The advantages the USA had in the beginning meant that they were always going to win the Cold War To what extent do you agree with this?

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 The advantages the USA had in the beginning meant that they were always going to win the Cold War” To what extent do you agree with this?

The Cold War was a continuing status of political and military tension between the USSR with its allies against the USA and its allies which lasted from the end of the Second World War in 1945 until 1991, year in which the USSR’s regime completely broke down. It didn’t involve any direct fighting; instead they constantly threatened each other (as the Cuban Missile crisis demonstrates, as it was a threat from the USSR to all of the USA) and they supported the already existing wars in order to impose their own regime (communism or democracy) in different countries. The Vietnam War is a great example as it was basically caused by the USA in order to prevent the communism spread. Many historians have agreed that the advantages that USA had from the start of the war clearly showed that it was determined to win the conflict, as it was superior to the opponent (USSR) since the beginning in almost every aspect (economical, military, technological, etc) and more importantly, it managed to stay in the same level of superiority, while the USSR completely broke down. This essay will focus on demonstrating how the advantages the USA had, meant they were always going to win the Cold War, taking in mind really important events, such as the space race, the Hungarian Uprising, the end of the cold war and the situation at the beginning of it.

The Cold War took place just after the WWII ended, and the USA had obtained many benefits and advantages from the Second World War that showed that it was always going to win. After the war against the Nazi Regime imposed by Hitler, the USSR was left weakened, with its economy low as it had a GDP of 9.6% (343 billion dollars) while the USA had the GDP on 27.3% of the world´s economy which was a total of 1,450 billion dollars*1. The USA was also benefited from the WWII as it obtained huge influences over European countries and most of the world, mostly because of the constant selling of weapons, reason also for its high GDP. Also, during the Second World War, the USSR had lost many soldiers while the USA had lost some, not much. Not only the USA had the advantage on the economic part, but it also had hundreds of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, more rockets and was investing more money on the military than the USSR did (20 billion more, as Russia invested 25% of their GDP which is 127.5 billion compared to the 10% that USA invested, which is 145 billion)*2. These advantages at the start of the war clearly showed how the USA was destined to win it, as it was completely superior in every aspect.

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The USA was not only superior at the start of the Cold War; it was superior all during this conflict. The “space race” clearly showed the USA’s favorable position as it was the first country ever to be able to put a man on the moon which was the main goal of the race. The USSR was ahead at the beginning of this competition as it was the first to start developing space technology, demonstrated as it was the first one to launch a satellite into space in 1957 and it was called Sputnik. This alarmed the USA as ...

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