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Cold War - the term

In common usage, the term "cold war" refers to a war that consists of indirect conflict rather than direct conflict: a war with casualties but no battles or armed fighting. Capitalized, it refers to the state of affairs between the US and USSR from 1945 until the late 1980s, marked by espionage, proxy wars, an Arms Race, a Space Race, and continual propaganda.

However, the term in its original usage in the fourteenth century by Don Juan Manuel, a "cold war" (guerra fria) meant a war without victor or honor. He was specifically considering the Christian/Islamic conflict of that time.

War that is very fierce and very hot ends either with death or peace, whereas a cold war neither brings peace nor confers honour on those who wage it.

Start of the Cold WarThe Cold War began as World War II was ending. American leaders saw the power and ambitions of the Soviet Union as a threat to our national security. The Cold War was a war of words and ideologies rather than a shooting war, although at times the Cold War turned "hot" as in Korea and Vietnam.

Basically, the Cold War was a rivalry between the United States as leader of the western democracies, and the Soviet Union and the nations that were controlled by the communists. Some causes of the Cold War included:

  • Containment--the policy of the United States to stop communism from spreading to other areas of the world.
  • The Truman Doctrine--a policy of supporting anti-communist regimes with military and economic aid. The Doctrine was first used in support of democratic governments in Greece and Turkey.
  • The Marshall Plan--a massive plan to aid in rebuilding Europe after World War II. Western allied nations, as well as neutral nations, and even the Soviet Union were offered economic assistance. The Soviet Union saw this as a threat to their attempt to gain influence in Europe and Asia.
  • The division of Germany after the war---The Soviets blockaded West Berlin, which was deep within Communist East Germany. The Soviets thought the blockade would allow them to take over all of Berlin. The US replied with the Berlin Airlift, to supply West Berlin.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in 1949 by the US, Canada, and nine European nations, the first peacetime military alliance in US History. The NATO nations agreed that an attack on one would be an attack on all. The Soviets replied with the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance of communist nations in Eastern Europe. September, 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first Atomic Bomb. The Cold War continued through the decades of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

By the term Cold War, one might mean an argument between governments that stops just short of actual war. Included in the argument would be propaganda, threats, and hostility.

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8y ago

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