Geopolitics and the Cold War

Soon following World War II was the Cold War. The Cold War was a hapless and extreme time of discomfort caused by a great geopolitical tension between two areas(Prager U). The western bloc and the eastern bloc served great roles in this conflict. The western bloc contained countries allied with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).Such as France, Norway, and Denmark. As for the term Eastern bloc referred to countries associated and run by the soviet union. These were countries like Albania, Bulgaria, and East Germany.

During this crucial, near decade struggle, some could say it was a death match between the two blocs. One yearning for freedom, and the other fighting for totalitarianism1 . that led the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear disaster. (History.com)

The history of Cold War is intense, but what about the name? Behind the Cold War, there are two antagonizing countries, the U.S and the U.S.S.R. During the many conflicts involved with the Cold War, the two never came to a direct conflict. The Cold War was filled with smaller conflicts building up to the final moments called proxy wars2 . This led to the name Cold War because of not only the lack of combat between the two main countries, but also the lack of nuclear weapons used in between the two. While the USSR and the US were fortunate to have as little combat directed at them, some countries were not as lucky. Countries such as Cuba, Korea, and Vietnam were heavily affected by the proxy wars that were going on in this time period. They supported opposing sides in conflicts in different parts of the world.

During the Cold War, there were a total of fourteen proxy wars. These wars included the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949), the Greek Civil War(1946-1949), the Berlin Blockade(1948-1949), the Korean War(1950-1953), the Vietnam War(1954-1975), the Cuba War (1961-1962),the Cambodian Civil War(1967-1975), Chile Military Junta(1973), Middle east Conflict(1973-1989), Ethiopia Somalia War(1977-1978), Angola civil War (1976-1988), Salvadoran Civil War(1980-1992), and the Nicaraguan civil War(1979-1990). In all of these proxy wars, there is a similar and sometimes almost uniform underlying cause. As an example, both the Chinese Civil War and the Cuban War had an underlying cause coming from the United States. In the Cuban War, the United States failed to overthrow the Castro Regime which led to further conflict. Almost synonymous to what caused the Chinese Civil War, which was an internal war involving the United States.

It is vital that every organization has a leader, that every book has a protagonist and antagonist, and that every role has someone to occupy it. This standard also applied to the Cold War. During this time people like Harry Truman(US), Joseph Stalin(USSR), Nikita Khrushchev (USSR), Fidel Castro(USSR), Dwight eisenhower(US), Ronald Reagan(US), Mikhail Gorbachev(USSR), John F Kennedy(US), Lyndon B Johnson(US), Richard Nixon(US), and General Douglas McArthur (USSR). People among that list made vital decisions to start, end, and pursue conflicts. In the USSR one very important man took lead. That man was Joseph Stalin. He is known for causing the US and USSR distrust, who created the communist groups in the east, and who would end up butting heads against the western aggression. In the United States we had many leaders as every four years our president would be re-elected.

After all of the conflicts, the war finally came to an end. During 1989 and 1990, the berlin wall came down, borders were reopened and free elections surfaced. This caused the communist to basically dissolve and ultimately brought the war to an end.

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