Overview and Causes of the Cold War
The cold war was from the 1940‘s to the 1960‘s and it involved to main countries, The United States and The Soviet Union. Durning World War Two things started to fall apart and Allies were breaking because The Soviet Union and The United States had two different beliefs and did not trust each other. The main reason why they were so different was because The Soviet Union was Communist and The United States was Capitalist. In 1945 the three leaders known as the Big Three were Franklin D. Roosevelt(US), Winston Churchill(UK) and Joseph Stalin(SU). They agreed to divide Germany into zones. They split it Communist and Capitalist and let the people vote, although it was rigged and ended up being mostly Communist. Later similar issues came up at the Potsdam conference with the same three leaders.
Goals for the Soviet Union and the United States were very different and showed why they did not not like each other. Post World War Two goals for the Unites states were to promote open markets for US goods to prevent another depression, promote democracy throughout the world, especially in Asia and Africa and to stop the spread of communism “Domino Effect”. Post World War Two goals for the Soviet Union were to create greater security for itself because they lost millions of people in the war, establish defensible borders, encourage friendly governments on its borders and to spread communism around the world. The Characteristics of each country were completely different as well. Communistic country had Classless society, no luxury items, the people’s cooperation, they shared wealth, and government control. The government controlled everything and the people had to work together, thy need each other to survive. A Capitalistic country had more people control, competition, self proclaimed, based on luxury items, class society and survival of the fittest. The harder the people worked the more they achieved, it was up to them as the individual.
After World War two came to an end, Stalin felt that a necessary buffer was was needed. It as more of a wall of protection secured with Communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia. The United States tried to offset the growing Soviet threat to Eastern Europe, by adopting a foreign policy call containment. It was a policy that was supposed to stop the spread of communism and block the Soviet influence. When the United States first put this policy into actions, they formed allies and helped the weaker countries stay away from Soviet advances.
Goals for the Soviet Union and the United States were very different and showed why they did not not like each other. Post World War Two goals for the Unites states were to promote open markets for US goods to prevent another depression, promote democracy throughout the world, especially in Asia and Africa and to stop the spread of communism “Domino Effect”. Post World War Two goals for the Soviet Union were to create greater security for itself because they lost millions of people in the war, establish defensible borders, encourage friendly governments on its borders and to spread communism around the world. The Characteristics of each country were completely different as well. Communistic country had Classless society, no luxury items, the people’s cooperation, they shared wealth, and government control. The government controlled everything and the people had to work together, thy need each other to survive. A Capitalistic country had more people control, competition, self proclaimed, based on luxury items, class society and survival of the fittest. The harder the people worked the more they achieved, it was up to them as the individual.
After World War two came to an end, Stalin felt that a necessary buffer was was needed. It as more of a wall of protection secured with Communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia. The United States tried to offset the growing Soviet threat to Eastern Europe, by adopting a foreign policy call containment. It was a policy that was supposed to stop the spread of communism and block the Soviet influence. When the United States first put this policy into actions, they formed allies and helped the weaker countries stay away from Soviet advances.