Cold War was a period of great danger and international tension, brought on by the power struggles between the United States and the Soviet Union. The communist ideology -- which the Soviets were aggressively trying to spread through Europe and elsewhere -- was seen as an enormous threat to the U.S., while the capitalist / democratic ideology was seen by the Soviets as a threat to their way of life as well. This paper delves into the post-WWII background to the Cold War and reviews the situation in the U.S. given the threat of nuclear war between the two superpowers.
How did the Cold War Begin?
The Cold War began after the conclusion of WWII due to the political struggle for ideological control of countries, including several European nations. The question asked by Allied leaders was this: how would post-war Europe be shaped now that Nazi Germany is defeated?
By 1948, the Soviet Union had made its power and its presence felt in Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. The United States and principal ally, Britain, were trying hard after the war to prevent the Soviets from setting up communist regimes in Western Europe. One of the problems that was taken into consideration, according to www.globalsecurity.com was that there was a certain appeal to the idea of communism in Europe because the communists were fighting Nazi occupation. The possibility existed that even Western European countries like France and Italy could go communist, and this was a red flag for U.S. President Harry Truman and Winston Churchill in England.
Maarten van Alstein writes...
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