¶ … influential factor in the evolution of the international world of politics following the end of World War II was the interrelationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. The conflictive positions between the two states influenced both the evolution of highly dominant states as well as minor governments. The world divided into two military fronts, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) -- 1949, and the Warsaw Pact in 1955. The international relations were dominated by tensions between the East and the West that shaped a conflict of ideological, political, and strategic manner but not military. This bilateral contention has since come to be known as the Cold War. This image of non-conventional warfare was unfamiliar decades of years ago when massacres and slaughterous mayhem was the representative picture of battlefields that most would have associated wars with up until the emergence and unfolding of the Cold War. In 2013, concerns continue to arise as to the imminence of another or better yet, continuation of the strategic war that started within the second half of the twentieth century. Apparently, this is in relation to Syria and a conflict of interests between the United States and Russia regarding the former. As such, Russia does not want to lose the Syrian ports on the Mediterranean. The United States claim agent Edward Snowden to whom Russia has given temporary asylum following his disclosure of secret governmental documents. Furthermore, capitalist Russia seeks the monopole on the exportation of gases to Europe, a prime position in the Middle East and a privileged partnership with the world's most economically influential powers. On the other hand, the United States, having invested enormously in armament, would seek to ensure its position as the world's leading power. Therefore, intermittent factors seem to imply that the Cold War has either never ended or it continues to have repercussions upon societies at this very moment. This does not only make it a historic event with roots deeply embedded in contemporary times but, as arguments suggest, it is an event that continues to shape the world of international positions and national interests. This paper will explore the general shape of the Cold War and will initially expose its emergence and the implications of the conflict. Particular analysis will prevail in regards to major episodes regarding the Cold War, such as the Truman Doctrine. Ultimately, positive and negative outcomes of the Cold War will be considered and assessed.
The Cold War was characterized by a prominent feature that prevented its development into a hot conflict of armed forces: the reciprocal discouraging. Indeed, ?for forty-five years, the two superpowers faced each other across the globe, each dreading the consequences of ceding dominance to the other, ? (Wohlforth, 2003, p. 1) however, without giving course to military actions on battle fronts. In neither one of the international conflicts -- Korea, Vietnam, or the African countries -- did the Russians and the Americans resort to direct confrontation. Nazi Germany had determined both powers to collaborate in order to prevent the former from gaining political and territorial prominence in Europe. President Roosevelt's forged alliance was initially sought by his successor, Harry S. Truman. However, as Kissinger acknowledged, with the new international framework, ?the United States and the Soviet Union, the two giants at the periphery, were now facing off against one another in the very heart of Europe. (1994, p. 424)
Following the ending of World War II, the Soviets' ambitions in relation to Eastern Europe became evident. The victorious Soviet Army enforced the conditions for the establishment of communist oriented governments in countries such as Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, former Yugoslavia, and Albania. The governments eventually succeeded in the suppression of resistant forces and assumed dominant power. The communist countries entailed careful consideration to the Soviet Union and acted as satellite forces that were thoroughly controlled by the former. The Western democracies seized in the communists' plan the intention for worldwide domination of a communist movement led by the Soviets. The danger appeared substantiated by the existence of communist parties which formed and shaped ideas and conceptions even in non-communist countries. To ensure the level of control, communist states became isolated from the rest of the world and the term the Iron Curtain was popularized by Winston Churchill, who was himself a supporter of the Cold War, to designate the frontiers of Europe. Thus, abaft the Iron Curtain represented in fact the inside of the communist coalition. Because ?the Soviet Union envisioned spreading...
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