Cold War Dbq

Countries all over the world were affected by the ever-increasing tension brought on by the Cold War. Although no shots were fired through the duration of this battle, there was a constant worry that a missile would be launched at any given second; starting a third world war. Countries were forced to side with either pro or anti-communist leaders, creating new alliances or enemies. Political disagreements were not the only cause of division, the construction of physical and guarded barriers became popular. One barrier which was very effective in separating land was the 38th Parallel, separating North and South Korea. North Korea, led by the Soviet Union, was successful in maintaining a communist form of government, while the USSR eventually

collapsed with this government. The Cold War divided countries by forcing them to choose a side, increasing tension and fear of a proxy war.

This war helped defeat the Soviet Union, the strongest communist country, yet still left some communist countries to thrive.

Countries were divided by more than their government; some had barriers keeping their citizens from relocating. Many events that occurred during the cold war divided people by turning them against each other based on things as important as political opinions or as small as the city they lived in. Borders and physical dividers became a common way to determine boundaries during the cold war. These boundaries represented not only geographical borders, but divided areas based on political ideals and which country had control over that land. The first use of a physical barrier during the Cold War ran through the middle of Europe; the Iron Curtain. This fence ran through the middle of Germany, along the western border of Czechoslovakia, the eastern border of Austria, and the western border of Hungary. Built by the USSR, it was intended to separate them from the west because, “the Soviet Union hated and feared the prospect of a reborn Germany, armed by the west, to be

used against the Soviet Union” (The Twentieth Century and Beyond). This was not just an idea of division, it was a physical, tall, dangerous divider that represented so much more than just splitting up territory. It represented Germany separating itself from everyone except for it’s allies, and isolating it’s people from non-communist ideals. During this war, lines were drawn between territories without a wall to mark the two sides. Instead, guards lined the border with weapons and orders to shoot anyone who tried to cross. Korea was part of the Japanese Empire until the end of WWII when the Americans and Soviets gained possession of it. The land north of the 38th parallel was given to the Russians while the United States got the southern half. Similar to the Iron Curtain, one of these halves (north) was run by a communist government while the other half (south) was anti-communist. The communist half of this state continued to enforce communism successfully without major interference from other countries.
Communism was promoted in many countries during the cold war; yet the strongest communist country was the one that didn’t last.

Communism continued to be practiced in North Korea, while it was abolished in the Soviet Union as the Cold War came to a close. The Cold War effected Korea by promoting communism in parts of it, while the War also supplied the Soviet Union with continuous efforts by other countries to tear them down. The Soviet Union was under so much pressure to have a strong leader in order to overcome obstacles in the war, that eventually the entire union collapsed due to the inefficient and impractical rulings of Gorbachev. The internal struggles the communist party faced combined with the pressure of the Cold War brought the Soviet Union down in the end. Compared to the Soviet Union, the communist party in North Korea had significantly lesser struggles in maintaining their form of government. Once the 38th parallel was established in Korea in 1945, North Korea became a communist country under the rule of the Soviet Union. Although the Korean War was intended to rid North Korea of communism, the war reached a stalemate near the 38th parallel and an armistice was eventually signed because America feared, “a wider war with Russia and China–or even, as some warned, World War III”(Korean War). North Korea was able to coexist with other countries in the world because it did not communicate much with other countries and did not try to expand it’s influence into other

countries; it was completely isolated from the rest of the world. The Soviet Union was constantly facing criticism and a fear of war because it threatened the rest of the world by recruiting countries to become communist.
The Cold War divided countries between communist and anti-communist ideologies. This increased tensions between non-allied countries and brought people into the war who didn’t need to be involved. Although minimal violence was experienced by any country included in this war, the world constantly faced a threat of nuclear warfare.