The Cold War can be defined as the period of time in which the Soviet bloc nations and the United States entered into a hostile political rivalry. This paper will mainly focus on the cause and effects of the Cold War.
There were several causes of the Cold War, for example, the presence of the ideological differences that existed between the communist, the Soviet Union and the capitalist, the United States. The Soviet Union had a mission of spreading its communism ideology to other countries after the WWII, which created total curiosity that alarmed the American people who greatly followed democracy. Therefore, the Soviet Russia dedicated their time to spreading communism and even highlighted it in the mass-media to boost the labour revolution. However, the American at the same time propagated the idea of capitalism and highly discouraged the growth of communism (Maus).
In addition to above argument, the United States was profoundly frightened that the Soviet Union could take over the entire world. Hence, they adopted the containment policy that restricted the communism in its existing areas, which was vehemently opposed by the Soviets. Thus, an indirect war started between the Soviet Union and the United States, which led to the growth of the Cold War.
However, the Cold War had significant effects after it ended; for instance, it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union worldwide as a result of economic weaknesses. The Soviets began to experience a serious economic strain in the late 1980s, which pushed them to massive dissatisfaction by most of the satellite states. Therefore, the Soviet Union became fully annexed with the minor ethnic groups, who never liked the hegemony of Russian that occurred after frequent protests and strikes they experienced (Grant).
Further, Poland was the first nation to withdraw, in the year 1989, which left the Soviet Union in a state of being unable to intervene militarily as it had done in the Eastern Europe. Also, the withdrawal of the Poland overthrew the entire Soviet System leaving the immediate effects, which led to many other countries rejecting the communism. Thus, the quick succession and massive withdrawal from the Communist resulted in the fracture and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Additionally, the Cold War also led to the fall of the odious Berlin Wall in 1990, which was torn down by the mob. The news of the complete collapse of the Berlin Wall created a major dramatic significance of the United States opinion on their defeat to the communist. Even though it was evident that the Soviet Union was diminishing, the Capitalist still were not yet satisfied until the wall came down. Thus, the collapse of the Berlin Wall between the East and West of Berlin made the Americans enter into conclusion that the Soviet Union’s existence was no more (Taylor).
Also, the United States started celebrating during the time when the communist’s financial problems begun, but they gained a lot of power when the wall fell. Therefore, the Americans took advantage over the communist situation and started collaborating with the Eastern Europe to predict their future to enhance more peace in the world. Hence, the economic instability experienced by the Soviet Union highly contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Works Cited
Grant, R. G. The Cold War. Mankato, Minn.: Arcturus Pub., 2008. Print.
Maus, Derek C. The Cold War. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. Print.
Taylor, David. The Cold War. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2001. Print.
