A Brief Of The Cold War

The “Cold War” was a period of tension between the US and the Soviet Union.

The exact dates aren’t clear, but the war is considered to have taken place between 1947 to 1991.

The event that is considered as the beginning of the war is a speech given by president Harry S. Truman on March 12th 1947.

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After World War II, The US and the Soviet Union were the only two powerful countries left in the world.

Europe was economically and physically ruined, which was a good opportunity for both the US and The Soviet Union to shape the countries as they wished.

On one hand, The US believed in democracy and capitalism and wanted the European countries to follow their path.

President Truman wanted to make a Pro-American pact to help maintain the communist Soviet Union.

On the other hand, the Soviet Union believed in communism and wanted to rule it’s principles throughout the world.

They were worried about the American capitalist influence because they believed exactly the opposite: economical equality, nationalization, etc.

The name “Cold War” was given by the tycoon and political advisor Bernard Mannes Baruch because it was not a “regular” war and did not exactly involve physical confrontations between the US and the Soviet Union.

The war took place in some other countries and events but it was always about the fight between US and the west and the Soviet Union and the east.

Some of the main events and escalation of the war:

Korean war (1950-1953)

Vietnam war (1955-1975)

Cuban missiles crisis (1962).

The Cold War also included a military-technological war.

The technological war included hydrogen bombs and nuclear weapons development.

It also included a space race in which the Soviet Union was the first to get to space, and the Americans the first to land on the moon with Apolo11 spaceship in 1969.

The cold war ended with the fall of the Berlin wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989.

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Here’s a 15 minutes explanation video about the war: