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Can someone briefly explain the Cold War to me?
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It involved the US and its allies of the Western world mostly Britain, France and west germany to name the big players and the USSR which included russia, hungary, czech republic poland and the baltic states.
Nuclear weapons were an integral part of the "war". It was part of a policy to have a arsenal of weapons larger than the other so a to deter an attack. It is a policy often referred to as MAD, mutually assured destruction. This was because the arsenals were so powerful that both sides would be wiped off the face of the earth if a war developed. Almost $8 trillion was spent by both sides on weapons alone between 1945 - 1990.
It ended for a number of knock on effects. Gorbachev the leader of the Soviet Union wanted to follow a policy of greater freedom for the eastern european states under the control of the USSR. This was preserved as weak on his part and he was toppled by his own people. The other members of the USSR wanted more freedom and they achieved this the most memorable of which was the collapse of the Berlin wall in '90. There were also economic factors for example the USSR always had an issue with food shortages but never invested properly as the were competing with the US in heavy spending areas such as industry, space race and the arms race.
This is a very short summary but I studied the Cold war and its probably one of the best things I studied because there was always action.
Nuclear weapons were an integral part of the "war". It was part of a policy to have a arsenal of weapons larger than the other so a to deter an attack. It is a policy often referred to as MAD, mutually assured destruction. This was because the arsenals were so powerful that both sides would be wiped off the face of the earth if a war developed. Almost $8 trillion was spent by both sides on weapons alone between 1945 - 1990.
It ended for a number of knock on effects. Gorbachev the leader of the Soviet Union wanted to follow a policy of greater freedom for the eastern european states under the control of the USSR. This was preserved as weak on his part and he was toppled by his own people. The other members of the USSR wanted more freedom and they achieved this the most memorable of which was the collapse of the Berlin wall in '90. There were also economic factors for example the USSR always had an issue with food shortages but never invested properly as the were competing with the US in heavy spending areas such as industry, space race and the arms race.
This is a very short summary but I studied the Cold war and its probably one of the best things I studied because there was always action.
It involved the US and its allies of the Western world mostly Britain, France and west germany to name the big players and the USSR which included russia, hungary, czech republic poland and the baltic states.
Nuclear weapons were an integral part of the "war". It was part of a policy to have a arsenal of weapons larger than the other so a to deter an attack. It is a policy often referred to as MAD, mutually assured destruction. This was because the arsenals were so powerful that both sides would be wiped off the face of the earth if a war developed. Almost $8 trillion was spent by both sides on weapons alone between 1945 - 1990.
It ended for a number of knock on effects. Gorbachev the leader of the Soviet Union wanted to follow a policy of greater freedom for the eastern european states under the control of the USSR. This was preserved as weak on his part and he was toppled by his own people. The other members of the USSR wanted more freedom and they achieved this the most memorable of which was the collapse of the Berlin wall in '90. There were also economic factors for example the USSR always had an issue with food shortages but never invested properly as the were competing with the US in heavy spending areas such as industry, space race and the arms race.
This is a very short summary but I studied the Cold war and its probably one of the best things I studied because there was always action.
Nuclear weapons were an integral part of the "war". It was part of a policy to have a arsenal of weapons larger than the other so a to deter an attack. It is a policy often referred to as MAD, mutually assured destruction. This was because the arsenals were so powerful that both sides would be wiped off the face of the earth if a war developed. Almost $8 trillion was spent by both sides on weapons alone between 1945 - 1990.
It ended for a number of knock on effects. Gorbachev the leader of the Soviet Union wanted to follow a policy of greater freedom for the eastern european states under the control of the USSR. This was preserved as weak on his part and he was toppled by his own people. The other members of the USSR wanted more freedom and they achieved this the most memorable of which was the collapse of the Berlin wall in '90. There were also economic factors for example the USSR always had an issue with food shortages but never invested properly as the were competing with the US in heavy spending areas such as industry, space race and the arms race.
This is a very short summary but I studied the Cold war and its probably one of the best things I studied because there was always action.
Ultimately, the sides involved were USSR (Russia and all it's satellite countries), China, and Cuba against the United States. But, deeper down it was communism(Marxism) against capitalism(free market)
During the Cold war period, as a youngster, I remember volunteering to watch for aircraft and to report the direction of flight and whether there was a contrail or not. As students we were told to "duck and cover" under our desks if we saw a sudden bright flash of light in the sky. We all lived in terror of total annihilation by a nuclear weapon. We knew that even a stupid mistake by someone could mean the end of the world. Not a happy time. It ended when Ronald Reagan (president) quit playing patty-cake with the Russins and initiated a realistic missile defense system, called Star Wars. and it also helped when he told Mr. Gorbachev (Russian president) to tear down the Berlin wall. In other words, we won the Cold War, and the USSR finally crumbled under it's own economic weight from trying to keep up with us.
If only we could learn from history. Instead of living under the threat of annihilation and trying to please and placate the enemy, simply stop playing around, get serious and do something about it.
During the Cold war period, as a youngster, I remember volunteering to watch for aircraft and to report the direction of flight and whether there was a contrail or not. As students we were told to "duck and cover" under our desks if we saw a sudden bright flash of light in the sky. We all lived in terror of total annihilation by a nuclear weapon. We knew that even a stupid mistake by someone could mean the end of the world. Not a happy time. It ended when Ronald Reagan (president) quit playing patty-cake with the Russins and initiated a realistic missile defense system, called Star Wars. and it also helped when he told Mr. Gorbachev (Russian president) to tear down the Berlin wall. In other words, we won the Cold War, and the USSR finally crumbled under it's own economic weight from trying to keep up with us.
If only we could learn from history. Instead of living under the threat of annihilation and trying to please and placate the enemy, simply stop playing around, get serious and do something about it.
blackjack432001
New member
briefly put, the 'cold war', which is opposite to a 'hot war', was the usa, europe, et al, to the chinese (under mao) and russia (originally under stalin). this disagreement of wills and ways began way before WW2 but was stalled due to the axis and WW2. it originally began just after the red russians overran the russian front in 1917 but that's another story. anyway, and to wit, this cold war stayed a , pardon the pun, hot item for a prolonged time ending somewhere around the late 1980s. it's a long time, to some needless time wasted. i do believe most of this cold war time was instigated by all three govts to make their defense budgets unusually large and the munitions spending overweight. the real people caught in the middle were as curious about each other and found, after the 1980s, that they had way more in common than expected. i lived through it, and i can tell you, what a waste of time and space. the russians, chinese and usa/european people loved their kids, life and future in equal parts. glad it's over. want to know something totally freaky? check out the bomb shelters and the hollywood movies made during that time. paranoia for sale (and bought). silly, silly little men. p.s.: yeah, nuclear weapons were waved at each other but, glad to say, it became a 'my bomb is better and bigger than yours' thing. like i said, silly, silly little men.
The Soviet Union had pledged to defend China and China was aiding the North Korean communists during the Korean War in both material and soldiers was how it started. The USSR already dominated Eastern Europe and had it's eyes on Western Europe to further conquest is what happened next. The bomb race started and Teller developed the hyrogen weapon but the the nuke race had already been on. What angered the USSR was when the US put nuke rockets in Turkey and they put nuke rockets in Cuba as a response. That angered the American People and told the Ruskies to get them missiles out of Dodge and they backed down but we were on the very edge of the brink of disaster for the whole planet.