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essay

Following the end of World War II, Europe was in a state of exhaustion and destruction. Germany had been defeated, and France and Britain were drained of life from the war. However, both the United States and the Soviet Union had emerged as the victors. In a short amount of time, these two countries emerged as super-powers of the world with the people and resources to dominate any opposing country. These two countries would develop an intense rivalry for more than 40 years, in what is now commonly known as The Cold War, which occurred between 1949 and 1991. How did this rivalry escalate? What were the major causes of the war? All this and more will be discussed within the context of this essay.

  Tensions between the Soviets and America had been building up prior to World War II. The Western Allies remembered that during World War I, the Soviets negotiated a separate piece with Germany, leaving the Western Allies to fight the Central Powers by themselves. Western democracies severely distrusted the Soviets, and the Soviets distrusted them in return. To the West, the Soviets had negotiated an agreement Hitler, and annexed Poland, and the Soviet motives made the West uneasy. To the Soviets, the West never invited them to peace talks during World War I or to the League of Nations, they didn�t aid the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, and the West never invited them to the Munich Conference. Not to mention the fact that Britain, Frances, and the US joined the �White Russians� to fight the Bolsheviks after the revolution. Although the two countries joined sides to fight Hitler, it was an uneasy alliance to say the least. Stalin thought the West was purposely taking a slow time opening the second front in Europe, which was very important to the Soviets as it would have taken pressure off of them in the East.

At the POTSDAM Conference, the Big Three met in order to discuss Germany�s fate. The Soviet Union wanted to rebuild their economy using German industry, and the US feared that they would have to pay the whole cost of rebuilding Germany, which in turn would help the Soviets. A compromise was reached that Germany would be split into 4 occupied zones: Britain, France, and the US in the West, and the Soviets in the east. For the next 2 years, the main issue was who would control issue. Russia very badly wanted to control Poland, due to the fact that Poland had always been the key state needed to launch an attack against them. The Soviets wanted to set up communist rule there, but the US protested saying countries should have the right to choose their own government.

Both Roosevelt and Churchill rejected the views of Stalin, and made him promise �free elections� in the East. However, Stalin ignored this and set up Soviet communist governments throughout the East thanks to local communists and his Red Army.

As The Soviets began taking control of East Europe, Western powers began to fear the growing power of communism in Europe. In 1946, during his famous �Sinews of Peace� speech, Winston Churchill addressed the division of Europe by communism. As quoted by Churchill, �From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on 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 -- Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia. From what I have seen of our Russian friends and allies during the war I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength and nothing for which they have less respect than military weakness.� After this famous quote, the term �iron curtain� became common word of the invisible boundary that seemed to divide Europe.

President Truman of the United States greatly opposed communism, and promised to deal with the threat of it. The US began to take charge on the world stage. Stalin soon began to back communist rebels in Greece, as well as Turkey. With all the turmoil in Europe, on March 12, 1947, President Truman issued the Truman Doctrine to Congress, asking for $400 million to aid Turkey and Greece against communism. The doctrine also declared that the US would aid any country threatened by communism, and resist Soviet expansion. Later on in the year, the Marshall Plan began, designed to give billions to help Europe recover. However, the Soviets refused to accept any aid in their states.

In response to the Truman Doctrine and western moves in Germany, Stalin blocked access to Berlin, which was controlled by all 4 major Western allies. Truman decided to drop supplies into Berlin by airlift to counteract this, and it continued on for more than a year between 1948 and 1949. The success of the airlift forced the Soviets to end the blockade, which became known as the Berlin Airlift.

In 1949, the US and 11 other nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO for short, agreeing to assist each other is another was attacked. The Soviets later formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955, including the USSR and seven satellite states in Europe to balance the NATO. However, instead of using this for assistance, the Soviets used it as a weapon to keep their states in order.

Although little actual fighting took place, each side attempted to develop nuclear weapons to frighten the enemy into surrender. In the beginning, the United States had the lead in developing the weapons, but by 1949 the Soviets had developed an atomic bomb of their own. Each side spent millions of dollars to develop bigger, deadlier weapons than the other side. However, each knew that if a nuclear bomb were dropped, the opposing side would respond with a bomb of their own, resulting in absolute destruction of both countries. This became known as MAD, or Mutually Assured Destruction.

In 1950, a war broke out in Korea when communists from North Korea invaded non-communists in South Korea. Many believe that the peace treaty between the US and Japan earlier that year, guaranteeing military bases for the US, led Stalin to approve South invasion. In fear of a united communist Korea, Truman obtained help from the UN to fight the North. The U.N. forces drove the North out of the South as neighboring China watched. The Chinese decided to act upon this movement, and in November 1950, 500,000 Chinese attacked the U.N., sending them southwards. Eventually the U.N. stopped the Chinese advance, and both sides became equal. It wasn�t until July 1953 after months of fighting and the death of Stalin due to a reported stroke that a cease-fire was agreed to. Korea remained divided throughout the war, and stayed that way afterwards.

After the death of Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev came to power as leader of the Soviets. In America, Dwight Eisenhower became the new president in 1953. Eisenhower set out with two goals in mind: one was raising Soviet resistance, and the other was balancing the budget. He also set out with a policy of �massive retaliation�, meaning that if the Soviets were to bomb the US, in reply they would drop 10 bombs on the Soviets. Basically it meant that if someone were to damage the US, the US would respond by damaging him or her even more. This policy was described as �brinkmanship�, or basically pushing Soviets to the brink of war.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite into orbit. This set of a �space race� between the United States and the Soviets, each competing to be the first to explore outer space. In 1969, the US landed the first man on the moon. Both sides sent spy satellites to keep watch on the other.

By 1958, Western Germany was the frontline of NATO along the �iron curtain�. For the Soviets though, the area posed a big problem. The city was still under joint operation by the 4 powers, and people in Berlin could move easily between different sectors of the city. Khrushchev proposed Berlin become a �free city�, as it was a danger to East Germany. However, the West refused. He called on the West to withdraw from Germany, but the talks got nowhere. By the end of the 50�s, heavy industry dependence created shortages of goods and common items. Eastern Germany simply could not compete with the West, where people were much better off. Thousands of Eastern Germans began fleeing to the West to take refuge there, and this seriously began to hurt the Eastern economy. By 1961, the amount of people fleeing the East became too much for the Soviets to handle, so on August 13, 1961, the Soviets sealed the East Berlin side of the border in what became known as the Berlin Wall. The wall became an icon of the war, and the ugly hostility between the two countries.

After the successful Cuban revolution of 1959, the Soviets formed an alliance with Cuba�s Fidel Castro. After the failed Bay Pigs invasion where the USA tried to overthrow the Cuban government, Castro set up the first communist state in the Americas. The Soviets installed nuclear missiles in Cuba, capable of reaching the United States. After finding out about this, President John F. Kennedy decided to stage a naval blockade of Cuba to get the Soviets to remove the missiles. Eventually, the Soviets agreed.

Following the missile crisis, another even bigger problem broke out in Vietnam. Like Korea, Vietnam was also divided between a communist and non-communist state. After the French lost control of Vietnam in 1954 to Ho Chi Minh�s nationalist movement, President Kennedy decided to send military aid to the South, and soon over 500,000 American troops were stationed there. Despite American aid, the South couldn�t defeat the North. With all the American casualties, President Nixon arranged a cease-fire and began withdrawing troops in 1973. The war resulted in a communist victory.

By the end of the 60�s, both sides faced a choice: either they could slow down the Cold War competition in a process called d�tente, or continue the arms race. When Richard Nixon came to office in 1969, he had ideas to lessen the danger of the war, including �Vietnnamization�, a movement to pull troops out of Vietnam. After Vietnam, the d�tente period came about. This period of peace lasted from 1962 to 1979.

Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to ensure their influence in nearby nations, the d�tente period came to a halt. The war had greatly drained their economy, much like how the Vietnam War drained America.

By 1985, a new leader by the name of Mikhail Gorbachev had come to power for the Soviets. He greatly tried to end tensions in the war, and launched great efforts to reform. He called for glasnost, or openness to government criticism, and perestroika, which was the restructuring of the government and the economy. However, his reforms brought economic turmoil as shortages grew worse and prices greatly rose. Unrest began to grow in the empire, and Baltic republics began to regain independence.

By 1989 as communism began to decline, Germany began it�s move towards reunification. In Berlin, after Hungary re-opened its border with Austria, which allowed East Germans into the West, people began to tear down the Berlin Wall. In 1990, German voters approved the unification.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, people began to try to overthrow Gorbachev from government and restore old order. By December 25, 1991, after years of pressure, he finally resigned as president. The Soviet Union had finally collapsed.

With more than 40 years of conflict, the struggle between the two powers had finally ended with an American victory. Growing resentment towards communism, and overall exhaustion of the Soviets eventually lead to the fall. The poor amount of crop output and consumer goods, along with nationalist movements in other countries were also big factors in the fall. The atomic bombs and missiles luckily stayed un-used. Between the two, the United States proved to be the dominant super-power of the world, and still remain so today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Ellis, Elizabeth Gaynor, and Anthony Esler. World History. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001.

Stephanson, Anders. "Cold War Origins." Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy. Ed. Alexander DeConde, Richard Dean Burns and Fredrik Logevall. 2nd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Worthington Public Library. 4 June 2006 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T001&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010308017&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=libraryworthingt&version=1.0>.

Wortzel, Larry M. "The United States Should Not Make Peace with North Korea." North and South Korea. Ed. William Dudley. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Worthington Public Library. 4 June 2006 <http://find.galegroup.com/ovrc/infomark.do?&contentSet=GSRC&type=retrieve&tabID=T010&prodId=OVRC&docId=EJ3010243218&source=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=libraryworthingt&version=1.0>.

Hilton, Ruth. Personal interview. 27 May 2006.

Teller, Charles E. Online interview. 2 June 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A History of The Cold War:

From 1947 to 1991

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Teller

European History 4^th Period

Mrs. Milligan

June 3, 2006

Week 14: Santa's Lollipops

Alright my friends, here I am again to unleash my vicious assault of meaningful words upon my unsuspecting audience, only to have all my audience ut up their defense shields to repel the hopefully attack back upon mwa, striking me down in my tracks and making me unberably illiterate.

So this past week has been a typical week of school, except for the fact it is ridicliously cold and dreary. My, what a suprise that is! In Wood I've been making a CD rack, which in my opinion is turning out much much better than my disasterous toolbox. This time around I actually know what I am doing for the most part. Spanish is spanish, and nothing more. English is english, granted it is very old and hard to understand English, but none the less someone must understand it right? Let's hope so. In Science we're learning about motion and graphs. Oh yeah, the other day we put up this giant inflatable Santa outside our house that waves. So if you just happen to be driving by my house, most likely for reasons other than to see me, be sure to give him a good little wave and maybe he'll get you a nice shiny box for Christmas.  We got a tree too. Yay for my family.

Ok, that's a wrap.

Week 13 : Nocturnal Arrangement

Wow, has it been 2 weeks from my last entry already? Time flies when you do nothing it seems, regardless of how weird that sounds.

Guess I'll follow the tradition of talking about Thanksgiving here. So...we had a big feast, met a bunch of people we havent talked to in years, and discussed a bunch of things that i pretended i care about. It was nice to see some of my family that i havent seen in awhile. I dont know, I guess I'm not just a big lover of Thanksgiving.

So today is December...oh how the weather sucks. It's dreary, and cold. Kinda ruins the spirit of Christmas eh? Speaking of Christmas, I'm still not entirely sure what i want, so I'm just asking for a couple movies/cds/shirts that I would like owning. Mainly this consists of Dragon Quest 8, and a few movies like Barry Lyndon, Pulp Fiction, Pi, and Rushmore. In case you havent noticed already I have a strong interest in movies, particularly the untradiitonal ones from directors like Kubrick, Wes Anderosn, David Fincher, Terry Gilliam, Richard Kelly, etc.

I wish I could sit here and tell you all an exciting story involving high octane chases, betrayel, and romance. Sadly though, by doing so I would be telling a complete lie. So I'm just going to try to make these boring days interesting, all for the pleasure of my fellow readers. Yes, you are welcome. Just send your credit card number to me and all will be even.

(\ /)
( . .)
c('')('')

Week 11: Purple in the Morning

Ah yes, the last week before Thanksgiving. I can smell the turkey already...or is that just my cologne? Who knows?

I can't say much has happened this last week...or can I? Well today I opened a checking account and put $180 in there. I still have a good $80 so s'all good. I guess thats what you get when you have a job :p

I think I can add a new favorite to my epic list of movies, which is Requiem For a Dream. Wow. What a movie. It really makes you not want to do drugs, which kind of counteracts against the drugged out world of Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. Anyways, yeah it's a terrific movie with a veyr sad ending. Very emotional, much more than many other movies I have seen. I think anyone considering smoking dope *cough Eil cough* should watch this and see what they think afterwards.

I'm glad we have late start tomorrow, though I would prefer that we get early release. This weekend I'm gonna go see HP 4 and possibly buy Dragon Warrior VIII, if only for the fact that it has a playable demo of the much anticipated Final Fantasy XII! Man I cannot wait to play that game.

Okay I'm done.

Week 10: Golf Shoes!

So.....hey. I'm gonna be typing up quite a storm on here, so you all better put on your life jackets. I'm talking Katrina to the max.

No seriously...well ok. So these last 2 weeks have been full of many Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and the occasional Friday. You may be asking, "What about Saturday and Sunday?" Well let me assure you there are perfectly fine and are being treated as we speak.

I have discovered something so amazing, so incredible, that words cannot describe it. I am talking about a place where you can get free gadgets and systems! Yes, I said free! I will be ordering my FREE XboX 360 sometime soon. I've been watching quite a few movies recently, mainly such classics as "The Big Lebowski", "Fargo", and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", all of which are great movies. I have grown weary of the hollywood blockbusters, so I'm opting for the moe original and captivating films. Fear and Loathing is one trippy movie. Basically the movie is about this reporter who comes to Vegas with his attourney for a story and they end up taking every drug known to man. You're probably thinking right now I'm some kind of druggie, but let me assure you, this is not the case.

Ah yes....school. The only thing remotely interesting in the last 2 weeks has been the beginning of the animation unit in MM. My woodshop project is all smurfed up, so I guess I'll be having to work extra hard on the CD rack. Milligan is as crazy as ever, but at least she holds my attention unlike half of my other teachers. I still say school here is too long, regardless of the bus schedules & crap.

Ok, I think I'm done now. Time for Blast O' Butter popcorn.

Quarter Pounder

Week 8

Okay so now it's the end of week number eight of TWHS, and school is now almost 1/4 of the way over. Oh my god how time flies.....it flies very slowly yet incredibly fast at the same time. How does that work?!

This week I got back my History test. B-. Not bad I guess. Milligan's tests are hard, so I think I did okay. My dad visited on Saturday and Sunday. We went to Cheesburger in Paradise and a bunch of stores. He bought me my birthday present (mp3 player) and I bought two movies (Eternal Sunshine and Lost in Translation). We stayed in his hotel and I watched tv all night.

Next week my mom is going to Maine so I'm gonna be here alone *pumps fist*. I got my paycheck this week for $35 bucks, Yeah that's my week in a few sentences.

Okay I'm done now.

Time Slowing Down?

Week 6

Hey my fellow bloggers, this is Al coming to you live straight from my computer. Amazing, I know.

This week has been a very SLOW week, full of very SLOW classes and very SLOW days. Even the teachers are SLOW. Tomorrow I have my GH test, and I'm pretty sure I know most of the content. Hey, no homework this week. Not that it really made any difference.

I'm learning how to use Photoshop in Mulitmedia. Now I should be able to make my own sigs and stuff without looking like a fool. In fact, I made one tonight for practice:



I like it. It took me for freaking ever though. Donnie Darko rules.

Okay, so now tomorrows Fri. which means I can sleep in on Fri. I got to work on Sun. so I can't sleep in. Anyways, it's looking to be another typicall weekend in my life.

Okay I'm done now. 

Seize The Carp

Week 4

Hello all. Welcome to Episode 4 out of many to come blog entries. This week has been a fairly slow week again. I got back my History test the other day. I got an A-, something that I was very happy about considering on the last testI got a D. So now I have a B in that class. That makes me happy.

We're about to start our tool box in wood. Hopefully I can manage. In MultiMedia, we had to do a presentation to the class on how to arrange objects in Illustrator. I pretty much screwed that whole thing up. Yeah, I wish I would've got colors or something which I know how to do.

Boy, this week's weather sure sucks. We've got rain in the morning, and hot sun in the afternoon. This is why I don't like Ohio weather. In fact, it's even worse than corn in a can. Yes, that is bad.

This weekend I'm planning on going to Sominum Solum. What, you haven't heard of it?! Well, it is a fabulous place I tell you. In fact, I'm thinking of going there on a daily basis. Ya know, for old times sake.

Oka,y, I'm done now.

Week 2: Donut Holes

Hey have ya heard the news?

It's September! Not that that matters at all, but a new month means new oppurtunities.....and I get to flip the page on the calendar. *pumps fist*

So now that school is gettin' into full swing, sleeping is no longer an option. Seriosuly, spending 9 and a half hours a day away from school wears the hell out of you. It seems like every single day in 4th period (History wouldnt ya know), I go into a semi-trance where I'm not quite asleep, and not quite awake. I try to go to bed around 10, but what good does it do if you're not even tired? Even when I'm tired, I turn off the TV, and lay in bed, but yet all of a sudden I'm no longer drousy! And that really really sucks.

Okay, the last 2 weeks of school....well, it's school. What else is there to say? High school is much less intimidating than it's made out to be. I went into it expecting to be held at gunpoint, and quite frankly (heeeeeee), nothing of the sort has occured. My biggest gripe is having to sit down for so freaking long all day. It seems like a sure bet that I'll be having a spasm by 6th period. Oh, and did I mention that the most time I spend with my homz a day is probably.....5 minutes?

Yeah. Oh well, some 'tings just dont work out your way. Like how one time I meant to put teh jelly on the top of the P&BJ, but I put it on the bottom instead! Now that's what I call unfortunate.


I think it's time to put a cap on this entry and store it in the refrigerator of goo. Stay tuned next week where I rave on about garden gnomes and their medicinal healing properties.

So long Joe.

Succesful Teen

Succesful teen eh?

Here are my 3 'tings.

1. Positive outlook towards life (no "The world is out to get me!" type of attitude.)

2. Friends, or at least some form of connectivity with the outside world, and a place to belong so one can be themselves.

3. Good work ethic and a kind attitude towards others.


That was fun wasn't it?

And now for something completely different!


.......Droobie.

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