What Happened During The Cold War

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The Cold War is generally considered as the time period between 1945 and 1990. It was a diplomatic struggle and arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union; NATO and the Warsaw Pact; East and West. Trillions of dollars and rubles, Russian currency, were spent by the US and USSR. It was a time when everyone lived in fear. It also was a time of great technological advancement. Perhaps, some of the technological advancement such as the H-bomb and the space race should have been slower because such advancements only further chilled the US and USSR relations, pitting them both more against each other during the Cold War. In this essay I briefly cover the Cold War, but first you must understand why there was the Cold War. After discussing the reasons behind the Cold war, this essay outlines what happened during the Cold War in five-year segments.

The Cold War started because of the Soviet rejection of the Marshall Plan. The United States viewed this rejection as hostile and a 'declaration of war' regarding the control of Europe. The governments of the two major aggressors in the Cold War would like you to believe the Marshall Plan reason; but the Cold War really came about because of the fundamental differences between socialism and a capitalist democracy. Socialism and capitalism cannot function in the same place …show more content…

What happened during this period set the foundation for most of the Cold War. It was the start of the Marshall Plan, the reaction and resulting actions of the US and USSR that pitted these great nations against each other for many years to come, although they had been allies in World War II. The main focus of the Marshall Plan was on Europe, especially Berlin. Berlin and the rest of Germany were divided into four parts at the end of the World War II. One part was for the British; one part for the Americans; one part was for the French; and an Eastern part for the

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