Ethan Bennett

HIST 17C

Carlos Mujal

Cause and Effects of Cold War

This war that dominated the latter half of the 20th century had no major battlefields or

decorated generals who commanded their armies to strike a capital or kill enemies. The crux of

this war were the two biggest ideologies following World War II: capitalism and socialism and

the two nations that were governed by it, the United States and USSR. This led to extensive

military buildups, an increasingly dangerous nuclear arms race, intensive surveillance and

relentless technological advancements specifically in spacecraft. This geopolitical chess match

eventually led to the dissolution of the USSR but not before it had caused major international

causes and effects.

A peacetime agreement/alliance policy was set into place known as containment. It was

utilized to stifle any communist influence in Europe and in Asia. To enact this, the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed so that the Western European nations had an

immediate defense against communist influence. Any nation that would be attacked by Soviet

forces had mutual assured destruction and the full support of nations that allied with them.

Immediately after the containment policy was the Yalta Conference. After WWII,

Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin decided what would happen to Germany and the rest of the

European nations. One topic in particular stuck out the most: the partitioning of Germany. It was

divided into four zones with all zones being occupied by the Allies. The United Nations, an

upgrade from the League of Nations, was formed and free elections were held in Poland.
 After Roosevelt came President Harry Truman and his involvement in the Cold War was

the Truman Doctrine in which he ordered food, money, and military forces given to Greece and

Turkey in order to fight against any Soviet uprising. Following that doctrine came the Marshall

Plan or the European Recovery Act. This economic aid program was offered to Germany and

other European cities who needed rebuilding and their economies restarted. Money would be lent

to them by American and as time would pass, eventually those European countries would buy

American products and continue to receive aid from them. Stalin, however, and the eastern parts

of Europe under his control refused to receive this aid and thus only Western European countries

received it.

After some time, the zones in west Germany that were controlled by the Allies

partitioned together to form a united West Germany front. However, Stalin disproved of the

merger and blocked all access from West Germany, effectively cutting down their food and

water supply. East Germany then came under the control of the communist party and Stalin’s

reign and established satellite communist regimes in nations such as Poland, Hungary, and

Czechoslovakia. Because of the blockade, known more famously as the Berlin Wall, supplies

from the Allies were cut off and worse, shot up by the communists. In order to counter this, the

Berlin Airlift was enacted where planes flew over the Berlin Wall and dropped supplies for the

people in West Germany. This was also a challenge of sorts to Stalin by Truman to see if he

would shoot down the planes, starting World War III.

The Warsaw Pact was later enacted by the USSR as a counter to NATO and gathered

several Easter European countries to form an alliance with Soviet Russia. Countries such as East

Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia signed the treaty. Although most of the nations

agreed to defend each other and not mingle in each other’s affairs, much like NATO’s alliance,
the Soviet Union had most control over the Pact’s decisions. As an extension of their power, it

also controlled popular dissent in Hungary, Poland, and in Czechoslovakia.

On the American homefront, the House Un-American Activities Committee was created

to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive actions done by private citizens and public

employees. During this time, the Committee had a number of blacklisted individuals on their list

for spying against their nation but it was in Hollywood that they paid the most attention too. The

film industry was said to have harbored a large number of Communists. Most film executives did

not speak out against the investigations, trying not get on the wrong side of Congress or lose

their audiences. HUAC’s investigation in the film industry reached its peak with the infamous

Hollywood Ten, an all-male group of writers and directors called to testify. They refused to

cooperate with HUAC and were thus cited for contempt and sentenced to prison along with

being blacklisted working in Hollywood.

But HUAC’s investigation did not stop at Hollywood. It led to the investigation within

the federal government when a self-professed member of the American Communist Party named

Whittaker Chambers accused Alger Hiss, a high-ranking State Department official, for serving as

a spy to the Soviet Union. Based on the evidence presented by Chambers, Hiss was only found

guilty of perjury and spent around 44 months in prison.

Internationally, the Cold War spurred a new war to happen, this time on the Korean

Front. North Korea who now had ties with Russia, invaded South Korea in order to make the

entire nation communist. This came to be known as the Korean War. Because of the containment

policy, president Truman sent a legislation to the U.N asking them for support and an army to be

led to combat the North Korean troops. The U.N passed the legislation and Truman ordered

Douglas Macarthur to lead the U.N army. Some time later, his mission was a success and
Macarthur drove the North Korean forces back to their capital and then, wishing to put a

definitive end to communism, wanted to nuclear strike China. However, Truman staunchly

disagreed with the idea and so Macarthur passed letters to members of Congress asking for

support. Later on, Truman found out about his conspiring with these members and eventually

fired Macarthur. This action caused Truman to be known as the “worst president” for firing a

general widely liked by the American population.

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident led to the U.S’ full-scale involvement into the Vietnam War.

The USS Maddox was fired upon in the gulf, signaling the first act of active warfare done to the

United States. As a result, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed by Congress, giving the

president rights to do what was “necessary” to Vietnam and fight off the communist party there.

However, it turned out to be a highly difficult war fighting against the guerillas in the rainforests

of Vietnam. Even though General Westmoreland stated “We’re pretty close to winning this was”

after the TET Offensive where Viet Cong struck US bases across their land, there still was no

clear victory. After such time, Congress now passed a new law which was the War Powers Act,

commanding the president to send a timetable when to send combat troops abroad.

In 1989, the Velvet Revolution signaled the start of the end of the Cold War and the

dissolution of the USSR. Known as the Gentle Revolution, several peaceful protests took place

in Czechoslovakia calling to overthrow the communist government. A million Polish people

joined as well and soon during the revolution, they broke down the Berlin Wall and reunited with

the people of East Germany. This also meant the breaking of communist influence over East

Germany and the reunification of Germany. Boris Yeltsin who led the Velvet Revolution called

for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to step down and sign the agreement to

dissolve the USSR and let go of all its republics allowing them to become separate sovereign
nations. And on December 26, 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the hammer and sickle, the symbol

of communism, was removed from the Kremlin, ending the reign of the Soviets and effectively

ending the Cold War.