In Eastern Europe, the end of the Cold War has ushered in an era of economic growth and a large increase in the number of liberal democracies, while in other parts of the world, such as Afghanistan, independence was accompanied by state failure. The most important social causes are due to economic influence which caused national military establishments and alliances to be reconfigured. Other Cold War weapons states are slowly reducing their arsenals because they have not abandoned their dependency on nuclear deterrence. Economic and social tensions soared for years after the Cold War ended and because so many nuclear weapons were stockpiled during the war, the chances of an intentional or accidental nuclear strike were dramatically increased. Aldo Marchesi (2019): Latin America's Radical Left: Rebellion and Cold War in the Global 1960s. Some countries gained and lost territory after the Cold War. We hope you enjoy this website.

The Cold War was a period of tension and hostility between the United States of America and the Soviet Union from the mid-40s to the late 80s. In its course, the Cold War became a growing threat to world peace and when it reached its highest form of confrontation, as a direct and indirect consequence, numerous people suffered great misfortunes. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1980, which led to the United States and its allies boycotting the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the annulment of the Warsaw Pact and the dissolution of the Soviet Union the Cold War had been officially terminated, but despite it all, military development and spending continued, particularly in the deployment of nuclear-armed ballistic missiles and defensive systems, because there was no formalized treaty ending the Cold War, the former superpowers have continued to various degrees to maintain and even improve or modify existing nuclear weapons and delivery systems. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. The decade-long impasse between American capitalists and Soviet Communists ceased on a nonviolent mutual consent.

This caused millions of people to become unemployed, furthering Russia's financial crisis.

World inventories of weapons-grade fissile materials are substantial, much greater than now needed for military purposes. and the U.R.S.S. Although historians and scholars maintain different positions regarding what were the causes that led to the development of the Cold War and its effects they all concur the tensions between the superpowers that had already been accumulating during this period where the spark that ignited the flame. Millions of people, both civilians and military personnel, lost their lives in Korea, Vietnam and in other parts of the world where United States and Soviet Union proxy wars took place.

America was annoyed by the Soviet Union’s actions in the part of Germany it had occupied. Military expenditures by the US during the Cold War years were estimated to have been $8 trillion, while nearly 100,000 Americans lost their lives in the Korean War and Vietnam War. Both countries feared an attack from each other adhering to mutual mass destruction. Cuban missile crisis in 1962 was the closest the world ever came to a nuclear war; when an American U2 spy plane took photographs of Soviet intermediate ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads, sending a total of 42 medium range missiles and 24 intermediate range missiles to Cuba. Such a dismantling left millions of employees (throughout the former Soviet Union) unemployed thus affecting Russia’s economy and military[1].

At the beginning of the Cold War, there were two superpowers, the U.S. and Russia. Localized conflicts/tensions replaced the former bilateral nuclear confrontation and as a lingering result, large inventories of nuclear weapons and facilities remain stabilized. The Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics achieved independence. The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II.This hostility between the two superpowers was first given its name by George Orwell in an article published in 1945. Petra Goedde (2019): The Politics of Peace: A Global Cold War History. In 1989, there was a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and in 1990, the Soviets agreed to the reunification of Germany. Most of the proxy wars and subsidies for local conflicts ended along with the Cold War; the incidence of interstate wars, ethnic wars, revolutionary wars, as well as refugee and  Disagreements between the leaders of the nations that were affected by the warfare declined sharply in the post–Cold War years. This exacerbated the idea of having a ‘democracy equaled having peace,’ surged across the nations affected by the Cold War and became a popular opinion across international relation experts because peace laid in the political strength(democracy) of the sovereignty of the people. Also the Soviet Afghan War (1979-1989) and to some …

In some cases, this had resulted in an aversion to warfare, in other cases to callousness regarding nuclear threats. Alexander DeVolpi (2009): Nuclear Insights: The Cold War Legacy, Volume 2: Nuclear Threats and Prospects (A Knowledgeable Assessment). What Were Some of the Effects of the Cold War. The Afghan War was a major factor in bankrupting the Soviet Union. Environmental remediation, industrial production, research science, and technology development have all benefited from the carefully managed application of radiation and other nuclear processes. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.

This new peaceful era created a territorial expansion of democratic capitalism which had an open invitation to proclaim the obsolescence of the war itself. South Yemen gained territory and became known as Yemen. In retaliation, the Soviet Union and its allies boycotted the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles, USA. During the Cold War and post-Cold War periods, nuclear weapons and their delivery systems had been immensely secured and protected over the fear that such weapons of mass destruction were stolen, thus nuclear facilities and devices, such as reactors and propulsion systems, were safeguarded. He adopted a conciliatory attitude towards the Americans and many arms reduction pacts were signed. Moreover, all nuclear-weapons states had developed not only production and service facilities but sometimes in extensive military staging and storage. Will 5G Impact Our Cell Phone Plans (or Our Health?! Due to the military and non-military exploitation of nuclear fission, the Cold War brought forth some significant involuntary exposures to high-level radiation. Cold war is the period of political and military tensions between eastern and western blocs (mainly between USA and Soviet Union) from 1945–1992 (i.e, till the fall of soviet union). He announced a major weapons buildup and the SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative) also dubbed as “Star Wars”. The Cold War has continued to influence global politics after its end, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the post–Cold War world is widely considered as unipolar—with the United States the sole remaining superpower. Oxford University Press. Is the Coronavirus Crisis Increasing America's Drug Overdoses? The US formed an alliance with China in 1971 to contain the Soviet Union. Several significant radiation-related accidents occurred at military and civilian nuclear reactors and facilities, causing direct fatalities, as well as involuntary occupational and public exposures. Copyright © Historyplex & Buzzle.com, Inc. The Soviets feared that America would use Western Europe as a base to attack it. History of the Cold War, In its course, the Cold War became a growing threat to world peace and when it reached its highest form of confrontation, as a direct and indirect consequence, numerous people suffered great misfortunes. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Strong impressions were made and continue to affect the national psyche as a result of close brushes with all-out nuclear warfare. Such tensions were described by the immense separation between the capitalist and communist countries, the latter having an economy planned by the state, and the capitalists pursuing the idea of a free market economy.[2]. The Soviet-American combat, known as the "Cold War" hung heavy over global affairs for more than forty long years; structuring the world with extensive military buildups, an unceasing nuclear arms rivalry, intensive surveillance, and relentless technological emulations. The Cold War defined the political role of the United States in the post–World War II world: by 1989 the United States held military alliances with 50 countries and had 1.5 million troops posted abroad in 117 countries which institutionalized a global commitment to huge, permanent peacetime military-industrial complexes and large-scale military funding of science.

Movements against communist governments in Eastern Europe followed this. We've created informative articles that you can come back to again and again when you have questions or want to learn more! An appropriate continuing level of security remained necessary through all life-cycle phases, from production to decommissioning as the entire military nuclear infrastructure requires protection, and that requires a commensurate allocation of funding.

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. The Berlin Wall was demolished and the two German nations were unified. However, it did not escalate to an apocalyptic World War III. After the end of World War II in 1945, Europe faced great difficulties in achieving an economic, political and social recovery. The Soviet Union’s action of taking control over Eastern Europe was a major factor for US suspicions.

The Cold War outlined the foreign policies for both the countries through the second half of the twentieth century as both contested for accomplices to uphold and broaden their respective realms of sovereignty around the world. The Soviet Union wanted to spread its ideology of communism worldwide, which alarmed the Americans who followed democracy. The risk of nuclear and radiological terrorism by possible sub-national organizations or individuals is now a concern. Russia was left with a devastated economy that forced the country to cut military spending and threw it into a recession. Moreover, terrorists and hackers continue to interfere with nuclear stability and confidence. In addition to the loss of life by uniformed soldiers, millions died in the superpowers' proxy wars around the globe, most notably in Southeast Asia. Some effects of the Cold War included a stagnant Russian economy, a large loss of life and an increased chance of nuclear war. With the end of communism (the Soviet Union collapsed due to its economic weaknesses), German unification, and even the expected separation of Czechoslovakia everything Historical occurred with immense rapidness. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused large-scale destruction as well as an acute and lingering radiation throughout the infected areas, and as a result of decades of nuclear-weapons production, experimentation, and testing, exposure to radiation above normal background levels occurred to scientists, technicians, military personnel, civilians, and animals.