The Cold War is over, but the influence of the Soviet Union is not. The Soviet Union grew out of the Bolshevik Revolution and Civil War in 1917. Eight leaders and 74 years later the Soviet Union fell in 1991. The story of those 74 years leaves much to tell. However, three areas are most necessary to understand: its cultural achievements, its military strength, and its political oppression. The first truth about the Soviet Union that textbook authors should emphasize is its great scientific, sports, and cultural achievements. One impressive scientific achievement was the many firsts involving the space race (Doc F). A notable victory in sports was the medal count of the Summer Olympics from 1952-1988 (Doc G). The Soviets also had globally admired ballet companies, including those that came to the United States in a cultural exchange to help ease relations between these two nations (Doc H). This is an important area for textbook authors to explore because despite the Soviet Union’s well-earned reputation for political oppression and militarism, the nation achieved great heights in culture and sometimes used their talent to promote international peace. …show more content…
The Soviet Union’s staggering World War II death toll of over 20 million spurred them to strengthen their military after the war (Doc B). By 1980, the Soviet Union spent a much higher percentage of its GNP on the military than the United States did (Doc D). The USSR, even passed the USA in areas such as manpower and nuclear weapons capacity (Doc D). The Soviet technical prowess was also boosted when in 1957 they launched the first satellite into space (Doc F). The Soviet Union’s military strength should be emphasized because it allowed them to extend their influence into Eastern Europe (Doc A) and compete with the US as one of the world’s two
Soviet Union also called the USSR, emerged from World War I as one of the most powerful nations in the world. For 3 decades Joseph Stalin was in control and changed Soviet Union as a world superpower. After the 1920s they were becoming one of the most feared nations. There were many marks the Soviet Union did during the 20th century, but the textbooks should emphasize on economy/geography, militarism, and Joseph Stalin.
During the Cold War there are several events and foreign policy interactions that affected the us. The first subject is the way that the United States and USSR handled nuclear weapons and the fear that people had about them. The Space Race was a time of technological advances in which the US was afraid of what russia would do if they had control over space. Joseph McCarthy and the start of McCarthyism was the start of heavy anti communist views. The tension and fear of the Arms race struck fear into both sides leading to several events caused by each side. Tension and fear during The Cold War had a significant effect on the technology, political views, events, the way people lived, and foreign policy.
In comparison to during WWII, the cold war played a major part in changing the basics of the economy and the government. The economy boomed due to the baby boom and the change in transportation in society. The government of the cold war was affected by events such as the civil rights movement and the red scare. The economy in WWII was solely booming due to the war, but during the cold war, it was pushed by poth post war industry and other reasons.
After World War two, the west and the Soviets brought up tensions between each other. Countries such as Great Britain, the United States, Canada, France and others practiced a capitalist economy. Capitalism is a free market ideal in which the government has as little intervention to its people as possible. On the other hand, the Soviets practiced a Communist government. Communism is a form of socialism that has its government get involved in everyone’s daily life. This meant that the government determined how much and what kinds of goods would be produced.
The United States spent a significant amount of time, effort, and resources in an attempt to stop the spread of communism in Europe and Asia. While America was not able to be completely successful in achieving its overall goal as easily or as quickly as desired, the country did a good job of contributing to the fight. In addition, it would be unfair to expect one nation to be able to halt such a large movement on its own. The United States put forth years of financial and military support to assist in working towards unbiased peace among nations with planned strategies chosen with the wellbeing of the majority of people in mind.
The Soviets displayed great athleticism throughout the Olympics. According to document G the Soviets bested the U.S., 6 out of the 8 years between 1952-1968. The Soviets showed their physical dominance by winning 115 gold medals in the olympics. They held people like Vassalli Alex Oyosi the world strongest man (Doc G). The Soviets also held excellent ballet dancers (Doc 4). The Soviets achievements in the Olympics is something to commemorate.
After World War 2, everyone was happy, unfortunately this happiness didn’t last long. The Soviet Union and United States had many differences. One of those many being, the Soviets believing in Communism and the United States believing in Capitalism. This little disagreement sparked one of the deadliest wars in U.S. history. The U.S. put the Soviets under a policy known as containment. This meant the Soviets were going to be watched and kept under control. This was to insure Communism wouldn’t spread fast or anywhere else. The strongest example of containment is the Cuban missile crisis, while North Korea vs. South Korea is the weakest example.
During the years of the Cold War, the United States had to strategize a way to block the spread of communism. The Cold War deliberates tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Soviets had progressed in their communist ways and the capitalist US wanted to block their spread of communism because of the awful reaction communism had cost. Most importantly are the events that took place during the Cold War that represent containment such as the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Soviet Blockade.
There are many opinions on who started the Cold War, whether it be the USSR’s fault or the United States. With old trust issues rising up again, the next forty years resulted in constant tension and aggression between the two rival powers. But, when it’s time to place the blame for this tedious conflict, it is clear the United States can be blamed, for they were constantly imposing their greater power, and led the USSR to lose their trust due to international acts of aggression from the US. From 1945-1991 the US took action abroad to stop the USSR from gaining more global power, they misinterpreted Soviet motives, and threatened the USSR with acts of aggression through major bomb threats. With both nations having different motives after WWII,
By 1945, the end of World War II was soon arriving and the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union had grew stronger(Britannica). Because of the hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Soviets had created a “left-wing” government, in which politicians support social equality in contrast to social hierarchy. Americans and British had feared Soviet’s dominating all eastern European. In contrast, the Soviets wanted to maintain their control of eastern Europe to keep them safe from any threats from Germany and to spread communism worldwide. However, the main difference between the United States and the Soviet Union was how they chose to govern their states. While the United States held a democratic
Conflict is what starts crucial wars, especially the Cold War. A conflict between United states and the Soviet Union sparked a major role in reshaping our modern world. The Cold War was never a Hot War, though, due to no actual warfare or violence that occured to the two nations. During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies, they fought against Axis powers. Thus, their relationship was tense. Americans were wary about communism as well, which added onto the cold atmosphere of the two nations.
Now this part of their history serves as both a positive and a negative side. On the good side, it shows that they have developed military and nuclear weapons, which adds to the national nation’s level of development. Though this subject, it can be proved that they had advanced in military power more rapidly than individual countries could have. Document F proves that Soviet Union spend 165 billion on military, which is 11% of the GNP. On other hand, the negative side shows, that this power could be used to intimidate the other countries. Document F also explains USSR had 7836 megaton of nuclear/arsenal compare 3253 that US had. It also they have 950 submarines launched, while US only has about 656. Document F and military power/spending of Soviet Union can be used to show influential and intimidating USSR actually was. This can then lead to many people having a better understanding about the history of USSR, its legacy and its
The Cold War was an intellectual battle between communists and anti communists to have their own dominance over the modern world. The Cold War started as most wars do, two sides disagreeing with each other. In this case one side wanted to stop the spread of communism and the other side wanted them to butt out. What happens when both sides have strong opinions and potentially dangerous ideas? It just adds more fuel to the fire. The two sides specifically were the USA and the USSR. Needless to say the USA was against communism and the USSR wasn’t.
“We shall pay the price, bear any burden, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” (John F Kennedy) Before the Cold War, Russia and the United States fought next to each other in World War II. The U.S even gave them millions of dollars worth of weapons and other support to help defeat the Nazis. But when Joseph Stalin took over, created the Soviet Union and started spreading communism the U.S had to do something about it. During the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were pitted against each other, each with hopes on spreading their own but very different governments and requirements, taking extreme measures like containment, the Truman Doctrine, Berlin Blockade, or the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 1989, the world saw the fall of the United Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R.), which was also known as the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a block of 15 Communist Eastern European states that was ruled by one government with various puppet governments located throughout the states. Its collapse brought about new issues that the world had never had to deal with before. The fall of such a large block of Soviet states created many problems and some of the solutions that were used to solve these problems, as well as many of the tensions that were created during this time, still affect the world today. Some of the ramifications resulting from the Soviet Union’s collapse are still being felt; however, many problems have been solved