Research Paper on Cold War: USSR vs US: Forty Years of Tension

Introduction

The Cold War was an era of political, economic, and philosophical tension between the Soviet Union abbreviated as USSR and the United States. It spanned for a period of forty years from 1947 to 1991. Remarkably, the tension between the two parties was present before the Cold War began. The US, France, and Great Britain had denounced the Marxists ideology, which initiated a revolution in Russia in 1917 that resulted in the establishment of the Communist Soviet Union (Forsberg, 2005). Besides, the Communist's deliberations of revolution put the US leaders on alarm. At the same time, the Soviets focused on the civil war and later, the formation of a government that would drive their political philosophy beyond its borders from the 1920-1930s (Forsberg, 2005). However, as World War I ended, the USSR and the US emerged as superpowers. Besides, the first Cold War was fought in Europe. The US, France, Britain, and the USSR were allies in WW1. They acknowledged devastated Europe and concluded that German specifically required rebuilding and stop its aggression to never disturb the peace that prevailed in Europe. They joined and separated Germany from its capital Berlin into two halves that included West Germany and East Germany. Besides, this division marked the spheres of the American and Soviets' influence. Life, however, was better in the West and the East. Therefore, many people migrated from the former to the latter (Harrison, 2011). As the lasting legacy of the Cold War was started being experienced, the Berlin Crisis in 1961 led to the construction of the Berlin Wall to cease individuals from escaping from the East to the West, which was less oppressive than the former.

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Key Players Involved in the Cold War

The Cold War, similar to any other battle of its time, was not excluded from key players. Some of the main players included Harry Truman, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, among others. Harry Truman was the US 33rd president. He was aligned to Stalin and Winston Churchill when the US, Soviet Union, Britain were the Big Three. Notably, they worked jointly in most of the WWI meetings, but when it ended, Britain and the US opposed the USSR. They did not trust Stalin, who opposed communism. Stalin advocated for communism and was the dictator of the USSR for almost 30 years from 1924-1953. He employed terror to cease opposition. Nikita Khrushchev was also a key player in the Cold War. He was the first Secretary of the USSR's Communist party formed in 1953-1964 during the Cold War. He condemned Stalin and reduced the control of the government over the soviet citizens. Besides, he campaigned for peaceful coexistence with West Germany. Leonid Brezhnev also took a critical role in the Cold War. He was the General Secretary of the USSR's Communist Party and held the position from 1964-1982. Besides, under his role, the USSR military grew and gave it more influence throughout the world. Dwight Eisenhower was also the 34th president of the US from the year 1953-1961. He was seen as a significant leader who initiated an era of economic stagnation in the USSR that saw it collapsing in 1991. John F. Kennedy, on the other hand, participated in the Cold War, specifically in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 (Lissner, 2019). He was the United States' 35th president. Since the US had missiles, which could directly attack the USSR, the Soviets chose to store them in Cuba. He, however, was prosperous in obtaining them out of Cuba in efforts to protect the United States from potential missiles attacks from the USSR.

The Lasting Legacy of the Cold War in the US and the World

The Cold War occurred from 1947 to 1991. It was a period marked by the rule of Harry S. Truman to the reign of George H. W. Bush as presidents of the US. After USSR collapsed, most countries struggle to occupy this gap, but the United States remained the only superpower. Ultimately, the Western civilizations sat at the wheel of power as the Gulf battle met the conclusion of the Cold War. After the defeat of imminent Communism threat in Europe, the US turned and faced foes, for example, Saddam Hussein. The US was hell-bent on continue shielding the globe from tyranny. For the US, anything or anyone that threatened her title as the world superpower was dealt with instantly.

Besides, some things that people currently see were the consequences of the Cold War. One of the most considerable outcomes is the development of technology. For example, satellite communication, space flights, and the GPS systems utilized in mobile phones were first created as military technology as the Cold War occurred (Spencer, 2014). The internet also evolved from ARPANET, which was a system of communication established in the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (Spencer, 2014). Besides, the present nuclear arsenal available globally, as well as the philosophy of Mutually Assured Destruction abbreviated as MAD, among others, are Cold War relics.

The Berlin Wall

The US, France, Britain, and the USSR were allies in WW1. In 1945, the US, however, started having opposing ideologies with USSR (Forsberg, 2005). The US desired to make sure that the aggression of German would never disturb the peace that prevailed in Europe (Forsberg, 2005). Thus, with its allies, they separated Germany into the German Democratic Republic, also known as East Germany allied to the USSR and West Germany or the Federal Republic of Germany allied to the Western democracies. Besides, in 1952, most people, including skilled workers, had moved to West Germany, which drove the government of East Germany to close its border with the Federal Republic of Germany to avoid this exodus (Harrison, 2011). The border, however, remained open between the West and East Berlin. Thus, the East Germans could move or escape through the city of Berlin to West Germany, which was more affluent and less oppressive. Once they arrived in West Germany, they resided there, a phenomenon that saw East Germany lack skilled workers.

In 1961, there were rumors that some measures would be initiated to strengthen the border between the East and West Germany and cease East Germans from escaping to the West (Harrison, 2011). However, a wire barrier was built on nights of August 12 and 13 around West Berlin. Besides, the initially established points between the East and the West were closed. From the constructed barbed-wire barrier, a Berlin Wall was ultimately built in 1961 into a fortified concrete structure that enclosed the West of Berlin and separated it from East Germany (Harrison, 2011). It measured 96 miles or 155 kilometers long with a height of four meters tall. It was heavily guarded by armed East German border guards using attack dogs and with over 55,000 landmines. They were under instruction to shot any individual who tried to escape to West Germany. More than 1000 individuals escaped to West Germany, and among the almost 100 died over 28 years (Harrison, 2011).

The Berlin Wall, however, could not stand the numerous civil unrest in Germany and political changes in Eastern Europe that pressured the government of East Germany to reduce some of the rules to move to West Germany. In 1989 on November 9, the spokesman of East German announced that all Germans would be free to move to and from any side of West and East German. He, nonetheless, did not clarify that some regulations would still be in place. Therefore, when the Western media erroneously conveyed that the border was opened, a big crown rapidly gathered at border checkpoints from both sides of the Berlin Wall. The guards ultimately abandoned passport checks, and individuals moved across the borders unrestricted. Both the West and East Germans celebrated together. This was the first step towards the downfall of the Berlin Wall when the Germans reunited. Besides, the social, economic, and political effects of the fall of Berlin Wall furthermore weaken the government of East government, and Germany reunited on October 3, 1990, that is precisely 11 months after the Berlin Wall fell.

The main parties in the Cold War were the United States, France, and Great Britain against the Soviet Union, USSR. Fought from 1947 to 1991, it had various consequences seen as the last legacy in both the US and other parts of the world. Key players in the Cold War included Harry Truman, Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, among others who held different positions in both the USSR and the US. The Cold War also influenced the US to separate Germany into East and West in an attempt to reduce its aggression to disturb the European peace. The outcome of this division resulted in the construction of the Berlin Wall that would stop people from escaping to West Germany, which was less oppressive than the East. Many people were killed as they tried to flee to the West. Increased civil unrest in Germany and political changes in Eastern Europe, however, pushed the fall of the Berlin Wall, which saw the Germans reunion in 1990.

References

Forsberg, T. (2005). Economic incentives, ideas, and the end of the cold war: Gorbachev and German unification. Journal of Cold War Studies, 7(2), 142-164. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=aa9daa38-ff57-47ca-b4f9-40639d77e821%40sessionmgr103

Harrison, H. M. (2011). The Berlin wall after fifty years: introduction. German Politics & Society, 29(2), 1-7. http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/gps.2011.290201

Lissner, R. F. (2019). Process learning in foreign policy: from the Bay of Pigs to the Berlin crisis. Political Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 134(4), 641-673. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/polq.12989

Spencer, B. (2014). From atomic shelters to arms control: libraries, civil defense, and American militarism during the Cold War. Information and Culture, 49(3), 351. Retrieved April 4, 2020, from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=102709d8-6580-4954-b60b-056e9703127f%40pdc-v-sessmgr03