Consequences of the Cold War Essays - Cold War,

Consequences of the Cold War The Cold War (1947-1991) was time of great tension for governments around the world. After America had developed nuclear weapons, the Soviets were quick to follow that path. As tensions between capitalist America and communist Russia elevated, each state began to change and adapt to their situation. The most visible of these adaptations was scientific advancement. Both Russia and the USA wanted to be the ones who had superior technology, and better weapons. Because of this, these two super powers entered in an arms race. Russia and America had both standardized automatic rifles, the Kalashnikov and M16 respectively. Both sides had also done testing for nuclear weapons such as Operation Crossroads, and Tsar Bomba. Not all scientific advancement was for the worst though. The cold war also saw huge advances in computer sciences, and medicine just name a few. These advancements brought up the quality of living for most of the world. On the other side of the coin, advancements in entertainment also allowed the government to get propaganda out easier, and didn't help with an atmosphere of fear. The cold war wasn't the happiest time to be around, with the constant fear of Nuclear annihilation, the mood was always too bright. The Western world had become obsessed with the idea that the Soviets were about to launch a preemptive strike, an attack with little to no warning. It's because of this that the CDS released videos like "Duck and Cover" or "Atomic Alert" which go into detail about how to survive a nuclear threat. These videos were shown in schools across the US, giving people a false sense of security, as though hiding under a desk, or covering up with a jacket could protect you from a nuke. This constant fear lead to movements like "Ban the Bomb" and other anti-weapons groups. Minorities and women also formed groups, to fight for equality, so that America could be a truly free nation. As people started getting together, a sense of patriotism was strengthened (the Hollywood propaganda also helped in that matter) and the ways of capitalist America were praised in the US, and the communist USSR were demonized. Meanwhile in Russia, the opposite was held true, they worshipped the supposed freedom of communism, and depicted Americans as being fat and greedy. This made both Nations economies very different. Americans were very much sold on the idea of buying consumer goods from a free market. It just made sense, increase one's standard of living, while simultaneously bettering the economy. This model made it easy for the US to increase military spending, without too much consequence, and the US still remains an economic super power. In contrast, the Soviet's ideology made it difficult to keep it's people happy, and keep up with American military spending. A common term used to describe this is "guns or butter". This refers to a government's choice to choose either to increase the size of their military, or keep their citizens happy and fed. The Soviets chose guns. They lost. Politics during the cold war was something similar to a person walking a tightrope, except the tightrope is on fire, the person has no limbs, and the minute they fall the world erupts in a fiery ball of nuclear death. Every single move the politicians made had the chance to end in disaster, luckily it never did, but it did come rather close during the Cuban missile crisis. In this event, the Soviets had given Cuba missiles "for defensive purposes" but that made America more than a little nervous. One thing leads to another, and you have the pentagon at defcon 2, and everyone freaking out that they're all going to die. All of a sudden the Russians back down, they remove their missiles from Cuba, and nobody gets nuked. While it turned out fine in the end, the Cuban missile crisis is a fantastic example of the problem with Brinkmanship. Brinkmanship is a dangerous way of playing with politics where you don't back down no matter what. Both sides of the argument refuse to look weak, s o the just keep getting more, and more extreme. This could have easily lead to the