When the horror that was the Second World War finally ended in 1945, the world had to rebuild. The problem was that everyone had a different idea of what that new world should look like. Through the remainder of the 1940's though, it was clear that the world had started to settle into two camps: Democratic, and Communist. The reasons for this are actually fairly simple. Before the war, we saw the world fall into the two ideologies of Democratic, and Totalitarian. One of those totalitarian rulers was Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union, and he was the only one who sided with the Allies, because Nazi Germany invaded the U.S.S.R. in 1941, even though the two countries had a non-aggression pact with one another.
This is why, after the war, the Soviet Union was the only remaining major totalitarian country left, and had done almost all of the fighting and dying on land during the entire war. One can claim that the Soviet Union really won the war for the Allies, because they absorbed the bulk of Germany's fighting power. The United States, on the other hand, won the economic and scientific aspect of the war, by providing the money, supplies, and technology the Allies needed to achieve victory over the Axis.
With the dawn of the "New World Order," after the war, these two major superpowers, with two completely different ideologies, became the dominant forces in world politics, and their conflict and competition with one another would divide the world for nearly the next 50 years. The world had entered the era we now call The Cold War (1945-1991).
This is why, after the war, the Soviet Union was the only remaining major totalitarian country left, and had done almost all of the fighting and dying on land during the entire war. One can claim that the Soviet Union really won the war for the Allies, because they absorbed the bulk of Germany's fighting power. The United States, on the other hand, won the economic and scientific aspect of the war, by providing the money, supplies, and technology the Allies needed to achieve victory over the Axis.
With the dawn of the "New World Order," after the war, these two major superpowers, with two completely different ideologies, became the dominant forces in world politics, and their conflict and competition with one another would divide the world for nearly the next 50 years. The world had entered the era we now call The Cold War (1945-1991).
Now, why is it called a cold war? Well, it was not, because it was cold outside. A Cold War is when a conflict is fought without the use of traditional weapons. Essentially, it is more of a battle of ideologies that is won by proving oneself the best through other means, such as scientifically, technologically, and in some cases, militarily. Now, there were open conflicts during the Cold War, but they were not fought directly between the United States and the Soviet Union. Instead there would be indirect conflict and competition done through other countries, like Korea and Vietnam.
Importantly though, much of the Cold War was dictated by something we call Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.). Throughout the length of the time period, both sides possessed enormous stockpiles of nuclear weapons, and were willing to use them if the Cold War ever heated up directly between the two superpowers. That being said, the United States and the Soviet Union also knew that a nuclear war would literally end all life on Earth. The United States used the two atomic weapons on Japan to end World War II faster, but they had no idea what they were truly unleashing. The U.S. had given the world the means to destroy itself, and is why though there were other conflicts which we will discuss, what everyone feared the Cold War would turn into the most, a nuclear holocaust, never actually happened. |
As happened last unit, there is just simply no way we could ever cover the Cold War in depth, despite it being such a fundamentally important time period in history (It literally covered the last half of the twentieth century!). There are just too many topics to choose from and discuss to do the Cold War the justice it deserves in the length of time we have available to us. This is why we will be covering the broad strokes of the war, including the major ideologies, indirect conflicts between the U.S. and U.S.S.R., and how it would set the stage for the world we now live in. Do not worry though, you will have the opportunity to reexamine the Cold War far more closely when you take U.S. History next year.