The Soviet Union and the United States were allies during World War II and they fought together to bring down the Axis powers. But the relationship between the States and the USSR was always tense. The Americans didn`t agree with the Soviet communism and they were worried about the way Joseph Stalin handled things in Russia.
The Soviets never forgave the Americans` refusal of considering USSR part of the international community. Also, the late response and entry of America in World War II has caused a lot of deaths in Russia.
The Soviet Union was expanding after the wall and that scared Americans; the United Stated thought that Russia planned on taking over the entire world. All of this animosity was well founded and most historians agree that the Cold War couldn`t be avoided.
The two countries tried hard to prevent a war from starting. They already knew what a nuclear war would mean and what impact it would have on the entire world. Truman did all his best not to use nuclear weapons against China and North Korea because USSR would retaliate if such a thing would happen.
When the Hungarian Revolution started in 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower didn`t interfere. He knew that the USSR wouldn`t accept the United States interfering in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union also did its best to avoid war by not interfering in the Cuban missile crisis.
The Cold War has changed many aspects in the United States, including politics, economy and the social aspects. Political approaches have been changed. Eisenhower thought of ways to reduce costs and save money for defense. Kennedy`s New Frontier has given people the sense of patriotism and a taste of hope in the next generation: the American youth. One of the most impressive economic booms in the entire history of the world happened during those days.
Who`s to blame? A lot of historians have mixed opinions about which side was wrong during the Cold War. Some say that the Soviets were to blame and they praise Americans for their desire to spread the idea of democracy and freedom in other countries. Others think that President Truman started the Cold War with his speeches and with his opinions about the Soviet Union-Truman found the Soviet Union to be a threat to the free world.
And like any war, there are winners and there are losers. The Cold War didn`t end because of Reagan. A reformist faction came to power in the USSR (first with Andropov then with Gorbachev). Gorbachev was very different from the old USSR leaders. He was very open minded and educated, some historians saw him to be better than Reagan.The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 represented the end of this war.
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