In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union began to collapse. Relations between the two nations worsened and disagreements led to them butting heads. This led to the beginning of one of the longest wars in U.S. history. This war is known as the Cold War. Although it didn’t involve any actual warfare, it would change the world forever. There were many factors that lead to the beginning of the Cold War. Mainly, the biggest factor was the conflicting ideologies of the U.S. and Soviet Union. The U.S. is a capitalistic nation that wanted to prevent the spread of communism and there were many famous and well known cities that were, “in the Soviet sphere and all are subject in one form or another, …show more content…
One of these “weapons” were propaganda. A prime example of this is in “a speech by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1956 in which he explains his point of view on U.S. actions” (Doc. 6). In this speech, Khrushchev shamed the United States. He accused them of trying to gain power for world domination which was pure propaganda. Also, a method used to try and prevent the spread of communism was military and economic aid “policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation [domination] by armed minorities or by outside pressure” (Doc. 2). The policy was very important in aiding Greece and Turkey during the Cold War. The United States wanted to give Greece and Turkey $400 million in aid to keep them from succumbing to the Soviet Union. Another method used during the Cold War to try and prevent a massive war and many deaths was the detente. This was a method to try and limit the number of nuclear weapons that each nation had. Eventually, this would improve relations between the U.S. and the Soviet …show more content…
One of the biggest conflicts that occurred during the Cold War was the arms race. This is when “nations compete to increase their military might” (Doc. 6). The arms race was probably one of the most dangerous conflicts that occurred during the Cold War because the likelihood of war increases when there are more weapons involved. Another conflict that happened during this time was the Cuban Missile Crisis. In one of President John F. Kennedy’s speeches during the crisis he stated “unmistakeable evidence that a series of offensive missile sites is now being built on that island . . . Cuba has been made into an important strategic base by the presence of these long-range offensive weapons of sudden mass destruction” (Doc. 8). This time during the Cold War was the closest the world came to all-out nuclear warfare because the U.S. felt threatened by this, but luckily was able to resolve the issue. Another major conflict that occurred during the Cold War was the Korean War. This was when North Korea invaded South Korea and forced them to retreat, but later, U.S. soldiers joined in on the war and was able to help South Korea win. This was a big step in stopping the spread of