Cold War

Not in the physical sence. Diplomatic relations might have been described as 'Frosty' between the Soviets & the rest of Europe and the US. Quite why this came about is difficult to understand. The Russian behaviour at the cessation of European hostilities in 1945 is, to me, incomprehensible. Their treatment of their so called Allies, principally the US & Britain, was unfriendly, and that puts it mildly in the extreme. Is anyone out there going to justify Soviet post war diplomatic policy ?

The 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: Attempts by the Soviets and Chinese Communists to influence and take over areas in Asia and Europe. 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.

President Harry Truman isssued the policy of containment

A good example of a political war was the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was not completely bloodless, but it contrasted two very starkly different ideologies.

Film provided permanent historical record or military and political events. Photojournalism provided visuals about what happend then and allowed films to be put together.

46 years

No it most certanly was not succesfull.

It's not a yes or no question, it depends on your personal opinion of what the United States role in the world should be.

Generally it's looked at as a dark spot in our history so most people would say no. The Vietnam Conflict is highly controversial.

The US Congress passed laws limiting the activity of the Communist Party in the US, in reaction to Cold War tensions. The Cold War lasted from 1945 to 1991.

At any time Russia could have blew us up with nuclear weapons

1.7 billion where killed

In the cold war there was never any fighting but the countries that were involved were Russia, America and Cuba. Some have confused the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 with the Cold War. It was a part of the Cold War but not nearly all of it. And there was a great deal of fighting in countries like Greece, Korea, Angola, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Afghanistan and many other places. The global superpowers could not fight directly and keep the Cold War cold, so they fought smaller wars by proxy, used propaganda, espionage, arms escalation, and all methods short of direct warfare.
Countries involved in the Cold War were mainly the United States and the Soviet Union, but also China, North and South Korea and Germany.

After WW II Elections were held in Greece. The polls were highly rigged in favor of British backed EEDE party. This led to a civil war between communists party (DA) and EEDE. This forced USA to intervene and support nationalist forces. The civil war continued till 1949.

KAiser Wilhelm 2 did not exactly start WW1. Yes the actions he took contirbuted to the war but he did not start it and also he did not try to halt it.

It was mainly because the existence of nuclear weapons. That was why the conflict stayed a 'cold war'; both sides tried to undermine and destroy each other, but they dared not let it go to actual fighting - that would have destroyed them. So they would compete in almost everything

By AD9410(henry111)

the US is most responsible for the quick rebuilding of Japan Japan and the US were very close in the cold war and still are

The Cold War was caused by a number of factors. The Soviet Union did not trust the United States even though it needed US help to survive World War II. Part of that is because the US invaded the Soviet Union in 1919-1920. Part of that is that Stalin did not trust the US not to use nuclear weapons on them. The Soviets took a large part of Eastern Europe after WW2 as a buffer zone. The US countered by building NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Soviets countered with the Warsaw Pact. Both sides spied on each other but kept it short of war. Things got very tense a number of times such as the Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US did not like Soviet missiles in Cuba, but the US did have missiles in Turkey. Finally the economic cost of the Soviets propping up Cuba and spending so much on defense broke the Soviets economically. The Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union fell apart.

Since the cold war was a priority, all other aspects of life remain virtually unchanged. Today's current lifestyle(s) commenced after the cold war in 1990.

Unfortunatly the bombing back to the stone age had little effect because they were already used to living there. The ill concieved ideas of Robert McNamara of not allowing aircraft to bomb the ports and railheads but instead try to bomb the supplies out of a basket on a bicycle on the Ho Chi Minh trail was idiodic at best. What was significant was the use of the helicopter. It was the first war where troop movements were done so heavily by helicopter with such great success. Medevac helicopters greatly increased the chances of survival for seriously wounded and today has carried over into civilian life as well. The amount of supplies and equipment moved by helicopters in Vietnam was amazing today that has also carried over into the civilian aviation as helicopters are used in logging, firefighting, and even contruction for lifting platforms.

Careful in asking this question. First off, the history of Asian civilization stretches back thousands of years; secondly, numerous countries have participated in various Asian conflicts including other Asian countries; and thirdly Asia is the largest continent on the planet, so just to name an Asian nation does little to narrow the scope of the historian's mission. Russia could be included in this too, which brings the whole question into play, does Europe count as well (as a part of Eurasia, and given the fact that the horsemen of Asia more than once terrorized the plains of Europe and had profound impacts: the Huns, the Magyars, the Mongols, the Avars, the Sarmatians, etc. this is a very valid point)? Please modify your question. To give myself some preselected parameters though, okay we'll look at Asian conflicts after the age of colonialism/imperialism (yes, they are two distinct different time periods, but the concept of European powers expanding their direct political control over other parts of the globe holds true for both so we'll just roll with that). In India, British forces reguraly participated in wars between local rajahs and princes whenever one of the said princes was less favorable towards the British rule. However, it should be noted that actually the British were much more prone to DISSUADE competing Indian factions for the purpose of maintaing the peace. In China the greatest example is unquestionably the Boxer Rebellion where an international cadre of forces annihilated the Chinese nationalist "Boxers." In fact, it is from this conflict that the Germans received their nicknames, the "Huns." The Kaiser of Germany at the time told his troops who were to go to China to help suppress the uprising, that they were to conduct themselves in a manner that would be reminiscent of the Huns. Just as the Huns had terrorized Europe and had become synonomous with barbarism and terror, so should the Germans achieve the same reputation in Asia. In Vietnam, obviously the French were involved as it was their colony. The Japanese invaded during WWII, and afterwards Vietnamese rebels succeeded in driving out the French. Afterwards American forces became heavily involved, although in the end their intervention accomplished little and the country still fell to northern communist rule. In Korea the situation was remarkebly different. Despite a similar set of circumstances: a Communist North, a nationalistic but actually dictatorial South supported by the West; the North invades the South; the Western powers interven; etc. The Western powers were successful in at least preventing a Communist takeover of the entire penninsula, although had McArthur not been so aggressive towards China, all of Korea might now be a free democratic state. But once again, that is mere speculation. In Afghanistan, the United States originally suported Osama bin Laden and his Arab militias in league with Pakistan-supported Taliban forces against the Soviet Union during the 1980s, but after September 11th rightly turned on her one-time allies and aided her internal enemies, the Northern Alliance, to overthrow the Islamic regime. In Iran, the United States originally supported the Shah heavily to keep out Soviet influence, but after the Shah was overthrown in a populist Islamic revolt led by Ayatollah Khumeyni during the 1970s, Iran quickly earned a very high position on America's watchlist and began to slowly isolate itself from the rest of the Western world, although it still maintains good or at least marginal relations with Russia and China, primarily due to its large oil reserves. India conducted its civil war through civil disobediance as advocated by Mohattma Ghandi (forgive me for any spelling errors), which after almost ten years of struggle finally persuaded the British to abandon the long-time jewel of their Empire, India. Shortly thereafter, India split into the present day states of India and Pakistan based largely on religious lines. Despite a great deal of international pressure on Britain to withdraw her troops and grant India her independence, no other foreign troops were involved. The war in Lebanon, which had spilt over into Israel, finally caused Israel to invade its northern neighbor, in a long reign of bloodshed and horror which gave rise and strength to the Islamic terrorist organization, Hezbollah. From the actual testiomy of a Lebanese woman, Hezbollah were the heroes, wheras the Israelis were the women-raping, baby-killing butchers Hezbollah is most often made out to be. And she had proof of Israeli war atrocities to back up her claims, which for personal reasons I will not share here. In the 1990s, after the fall of communism, there was a revolution in Georgia as the former Soviet republic made its bid for independence. Aided by Russian military units stationed in Georgia, the country quickly became embroiled in a brutal civil war that was to last until 1995 and left the country impoverished, with two territories still virtually uncontrollable (Abkhazia in the northwest, dominated by the Russian "peacekeeping force" and South Ossetia to the northeast, dominated by Chechyan rebels, terrorist organizations, and organized criminal consortiums. In 2003, there was what was know as the Rose Revolution, where the corrupt government of Edward Shevardnadze was overthrown peacefully by Mikhaile Shaakashvili through popular demand. While Russia remains displeased with the fanatically pro-West Shaakashvili, Russian forces did not attempt military intervention into Tbilisi politics, although the Russian peacekeeping force in Abkhazia remains to this day. This is only the tip of the iceberg. As you can see, Asian history, even in the relatively brief period from the 19th century onward is extremely complex and diverse. Please limit your question, as any one of these topics and indeed, the many not mentioned here are all deserving of time and analysis.

The cold war was a "Mental War"; if it hadn't been, it would have been a real shooting "hot war." The mental anquish during the cold war consisted of not knowing when the "Mushroom Clouds" would appear. Nuclear bombs exploding in your neighborhood.

An embargo in general means that some kind of restriction has been placed upon a country. In the case of Cuba, it means that it is illegal for anyone to trade with Cuba, or even visit the country (though recently some visits are permitted for family of Cuban citizens). The US maintains a military base at Guantanomo Bay, Cuba in order to enforce the embargo and to serve as a legal no man's land in which to imprison without trial so-called foreign combatants abducted throughout Afghanistan, Iraq , Pakistan and other countries.

The embargo is widely supported by people of Cuban origin in the US who wish to see Cuba liberated and returned to its pre revolutionary state (ie an island on which the Mafia is free to operate gambling ,drug dealing and whorehouses without interference.)

Dictatorship yo. !