The cold war refers to a time of sustained political and military duress between the western super powers. The period lasted after the World War II (1945-1991) resulting from suspicion and mistrust between different countries that had been significantly involved in the War. After the war, the alliance between the three superpowers namely, the USA, Russia and Britain developed some problems. The alliance had achieved significant progress after emerging victorious in the war. Nevertheless, the unity was not to last forever, and its end defines the beginning of the cold war era. The historical differences, the ideologies and mostly the need for power were too difficult to overcome. It is imperative to point out that the leading causes of the cold war were the division of Germany and the increasing tension between the US and the Soviet (Stanley, 2012). The division between the two countries resulted in a fierce contest between the western and eastern bloc countries. The West was led by the USA while the east was under the USSR. This effort was an ideological battle between Communism and Capitalism, Autocratic and Democratic systems. The tension between the two alliances was motivated by the idea of dominance among developing the world and the desire to control world military industry.

There are some notable events that happened during the entire cold war era. One of these major events was the closing off of Eastern Europe by the Soviets. This was one of the most significant events during the cold war era when the Soviet Union blocked all rail and road traffic to and from West Berlin. After the World War II, Germany was divided into occupation zones. The US, the Soviet, Great Britain and France had specific occupation zones. The Soviets occupied much of the Eastern Germany, while other allies occupied the Western Germany. Berlin was also divided into four areas, and the differences between the US and the Soviet persisted. The Soviets sought huge reparations from Germany in the form of money, industrial equipment, and resources. The Russians also made it clear that they desired a neutral and disarmed Germany (Bostdorff, 2008). The United States saw things in quite a different way. American officials believed that the economic recovery of Western Europe was dependent on a strong, reunified Germany. The British and Americans combined their zones and wee later followed by France. This move angered the Soviets as they sensed economic sabotage. On June 22, 1948, negotiation between the affected parties broke down. This ultimately led to Berlin Blockade on June 24, 1948. After a few months full of tension, the Soviets ended the blockade on May 12, 1949. This was after the successful American airlift merely served to accentuate the technological superiority of the United States over the Soviet Union.

The increased tension between the US and the Soviet brought about declaration of the Truman doctrine of 1947. The doctrine provided that the US would provide political, military and economic assistance to all nations under threat from external or internal authoritative forces. This move was orchestrated by an announcement from the British government that it would no longer provide military and economic assistance to the Greek government against the Greek Communist party (Bostdorff, 2008). Truman asked the Congress to help to both the Greeks and Turkey. At the time, the U.S. Government believed that the Soviet Union supported the Greek Communist war effort and worried that if the Communists prevailed in the Greek civil war, the Soviets would ultimately influence Greek policy.

The cold war tension between the Soviet and the United States eventually exploded in Korea, which was to be known as the Korean War. This was propagated the Soviet’s move to back North Korea to invade their southern counterparts in 1950.  Determined not to let Communism spread in East Asia, Truman significantly increased military spending and ordered General MacArthur to retake the southern half of the peninsula. The army managed to push North Koreans almost up to the Chinese border. The war was also instrumental in bringing the fall of China to communism (Stanley, 2012). The Korean War is said to claim more than 50,000 American lives bringing the notion that ‘’ cold war turn hot’’. End of Korean War was realized in 1953 when the president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, threatened to use nuclear weapons.

It was the US foreign policy that a communist victory in one nation would lead to a chain reaction of communist takeovers in neighboring states. Consequently, the US used this to justify their support of a non-communist regime in South Vietnam against the communist government of North Vietnam, and ultimately its increasing involvement in the long-running Vietnam War (1954-75). The Americans believed that their involvement in the Vietnam War helped reduce the spread of communism in the rest of Southeast Asia. According to Americans, Vietnam was an important country to them and would assist them to contain the spread of communism in other parts of the world. The idea against communism brought about the famous speech by Ronald Reagan concerning the Berlin wall that is believed to have been built by the communists (DeJong-Lambert, 2012).  The collapse of the Berlin wall would signify the end of communism.  In 1991, the cold war era came to an end. It is at this juncture the world watched in dismay as the Soviet disintegrated into fifteen separate countries. Its collapse was hailed by the West as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, and evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism. The United States rejoiced as its formidable enemy was brought to its knees, thereby ending the Cold War which had hovered over these two superpowers since the end of World War II (Stanley, 2012). By the commonly held view, the cold war is part of the twentieth century, and it doesn’t have any relation with the present; in spite of today’s global political pressure, minority considers that deterioration of international relations, a division of world on the west and east spheres, proves that chronological borders of cold war require serious changes.

References

Bostdorff, D. (2008). Proclaiming the Truman Doctrine. College Station: Texas A & M University Press.

DeJong-Lambert, W. (2012). The cold war politics of genetic research. Dordrecht: Springer.

Edwards, R. (2007). Spione. Adept Press.

Stanley, J. (2012). The Cold War and the Americas, 1945-81. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 
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