Cold War
The Cold War was the time period from 1945 to 1990 where there was constant tension and struggle between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. Actual military conflict never occurred, but there were great amounts of hostility and rivalry between the two sides, as well as intense clashes of economic and diplomatic policies. After almost a century of peace, feelings of uneasiness and distrust settled between the two countries after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 when the Communists gained control of Russia, established the Soviet Union. The newly developed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, known as the USSR, declared ideological war against all western capitalist nations. Disapproving of this new type of government, the U.S. tried to intervene, sending over 10,000 troops from 1918-1920. They also refused to officially recognize the state until 1933. (Encarta 1997, 1) Fighting together against Germany during World War II created an alliance, although it did not last for long. The friendship rapidly began to dissipate due to disagreements over the reconstruction of Eastern Europe. The Russian leader, Joseph Stalin, wanted to increase his hold on the area and institut
" In 1948, the United States passed the Marshall Plan, which allotted $13 billion to rebuild war-ravaged Europe, but Eastern Europe was forced to turn down the aid under Soviet pressure. " In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR, and thus began the easing of the conflict. The term "cold war" was first used by Bernard Baruch in a speech referring to the Truman Doctrine, and thus it came to be known as "The Cold War. Between 1980-89, the focal point of the conflict was the intensification of the arms race, and the race of the space program, which popularly became known as "Star W!ars. It began with trying to prevent the spread of Communism, and developed into things such as the race for nuclear weapons, "Star Wars", and several close conflicts such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Korean War. The race to gain control of newly developing countries in the Eastern Hemisphere continued with growing intensity. In 1961 the Berlin Wall was built in an attempt to protect Communist East Germany from outside forces.
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Acceptance Essays
