The probability of the tension got to be the fear of the then rise in nuclear ammunition. Things began to roll when a US based U2 sky plane got to take photos of some USSR intermediate ballistic missiles with the capability of transporting nuclear heads.
The Cold War was a post-World War II struggle between the United States. and its allies and the group of nations led by the Soviet Union. Direct military conflict did not occur between the two superpowers, but intense economic and diplomatic struggles erupted in the country. Different interests led to mutual suspicion and hostility in a rising philosophy. The United States played a major role in the ending of the Cold War.
The super bomb in which America and Russia were trying to build was in fact the Hydrogen Bomb. This bomb had an unlimited blast potential and for the country who possessed it unlimited power. The A-bomb’s explosion was based on the principal of fission (the splitting of atoms), however the H-bomb’s explosion was base on fusion (the coming together of atoms). In August of 1945 Russian President Stalin, turns up the nuclear project in Russia. He put Barria whom was in charge of the secret police, to head the Russian Nuclear program. An American scientist named Edward Teller solicited the American government to build the H-bomb. He was born in Hungary and had learned to fear the communists and the Russians. In April of 1946 the Super Conference was held. Klaus Fuchs was a scientist that worked for Teller at Los Alamos, he told the Russians how to build the A-bomb, and also about Tellers ideas of the H-bomb. He was arrested for spying for the Russians. By chance the Americans found out that there were traces of radioactive material in the air over Russia. They pieced together that Russia had the A-bomb they decided to go ahead with plans to build the super bomb. President Truman came to the conclusion that no matter how bad of a weapon the H-bomb was if was better if we had if first. America had lost some of its power and wanted to gain a new edge. General Curtis Lamay was put in charge of Strategic Air Command to protect America from the threat of nuclear war. Lamay was the ranking Air Force General over the Skies of the pacific and was the man for the job. His strategy was to have an abundant amount of bombers ready to strike every major city in the Soviet Union. He wanted everyone in the Army and Air Force to act as if war was not far away.
The Soviet Union and the United States were very distant during three decades of a nuclear arms race. Even though the two nations never directly had a battle, the Cuban Missile Crisis, amongst other things, was a result of the tension. The missile crisis began in October of 1962, when an American spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union in Cuba. JFK did not want the Soviet Union and Cuba to know that he had discovered the missiles, so he made his decisions very secretly. Eventually, Kennedy decided to place a ring of ships around Cuba and place missiles in Turkey. Eventually, both leaders superpowers realized the possibility of a nuclear war and agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would remove the missiles from Cuba if the US didn't invade Cuba. Even though the Soviets removed took their missiles out of Cuba and the US eventually taking their missiles out of Turkey, they (the Soviets) continued to build a more advanced military; the missile crisis was over, but the arms race was not.
Since the British Empire conquered North America, Canada has been a tightly connected colony of Britain. Canada has always under British rule and their cultures and national identity copied each other. However, after the Second Cold War Canada became culturally different in comparison to Britain and was lacking their own individual national identity. Joining NORAD, introducing a new Canadian flag, and fact that Canada’s Constitution was patriated helped ameliorate an identity for Canada. These advances of becoming an autonomous country after the Second World War helped Canada where it is today.
The Cold War was a conflict between the Communist nations led by the Soviet Union
03 April 2014 The “The Cold War Museum” (online) www.coldwar.org>. 09 April 2014 “The Cuban Missile Crisis” (online) www.history.state.gov/1961-1968/cuban_missile_crisis>. 07 May 2014 “What Was The Cold War?” (online) www.history-learningsite.co.uk/what%20was%20the%20cold%20war.htm>.
Both sides acted in various ways leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis. They both tried to gain an indirect advantage over the other with an arms race that lasted over 40 years. The Soviets in particular spent billions in creating weapons with money that would’ve been better served improving their economy. Before Khrushchev was even in charge, Stalin ordered the construction of a laboratory which would eventually harness hundreds of tons of Uranium to be developed into explosives. In 1961, the Soviets detonated a massive hydrogen bomb known as the ‘Tsar Bomba’ for a trial. This was the most powerful explosive ever detonated by mankind, yielding a blast with the strength of 50-58 megatons of d...
The Cold War was a political battle between the western powers, the US and Britain, and the Soviet Union, that began as a result of events occurring after WWII, and lasted for 45 years. During the war, the relationship between the Soviets and the western powers was strained due to differences in war tactic beliefs and ideologies. The only effort that united these nations was the fight against Nazi Germany. Each nation had opposing beliefs, ideologies, and political views, causing tension to build during WWII, and erupt as the Cold War. This war without weapons ended shortly after the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1991, and the effects of this political struggle continue to affect society today.
According to the conventional Western view, the Cold War was a conflict between two superpowers, caused by Soviet aggression, in which the U.S. tried to contain the Soviet Union and protect the world from it.
The Cold War was America’s longest war with the start of it being at the end of World War II when the Japanese formally surrendered on September 2, 1945 and did not officially end until the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26. 1991 (Cold War Veterans, n.d) The Cold War was not typical of what we normally think of as war there was no attack on another’s country that led the other to declare war it was simply a period of time when the United States and the Soviet Union (USRR) resented one another. The Soviet Union resented the United States for our long refusal to treat them as a legitimate part of the international community as well as our delayed entry into World War II, which resulted in the death of million of Russians (History, n.d) After WWII when the Soviets invaded and took control many Eastern Europe countries, Americans began to worry that the Russians were trying to gain control of the world. Americans had long been fearful of Soviet communism and the way their leader Joseph Stalin’s ran their country. The Cold War included events such as the Cuban Missile ...
The Cold War is the term used to describe the intense rivalry between the United States and its allies and the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics and its allies. The Soviet Union and its allies were refereed to as the Eastern Bloc and the United States and its allies were referred to as the Western Bloc. The Cold War period lasted from the mid-1940’s until the late 1980’s. During this period international politics were shaped by this intense rivalry between this two great blocs of power and the political ideologies they represented. The United States and its allies represented democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union and its allies represented communism. The Cold War was truly a global conflict more so than either of the century’s two world wars. (1) The cold war was also the first total war between economic and social systems, an industrial test to destruction. Even though the Cold War Began just after World War II, some of its roots reach back as far as the nineteenth century. Its neighbors have long feared Russia; the giant among the countries in Europe, even when they were allied Russia against a common enemy. This fear Cropped up immediately after Russia, Britain, and other European nations defeated the French Emperor Napoleon in 1812. (2) In 1853 Britain, France and several other European nations went to war with Russia from keeping Russia from expanding into the Middle East. Britain, in fact, took a great deal of its energy during the nineteenth century trying to limit Russian power. (3) By the early twentieth century the United States was also concerned with Russia’s power. Although the United States tried to keep out of European disputes, American leaders were concerned about Russia becoming to powerful. They worried that if any nation became powerful enough to dominate the European continent, it would be a threat to the well being of the United States. (4) In the midst of World War I a new element was added to the European and American fear of Russia. In November of 1917 a radical Marxist called the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia overthrowing a democratic government. The United States strongly opposed the Bolshevik regime. The United States was angry that the Bolsheviks pulled Russia out of the War against Germany (WW I), and that it intended to spread its revolution to other countries. (5) During World Wa...
The Cold War was a nonviolent political conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union that arose after World at War II. They both shared a common enemy at the time; Germany and although The Soviet Union and United States won the war, competition and conflict between the two had led to the Cold War lasting from 1945 to 1990. The Soviet Union had used its political beliefs to try and dominate Eastern Europe in fact they even set up communist governments in other countries and caused even more tension in the Cold War.
The Cold War was the tension and struggle between the Capitalist Bloc dominated by the United States and the Communist Bloc dominated by the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1991, due to their ideological difference, mutual distrust and conflict of interests. The confrontation between the 2 superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, took on several forms to extend their global influence, which included setting up opposing plans and organisation, armament race, supporting allies in proxy wars, spy activities, and stopping communication. The seemingly effect of their confrontation during the Cold War was bringing about international conflicts. Nevertheless, the US-USSR confrontation did promote international cooperation, especially between the 2 leaders and their aligned countries in reconstructing their economy. International conflicts arose from the US-USSR confrontation will be first discussed and followed by the international cooperation it promoted.