What was the Cold War? How did the United States respond?

Topic:  What was the Cold War? How did the United States respond?

         Although the Alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union had brought victory in World War II, wartime cooperation meant glossing over many serious differences between the two powers . Since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Communism and Capitalism could not coexist. The two  powers drained their ressources  in a total  fight for supremacy and destruction  without direct military combat. This was called “Cold War” and lasted approximately forty years. How did the United States respond to the Cold War? One can argue that the United States responded to the Cold War (1) ideologically, economically military (2) and technologically(3).

           First of all, the United States answered ideologically. With his doctrine of containment Truman offered a Capitalist way of thinking the world which was supposed to confront and stop every communist action or initiative .. Across  the country, the “red scare” and its obsessive fear of communists was led by senator McCarthy. He started to pursue people he tought  were communists.The most famous victims of McCarthy  are the couple Rosenberg. They were technicians at an  American nuclear plant and he suspected  and accused them to spy for the Soviet Union. They were convicted and put to death in 1953. The United States clearly responded with no concession and with  a strong ideology against communism.

         The United States also responded economically and millitarily to the old War . After World War II, Western Europe was in ruins. To help and assist  Western Europe countries  like France, Great Britain or Belgium, Congress voted the Marshall Plan in 1948. The Marshall Plan provided massive  economic aid  and funding to  European Countries  that were not  under the influence of communism. The Soviet Union responded with The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance  set in 1949  to provide aid and to help keep Eastern Europe within the Soviet Zone . NATO was also launched in 1949 to strengthen the relationship between United States and Europe. The NATO is a millitary and politic alliance. Countries in the Soviet Union Zone ratified  the Warsaw Pact  a  dynamic  millitary alliance  which collapsed with the end of the Cold War  in 1991. The United States prevailed at the end economically and millitarily.  

          Thirdly, the United States replied technologically. By dropping nuclear bombs in 1945, the United States opened an era of  nuclear race and cold  war.  The Soviet Union rapidly caught up with a growing nuclear arsenal  . The cold war and nuclear race culminated with the Cuba crisis in 1962. The Soviet Nation took the lead in the space race with the first satellite in 1957 and the first human (Youri Gagarine) in orbit in 1961.  Kennedy  then promised that the United Stated will send the first human to the moon. In 1969, Armstrong with Apollo 11 was the first human to touch the lunar soil and famously said " One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". The space race put immense pressure on Soviet Union .  The American technollogy step was stronger than the communist step.

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