Essay, Research Paper: Cold War

Throughout history, conflicts between nations has been
unavoidable. Even many of the smallest countries seem to
need military protection. Few countries however have been
involved in conflicts lasting more than fifty years and
never actually been in a battle verse each other.
The Americans and the Russians had been friends for a
century, then in 1917, when communists seized power and
established the Soviet Union and declared ideological war on
the nations in the west, they became enemies to the
Americans. The United States refused to recognize the
soviet Union as a state until 1933. The two countries
fought Germany in World War 2 as allies.
In 1945, the United States and the USSR broke their war
time alliance. They had very different political systems.
They also had a bad history, but when USSR moved into
eastern Europe, The United States decided that it could not
be overlooked.
Winston Churchill called the dividing line between the
USSR’s satellites and democratic Europe an “iron curtain”.
The United States knew that the “creeping communism” would
continue if they let it. Thus, began the 55 year long war,
in which the two sides never actually fought one another.
The USSR and the United States competed over
everything, from the size of their empires to how well their
athletes performed at the Olympics. The most dangerous
competition was the arms race. This led people to live in
fear over a possible war, due to the occurrence of other
wars beginning in such a manner.
The United States knew competing with the USSR would
not stop communism from spreading. President Truman
suggested the Containment Policy. with this policy the
American Nation would aide people who were being forced to
become Soviet Satellites or eastern block nations. The plan
started with Greece and turkey. At President Truman’s
suggestion they were given 400 million dollars in aide. The
country in which democracy began, (Greece), stayed
democratic, as well as Turkey.
Not long after the success with the Containment policy,
America’s Secretary of state reached a new plan, the
Marshall Plan. In the Marshall Plan, The United States
aided countries, who after the war needed to be rebuilt
economically, socially, and politically. Marshal said “It’s
purpose is to revive a working economy in the World”. He
knew communism seemed to be the only option to countries who
were unstable. Although 13 billion dollars was put into
this plan, it was considered money well spent.


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