What impact did the Cold War have on American society?

What impact did the Cold War have on American society? The Cold War started to develop after the Second World War when the USA and the USSR no longer had a common goal of Hitler's Nazism. As soon as Cold War was instigated, the differences in ideology and other factors worsened the relationship between the USA and the USSR. This meant that many events such as Cuban Missile Crisis and arms race nearly led to a hot war. As Cold War progressed until the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cold War had significant impact on American society. Firstly, Cold War instigated strong anti-communism within the USA. The hatred towards Communism was so great that it eventually led to McCarthyism. During McCarthyism, Americans were obsessed with the process of identifying the Communists and removing those Communists from American society. The strength of this obsession increased greatly that Americans started to forget the fact that the US constitution guaranteed all Americans freedom to believe what they wanted to believe. The purpose of organisations such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the House Un-American Activities became the 'removal of Communists' and laws such as the Communist Control Act were passed to facilitate the process of identifying, capturing and removing Communists. The McCarran Act was also introduced, which forced all Communist organisations to be registered

  • Word count: 680
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Why was Gallipoli a Failure

Why was Gallipoli a failure? Gallipoli or the Dardanelles Campaign was started originally promoted by Winston Churchill and Lord Kitchener. They started this campaign because Russia, one of our allies was blocked from getting land supplies. These were the works of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. So, the only place Russia can be given their supplies through was by the Mediterranean Sea. But later on, in October 1914, when the Ottoman Empire joined the central powers, Russia could no longer be supplied through the Mediterranean Sea. This was one of the reasons the Gallipoli plan started; of course there were many more such as to try and knock out one of the Allies of the central powers so the war can be easier. Gallipoli was a complete failure even at the start. They're thoughts were very wrong about Gallipoli. They thought the naval attack was going to go through easily and that there would be no land invasion; but hey! They were wrong. In March 8, 1915, the warships started their assaults on the Dardanelles strait. 16 battleships tried to advance through. However, almost every single battleship was damaged by the sea mines Nusrat, a Turkish Minelayer. Earlier, before this happened, the Australian and the New Zealanders volunteered soldiers to fight and was encamped in Egypt to training before going to France. They also thought that once the Turks were driven off

  • Word count: 847
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Explain why the United States became increasingly involved in Vietnam.

Explain why the United States became increasingly involved in Vietnam The Vietnam War went on for 10years from 1965 to 1975. There were many casualties on both sides but in the end the Vietcong won the war against the USA. The USA got increasingly involved in the war over Vietnam and this was for a number of reasons. This ranges from a major fear of communism in the long term and a fear of communist takeover as well as some trigger reasons for instance the assassination of Diem. In the 1880's Vietnam became part of the French empire and was renamed French-Indo China. In 1941 however Japan invaded but Ho Chi Minh led the resistance against France and Japan. Over the next 8 years there was the French Vietnamese war but after long peace talks Vietnam divided into North and South. The south was supported by the USA. Diem became the prime minister of the South and refused to hold elections for a new leader whereas the communist leader Ho Chi Minh ran the North. There are a number of reasons why the USA became more increasingly involved in the Vietnam War and some of these reasons existed for a long time making these the long-term reasons for increasing involvement in the war. The first of these is the Cold War. This was a battle between communism and capitalism and the biggest countries that represented these views, capitalist USA and communist USSR. After World War 2 USA was

  • Word count: 1427
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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How Close to War did the World come over Cuba in 1962?

How Close to War did the World come over Cuba in 1962? It all started when a communist revolution took place in Cuba, an island ninety miles away from the United States of America. This was a great blow to the United States as many American businesses were dependent on Cuba. In April 1961, the C.I.A organised an attack on Cuba led by Cuban exiles in an attempt to restore American control. They landed in a place called the Bay of Pigs and set up a base for guerrilla war against the Cuban government. They expected other Cubans to rise up and join the rebellion, but they misunderstood the popularity of the communist dictator, Fidel Castro. Consequently, the Cuban government easily defeated the invasion force. The struggle for control of Cuba was part of a worldwide Cold War. In early 1962, the Americans placed a number of nuclear missiles in Turkey. These missiles were within easy range of many cities of the USSR. President Khrushchev of the USSR had met his fellow communist leader Castro at a United Nations summit and the two became good allies immediately. Soon afterwards Khrushchev decided to place missiles on Cuba. He gave two reasons for doing so, one was that these missiles were a means of defence for the Cubans and the other he argued was that if America could have a nuclear missiles in Turkey, capable of wiping out major cities in the Soviet Union; it was only

  • Word count: 775
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Eastern Bloc

Eastern Bloc ) The Eastern Bloc was made out of the eight countries surrounding the USSR. 2) The USSR managed to take over these eight countries in less than 2 years. 3) This made it hard for enemy forces to attack the USSR from the west, as the invading troops would need to get through these countries to get to the USSR. 4) The 'Buffer Zone' and 'The Iron Curtain' were other names for the Eastern Bloc. 5) Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania, Albania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria were the eight countries which made up the Eastern Bloc. 6) These countries were Communists. 7) The main reason why these countries became communism was due to poverty. 8) The USSR ruled the countries since 1945 to 1989 (over 40 years). 9) When the Soviet Union broke up in 1989, these eight countries stopped being a communist country and into a capitalist country. 0) These countries became part of the Soviet's alliance, 'NATO' The Korean War ) The Korean War split Korea into two halves - The North and The South. 2) The split between North and South was very close to the 38th Parallel, so it was nicknamed the 38th Parallel. 3) The North side was Communist, which both USSR and China supported. 4) The South side was Capitalist, which the USA supported. 5) The North wanted to make the whole of Korea turn to Communism, so they prepared a war, which the USSR would supply weapons,

  • Word count: 1076
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Forty years ago on New Year's Day, dictator Fulginio Baptista fled Havana.

IT has been a triumph in the face of overwhelming odds. Forty years ago on New Year's Day, dictator Fulginio Baptista fled Havana. Fidel Castro and his band of fighters entered the Cuban capital to be ecstatically greeted by the people as liberators. With Castro were his comrades-in-arms, Che Guevara and Camilio Cienfuegos. The three were involved in many a famous battle that led up to the revolution. Castro first launched his armed struggle against Batista on July 26, 1953 with an attack on the Moncada Barracks. Many of his comrades were killed in this heroic attack and Castro himself was arrested. Batista later granted a general amnesty in which Castro and other revolutionaries were freed. They then left for Mexico and returned clandestinely a year later along with 82 revolutionaries. After some initial setbacks, Castro and his band took refuge in the Sierra Maestra Mountains and launched the struggle, which liberated the island in three years. Many of the battles they fought are now part of revolutionary folklore. The decisive victory in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara under the leadership of Che included the capture of an armoured train packed with anti-aircraft and machine guns. The victors comprised a few hundred highly motivated fighters facing a full-fledged government army. The capture of Santa Clara cleared the way for the revolutionary army to move into

  • Word count: 3114
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Why were Mao and the Communists able to gain control of China in the years 1937-1949?

Why were Mao and the Communists able to gain control of China in the years 1937-1949? Mao and the Communists were able to gain control of China by taking up more land and gaining more support from the people. This is because of the different tactics they used and the different events that occurred, such as the Civil War. The first reason that the Communists were able to gain control is the Japanese Invasion. During the Japanese Invasion, Mao and the Communists wanted to fight the Japanese, while Chiang Kai Shek wanted to fight the Communists first, since uniting China was his first priority and he and the Guomindang were still too weak to fight the invaders themselves. Because of this, the Communists then had a reputation for fighting bravely against the Japanese, while Chiang was criticized for "hiding" in Chongqing. When the Japanese invaded towards the South, the Communists went into the countryside. As they went, more people were converted to Communism through persuasion and force. Also, the quality of life in the Communist areas was much better and they also helped the people more effectively than the Guomindang did. For example, the Communists believed in the principle of equality, so they abolished any unpleasant customs such as foot binding and child slavery, while the Guomindang didn't deal with any of China's basic problems, such as the lack of medical care and

  • Word count: 800
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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How successful were the USA and USSR in showing their dominance over the other?

How successful were the USA and USSR in showing their dominance over the other? During the cold war 1945-1991, the USA and USSR tried to show their dominance over in a range of different ways. However, the question suggests that they may not have always been successful in achieving this aim. The Term 'cold war' was first used by an American banker in 1947 to describe the aggression that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union. By 'cold', it meant that the two opposing countries were doing all they could to harm and destroy each other without actually using their armed forces creating a 'hot' war. Causing the tension between the opposing sides was a policy that the US was using, to prevent the spread of Communism abroad, called Containment. The policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge communism in places like Eastern Europe, China, Korea and Vietnam. The two sides decided to use other countries to fight for them, for example: they fought each other's allies. The US fought against North Vietnam, a pro-soviet country in the Vietnam War. They helped their allies to fight each other. For example, the USA backed Israel and the Soviet Union backed Egypt in the wars in the Middle East. They gave help to opposing sides in civil wars.. The Americans used armed force to get rid of pro-soviet governments in countries close to the US, such

  • Word count: 562
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Which country is most responsible for the Cuban missile crisis?

Which country is most responsible for the Cuban missile crisis? Cuba is the least to blame for causing this crisis, though it still did have a part in causing the crisis due to some of its hostile actions. Firstly, it nationalized all American businesses in Cuba by taking over their businesses for the country instead to receive its profits. Also, it was responsible on behalf of asking for weapons from USSR and not only did it allow shipment of Soviet soldiers, mechanics and defensive weaponry but it also allowed the presence of offensive nuclear weapons in the country. On the other hand, most of Cuba/Castro's actions are justified. The only reason he nationalized those businesses was because after the corrupt dictator Batista was removed from power, he visited USA to ask them to trade with them and convince them that he was not anti-American, but instead USA showed him a cold shoulder and ignored him. Since the USA were not helpful and were instead suspicious of him, he still needed to make some profit for Cuba in order to avoid economic depression, thus he nationalized these companies. Then USA overreacted to the situation instead of renegotiating a new deal and placed an embargo on Cuba by breaking all business ties with Cuba. This now left Cuba with only one option, to find another trading partner, and USSR was interested. This made USA more suspicious of Castro's

  • Word count: 1102
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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Revision notes on the Berlin Airlift Crisis

The Berlin Airlift Crisis * Took place 1948-1949 * First big test for the USA Policy of Containment. * Berlin & Germany was split into four military zones, but Berlin was far inside the Soviet (Communist) Zone so others had to use specially assigned road, river and rail links to get there. What caused the Berlin Airlift Crisis? The Deutschmark & Trizonia * In 1946 tension between the USSR and Western Powers was growing. * Western Powers wanted Germany to be economically strong, while USSR wanted to 'crush' it. * To make it stronger a new currency was introduced by the Western Powers, the Deutshmark, which because the currency of the British & American zones of Germany in December 1946. * This created Bizonia (Two Zones), which France later joined, so was then called Trizonia. The Deutschmark in Berlin * Deutschmark alarmed USSR, which saw reunited strong Germany as a threat. * On the 23rd of June 1948 the Western Powers decided to introduce the Deutschmark to their zones in Berlin. * Once the currency in Germany was split, Berliners found the Deutschmark was worth more than the soviet currency, so preferred it. Stalin's Reaction * Stalin reacted aggressively and closed off all land routes into Western Berlin, which left Three and a Half Million Berliners trapped 110 miles from Western controlled Germany * Stalin hoped this would force the Western allies out of

  • Word count: 492
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: History
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