The Cold War and it's Aftermath Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Cold War and it's Aftermath - Term Paper Example Instead, political, economical, and ideological differences among the world nations eventually led to the formation of two distinct blocs, the Western and the Eastern. Eventually, the whole world became under the threat of an imminent war between these blocs. But both the Western and Eastern blocs did not try to indulge in a direct fight. Instead, global arm race and ideological conflict became the focal point of the Cold War. Thesis statement: The Cold War resulted in political conflict, military conflict, ideological conflict and global arms race, and eventually led to the decline of communism, growth of capitalism, growth of the U.S. as a global superpower, and the rapid spread of democracy. One can easily identify the fact that the political ideologies of the Western and Eastern blocs were entirely different. To be specific, the political ideology of the Western bloc was democracy. On the other side, the Eastern bloc was deeply influenced by Communist ideology. This fundamental d ifference eventually led to political propaganda and political conflict. Richard Saull states that â€Å"The Cold War, then, was not a genuine international conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, but primarily a relationship that facilitated each side in its attempts to realize its goals within its own sphere of influence.; for the United States, this was the dominance of the postwar capitalist order and for the USSR the internal security of the rule of the CPSU.†1 To be specific, both the blocs considered that political propaganda is an easy way to influence nonaligned nations. The Eastern bloc under USSR began to influence the neighboring nations and considered that the Western bloc is an imminent threat to their political interest. On the other side, the Western bloc under the U.S. began to influence the European nations. This initiative to divide the whole world nations into two blocs resulted in long lasting political conflict in America, Europe, and As ia. Military conflict The military conflict within the context of Cold War was limited to the context of threatening each other by exhibiting military superiority because both the sides possessed nuclear arms. Besides, both the sides were aware of the possibility of large scale destruction and its economic burden. So, the Western and the Eastern blocs strengthened their military forces, but did not try to attack each other. But the Suez Crisis (say, in the year 1956) the Cuban Missile Crisis (say, in the year 1962) and the â€Å"Able Archer† NATO military exercises (say, in the year 1983) led the whole world to suspect the possibility of military conflict during the Cold War. In short, military coalition and deployment of military forces was common during the Cold War era. Ideological conflict As pointed out, ideological difference was one among the grass root level reasons behind the Cold War. To be specific, the ideological conflict during the Cold War era was between commu nism and capitalism. Raymond P. Ojserkis makes clear that â€Å"A wide variety of other disagreements existed as well, many stemming from the Soviet distaste for the American vision of a postwar world dominated by relatively free trade (with currencies pegged to dollar) and elected governments.†2 One can see that the communist nations under the leadership of USSR tried to install the spirit of communism among their allies. This eventually led to the global propaganda against capitalism. On the other side, the Western bloc under the leaders