What happend in the cold war?

Answer 1

The infamous English author Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 -- 21 January 1950) better known as George Orwell (book "1984") coined the term "Cold War." He was referring to the situation after World War II in stating that a "peace is no peace" when there is a threat of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union has been living under a communist regime with Joseph Stalin as the dictator since the death of Lenin. Stalin deeply felt that the era of Capitalism is over and all countries would move towards socialism. By the end of World War II, the Soviet Union would not relinquished the eastern European nations after driving the Nazi's out. They instead incorporated them into the Soviet Socialist Republics. Countries included East Germany, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Romania formed the "Eastern Bloc." Yugoslavia would leave this alliance though it kept it's form of communism in place. Prime Minister of Britain, Winston Churchill, would term the phrase the "Iron Curtain" as a place where no one can come in or come out from, nor would information get out. Stalin was instilling his brand of economics to Latin American and South East Asia. Nuclear missiles were pointed at the USSR by the United States and the USSR pointed theirs at us.

Some major events during the cold war was the blockade of West Berlin. Berlin is officially in East Germany but by the Potsdam Treaty signed by The US, USSR, Britain, and France. Berlin were to be in the hands of the aforementioned countries. In 1948, Stalin decided to block railway access to West Berlin since he felt the Soviets could handle the chore of feeding the West Berliners. In fear of Soviet occupation of West Berlin, airlifts of food by The Air forces of Britian, US, Canada, and Australia carried in the food. By 1949, the blockade ended but East Germany became permanently split from West Germany. President Harry Truman in 1947, signed the National Security Act in 1947 which formed the CIA, the National Security Council, and the Defense Department. Spies from the Soviet Union (KGB) and the CIA were at war with each other. In 1948, the only country allowed to have a democracy in the eastern bloc, Czechoslovakia, was overthrown by Soviet forces. From 1947-1953, the Soviet influence in Korea led to a civil war, in which the United States participated in, that produced an armistice as the country was divided into North and the South. Another and more famous war, the Vietnam war, was waged in the middle 1960's to 1975 where North Vietnam, backed by the Soviet Union, defeated South Vietnam. Whether Americans veterans from the war came back in "honor" as quoted by President Richard Nixon or not is still under debate. There were also Soviet influences in the Southeastern countries of Laos and Cambodia. In 1961, East Berlin demanded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops from West Berlin which led to East Berlin to build the "Berlin Wall." This prevented citizens from West Germany to enter East Berlin and the citizens of East Berlin were disallowed to enter West Berlin. As a result, families were on both ends of Germany and could not see each other. In September 1962, the US attempted to overthrow the Cuban government headed by Fidel Castro, that ended in a disasterous "Bay of Pigs." The following month, a US spy plane U-2 secretly documented Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. The US responded by barricading Cuba from receiving any kind of shipments. The Soviet Union leader, Nikita Khrushchev responded to the US President John Kennedy, that quarantine of international waters was an act of war. From personal experiences, the schools in the United States often had "Shelter Drills" where students were to hide under their desks or march to the basement of the school, in case of a nuclear attack. After some tense days, Khrushchev relented with the promise the US will never again invade Cuba. There were also revolts behind the Iron Curtain as in 1956, Hungarians took to the streets in wanting the overthrow of the communist regime. It didn't last as secret police shot demonstrators. In 1968, the Slovaks of Czechoslovakia also revolted not only for democracy but also for food for there was a food shortage there. The demonstrators were beaten back by the invasion of Soviet forces sent in by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time. Another element of the Cold War was actually a positive in the long run. The Space race began in 1957 with the Soviets sending Sputnik I into space. Later, they also sent the first man into space. Although the US came into the game a little late, we were the first ones on the Moon as symbalized by the American flags that were planted there. The planted flags was a reflection of superiority. However, during the space race, there was a unity and cooperation among scientists of both countries that led to missions of docking one US spaceships to a USSR spaceships in the mid 1960's. In 1985, a new Prime Minister of the Soviet Union would be appointed by the name of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, who is the first leader not born during the Russian Revolution, would eventually end the cold war officially in 1991.