ap history essay

ap history essay

The Impact of the Cold War on Global Politics

1. Introduction

The Cold War had more important properties. The main characteristics of the Cold War have always been the power struggle and the relationship between the two superpowers. In this sense, from the ideological and political point of view, we must stress the concept that the two superpowers would never try to get the support of each other because their concepts were irreconcilable. The military confrontation has always been present, whether in the physical, economic, or media areas, in the technological struggle, or in subversive activities in the “Third World.” The direct confrontation through open war would be very dangerous because of the existence of nuclear armament. According to this opinion, a war could signify both superpowers’ and their allies’ obliteration and the rest of the planet’s destruction.

The conclusion of World War II showed the military forces of the U.S.A. and of the U.S.S.R. occupying Europe. In spite of the severe losses of human and material means, the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. did not suffer any kind of physical damage. Their economies could only gain from the fact that the countries of the “Old World” needed their technological and industrial help for the reconstruction. The influence in the “Third World” was speedily conquered by both protagonists of the war. Only the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. could afford to constitute a G.R.O.W. in the way the British and German efforts were arranged during the First and Second Global Conflicts. The allies’ military victories corresponded to mere compensation for the tremendous loss of human and material resources in the social and economic fields.

2. Origins and Key Players of the Cold War

The Cold War had its origins in the Second World War itself. Both superpowers, the USA and the USSR, were engaged in a war to defeat fascism. Despite the fact that the two had contrasting modes of government, the common goal of defeating the German challenge became the cement that bound them firmly in a war alliance. It is true that even without the threat posed to mankind by Hitler’s totalitarian state, the two powers may have had to engage in military escalation at the time. But the battle from initiation through the Second World War strengthened the bond of friendship between the two superpowers.

The Cold War is a term recently used to describe the intense economic, political, and militant standoff between two superpowers – the USA and the USSR from 1946. Some recognize the period as 1946 to 1991. Others believe it started in 1917 with the Bolshevik revolution or 1918 with the end of the First World War. However, it is obvious that different signposts marked the time of its progression, such as the atomic bomb dropped on Japan in 1945, the blockade of Berlin and its early augurs, and finally the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The Cold War was unique because it was the first political and militant conflict that did not involve the two superpowers in fighting with one another.

3. The Cold War’s Influence on Global Alliances

The Cold War period was marked by continuous attempts at balancing and containment, as two superpowers sought to assert and increase their influence throughout the world. In many ways, the memories of World War II loomed large and were overshadowed by the actions of an expansionist Russia in Eastern Europe. Unable or unwilling to stop Soviet expansion by force, the superpowers settled instead for a pattern of indirect engagement in this conflict, supporting new or not new allies, cost-free to themselves, while continuing to build up their own military and nuclear capability. Cold War histories do seem to display that typical alliance behavior is characterized by conditions of zero-sum annuity. In peacetime, there are benefits derived from mutual gains from trade, and then come conflictual situations where allies prefer to compromise on any victory, if that is the price to be paid in order not to cede their balance of power.

After World War II ended, the post-war era saw a dramatic reshuffling of international alliances and global relations. In many ways, each of the great powers was attempting, in the chaos following the world wars, to establish a peaceful order akin to their 18th-century Pax Britannica. A notable example is the creation and dissolution of the Grand Alliance of Allies fighting Nazi Germany. A great deal of literature has examined why cooperation broke down so quickly in the post-war period. Upon closer examination, we see that underlying cooperation was being eroded by substantial differences in the interests of the veterans themselves. Indeed, this lack of appreciation and knowledge about power relations was fatal on several occasions in the unstable atmosphere of post-war Europe, and the two superpowers that emerged from this conflict would form their own spheres of influence and power blocks throughout the later decades of the 20th century.

4. Technological Advancements and the Space Race

The Soviet Union’s policy with regard to the development of the space program was marked by a determination to keep the target at the maximum level of complexity. The leadership was anxious that the nature and range of the technologies required should be such that the leadership could channel a substantial proportion of the scientific and technical potential of the country into research on space activities. The Soviet leadership’s ultimate objective was to exploit the potential victories in outer space and present their country to the world and its people as the symbol of a brilliant future.

The United States and the Soviet Union built up their rocket technologies and intelligence-gathering satellite capability because they wanted to develop means by which to monitor each other. As the Cold War proceeded, political rivalry increasingly found expression in competition in the scientific and technical sphere. The irony of the Cold War is that, where the heavy cost of the arms race is concerned, the superpowers’ investment in competing areas of science and technology has had significant practical spin-offs in terms of consumer goods. The Soviet Union was first into space and achieved a number of landmarks there, but after each American achievement, the Soviet authorities poured enormous resources into improving their space capability in order to be able to match or outdo the Americans.

5. Conclusion and Legacy of the Cold War

The Marshall Plan advanced, by national consensus, the cause of aid, which became an economic feature of the balance of threat within the capitalist power bloc. NIEO, the Generalized Accord on Tariffs and Trade, highly industrialized states flanking the United States, and the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance were contributors toward the economic balance of threat within the power alignment of the socialist bloc. The world’s values network came out of the family of nations, endowed by the Charter of the United Nations and nourished by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since American declarations of liberty were co-opted by a variety of anticolonialists, there was an immediate advantage for the United States in changing the bipolar rhetoric of the Cold War political system.

This detailed look at the Cold War has established that rhetorical rivalries were no substitute for military power in the establishment of a global order. Real events, unanimated by ideology and devoid of human agency, bequeathed the world five major causes of change in international relations that have subsequently been termed the world’s order-formation process. Among the institutional contributions, the United Nations established procedural norms for conflict resolution and contributed toward the maintenance of balance-of-threat relationships. NATO established a functioning political body and made democracy a precondition of membership.