What Caused the Cold War

It is believed George Orwell was the first person to use the term Cold War in 1945. although this war was never officially declared millions of people still died in the wars connected to it the Cold War struts for most of the second half of the 20th century affecting the history of the world as the United States and the Soviet Union battled for Supremacy and world power the two countries fought over economic systems International influence and even outer space people feared nuclear attacks that

would wipe out whole Nations and were suspicious of anyone different from themselves this suspicion hurt international relations but also encourage people to develop scientifically although the Cold War is Over some historians speculate if the United States is about to get involved in another one the current uncertainty can be better understood by examining this historical conflict by exploring the causes of the Cold War we can identify fears and attitudes that still impact the world we live in

today what caused the Cold War the Cold War Began immediately after World War II although the United States and the Soviet Union have been allies during the war once they defeated the Axis powers they quickly developed disagreements the two sides had already been suspicious of each other before World War II because they had opposing values and economic systems now that they had won the war their differences came to the Forefront and drove the two Nations apart the first cause of the Cold War was

the division of Germany after defeating the Nazis in 1945 the Soviet Union and the United States and the other major allies split Germany in half the Allies controlled the Western half and instituted democracy the Soviet Union controlled the eastern half and instituted communism the Soviet Union had been Communists since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 but as they spread communism to the countries under their influence the Western Powers began to push back these pushbacks started small once Ge

rmany was divided many German people fled to the Western half because they believed the Soviet Union would rule harsily the war had been cruel to both sides and many Germans feared the Soviet Union wanted Revenge however the Soviet Union did not appreciate that all the people were leaving the eastern half of Germany and asked the Allies to send the German people back they refused and tensions quickly Rose as the Soviet Union established puppet governments and soon barred Western interactions fro

m their sphere of influence dividing Germany between the two Powers was complicated by the division of Berlin the capital of Germany Berlin was completely in the eastern part of Germany West Berlin was under Western control but was surrounded by Soviet Union territory by 1948 the Western Powers were helping West Germany rebuild its economy which displeased Joseph Stalin because he did not want Germany to ever be strong enough again to launch Another World War he was also concerned that East Germ

any would wish for the same economic success and the capitalistic methods West Germany was using went against the communism of the Soviet Union Stalin was desperate to maintain power so he cut off all Western access to Berlin this move placed Western Berlin in a perilous situation because it no longer had supplies from the Western powers although the Allies could have sent Armed Forces to clear the roads through violence some commanders thought outside the box and instead started the Berlin Airl

ift this program lasted a little over a year and dropped supplies over the city foiling Stalin's plan and raising the tension between the two world powers although splitting up Germany created division between the United States and the Soviet Union another point of contention surrounded nuclear weapons the threat of Atomic Warfare was part of the Cold War from the beginning President Truman even staged planes in Britain during the tensions with the Soviet Union over the division of Germany just

in case America needed them the U.S had deployed the first atomic bomb in a war in 1945. the Soviet Union created its first nuclear weapons in 1949 and from there the arms race began as each country attempted to build a better Atomic weapon to ensure they would win a nuclear war first as the Iron Curtain was drawn across Europe the Western Powers established NATO or North Atlantic Treaty Organization this group was focused on strengthening Western countries to Halt Soviet advancements they also

created the ecsc or the European coal and Steel Community which eventually became the European Union we have today it connected the Western European countries economically to prevent future outbreaks of War of course the Soviet Union responded to Nato and the ecsc by signing the Warsaw Pact or Warsaw Treaty Organization it tied the Eastern European countries together to protect the region from Western European advancements even though these countries were already under Soviet control it establis

hed a pattern of one side matching the other to prove they were strong enough to win a war if it ever came to that the Cold War had officially begun and would continue similarly across many fields including questions concerning economic systems why was the Western World afraid of communism the Western world's economy functioned on capitalism which Adam Smith first theorized during the Enlightenment the Soviet Union ran under communism which Karl Marx theorized during the 19th century the two sys

tems have fundamental differences concerning the role of wealth and public life but the Soviet Union turned its communist economic system into part of a totalitarian political system like other world powers the Soviet Union wanted to spread its values and beliefs communism was growing in East Asia before the Cold War began before World War II the Chinese had been fighting a civil war between the Nationalist and the Communist parties after the war and after receiving support from the Soviet Union

the Communist Party finally won driving the nationalists to the island of Taiwan which promptly became a new Chinese government the Republic of China the Cold War split the world into two groups communist and not communist so when China officially became a communist Society the Western Powers decided Communism had spread far enough it was no longer just an economic or a political system it was now a moral ideology that had to be contained and stopped at all costs the Western World decided it wa

s their duty to protect the rest of Asia and the world from the threat of communism this moral decision was tested in 1950 when North Korea marched into South Korea after World War II Korea was another area split between the Soviet Union and Western powers the Soviets established North Korea as communist and the Western Powers set up a capitalist and Democratic Society in the south after China turned communist North Korea planned to unify the peninsula under communism and March South the Western

Powers could not allow South Korea to fall to Communism so the United States and Britain teamed up to stop the North Koreans in America this incident is known as the Korean War most of which was fought at the border between North and South Korea but 5 million people died during the three-year engagement and although the Western Powers did stop communism from settling in South Korea they were not able to affect any change in North Korea however the United States still claimed Victory because it

was able to stop the spread of Communism technically though the U.S never formally declared war on North Korea also the Korean war never had a peace treaty which means it has not ended but Western Powers did not really fight to Halt the spread of Communism they also fought to promote capitalism and one of the biggest success stories in Asia is Japan the United States supported Japanese economic growth pouring resources into the country to grow its development they believed that if the Japanese f

elt satisfied and successful they would not switch to Communism and would help stop Soviet expansion into the Pacific Japan did not rebound from World War II just because the United States provided Aid in business assistance the Japanese people were hard-working and resilient they converted their companies from focusing on the military to concentrating on ordinary civilians they produce cars and electronics and quickly became the second largest economy internationally during the Cold War Japan's

success with capitalism allowed it to stand with the Western powers in their goal of stopping the spread of Communism which quickly became one of the leading causes of the Cold War however the fight against communism was not limited to this planet soon the Soviet Union and the United States were fighting over outer space in the Space Race that put the first men on the moon how is the Space Race part of the Cold War people have been interested in space for thousands of years but the first manufa

ctured object to leave the Earth's atmosphere was a German BS rocket that landed in Britain during the war although used militarily it still inspired worldwide excitement after World War II the United States and the Soviet Union sought to collect as many German rocket scientists as possible America offered German scientists a safe place to continue their research and forgiveness for any war crimes but the Soviet Union were more aggressive even taking people without their consent although many of

the German scientists did not appreciate being forcibly removed from their homes and shipped to secret bases across the Soviet Union they did eventually fall back into their work developing Rockets the Soviet Union's interest in Rockets started with Weaponry to prepare for another War however when Joseph Stalin died in 1953 Nikita Khrushchev took over the Soviet Union unlike Stalin Khrushchev wanted to limit any opportunity for war while still proving the Soviet Union was better than the United

States so he promoted technological advancements using Science and Space to fuel the Soviet Union's quest for power and superiority the Soviet Union was the first to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles in 1957 but the Soviet program was already thinking about space their interest was fueled by the American interest in space they announced that they were looking to put a satellite up there and the Soviet Union panicked they quickly set up an engineering program and beat America by puttin

g the first satellite into orbit Sputnik 1. this first satellite started the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union both countries were concerned that technology from the other country would fly overhead even in space the United States sent up its satellite in 1958 and Then followed it by taking the first picture of Earth from space in 1959 the Soviet Union responded by sending two crafts to the Moon which made the United States fearful they believed the Soviet Union would set

up a military base on the moon and attack the United States from above to prevent this they quickly began work in a rocket capable of carrying human passengers in 1960. while the United States was building this rocket the Soviet Union launched the first man into space in 1961. Yuri Gagarin he orbited the planet and the United States was desperate to close the gap less than a month after Gagarin ordered at Earth American astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space John Glenn was th

e first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. both countries continued to pour money into their respective space programs and even though both sides had accidents they continued to power ahead the most pivotal moment came in 1969 when the United States sent the first men to the Moon historians generally believe this marked the end of the Space Race leaving the United States victorious in a battle for technology and development the Cold War was filled with tension technological advances and fear b

oth sides threatened War several times which instilled the concern about nuclear warfare that is still part of our world today it started with a disagreement around communism and quickly expanded to include science economics Global influence and morality we are still dealing with the effects of the Cold War leaving some to wonder if we have genuinely resolved the causes of this International conflict how would you like to get a deeper understanding of History impress your friends and predict the

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