COLD WAR

Cold War

Cold War

Introduction

The Cold War refers to the conflicts around the world after the end of the Second World War which pitted the West, US-led bloc largely democratic and capitalist countries, against the East, a bloc led by the USSR largely Communist nations with centrally planned economies. The Cold War in Europe initially focused on the 1940 and 1950, then shifted to Asia and beyond in the 1960's. Until the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the superpowers are directly involved in the conflict, the creation of several serious crises. After 1962, who avoided direct confrontation, instead of competing through Third World proxy servers (David 1999 4). An ever present threat of an intentional or accidental nuclear war hung over the world since the 1950's, paradoxically, stabilization of the struggle of the Cold War. Moreover, both the long life of war and ideological foundations deeply affected domestic politics and society of McCarthyism to Watergate.

Origins of the Cold War

The origin of the Cold War, remains the subject of contentious debate, with some revisionist historians place in 1919 the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. While this school is identified cause of the Cold War and Soviet insecurity, most traditional scholars focus on the aggressive policy of Moscow after World War II foreign. Soviet repression in Poland democratic elections in 1946 and Stalin's speech in February this year forecast global fight against the West were soon followed by the speech of Winston Churchill in March denouncing the "Iron Curtain" descending across Europe. Action followed the words as both sides press for advantage in a series of crises (Richard 1991 96).

During the war, the Soviet action foreshadowed his stance after the war: Soviet troops had entered Iran with the British forces in 1941 to avoid the influence of the Axis, refused to withdraw in accordance with the agreed timetable. Use of military influence, the Soviets pressed Tehran for territorial and economic concessions to Western powers persuaded the Soviets to reduce their forces. At the same time, the communist insurgency, the government pressured the Greek monarchy and British promoter. Following a warning from economically strained London in February 1947 that he could not defend Athens, Pres. Harry S. Truman declared that the United States to "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures (Sheila 2000 378). "The Truman Doctrine became part of a broader framework for dealing ...