Cold War :: essays research papers

cool WarMy first inclination would be to answer the first head teacher with a clear "YES". But come to think of it, the causes of fight actually encounter non changed at all, or at least in truth little. Rather than changes, there has been a shift in the causes. The cause of war which has dominated the last 50 years was the cause of ideology. However, due to the fresh end of the Cold War, this cause of war, has significantly declined and is almost trivial.The causes of war have shifted from mainly ideological peerlesss to economic, ethnic and others. Although these reasons have always played a role as causes of war throughout history, they were in the last 50 years overshadowed by the cause of ideology. Now, with ideology not on enlighten of the agenda anymore, these causes have regained their importance.After the second World War the public was dominated by two superpowers the USA and the USSR. The Cold War was a result of this division of power and of the importa nt policy of spheres of influence. In the positioning WWII-era the Americans thought that the Russians were aiming to incorporate Western Europe (the US & British sphere of influence) into their sphere of influence (Eastern Europe) by supporting the communists in these countries. Their fears were compel when a "coup substituted communist for coalition rule in Prague." (Calvocoressi, p.15)(even though this is an Eastern European Country, the fact that a coup was staged against a democratic government is reason enough to raise their fears).In this ideologically hostile environment the Cold War began. It was characterised by the arms speed up between the two superpowers who were eager to preserve their spheres of influence. Both developed such(prenominal) powerful weapons which were too dangerous to be used in practice, besides which contributed to the feeling of security, because they acted as deterrent. (These weapons could be used "politically"as deterrent but not "militarily"since they would bring complete annihilation.) "Each side armed itself to tempt a war which it expected the other to begin but for which it had no stomach and no plans." (Calvocoressi p.4)Europe was a very stable reach in the post-WWII era. All the conflicts between the superpowers, were never directly between US and Soviet troops, but in these conflicts one superpower supported one side and the other one the other side. These were staged in the Middle-East, Africa, and Asia.