Preview

How did the cold war effect australia

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1024 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How did the cold war effect australia
The Cold War originally referred to a struggle or a conflict that had not escalated into fighting and military conflict, that is, had not escalated into a hot war. Between 1945 and 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union saw each other as potential enemies, threatening each other's larger global economic, political, and military goals. The Cold War thus was global competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to shape and control the post-World War II global economic and political order. Throughout the Cold War, the United States saw the Soviet Union and communism as the greatest threat and challenge to its global leadership and dominance of an emerging global economy and industrial society. The United States was determined to limit the military and political expansion of Soviet power in order to prevent it from challenging American global economic and political dominance.

In 1945 and 1946, there were increasing debates within the United States government over how to deal with the Soviet Union. Should the United States now see the Soviets as an "evil empire" that threatened to undermine the peace and freedom of an American-led "free world"? The influential 1946 memo to President Truman said that the Soviets were a global threat to peace. It said that the Soviet Union had a secret plan to conquer the world and spread communism throughout the world. The Soviets refusal to accept American leadership and a global democratic, capitalist community of nations, demonstrated that capitalism and communism could not peacefully co-exist. The Soviet domination of Eastern Europe after World War II and the continuing Soviet military build up was proof that the Soviet Union was threatening global peace and security

The Domino Theory:

The domino theory was given its specific game and meaning in 1959 by President Dwight D. Elsenhower. He used this theory to refer to the potential spread of communism in Southern-Asia. He specifically said, "you can have a row of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Cold War was a period of military and political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. When Ronald Reagan ran for President, he strongly campaigned against the growth of communism. He was convinced that most of America 's problems in the world could be traced to the Soviet Union 's determination to extend its influence abroad through military pressure and communist-instigated revolutions. Reagan left no doubt to the American people where he stood on the matter of the Soviet Union, often referring to it as “the evil empire” (Gale, 2003, p. 36). He vowed to protect the United State from the threats of the Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal by campaigning for massive new spending on U.S. defense.…

    • 1085 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The “threat” of communism that the Australian government produced is highly debatable issue. Australia was being exposed to Communism, which was spreading south from Russia, through Asia and ultimately to Australia. The domino theory was a key belief in the mind of the public, spreading fear throughout the world. The Liberal party exploited the threat of Communism and the domino theory to help with their election campaign. They attempted to ban the Communist Party from Australian soils. Trade unions and political parties being suspect to communist infiltration, and a possible spy scandal, “The Petrov affair” added to the exaggerated threat of communism. Australia decided to make alliances with other countries and sent troops to the Korean and Vietnam wars.…

    • 1257 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Communism had always posed a threat to the interest of the U.S. and their attitudes towards the U.S.S.R. had proved they had not entertained the idea of communism much. But it was not until February 1946 did it all come out and the U.S.A began to act towards containing communism. The policy of containment meant the U.S. actively prevented the psreading of communism.There were several ways with which the U.S. tried to contain communism some of which were futile and others effective. However, for every move the U.S. made the U.S.S.R. had a retaliation.…

    • 1484 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Cold War was a potential nuclear war fought between the Soviet Union and the United States. The president, when asked about the Soviet Union in interviews would refer to them as the “evil…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    FIND CARTOONS SHOWING THE DOMINO THEORY OR POLITICAL CARTOONS ABOUT THE RED TIDE OF COMMUNISM LIKE WE’VE LOOKED AT IN CLASS.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cold War

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Cold War was a period of time in which there was a rise in political and economic tension between the USA and the Soviet Union post World War 2. The purpose was to prevent the spread of communism and the domino theory.This event lasted from 1945 to 1985. The Cold war had a large effect on the United States domestic policy and American society. Things, people and events all played an effect on generations rapidly.…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Cold War was the political and ideological conflict between two world superpowers, the USA and the USSR, which started in 1947 at the end of the Second World War and lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991. This political and cultural war waged by Communists and Capitalists was a colossal confrontation unseen in human history. The Cold War developed as differences about the shape of the postwar world created suspicion and distrust between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War and the communist threat drastically changed American social and political life from the 1950s to 1991.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    doc 1

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Cold War Era was a time in history where there was hostility between many different countries. The one most notable was the hostility between the Soviet Union and United States, the fight between Communism and Capitalism. As the most dominant country the U.S. offered assistance to countries threatened by Communism. They felt that Communism was wrong and was not the right way to run a government. Between the years 1945 and 1980 the United States and Soviet Union’s relationship was ruined, which caused a lot of distrust between the two. The two countries never went to war, but there were a lot of disagreements, among them the U.S. was a democracy and the Soviet Union was under a dictatorship. Leading up to the Cold War America became the richest world power and the Soviet Union had a poor economic base. One of the biggest disputes the two countries had was over nuclear weapons and espionage. The Cold War had a huge reflection on pop culture in America.…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Cold War (DBQ)

    • 620 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Cold War was "the struggle for global power between the United States and the Soviet Union following World War II" (History book, pg. 874). The Cold War began by controversial wants and needs from two different countries and several different "weapons" were used to fight this controversial war. The feuds eventually kept building up, greater and greater, resulting in one great war. Two countries, the United States and the Soviet Union both took part in fighting.…

    • 620 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Cold War was fought without any physical conflicts, taking place approximately between the years 1950 and 1990, over the United States of America’s and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics’ conflicting ideologies – capitalism and communism. However, it didn’t arise because of what the United States or the Soviet Union actually did. Instead, it arose because of what each side was afraid the other might do. Joseph Stalin insisted on Soviet control of Eastern Europe to serve as a buffering zone, fearing another invasion from the west. The United States, on the other hand, was afraid that communism was an expanding ideology that would try to take over the whole world, meaning their actions were motivated by fear.…

    • 1077 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Containment of Communism

    • 2236 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The Cold War is the closest the world has ever come to complete destruction. In this period of time, two world super powers were in a stalemate economically and militarily and were constantly competing to be the superior. The Cold War started as result of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union had some differences on their perspectives of the world. United States being the richest country in the world promoted democracy and capitalism in the world. The newly formed Soviet Union thought that communism was a better political system because it transformed their economy and status in the world from nothing but a declining empire to a super power once again. The Cold War was a long series of events in which the communist tried to spread their ideas of government and socialist economy, known as expansionism, and the United States and some of the other Western powers such as Great Britain tried to contain it. Containment, a term introduced by George F. Kennan, was the foreign policy the United States practiced from 1946 to 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. The United States saw the Soviet Union to be a direct threat to the free world. During president Truman and Eisenhower's administration the policy of containment evolved so drastically that American presidents would put anything on the line, including world peace.…

    • 2236 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cold War Dbq Analysis

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Between 1945 and 1950, the tensions increased between the United States and the Soviet Union. Both superpowers, with varying standpoints on global affairs, were brought to the brink of war. As the United States pushed for the containment of communism, and the development of capitalist democracies, the Soviet Union continued to impose communist rule amongst itself and its satellite nations. Eventually, these conflicting views would lead to the start of the Cold War. Fueled by the disagreement of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., the war would be fought indirectly through propaganda and influence from leaders, the development of alliances, as well as the arms race.…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Australia on Communism

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How did Australian governments deal with the perceived threat of communism after 1950, both at home and abroad?…

    • 856 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The Cold War forms the organizing principle for the period after World War II. On one level, the rival between the United States and the Soviet Union-or between West and East, capitalism and communism- was quite real” (From the Historical Context in Gorn, 219). During this time, there were three speeches given by Truman, McCarthy, and Kennedy that got the American’s attention about the war.…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The basis of the Cold War was geopolitical. Although ideology made some degree of conflict between the communist world and the capitalist world, the struggle was largely fought over issues such as global power and influence. The US concluded that the USSR wanted to destroy democratic and capitalism. The Soviet Union feared that the US wanted to use its money and power to dominate Europe and eventually destroy the USSR. The distrust and suspicion, which was rooted in the ideological differences, was fulfilled by economic and political uncertainty.…

    • 665 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics