The+Cold+War

by Aaron, grade 6

The Cold War consisted of fear and threats between the two super powers: the USSR and the USA. One of the USA’s fears was communism. The USA didn’t want the USSR spreading communism because of their fear of the domino effect. The domino theory implies that if communism were spread then eventually it would spread to the entire world. The USSR was afraid of losing military power, and the title of Super Power.

The main fear of both the Soviet Union and the United States was the threat of nuclear war.

One of America’s and the USSR’s major disagreement began after World War II. The USA and European countries had formed an anti-communism group of nations called NATO. The USSR had also created an alliance that would carry out communism called the Warsaw Pact. There was much conflict between the two groups. This conflict set the stage for the Cold War.

After the Second World War, Germany was split into four sections, two of which were under the influence of the USA or USSR. When Germany was divided a conflict was set up between the USSR and the USA. Although the Soviet Union and America had fought together during the war, they still had disagreements in ideas about government. The United States was capitalist, and the Soviet Union was communist. A form of the USSR’s imprint of communism in Germany was the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall separated East and West Germany. East Germany was communist, and West Germany was capitalist. The West was better off and wealthier than the East due to the fact that they were capitalist.

While the USA continued to struggle with the USSR’s communist threats a man named McCarthy claimed he could name all the communists in the United States government and beyond. McCarthy made what was called the “blacklist”. Each day the blacklist named new supposed-communists. In the end McCarthy ended up a fraud who used the American citizens’ fear for his own gain.

Another event in the Cold War, which scared the USA as much as the USSR, was the Cuban Missile Crisis. A US spy plane had taken photographs of what looked like a missile base in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy put a naval blockade around Cuba to stop Soviet soldiers from continuing their missile base construction. A naval fleet sent by the USSR to continue construction was surprised to see the blockade. The two nations were stubborn and neither would retreat. The American citizens were scared that the USSR would get so mad that they would begin a nuclear war. The wait continued for thirteen long days until finally the USSR retreated. Afterwards, Kennedy ordered the destruction of the Missile base.

The Vietnam War was another war America fought communism through. North Vietnam was communist, and South Vietnam had a pro-American, anti-communist government. North Vietnam and the Vietcong had decided to take over South Vietnam in order to obtain their political goals in the country. America became involved in the war because it was afraid that if South Vietnam was communist, then all of Asia would become communist. During the Cold War, America and the Soviet Union had many disagreements. They also threatened each other. They even fought through wars in other countries against each other. The Cold War was an era of fear of loss of power and the risk of nuclear war.

Image Source: http://blog.usni.org/2010/04/16/is-it-time-for-a-cold-war-victory-medal/ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/weekinreview/18myers.html