The Cold WarThe Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between the Soviet Union, the United States, and their allies. The USSR attempted to exert communist influence throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The United States had decided to take a stand against the communist movement and attempted to exert its influence in France, West Germany, Japan and Korea by establishing capitalism supporting the leaders. An “iron curtain,” as Winston Churchill called it, divided Europe: half capitalist, half communist. The United States feared that a domino effect would occur regarding countries falling toward communism. So they wanted to put an end to it before all of Europe and Asia fell under the influence of this new ideology. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIn 1947, a plan was developed to establish a policy of containing communism. Shortly after, a document called the Truman Doctrine was drafted and promised that the United States would support other nations in their defense against communism. The USSR, which was propagating communism, didn't really like this reaction, and the Cold War began. The Cold War lasted from about 1947 to about 1999. These dates are not accurate because the Cold War was actually more of an era and had no real beginning or end. The Cold War got its name because there was no direct combat between the USSR and the United States. However, there were proxy wars because of the Cold War, such as the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The main reason for this cold was that the USA had capitalist ideologies and the USSR had communist ideologies. This led to huge differences in government and economics between the two world powers, which led to disputes and tensions between the two. There was this atmosphere of political distrust which increased tensions because they never took each other's word for it. This distrust made peace almost impossible. It also didn't help that each side adopted a brinkmanship, which simply meant that neither side attempted to calm the growing tensions. No one would put down their weapons first. Neither would back down and they would let the situation go as far as possible before doing anything. An arms race was also taking place at this time, which did not help tensions. Much of their economy was devoted to funding research and military spending. Each side's ability to completely destroy each other through nuclear capability was the problem and the main reason the war remained "cold." These nuclear weapons had the potential to wipe out the entire world, and since neither side would back down, many people feared the war would end with everyone dead. A lot of espionage also took place during this time. The CIA and KGB were spying on each other, further increasing tensions between the counties. Psychological warfare was also huge during the Cold War due to the rise of mass media. The American media portrayed the USSR as the bad guys and the United States as the good guys; however, it was the opposite in the Soviet Union. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The Cold War effectively ended when the Berlin Wall fell, tearing apart the “Iron Curtain.” ...