The Berlin Wall was Cold War Ground Zero. of democracy and communism during the Cold War. Independent States (CIS), with the other three going their own way. The escalation of the nuclear arms race, some have argued, was responsible for the eventual collapse of Soviet Communism, while others characterize it to the inherent weakness of the Soviet state.ġ8 pages, 8549 words The Term Paper on Cold War History Soviet Soviets Communist President Ronald Reagan revived cold-war policies and referred to the Soviet Union as the evil empire. The term Cold War was reiterated in the 1980s, when U.S. In the Western bloc, France began to explore closer relations with Eastern Europe and the possibility of withdrawing its forces from NATO. The challenges in Europe influenced the United States to reverse its traditional policy of avoiding permanent alliances, so in 1949 the United States and 11 other nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO).Īt the end of the Cold War in the late 1950s and early 60s, both European alliance systems began to weaken somewhat.

In 1948, the Soviet Union directly challenged the West by organizing a blockade of the western sectors of Berlin, but the United States airlifted supplies into the city until the blockade was withdrawn. During the cold war, the general policy of the West toward the Communist states was to contain them with the hope that inside failure might end their threat. Conflicts sometimes grew big in the United Nations, which was at times injured by the effect of the cold war. Communists stopped power in Eastern Europe by means of the Red Army, the sealing off of the Russian occupation zones by army patrols, and the direction of threats toward Turkey and Greece. The traditional Russian fear of invasion from the West continued. After World War II, the West felt threatened by the continued expansionist policy of the Soviet Union.

The Term Cold War was used to describe the shifting struggle for power and prestige between the Western powers and the Communist syndicate from the end of World War II until 1989. Why was the Cold War named the cold war? It was named the Cold War because it possessed the longest length of time of any war, in modern history, in which two nations were at odds without engaging in direct battle.

Why is the cold war called the