How did the end of world war 2 lead to the rise of the superpowers and the cold war?

Answer 1

At the end of World War II, two countries stood above all the rest- the Soviet Union (or USSR) and the United States. These two countries came out of the war more powerful than all other countries and over the next fifty years or so, they largely dominated world affairs. In short:

• The United States had largely been unaffected directly by the war- except for the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese occupation of two American islands near Alaska and some relatively minor acts of sabotage, the US was never directly attacked. The US was the only major country that managed to come out of the war unscathed.
• The Soviet Union was severely damaged by the war. However, the USSR was a huge country, with vast resources and a large population, and only the western part was attacked. When the Germans invaded, the Soviets moved a lot of their industrial capacity east to protect it from damage or capture. So when the war ended, the Soviets had a huge and well-experienced military and successfully managed to keep most of their industrial resources.
• The other, older powers, especially Britain and France, were exhausted from the two world wars. They could no longer compete with the USSR or the US militarily or economically at that time.

So once the war was over, both countries began exerting influence over the world. The Soviets installed Communist governments in the countries they had liberated in Eastern Europe, forging the Warsaw Pact. Meanwhile, the US invested heavily in rebuilding Western Europe, forging NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). NATO and the Warsaw Pact would be the two primary sides in the Cold War.

Instead of directly fighting against each other (ie "hot war"), the superpowers would get involved in civil wars, rebellions, and other political actions in smaller, less powerful countries, like Korea, Vietnam, Angola, Chile, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, and Iran, to name just a few (there's a lot more!). The superpowers would pick a side in these countries' conflicts and then support that side, by sending things like money, supplies, or even soldiers to fight.