Placing the Cold War

Uncle Sam and the Russian Bear on a teeter totter.The 20th Century Cold War was a direct result from tensions that rose out of the end of World War II.   With the division of Germany at the Potsdam Conference and the use of nuclear weapons by the U.S. on Japan, Cold War suspicion and differing economic and political philosophies surfaced between the former allies.  The rivalry between capitalist N.A.T.O. led by the United States and the communist Warsaw Pact led by the Soviet Union heightened tensions on almost every continent. With the symbolic dropping of the Iron Curtain, the U.S. and the Soviet Union found themselves in direct conflict.Khrushchev pulling a tooth from Fidel Castro's mouth. He is saying, "This hurts me more than it hurts you!"

The division of Berlin, Space Race, Cuban Missile Crisis, proxy wars, and the invasion of Afghanistan revealed actions by one side to get ahead and reactions by the other to catch up as the decades following World War II saw nations trying to prevent another world war while also continuing to gain global economic and political influence.  However, because of the fear of nuclear weapons, and the ability to compromise the Cold War remained cold.  Many historians define the end of the Cold War as the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, but remnants of the tensions are still prevalent between the two main superpowers.

  • Story Map Journal: Placing Cold War Conflicts (online resource)
    Note: The Story Map Journal application works best in Google Chrome.

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