The Cold War
Cold War: State hostility that exists between two states chiefly characterized by an ideological struggle rather than open warfare; basically a mental battle not really actual fighting.
It was between the US and the Soviet Union (USSR). Happened after World War II.
Due to the World War II, US and USSR ended up as global superpowers. Since the war wasn’t fought on US lands, they didn’t suffer that much damage, the United States ended up paying for all of Eruope’s reconstruction, which caused European countries to be in dept to US.
Economic Reasons:
US was able to rise as a global power also bc propaganda created a lot of workplace jobs for women in the Us and they were able to control the economy and boost the industrial sectors and get a lot of money.
So since the USSR had a government controlled economy, their economy grew rapidly even though it ended up in many deaths. Unlike the US, they were hit hard by World War II, because of invasions and seige of this city called Leningrad.
The scoviet’s were able to rebound from this damage bc they had abundant natural resources, a huge territory, a large population, and the fruits of investments before World War II. So the infrastructure they needed for recovery was already available.
Technological Reasons:
The US has the most advanced and devastating technology, namely the atomic bomb (its fission btw). —> Made it clear to the world that the US is not to be messed with.
Then the USSR made their own atomic bombs, after the US.
The Martial Plan: It was one of the plans to rebuild Europe.
Back to the Cold War, both powers spent large amounts of money to develop bigger and more destructive bombs and this was called the Arms Race.
So now the world started decolonizing, bc two world wars happened, all the imperial contries were weakened, the colonies had a chance to take back their land, so they fought for their freedom.
Originally, after the World War I, the great powers had promised colonies freedom and more rights, but soon it became clear that they didn’t mean to honor that statement, however at the time colonies weren’t powerful enough to do anything about it.
However, after world war 2, the allied powers were weakened and the colonies started leading huge anti-imperialistic movements, to take back their lands
Causes of the Cold War:
Conflicting Ideologies: These differing ideologies created a lot of tension
US: Democratic Capitalism, which meant there were free-market economies, which meant that people could choose what to buy and sell, there wasn’t a huge amount of government interference, and this was present in the US. It also emphasized political freedom.
USSR: Authoritarian Communism, was basically strict government control of the economy, and wealth was equally distributed to all the people in the country. And also these people had no voice in the government.
These differing policies wouldn’t have wxz problems if it weren’t for the fact that they were universalizing ideas, meaning that those who hold them want everyone else to follow those policies as well.
Mutual Mistrust: Both didn’t like that each other was a great power, their distrust was present even before World War II ended, when they were still allies.