Cold War: Difference between revisions

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[[Image:World map worlds first second third.GIF|left|176px|thumb|Western and Eastern blocs with Third World region of contention.]]

The '''Cold War''' was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]] and their allies from the mid-[[1940s]] until the early [[1990s]]. Throughout the period, the rivalry between the two [[superpower]]s was played out in multiple arenas: military coalitions; [[ideology]], psychology, and [[espionage]]; military, industrial, and technological developments, including the [[space race]]; costly defense spending; a massive conventional and [[nuclear arms race]]; and many [[proxy war]]s.

The term "Cold War" was introduced in 1947 by Americans [[Bernard Baruch]] and [[Walter Lippmann]] to describe emerging tensions between the two former [[Allies of World War II|wartime allies]].<ref>Fred Halliday, "Cold War" ''The Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World'', 2e. Joel Krieger, ed. Oxford University Press Inc. 2001.</ref> There never was a direct military engagement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, but there was a half-century of military buildup, and political battles for support around the world, including significant involvement of allied and [[Satellite state|satellite]] nations. Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union had been allied against [[Nazi Germany]], the two sides differed on how to reconstruct the postwar world even before the end of the [[Second World War]]. [[Image:Cold war.png|left|176px|thumb|Major alliances during the Cold War.]] Over the following decades, the Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world, as the U.S. sought the "[[containment]]" of [[communism]] and forged numerous alliances to this end, particularly in Western Europe, the [[Middle East]], and [[Southeast Asia]]. The nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, in effect, started the "Cold War." According to [[William Blum]] and others, Japan had tried to surrender for several months, but the U.S. wanted to test nuclear weapons in war and, most importantly, show its power to the Soviet Union.<ref>Tim Weiner, "U.S. Spied on its World War II Allies," New York Times, Aug. 11, 1993, p.9</ref><ref>[http://members.aol.com/bblum6/abomb.htm William Blum (1995) ''NEEDLESS SLAUGHTER, USEFUL TERROR'']</ref>

The nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, in effect, started the "Cold War." According to [[William Blum]] and others, Japan had tried to surrender for several months, but the U.S. wanted to test nuclear weapons in war and, most importantly, show its power to the Soviet Union.<ref>Tim Weiner, "U.S. Spied on its World War II Allies," New York Times, Aug. 11, 1993, p.9</ref><ref>[http://members.aol.com/bblum6/abomb.htm William Blum (1995) ''NEEDLESS SLAUGHTER, USEFUL TERROR'']</ref> Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union had been allied against [[Nazi Germany]], the two sides differed on how to reconstruct the postwar world even before the end of the Second World War. Over the following decades, the Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world, as the U.S. sought the "[[containment]]" of [[communism]] and forged numerous alliances to this end, particularly in Western Europe, the [[Middle East]], and [[Southeast Asia]].

[[Image:Cold war.png|thumb|right|600px|Major alliances during the Cold War.]]

There were repeated crises that threatened to escalate into [[world war]]s but never did, notably the [[Korean War]] ([[1950]]-[[1953]]), the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] ([[1962]]), and the [[Vietnam War]] ([[1964]]-[[1975]]). There were also periods when tension was reduced as both sides sought [[détente]]. Direct military attacks on adversaries were [[deterrence|deterred]] by the potential for [[Mutual Assured Destruction|massive destruction]] using deliverable [[nuclear weapon]]s.

There were repeated crises that threatened to escalate into [[world war]]s but never did, notably the [[Korean War]] ([[1950]]-[[1953]]), the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] ([[1962]]), and the [[Vietnam War]] ([[1964]]-[[1975]]). There were also periods when tension was reduced as both sides sought [[détente]]. Direct military attacks on adversaries were [[deterrence|deterred]] by the potential for [[mutual assured destruction]] using deliverable [[nuclear weapon]]s. The Cold War drew to a close in the late [[1980s]] following the launching of Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]'s reform programs, ''[[perestroika]]'' and ''[[glasnost]]''. The Soviet Union consequently ceded power over Eastern Europe and was [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolved]] in 1991.

==History==