Cold war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cold war - Essay Example This paper will address the cold war topic into details. The cold war was the tension that existed between the Western and Eastern blocs. After, the end of World War II, an English journalist named George Orwell used the term cold war in his essay (Lewis, 2006). As stated above, the cold war was led by the United States, its NATO partners and the Soviet Union together with its satellite associates. Some of the Soviet Republics included Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Eastern Finland, Lithuania and Eastern Romania. These territories were liberated and were transformed into satellite states (Leffler, 2008). The United States was the Western bloc (Western world) while the Soviet Union was known as the Eastern bloc (also communist world) (Tyull & Enright, 2011). The war commenced after the triumph of their wartime coalition against Nazi Germany. This success factor triggered political and economic differences among these two superpowers. The main wary factor in the war period was the introducti on of weapons of mass destruction. Before the war had commenced, the two superpowers fought together as friends during World War II, since; they had one enemy in common (Arne, 2007). The reason behind the naming of the war originates from the fact that the war did not involve direct military action because both sides were in possession of nuclear weapons. This war was caused by several issues. Some of the prevalent issues include Truman’s dislike of Stalin, Russia’s loathe of capitalism, secrets in nuclear power, fear of attack by the United States, need to secure the western border and the aim of spreading communism in the world (Brown, 2011). These among other factors are some of the main causes that led to the rise of the cold war. However, this rivalry was presented through espionage, aid to client countries, rivalry at sport competitions, massive propaganda campaigns, technological contests, military federations and making pleas to neutral nations. One of the most evident expressions of the conflict is the Space Race which was related to technological improvement. These were some of the proxy wars that the Soviet Union fought with the United States (Leffler, 2008). Additionally, both parties sought for a detente so as to relieve the military and political tensions (Arne, 2007). However, in the 1980s, the Western bloc increased their military, economic and diplomatic pressures. This was the period when the Soviet Union faced economic stagnation. According to researchers, the cold war was the first-ever war between the social and economic systems (Tyull & Enright, 2011). In this period, the prime minister of Britain, Winston Churchill felt that the Soviet leader; Joseph Stalin was quite untrustworthy. Stalin was viewed as distrustful after Truman informed him of a new weapon that he was to use against the Japanese. In addition, Stalin knew about the weapon’s power after reports of Hiroshima went back to Moscow. He also asserted that Wor ld War II was an inevitable case of capital imperialism and that the implications of the war reoccurring were exceptionally high. The Soviet Union had a vast army known as the Red Army that was headed by the Zhukov while the United States region were in possession of the atomic bomb which was recognized as the most destructive weapon of mass destruction in the world (Tyull & Enright, 2011). Patton who was one of the leading generals in the Western bloc recommended that the