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When World War II in Europe came to an end on May 7, 1945, a new war was just beginning. This war became known as the Cold War and was between the two world superpowers, the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR). The Cold War lasted from 1945 to 1991. Fears between the two nations, which started in World War I, and grew in World War II, caused the Cold War to break after the end of World War II.
The conflict in the Cold War was the difference in politics between the US and the USSR. The United States was capitalist when the USSR was communist. Both nations started a nuclear arms race among each other. In other words, the Cold War was a war of tension and competition.
At the end of World War II, at the Yalta Conference, Germany was divided into 4 sections controlled by Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. What marked the start of the Cold War was that there wasnt an agreement on unifying Germany. The Allies were angry due to the free election promises given by Stalin at the Yalta Conference. The developed a foreign policy of containment to keep communism in the areas where it already was. In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was issued. It stated that America would help any non-communist country to resist communism.
The United States also gave large amounts of money to help aid the non-communist countries. This was known as the Marshall Plan. The Western Allies unified West Germany and the USSR reacted by putting a blockade on Berlin. The people in Berlin were starving from the lack of food. The United States arranged that all food and other items be airlifted to West Berlin. This is what is known as the Berlin Airlift.
In 1946, Mao Zedong, a Communist leader, was in war with Jiang Jieshi, a nationalist leader. The civil war in China lasted until 1949. The communists came out victorious. This added to the Cold War.
The Civil War soon became an arms race. When the Americans used an atomic bomb against Japan in 1945, the USSR was determined to create one of their own. In 1957, the Soviets used a missile to launch the satellite Sputnik into space. The United States was determined to launch its own satellites. This was an opportunity for the two nations to show off their technological superiority. Sputnik I was launched on October 4, 1957.
On November 3, they launched Sputnik II with the first living creature, a dog. The United States launched its first satellite, Explorer I on January 31, 1958. This started the Mercury program with an 18 minute flight that carried a chimpanzee. Both countries wanted to show off to each other. Aboard the Soviet Vostok 1, Yuri Grain became the first human in space and Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space. The United States needed to catch up, so on February 20, 1962 John Glenn orbited the earth three times.
Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. In 1962, Cuba was convinced that the USA was planning to attack them and asked the Soviet Union for help. The USSR sent Cuba materials to build missiles and launch sites. When President Kennedy realized that Cuba could launch missiles into America, he demanded that the USSR remove its weapons and troops.
The Americans formed a naval blockade as the world stood nervously on the edge of a nuclear war. The USSR removed its weapons despite protests from Cuban leader Fidel Castro. In 1987, Ronald Regan and the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, signed a treaty to limit the amount of nuclear weapons in the countries. The Cold War started to reach an end, after about thirty years of fighting, in 1988, due to the break up of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev's internal reforms are what weakened the nation.
The war came to an end and fortunately without a nuclear war because both countries would not be able to manage that kind of warfare.
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