Why study the Cold war?
"We look into history from motives of two kinds. There is curiosity about the past, what happened, who did what, and why; and there is the hope to understand the present, how to place and interpret our own times, experiences, and hopes for the future."
-Oxford classicist Jasper Griffin, "It's All Greek!," New York Review of Books, December 18, 2003
-Oxford classicist Jasper Griffin, "It's All Greek!," New York Review of Books, December 18, 2003
Have you ever wondered why currently the United States is the only nation in the world to hold the title of a "Superpower"? You need to no look further back than the Cold War. During the Cold War, the only two rivaling nations that stood against each other was the United States and the Soviet Union. Both nations had complete opposite views of which economic model is the best to follow, and both nations spread their ideas to third-world nations and former European colonies so that the other nation could not have gained a geopolitical advantage to spread their ideology further. This strategy of the Cold war was motivated by (at least from the U.S.' perspective) fear of communism, the Soviets being caught up on nuclear technology, and that the relationships with other countries were affected when the country showed signs of wanting to be communist.
The Cold War shaped our modern world as it is. It shaped our world by three main factors; fear, technology, and our relationship with other countries. It shaped our modern world by fear because it prompted us to engage against the Soviets. Due to the perception of Soviets living in harsh conditions and having no regards to human rights, the U.S. felt it was their duty to prevent the spread of communism, and promote capitalism to other countries. Technology was another factor that shaped our modern world because there was competition for both Americans and Soviets to one-up each other. An example would be that even though the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite up in space, the Americans were able to place a man on the moon. The last factor was our foreign policy, in which we used extensively during the Cold war. To understand our current relationship with the world, we need to trace the relationship back to the Cold war. With that, we can understand how and why either the country took pride in the relationship with us or despised us. Examples include South Korea, which took pride with the U.S. and compare that with Iran, who despised the U.S.
To study the Cold war is to study about the culture of the time. One of the main themes during the Cold war in U.S. history is the fear of Communism (also known as the Red Scare). The fear of communism through propaganda shaped our foreign policy. From the late 1940s to the 1960s, it was all about containing Communism. In the 1970s, it was about Detente. And in the 1980s to the dawn of the 1990s, it was about calling the Soviet Union an evil empire which then caused the nation to collapse, leaving the United States as the only reigning country.
Another theme of the Cold war in the U.S. was the increasing development of technology. Most of the modern technologies we used today, such as the internet and the organization NASA, had its origins in the Cold war. The increasing amount of technology was used as a way to combat against the Russians, to gain a step ahead of them due to the fear of communism. Because of the increasing use of technology, it led to the development of nuclear weapons and the arms race once the U.S. discovered that the Russians had nuclear weapons.
The last theme of the Cold War was the United States' foreign policy towards other nations. With the overall fear of communism and the development of new technologies, the U.S. looked to other nations to make sure that they do not fall under communist rule. Many nations today either admire the United States or despised it, and the feelings can be traced back to the Cold war. Lots of European countries favored the United States, Asian nations are either pro or anti, the Middle East is full of hatred against, and the Latin countries have mixed feelings towards the U.S.
That is why to understand the modern world we live in today, we study the Cold war. The Cold war was the kind of war that was revolved around ideas of economic models. To see which nations tend to fare off better than others economically, we look to the Cold war. There is a reason why there are categories of either "Developed nation" and "Developing nation". The nations that followed the American free-economy model tends to be more prosperous compared to the nations that were following the Soviet centrally-planned economy model.
The Cold War shaped our modern world as it is. It shaped our world by three main factors; fear, technology, and our relationship with other countries. It shaped our modern world by fear because it prompted us to engage against the Soviets. Due to the perception of Soviets living in harsh conditions and having no regards to human rights, the U.S. felt it was their duty to prevent the spread of communism, and promote capitalism to other countries. Technology was another factor that shaped our modern world because there was competition for both Americans and Soviets to one-up each other. An example would be that even though the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite up in space, the Americans were able to place a man on the moon. The last factor was our foreign policy, in which we used extensively during the Cold war. To understand our current relationship with the world, we need to trace the relationship back to the Cold war. With that, we can understand how and why either the country took pride in the relationship with us or despised us. Examples include South Korea, which took pride with the U.S. and compare that with Iran, who despised the U.S.
To study the Cold war is to study about the culture of the time. One of the main themes during the Cold war in U.S. history is the fear of Communism (also known as the Red Scare). The fear of communism through propaganda shaped our foreign policy. From the late 1940s to the 1960s, it was all about containing Communism. In the 1970s, it was about Detente. And in the 1980s to the dawn of the 1990s, it was about calling the Soviet Union an evil empire which then caused the nation to collapse, leaving the United States as the only reigning country.
Another theme of the Cold war in the U.S. was the increasing development of technology. Most of the modern technologies we used today, such as the internet and the organization NASA, had its origins in the Cold war. The increasing amount of technology was used as a way to combat against the Russians, to gain a step ahead of them due to the fear of communism. Because of the increasing use of technology, it led to the development of nuclear weapons and the arms race once the U.S. discovered that the Russians had nuclear weapons.
The last theme of the Cold War was the United States' foreign policy towards other nations. With the overall fear of communism and the development of new technologies, the U.S. looked to other nations to make sure that they do not fall under communist rule. Many nations today either admire the United States or despised it, and the feelings can be traced back to the Cold war. Lots of European countries favored the United States, Asian nations are either pro or anti, the Middle East is full of hatred against, and the Latin countries have mixed feelings towards the U.S.
That is why to understand the modern world we live in today, we study the Cold war. The Cold war was the kind of war that was revolved around ideas of economic models. To see which nations tend to fare off better than others economically, we look to the Cold war. There is a reason why there are categories of either "Developed nation" and "Developing nation". The nations that followed the American free-economy model tends to be more prosperous compared to the nations that were following the Soviet centrally-planned economy model.