The Effect Of Cold War On American Culture

Improved Essays
It has been 25 years since the end of the Cold war, the silent battle between the West Capitalism and Russian communism. The ever constant threat of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) created the American culture of the fifties and so on. Those born into it were used to the bomb shelters, space race and the constant détente. The conflict of two political and ideological ideas that control most of the world will affect most of what the world would have been today. The surge and rise of massive military programs and the Romanization of the American life has had many forget the fear and stress many had felt. The cold war was about controlling the future of others and assuring that one would survive, using the military to deter one another. This led the US to support not the best leaders in other countries in order to prevent the rise of communism, the containment policy which became the basis of US foreign policy, would see many countries have a change of government. Then the end came with the fall of the Soviet Union, now that the main enemy was beaten, the world oddly remains unsafe, for it was simpler to fight one super power than to fight dozens of spread rouge states and dangerous groups of global terrorism. And what many American’s hope to see is security which many have accustomed, which is once again threaten by the sleeping bear, with Russian escalating conflict in Syrian, the annexation of Crimea and war in Ukraine, and the ever “close encounters” with Nato aircraft and ships, lead many to believe the new cold war is near, or it may have already begun. In order to understand our modern conflicts, we must go back, and see what started it all. …show more content…
In the end of world war 2, the allies were closing in on Berlin, the last major stronghold of the Nazis. The Soviet Union, which was a communistic government and greatly military which was consider the East, a single party of communism and a direct command administration of the economy which was highly valued, would the opposite of the west. With the West, the ideas and concepts of a market economy and a multi-party democracy were saw as necessity for the better of society. the capitalistic and promoter of freedom would soon clash with one another. The US soon would drop the atomic bomb and end the war, this would lead to two powers, opposite of one another, with profound economic and political differences. Both hated one another, but fear one another, once the Soviet Union was able to produce nuclear bombs, this put them on the same level has the US, neither went for a full scale warfare, rather it relied on using others on proxy wars, it was in a form of betting for without fully losing. All to defend their way of life and thinking. The apparent conflict of ideas and obscene nature of those who defended them, were only driving force behind the Cold War even further. The two leaders on both sides were too ambitious of expanding their ideological policies. For example, the famous Marshall Plan has been seen as a capitalist plan to gain support from the western part of Europe and then catch the attention from the oppress eastern. The Soviet Union

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The United States and the Soviet Union fought in the cold war in 1947, ending in 1991. It was the beginning of change in government in Germany and European nations after WWII ended. It also caused separation and oppression. The United States and the Soviet Union were debating whether Germany and other European countries would be capitalist or communists.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Assignment #13 - What Did We Actually Win To begin, while it is clear that the US in particular won in the Cold War, it is very unclear what we actually won other than the collapse of the Soviet Union. As we have demonstrated in past weeks, the outcome of the war boiled down to a matter of economic might vs military might. The Soviet Union, while militarily sound, was unable to compete with the cost of war and inevitably collapsed. However, following the war, it is apparent that we have suffered substantial losses as well.…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The two superpowers had very different views on how to fix the global economy and soon became a competition on spheres of influence and world power. They both believed that their economic and political systems were superior to the other and viewed every worldly event as a confrontation that would determine whether Communism or Capitalism would become the ideal view…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cold War Dbq Analysis

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two superpowers. This created a rivalry between these two nations that became known as the Cold War. While the Cold War affected United States foreign policy, it also had a great effect on United States domestic policy and on American society. Such example existed between the spread of Communism, American fears and the efforts in the war. These various new policies created during the era of war crisis sets a framework on American’s way of living and their impact on home front.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cold War Dbq

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Cold War was a time of heightened geopolitical tensions between the two global superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. It is known as the Cold War because while battle did not ensue between the Western and Eastern Blocs, major proxy wars supported by both sides occurred. It was a conflict between capitalism and communism, democracy against authoritarianism. During this time, both sides stockpiled on nuclear arsenal, but never ensued in an all-out war on the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD). The Soviet Union was not the only national threat: various problems brewed on the domestic front.…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Berlin Wall Dbq

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The differences between democracy and communism caused tension between the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, after World War II. A wall was built as a border to separate the two governments and caused many problems. Throughout the world the fall of the Berlin Wall was celebrated but in the Soviet Union, the fall began to destroy their government. The wall was a physical and mental barrier between East and West Berlin. After World War II, Germany was divided into two states.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Cold War was a time of extremely high tensions primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union, with the involvement of their respective allies. This time of heightened tension in history was very long and lasted from 1947 until 1991. At this time the United States and its allies wanted to stop the spread of communism while the Soviet Union and the other members of the Warsaw Pact wanted to spread it. During this time the threat of nuclear weapons weighed over all the countries involved. Due to the face that there were such high international tensions around the world, foreign policy was a critical component of the involved countries governmental system.…

    • 2393 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fear changes people, this was eminent in the 40s/50s with the growing of totartalistic, communist state. Americans lives were dramatically changed just because of the fright of communist in ally nations. Friends targetted friends, careers were ruined, corrupt parts of the government, so many changes were made during this time, and America would forever be scarred by the anti-communist battle. In the American mind, the communist were a huge arising problem, and Truman was too soft on communism.…

    • 674 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cold War Dbq

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Cold War The Cold War was a lengthy struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in the aftermath of the surrender of Hitler’s Nazi regime. In 1941, Nazi aggression against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the USSR, turned the Soviet Union into an ally of the Western democracies. But in the post-war world, increasingly divergent viewpoints created rifts between those who had once been allies. The United States of America and the USSR gradually built up their own zones of influence, dividing the world into two opposing sectors. The Cold War was therefore not exclusively a struggle between the United States and the USSR but a global conflict that affected many countries.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There was a war to end, inventions to make, and a world to change. During the years of 1970 to the present, Americans experienced a country moving forward. For example, Americans found new learning with the Internet which had a part of the dawning of the “Information Age.” Americans also faced 9-11 which damaged the sense of security and strength of America. (New Voices, New Frontiers…” p.1277-1289)…

    • 1355 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    America was once described as baseball and apple pie. The Cold War forced Americans to choose the status quo of traditional American life or to face a new modernized age. The United States being a superpower in the Cold War locked horns with the very powerful Soviet Union over which form of economic and political system was best. The struggle for power in both countries was fought with espionage, nuclear deterrent, propaganda and a space race.…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Cold War was simply an opportunity for each country to try and prove its superiority and served no true purpose except as an outlet for each country to express its superiority. The Cold War the sole fault of Soviet and American policy, which lead to the arms race, the lack of solving territorial disputes, and the fear of loosing…

    • 1801 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Cold War lasted from 1945 to 1989 and was a conflict rooted from the radical differences in two ideologies: communism versus capitalism. It is known as the Cold War because there was no direct war between the two nations. The Cold War was a result of a series of chain reactions through the use of propaganda, espionage and proxy combat. Through the use spy agencies such as CIA, KGB, wars in third world countries and wide spread propaganda, the USSR and USA strengthened tensions and unrest between each other and led to the Cuban…

    • 2243 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After World War II it was believed there were two nations that came out decisively as the far more superior out of any other nation that participated in the war. Both the United States and the Soviet Union appeared to be the two nations that would eventually become the leaders in politics, military, and technological advances among any other nation around the world. Although the two nations were allies and fought together against the Axis powers during World War II, they would become rivals in every aspect that this period of history would become known as the Cold War. The Cold War would dominate international relations during a 45 year period that was characterized by high tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.…

    • 1258 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Cold War’s Social and Political Effect on America In world war II, America and the Soviet Union were allies. Their relationship throughout the war was tense. Due to paranoia and fear of communism from America and the Soviet Union’s resentment of America because of their delayed entry into the war, leading to many avoidable russian deaths, mutual hate and distrust of each other developed. This unfounded paranoia of both nations would, ultimately, cause the Cold War. (History.com, "Cold War History.")…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays

Related Topics