The Cold War
and why it lasted so long
The Longevity of the Cold War
Brinkmanship was the most driving force. This foreign policy method of making political decisions forced two nations to be on the edge of declaring war. This tactic was often used to coerce a nation's enemy to do what they want. This is seen in the Cuban Missile Crisis where the prospect of nuclear war was very real and in the end both nations ended up coming out with an almost equal solution. The U.S. got the missiles removed and the soviets got the U.S. to promise not to invade Cuba and get rid of missiles in Turkey.
Another policy that contributed to the prolonging of the Cold War was Containment.
It was the first major policy in the Cold War and was essentially the United State’s need to stop communism from spreading. The containment of communism was very important to the United States and is the main reason for the Vietnam war. The Vietnam War was a proxy-war that cost America a lot more than it was worth.
The Soviets put themselves into a similar situation to the U.S.'s "invasion" of Vietnam. Afghanistan was already having its own civil war but the Soviet's forceful communism, which said no to religion, angered the Mujahadeen making war between the two imminent.
See below the other events that caused the Cold War to exist as long as it did.
Important People & Events that Contributed to the Long Cold War
Cuban Missile Crisis
A 13 day stand-off between the JFK and Khrushchev (Soviet Union) over missiles in Cuba.
Fidel Castro
General Douglas MacArthur
MacArthur was an American General whose work was honored. He was involved in the army very early on and was part of WW2 and the Korean war. He was removed from his command for his refusal to obey orders by President Truman.
MacArthur attempted to make the Korean War last longer but was taken down from his duty by the president. He wanted to use an atomic bomb in China and even went behind Truman’s back to congress to have this occur.
More Important Events
The Warsaw Pact was the rival alliance to NATO of the Soviet Union and the other communist nations associated with them. The Soviets used the pact to not take full responsibility for their attacks and tight control over communist nations (put blame on smaller communist nations).
Savannah McLean: Modern Global Studies 3B Ms.Tria and Mr.Truong
Website: bahraininjustice.weebly.com/