Iron Curtain Essay

1154 Words3 Pages

The Soviet Union was very concerned about its security after having been invaded and almost defeated twice in the twentieth century. It felt vulnerable being surrounded by hostile democratic states and preferred to have smaller communist states protecting it, thus the Iron Curtain descended. The Iron Curtain refers to an imaginary barrier through Europe that separated Russia and its communist allies from the rest of the democratic nations in the west. The states on each side of the Iron Curtain acted as buffer states in case of war.

America on the other hand was not at all concerned about its security. Many other western countries had encouraged America to take leadership in the west because of its stability and ability to ensure protection to the other smaller, less powerful countries. America was the most powerful …show more content…

After that, Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) were built up into huge arsenals by the USSR and America. Both sides soon had the power to wipe out the not only the enemy, but the rest of the world as well. The United States exploded a hydrogen bomb in 1952, and the Soviets tested on year later. Both nations rushed to develop missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

In November 1955, the USSR managed to come up with a hydrogen bomb, in response to the one tested by USA in 1952. After that, the USA moved its bombers to Europe to threaten Moscow for the first time. In 1955, West Germany, even with much protest by the Allied citizens, was allowed to re-arm and join NATO. The USSR responded by signing the Warsaw Mutual Defense Pact, promising military aid to each other.

In 1957 the Soviets used a missile to launch a satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit around the earth. The arms race then became a space race as the United States rushed to launch its own satellites, some for military

Show More
Related

  • Autonomy and Political Responsibility after the Cold War

    2605 Words  | 6 Pages

    The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...

    Read More

  • Examing the Factors That Led To Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki

    1303 Words  | 3 Pages

    Around the world, many countries did choose to ally themselves with the United States, but it was soon clear that the USSR would not be among them. The Soviets were developing their own nuclear program at the same time as the Manhattan Project was underway, and Soviet espionage provided them with crucial information from the Manhattan Project that helped their progress (Walker, 67). When the United States used the atomic bombs on Japan, the USSR believed that the United States would seek to threaten Soviet interests. Instead of simplifying the growing conflict between the United States and the USSR, the use of atomic weapons on Japan only made the situation more complex.

    Read More

  • Sputnik's Effects

    1414 Words  | 3 Pages

    After World War II, the Cold War created tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States leading to extreme national pride and competition, culminating in the space race which began with the launch of Sputnik 1. In World War II many new weapons were created to kill more people with more efficiency. The most notable of these was the atomic bomb. As American troops closed in on Japan at the end of the war, they realized that taking the small island nation would be nearly impossible. The Japanese soldiers had shown their willingness to die for their country when kamikaze pilots flew into American ships. As a result, President Truman approved the use of the...

    Read More

  • How Did the Cold War Affect the Politics of Germany and Italy?

    1982 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1945, the USA was the only country in the world that had the nuclear weapons. But in the 1949 USSR started to learn about their nuclear weapons. In further developments forced the USSR was soon created by nuclear, and then thermonuclear weapons. Isaacs J, 2008: Fight has become very dangerous for all.

    Read More

  • Race for the Super Bomb

    525 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1945, America terrified the world by using the Atom Bomb in Hiroshima and later in Nagasaki. This fear of the most powerful weapon ever created started a cold war between America and Russia. These two great nations had started the race for the super bomb, which would have each country trying to out do the other for decades to come.

    Read More

  • Space Race: A Reflection of the Cold War Rivalry

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    The cold war by the late 1950s had weaved into the everyday life of society for both countries. The announcement from the US that they will launch a satellite into orbit was challenged by the Soviets. On October 4th 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. This was the world’s first artificial satellite and man-made object to be in earths orbit. The launch was unexpected to the US, having caught them off guard. As a result Sputnik began to raise fears amongst the public, fearing the possible event of a nuclear attack, due to previous cold war

    Read More

  • Cold War

    1240 Words  | 3 Pages

    During 1945 and early in 1946, the Soviet Union cut off nearly all contacts between the West and the occupied territories of Eastern Europe. In March 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill warned that "an iron curtain has descended across the Continent" of Europe. He made popular the phrase Iron Curtain to refer to Soviet barriers against the West (Kennedy 1034). Behind these barriers, the U.S.S.R. steadily expanded its power. In 1946, the U.S.S.R. organized Communist governments in Bulgaria and Romania. In 1947, Communists took control of Hungary and Poland. Communists seized full power in Czechoslovakia early in 1948. These countries became Soviet satellite nations controlled by the U.S.S.R. Albania already had turned to Communism. Yugoslavia also joined the Communist bloc. The Communist Party of Yugoslavia had helped drive out the Germans near the end of the war. Communists led by Josip Broz Tito then took over the government (Cold War). East and West opposed each other in the United Nations. In 1946, the U.S.S.R. rejected a U.S. proposal for an international agency to control nuclear energy production and research. The Soviet Union believed the United States had a lead in nuclear weapons and would have a monopoly if controls were approved. The Soviet Union pictured itself as a defender of peace and accused the United States of planning a third world war.

    Read More

  • Relations Between Turkey and America

    5051 Words  | 11 Pages

    The Soviet Union and the United States, after World War II, began a military competition. The Soviet Union, after the end of World War II, wished to expand the buffer zone between itself and the Western world. In addition to the original Polish territory, the USSR established communism in Rumania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

    Read More

  • Why Stalin Built The Iron Curtain

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    Why Stalin Built The Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the term used in the West to refer to the boundary line, which divided Europe into separate areas. political influence. This was set up at the end of World War Two. until the end of the Cold War. During this period, Eastern Europe was under control and influence of the Soviet Union (USSR), where as Western Europe enjoyed freedom of speech.

    Read More

  • Cold War

    555 Words  | 2 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Atomic Bomb

    1061 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although the Soviet Union was an “ally” to America, they never really had an actual relationship. It was more of an alliance of convenience. The U.S. has always wanted to prove itself to be the best. Being the first country to have and use a nuclear weapon was a huge deal. As a result, President Truman told Stalin that we had a weapon and Stalin told us to use it.

    Read More

  • COLD War and the Arms Race

    1673 Words  | 4 Pages

    When President Truman authorized the use of two nuclear weapons in 1945 against the Japanese in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, the nature of international security was changed irreversibly. At that time, the United States had what was said to have a monopoly of atomic bombs. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union began working on atomic weaponry. In 1949, it had already detonated it first atomic bomb and tensions began to heat up between the two countries. With the information that the Soviets had tested their first bomb, the United States began work on more powerful weapons1, and a fight for nuclear superiority had begun.

    Read More

  • Cold War Essay

    475 Words  | 1 Pages

    It was the Iron Curtain which brought Russia to the limelight, and it was also Roosevelt who sold the land to Stalin for which he could build his buffer zone. Its somewhat ironic that a buffer zone brought Russia closer to the west. The arms race could have been prevented, but not stopped. It can be explained like this: There are two obvious options: to build weapons or to not build. If no power was built, then there would be an incentive to build.

    Read More

  • The Fall of the Soviet Union

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before one can understand the fall of the Soviet Union, he has to know how the nation came into being and the leaders, and the location of the country and the time period of its reign. How did the Soviet Union come into existence? Through the 1900’s the Soviet Union was entangled in a vast number of conflicts all because they wanted to spread communism. Subsequently, the rampant spread of communism and Soviet ideals had an impact in the First World War, Second World and Cold War. Under the authoritarian control of Russian leaders the budget for the military and various sectors clarifies that the Soviet Union in its existence failed.

    Read More

  • Iron Curtain Essay

    942 Words  | 2 Pages

    The iron curtain was a metaphorical reference to the Berlin Wall that politically and ideologically divided the USSR and other communist countries from the rest of the world. The term “The Iron Curtain” became prominent in a speech given by former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill at West Minster College. Churchill’s states “From Stettin in the Baltic to Triest in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of central and Eastern Europe.”. ”In front of the iron curtain which lies across Europe are other causes for anxiety.”.

    Read More

More about Iron Curtain Essay

Open Document