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When World War II in Europe came to an end on May 7, 1945, a new war
was just beginning. This war became known as the Cold War and was
between the two world superpowers, the United States (US) and the
Soviet Union (USSR). The Cold War lasted from 1945 to 1991. Fears
between the two nations, which started in World War I, and grew in
World War II, caused the Cold War to break after the end of World War
II. The conflict in the Cold War was the difference in politics between
the US and the USSR. The United States was capitalist when the USSR was
communist. Both nations started a nuclear arms race among each other.
In other words, the Cold War was a war of tension and competition.
At the end of World War II, at the Yalta Conference, Germany was
divided into 4 sections controlled by Great Britain, France, the Soviet
Union and the United States. What marked the start of the Cold War was
that there wasn’t an agreement on unifying Germany. The Allies were
angry due to the free election promises given by Stalin at the Yalta
Conference. The developed a foreign policy of containment to keep
communism in the areas where it already was. In 1947, the Truman
Doctrine was issued. It stated that America would help any
non-communist country to resist communism. The United States also gave
large amounts of money to help aid the non-commuist countries. This was
known as the Marshall Plan. The Western Allies unified West Germany and
the USSR reacted by putting a blockade on Berlin. The people in Berlin
were starving from the lack of food. The United States arranged that
all food and other items be airlifted to West Berlin. This is what is
known as the Berlin Airlift. In 1946, Mao Zedong, a Communist leader,
was in war with Jiang Jieshi, a nationalist leader. The civil war in
China lasted until 1949. The communists came out victorious. This added
to the Cold War.
The Civil War soon became an arms race. When the Americans used an
atomic bomb against Japan in 1945, the USSR was determined to create
one of their own. In 1957, the Soviets used a missile to launch the
satellite Sputnik into space. The United States was determined to
launch its own satellites. This was an opportunity for the two nations
to show off their technological superiority. Sputnik I was launched on
October 4, 1957. On November 3, they launched Sputnik II with the first
living creature, a dog. The United States launched it’s first
satellite, Explorer I on January 31, 1958. This started the Mercury
program with an 18 minute flight that carried a chimpanzee. Both
countries wanted to show off to each other. Aboard the Soviet Vostok 1,
Yuri Gararin became the first human in space and Valentina Tereshkova
was the first woman in space. The United States needed to catch up, so
on February 20, 1962 John Glenn orbited the earth three times. Neil
Armstong became the first man to walk on the moon.
In 1962, Cuba was convinced that the USA was planning to attack them
and asked the Soviet Union for help. The USSR sent Cuba materials to
build missiles and launch sites. When President Kennedy realized that
Cuba could launch missiles into America, he demanded that the USSR
remove its weapons and troops. The Americans formed a naval blockade as
the world stood nervously on the edge of a nuclear war. The USSR
removed its weapons despite protests from Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
In 1987, Ronald Regan and the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev,
signed a treaty to limit the amount of nuclear weapons in the
countries. The Cold War started to reach an end, after about thirty
years of fighting, in 1988, due to the break up of the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Gorbachev’s internal reforms are what weakened the nation. The
war came to an end and fortunately without a nuclear war because both
countries would not be able to manage that kind of warfare.
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