"an iron Curtain has descended..."
The cold war is generally believed to have begun around the end of the second world war or about the year 1947. During world war II the democratic and communist countries that faced off in the Cold War were allies in the fight against the Nazis and other Axis nations. In 1945 the United states used the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end WWII. It was at this time that friction became apparent between the allies. Several nations such as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Great Britain and France, unlike the United States, had suffered terrible losses in the War against Hitler and his allies. This made the U.S. the most powerful nation on Earth. Yet the United States did not want the difficulties which arose from world leadership. So they reduced the strength of their armed forces, unlike the Soviets which kept their vast armies in uniform. The USSR then began to ascertain countries in Eastern Europe by forcing them to accept dictators that had been trained in Moscow. Their Soviet Union then created the communist bloc group of nations under the name of the Warsaw Pact. the US alarmed by the growing communist power, created a democratic bloc called N.A.T.O. (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). This intensified the distrust between the East and West.
During the late 40's and 50's relations between the Free World nations (United States, France, Great Britain, West Germany, Canada, Japan, Philippines, and other nations in Western Europe and Latin America) and Communist nations (Soviet Union, Cuba, China, Rumania, Bulgaria, Poland, and other nations in Eastern Europe and Asia) were extremely tense and it is a miracle the world did not light up like a nuclear Christmas tree. Relations changed during the 1960's because of conflicting ideas within the blocs. In the East, China challenged the Soviet leadership of communism. In the West, France and West Germany began to act freely of U.S. policy.Several major changes occurred during the 70's. A peace treaty was signed between West Germany and the Soviet Union. And for the first time in 30 years diplomatic relations were established between the United States and China. This process of cooperation was halted in the 80's when the Soviets intervened in Afghanistan. Alarmed the U. S. increased its defense budget and the human race seemed egar to commit suicide once again. Then as peace seemed to be out of our grasp the Cold War ended.The Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union crumbled. This is believed to be the end of the Cold War.
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