The main themes of the Cold War
The hostility between the superpowers gave shape to the main themes that dominated the Cold War:
Expansionism and containment
- After World War Two, the Soviets operated a policy of expansionismA policy or ideology that means a country wants to gain more territory. and attempted to spread communismA classless society where all property is owned publicly. throughout Eastern Europe.
- The USA and its allies sought to prevent the spread of communism and operated a policy of ContainmentContainment was a United States policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad..
- As the Cold War progressed, there were attempts by both superpowers to extend their power and influence globally 鈥 sometimes officially, sometimes not - from the jungles of Vietnam to the beaches of the Caribbean, and from Angola in south-west Africa to Afghanistan in Central Asia.
Nuclear War and the Arms Race
- From the USA鈥檚 first explosion of an atomic bombA powerful and destructive bomb that gets its power from the energy released when atoms are split. in 1945, one of the most striking features of the Cold War was a growing threat of Nuclear WarA war in which nuclear weapons are used..
- The USSR had developed its own nuclear capability by 1949 ending the USA鈥檚 monopolyA market where there is only one seller of a particular good or service. on atomic weapons.
- Throughout the 1950s both sides accumulated ever more powerful nuclear weapons, a process known as the arms race, leading to the threat of Mutually Assured DestructionThe full-scale use of nuclear weapons by either side would cause the complete destruction of both the attacker and the defender. (MAD).
- The threat of MAD eventually led to a cautious willingness by both sides to limit nuclear arms production by the 1960s.
Tensions between the two superpowers reached a peak in 1962 with the Cuban Missile CrisisSituation in Cuba, triggered by America discovering Russia was installing missile bases with a 4,000 km range., but the following decade witnessed greater cooperation between the US and the USSR. Relations between the US and China also changed during this period: in 1952 they were at war over Korea but by 1972 there were signs of a growing rapprochementThe development of friendlier relations between countries or groups of people who have been enemies. between the two countries.