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A war that has created controversy amongst two of the greatest world leaders, United States of America and The Soviet Union, is known as The Cold War. A dispute between once allied countries arose in the Post- WWII era. The United States and the Allied Powers faced many challenges at the end of WWII. Americas policy was one that contained the spread of communism in Eastern Europe. Russia, under Lenin's rule called for a world revolution and brought the United States into it. It was not until after WWII, that the cold war really began, when the political power of the world shifted from the center of Europe to Moscow and Washington.
The Cold War began after the collapse of Germany in May 1945 (web). The creation of the cold war came from the disagreements for postwar Europe and the Far East. Each superpower, the United States, Britain, France and Russia had their own idea of how postwar Europe should look, and many of their ideas clashed. The Cold War arose not from one isolated event, but from the different ideologies and interests between the Soviet Union and the west.
Also the Russian government was seeking revenge on the United States because the United States did not enter the war effort soon enough and that caused for more Russian casualties. After WWII After WWII, Germany was divided into four zones and occupied by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Berlin itself was occupied by the western powers; however, it was surrounded by the Soviet zone. Between 1947 and 1948 cooperation between these powers broke down.
The west decided to create a separate government in their zones. To prevent this, the Soviet's increasingly harassed the western traffic to and from Berlin. Russia was trying to spread communism, abolish democracies, and spread poverty. Thus creating the Berlin Blockade, which forced America to create the Berlin Airlift. This created a greater controversy between the United States. This controversy's caused spies to enter into the oppositions country.
Russia V. S. United States The most visible part of the cold war was the arms race. Massive and expensive militarization movements, especially nuclear weaponry on the part of both nations involved caused a new psychology to develop. The theory of total destruction of the other country was based on three ideas. One: both nations have enough weapons do destroy the other, two: both nations can detect a first strike before it arrives, and three: both nations are able to respond adequately before they are hit by the first strike.
The aim of both nations was to decrease the amount of response time that was inherent in their nuclear defense system. The best way to do this was to put missiles as close to the other country as possible. The United States placed nuclear missiles in Turkey and the Soviets attempted to place missiles in Cuba. These sites did not remain, but were ideal for eliminating lengthy response times. The second best solution came with the invention of the SLBM, or submarine launched ballistic missile. This weapon was able to fire a nuclear missile from an undetected location immediately offshore of the enemy's coastline.
This missile would arrive at its target in a matter of minutes, possibly eliminating enemy response. The other method of eliminating response time was by way of detection. At first, spy planes were used to fly over Russia and photograph missile sites within its borders. From 1955 to 1958, U 2 spy planes had been flying photograph missions over the Soviet Union.
The planes flew at an altitude of 75, 000 feet, which, for years, was beyond the capability of Soviet planes and antiaircraft weapons. However, on May 1, 1960 the U 2 plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down by a SAM- 2 missile. Powers was captured with all of his gear and wreckage to the plane. President Eisenhower had known about previous flights, but denied that the plane was flying in Soviet airspace. On May 7, 1960 the Russian dictator announced that they had captured the U 2 spy-plane and its pilot.
He convicted the United States for spying, stating that, "the militarists in the Pentagon... seem unable to call a halt to their war effort." Despite the United States' explanation that the U 2 flights were intended to patrol the borders of the free world as a precaution against surprise attacks, these events disrupted the peace process already in progress between Eisenhower and the dictator, Krushchev. Krushchev openly questioned the intent of the United States in the peace process. The United States's cold response was that the Soviet Union had access to the open societies of the free world and could establish espionage networks; therefore, the United States should be allowed to monitor the Soviet Union. It was the responsibility of the United States to protect itself and free people everywhere from the possibility of a surprise attack.
Satellite The first satellite, Sputnik, was developed by the USSR and used to monitor the other countries movements / developments of their nuclear warheads. The satellites were able to read the license plate on the back of a car and did not risk the lives of the spies. Also an advantage was that it was an international law that no one was allowed to send missiles through the atmosphere. Espionage The advancement of espionage devices also was enhanced. They could be hidden inside a camera, cigar, and many small household objects.
Spies, scientists, and weapon creators were becoming more and more abundant. They all were being stolen from country then stolen back and the process continued. When the scientists were fired from their jobs developing spy supplies they were forced to do horrible jobs at horrid wages (web). Ussr's A-bomb Another invention by the Russians was the A-bomb, which America had already made.
They tested it on August 29, 1949. The Americans then questioned their own security. President Truman then called for the United States to enhance their weaponry even more. Prevention I think the Cold War could have been prevented if Joseph Stalin had not been so hostile toward the Americans when they didnt enter WWII soon enough. The United States didnt want to risk the lives of their young men, just as the Russians didnt. The Russians directly blamed the United States for their 30 million casualties in WWII.
Another way to prevent the Cold War from happening was when Hitler broke the treaty between Russia and Germany. Conclusion The technology advancements made during the Cold War have benefited todays world because of the development of satellites. The collapse of communism in the USSR was in 1979 and is still today.
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Research essay sample on Soviet Union Spy Planes
