The Cold War :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Cold War   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Cold War is the shifting struggle for power and prestige between the Western powers and the Communist bloc from the end of World War II until 1989. The Cold War was a fight between democracy and communism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There had always been mutual suspicion between the West and the USSR. This suspicion could be seen in the alliances these two powers had made during World War II. Even after the war , the West felt threatened by the continued expansion policy of the Soviet Union. Soviet Union also felt the fear of invasion from the West. Russia occupied zones in Germany, Austria and had made threats toward Turkey and Greece. Russia was making what Sir Winston Churchill called an â€Å"iron curtain†. The US took the lead in stopping Russian influenced and came up with the Truman Doctrine which gave funding to Greek and Turkey. Fearing communism would rise in much of torn eastern Europe, the United States came up with the Marshall plan. The Marshall plan helped to restore prosperity and growth in Europe.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The policy of the West during the cold war was to contain the communist states, and hope that internal division or failure, of the communist state, might bring around their demise. In 1948 the Soviet Union directly challenged the US setting up blockades in west Berlin. In 1949 the US went against its policy on permanent alliances, and signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, along with eleven other countries. In 1955 the Soviet Union came back with the Warsaw Treaty Organization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The cold war was more of a race. The country with the most allies, most weapons, best technology and best military was the winner. The country with the swiftest nuclear weapons and the country who could completely annihilate the enemy was the better country.