The period of history that is called the Cold War lasted from the end of World War II until 1991, when the Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed. During WWII, The Soviet Union and other Eastern European communist countries fought alongside the Allies in order to help to defeat the Nazis. After the war, the temporary alliance ended. The reason was distrust. The boundary between the communist countries and democratic countries was referred to as the Iron Curtain. Churchill used this nickname because it was heavily guarded and many Eastern Europeans trying to escape to the west were either shot, or... Show more The period of history that is called the Cold War lasted from the end of World War II until 1991, when the Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed. During WWII, The Soviet Union and other Eastern European communist countries fought alongside the Allies in order to help to defeat the Nazis. After the war, the temporary alliance ended. The reason was distrust. The boundary between the communist countries and democratic countries was referred to as the Iron Curtain. Churchill used this nickname because it was heavily guarded and many Eastern Europeans trying to escape to the west were either shot, or captured and imprisoned. A few months after the war, the organisation known as the United Nations (UN) was formed. It was intended to ensure world peace. The principles of the UN were negotiated between the four main WWII allies - UK, USA, China and USSR but when it was established, 51 nations signed up. The USA and USSR did not agree with each other much and so the UN was generally able to carry out peacekeeping in situations that did not involve those two countries. Behind the 'Iron Curtain', Stalin's Soviet Union controlled Eastern Europe by various means - secret police, murders of political opponents and a one-party (Communist) state. A common punishment was to send political prisoners to work in the salt mines in Siberia. Conditions there were very harsh and many people sent there died. The Soviets built up their stock of arms and had a huge army. This was a great worry to the western democracies. Most countries did not have sufficient soldiers or weapons to stand up to a Soviet invasion. This lead to the formation of NATO - the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The alliance guarantees that if one country is attacked, the others will all come together to help. The communist nations formed their own alliance called the Warsaw Pact. After the end of the Cold War, many of the former Eastern Bloc countries have now joined NATO. The first three of these were Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The two superpowers of the Cold War, the USA and USSR, both liked to demonstrate their power. They became involved in several 'races'. In the arms race, they developed ever more powerful nuclear weapons, including the H-bomb (hydrogen bomb). This was far more destructive than the first nuclear bombs. In the space race, the two powers fought to be the first to put a satellite into orbit, then a person and finally to land people on the Moon. During the Cold War, and thanks to the arms race, there was always the threat of a nuclear war. There were several major incidents like the Suez Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban missile crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Any one of these could easily have led to nuclear bombs being dropped and ICBMs (inter-continental ballistic missiles) being launched. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy set up a direct telephone line between the US and Soviet governments for better and faster communications to take place. Luckily for us, wars between the two superpowers were proxy wars. In other words, they were not fighting directly - they supported opposing sides in wars like the Korean war in 1950s, the Vietnam war, which began in 1965 and the Chinese civil war. The Vietnam war was particularly controversial. The communist rebels fought a geurrilla war. They hid themselves among the local population so it was difficult for the American forces to see who were soldiers and who were civilians. They bombed using napalm (a substance that is on fire and sticks to people and objects like buildings). They used a toxic chemical called Agent Orange which made the leaves fall off the trees in the jungle so they could see where the communists were hiding. There were many protests in the USA to end the Vietnam war. During the 1980s, the Soviets realised that they would never win the Afghan war. Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the USSR. He opened talks with the USA to limit nuclear arms and started to reform the Soviet system, allowing greater human rights and business competition instead of state control. Show less
The period of history that is called the Cold War lasted from the end of World War II until 1991, when the Soviet Union (USSR) collapsed. During WWII, The Soviet Union and other Eastern European communist countries fought alongside the Allies in order to help to defeat the Nazis. After the war, the temporary alliance ended. The reason was distrust. The boundary between the communist countries and democratic countries was referred to as the Iron Curtain. Churchill used this nickname because it was heavily guarded and many Eastern Europeans trying to escape to the west were either shot, or captured and imprisoned.
A few months after the war, the organisation known as the United Nations (UN) was formed. It was intended to ensure world peace. The principles of the UN were negotiated between the four main WWII allies - UK, USA, China and USSR but when it was established, 51 nations signed up. The USA and USSR did not agree with each other much and so the UN was generally able to carry out peacekeeping in situations that did not involve those two countries.
Behind the 'Iron Curtain', Stalin's Soviet Union controlled Eastern Europe by various means - secret police, murders of political opponents and a one-party (Communist) state. A common punishment was to send political prisoners to work in the salt mines in Siberia. Conditions there were very harsh and many people sent there died.
The Soviets built up their stock of arms and had a huge army. This was a great worry to the western democracies. Most countries did not have sufficient soldiers or weapons to stand up to a Soviet invasion. This lead to the formation of NATO - the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The alliance guarantees that if one country is attacked, the others will all come together to help. The communist nations formed their own alliance called the Warsaw Pact. After the end of the Cold War, many of the former Eastern Bloc countries have now joined NATO. The first three of these were Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The two superpowers of the Cold War, the USA and USSR, both liked to demonstrate their power. They became involved in several 'races'. In the arms race, they developed ever more powerful nuclear weapons, including the H-bomb (hydrogen bomb). This was far more destructive than the first nuclear bombs. In the space race, the two powers fought to be the first to put a satellite into orbit, then a person and finally to land people on the Moon.
During the Cold War, and thanks to the arms race, there was always the threat of a nuclear war. There were several major incidents like the Suez Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban missile crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Any one of these could easily have led to nuclear bombs being dropped and ICBMs (inter-continental ballistic missiles) being launched. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy set up a direct telephone line between the US and Soviet governments for better and faster communications to take place.
Luckily for us, wars between the two superpowers were proxy wars. In other words, they were not fighting directly - they supported opposing sides in wars like the Korean war in 1950s, the Vietnam war, which began in 1965 and the Chinese civil war. The Vietnam war was particularly controversial. The communist rebels fought a geurrilla war. They hid themselves among the local population so it was difficult for the American forces to see who were soldiers and who were civilians. They bombed using napalm (a substance that is on fire and sticks to people and objects like buildings). They used a toxic chemical called Agent Orange which made the leaves fall off the trees in the jungle so they could see where the communists were hiding. There were many protests in the USA to end the Vietnam war.
During the 1980s, the Soviets realised that they would never win the Afghan war. Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the USSR. He opened talks with the USA to limit nuclear arms and started to reform the Soviet system, allowing greater human rights and business competition instead of state control.
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