In the book The Cold War: A New History, Gaddis’s work entails the events and important moments in the Cold War and focuses on how the two superpowers in the war, the United States and the Soviet Union, fought and clashed in many ways during this war. The author’s purpose for writing this book was that Gaddis wanted to write about history that would appeal to the new generation of reader, along with wanting to write a book that would answer any question readers or individuals may have on the Cold War. People may view history as bland and indistinguishable from each other, but Gaddis attempts to write his book on the Cold War in a way that it would appeal to the interest of the new generation and answer any questions people have about the Cold …show more content…
It was apparent that the United States and the Soviet Union were very untrusting of each other during the Cold War. What event that greatly intensified the distrust between the two superpowers was the creation of the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project, which was an American and British project that was secretly developing a weapon that would be effective against Germany, but the Nazis gave to surrender before the United States and Great Britain could use it. However, the Manhattan Project was not all that secretive because the Soviet were able to find out about the project through espionage, and the Russians were able to spy on the project at three different times. Stalin revealed his knowledge of the project once President Truman told him about their bomb that could stop Japan at the Potsdam Conference. While this does show the level of trust Stalin had in his allies and the United States does feel betrayed and their privacy was violated, the United States was not exactly completely innocent in this either because they did not tell the Soviet Union, their allies, about the Manhattan Project in the first place. Not telling an ally important information can create distrustful feelings as
Always and everywhere in that first round of nuclear proliferation the same reason repeated: because possession of such a weapon appeared to be the only defense against an enemy similarly armed (Doc. C). The Manhattan Project mistakenly gave other countries the opportunity to develop nuclear weapons that are more powerful, which could pose a threat on the well being of every human being on the planet (Doc B). Although the project sought to promote safety for all citizens of the United States and put an end to WWII, the U.S definitely left their mark on some countries. Germany and Russia, unlike some of the other countries, benefitted from the entire project, acquiring revolutionary information allowing them to conduct their own atomic experiences as well. Unlike these countries, Japan was the most damaged by the bombs.
Among all the different lines that Rodgers follows throughout the book, I would like to deepen the “Losing the words of the cold war” chapter regarding the presidential rhetoric, the one that I found most interesting. I think that the process of fragmentation that he is describing is clearly visible in the kind of vocabulary used by the different presidents of the United States. Rodgers has been able to show, through the examples of several presidential speeches, the changing of the general frame of mind of the last quarter of the century. Firstly, the author underlines that, to make very long speeches has not always been the common practice. For instance, from Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, until Woodrow Wilson
The Manhattan Project started in 1942 was a secret government program used to make atomic bombs (“Manhattan Project”). Leading physicists, including Enrico Fermi, Albert Einstein, and Leó Szilárd thought that it would be in the U.S.’s best interest to work on this technology (Manhattan Project). Because intelligence led to the conclusion that Germany had begun making their own atomic weapons (“Nagasaki and Hiroshima”). Roosevelt took their advice, and the exploratory committee developed into the Manhattan Project, a top-secret government effort that funneled $2 billion into building an atomic weapon (“Nagasaki and Hiroshima”). The project was managed by Brigadier General Leslie Richard Groves (Manhattan Project).
During the long and gruesome second world war, the Soviet Union and the United States were allies because their mutual goal was to destroy the strong military powerhouse of Germany. After completing this daunting task, the United States and Soviet Union each became eager to obtain sole possession atop the international spectrum, meaning the world’s leading superpower. An era known as the Cold War began immediately following World War II and lasted well into the latter twentieth century, but this “war” was not the usual physical war that fills history but a bloodless war of social and governmental world dominance. Although the Cold War did not involve actual fighting and the loss of numerous United States soldiers’ lives, the tension filled
“In 1994, the Soviets tested an atom bomb of their own.” (History.com Staff, "Cold War History"). This act caused President Truman to spend more money on the army and defense of the United States and panic and hysteria spread to the minds of the people of our country. “...and the world lived under the threat of thermonuclear war for the first time.” (History.com Staff, "Soviets explode atomic bomb").
The 4 ½ decade long clash between the U.S. and Soviet Union was dubbed “The Cold War” by Bernard Baruch because of the cold relations between the two competitive nations. The tension between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. began primarily because of the polar opposite ideologies of each nation, the U.S. being Capitalist and The Soviet Union being Communist, causing a multitude of disagreements between the two. The disputes between the two countries began during WWII when the U.S. left their Soviet allies flapping in the wind, when they refused to open a second front, which resulted in the Soviets taking a beating. The U.S. later excluded The Soviets from the Atomic bomb project, since the U.S refused to work with their scientists. The U.S was also becoming
It was apparent that a psychological warfare strategy needed to be used in order to build fear in the Soviet Union and constantly keep them motivated to seek after what the U.S. was hiding. By keeping the Soviets occupied on the U.S. advancements with the atomic bomb it forced them to grasp at straws for information and to pursue a partnership or a way in that would guarantee them safety if or when the U.S. ever decided to use atomic energy as a weapon. Once the weapon was used to end the war in Japan it forced the Soviet Union to pull back away from Asia and end their pursuit of an invasion of Japan and forced Japan to end the war. The key to a strong defense is creating a powerful
he first chapter of The Cold War: A New History begins by comparing the United States to the U.S.S.R. and talking about the similarities between the two. It also talks about Communism and how Marx deemed it necessary in order to build up the economy. Lenin tried to implement Communism in Russia. They were not quite ready for that kind of system, so Stalin tried to modernize the economy. The U.S.S.R. had more casualties in World War II, but things were not necessarily looking great in America either.
Cold War texts reflect this crisis, using their respective mediums to explore, in a range of highly effective ways, the changing ideologies, values and concerns that complement this uncertain period. John Le Carre’s novel ‘The Spy Who Came in From the Cold’ (‘The Spy’) and Kurt Vonnegut’s novel ‘Slaughterhouse Five,’ challenge the validity of dominant Cold War ideologies and explore the search for alternatives.
Have you ever wondered how long you could keep a secret from everyone you know? The Manhattan Project was one of the most kept secrets. It was a secret project to make the first atomic bomb ever. Now how is this related to now? It is related because the creation of that bomb helped the warfare that countries today use.
To examine the Cold War consensus, one must discuss the Cold War. The Cold war was the tension between the United States, standing for capitalism, and the USSR, standing for totalitarianism and socialism, following World War II. Although it was not a physical war between the two superpowers, many proxy wars had came out of it as way to spread or combat communism throughout the Free World. The Free World, as the U.S. came to define it, did not necessarily mean free as countries were being ruled by military regimes and dictatorships, but free from communism(70). During the Cold War, the spread of communism frighted the American People.
K=1 Project, 9 Aug. 2012, https://k1project.columbia.edu/news/hiroshima-and-nagasaki. “Manhattan Project: The Cold War, 1945-1990.” Www.osti.gov, www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1945-present/cold_war.htm#:~:text=Not%20only%20did%20the%20atomic. Accessed 10 Mar.
Roosevelt, at Yalta, asked Stalin for support in the war in the pacific, but Truman condemned this decision and decided to carry on his plan on bombing with this new weapons Hiroshima, so he could keep the entire price for his country. There were odds between the two presidents and the Prime Minister of the UK; they didn’t accept the ideas from the others, especially Truman and Stalin. They didn’t stand each other, and the debate held in Potsdam wasn’t heading anywhere, the Cold War was inevitable, but the real game changer was the nuclear weapon. Without these nuclear weapons, the Cold War wouldn’t have been as scary as it was. So I believe that Hiroshima caused the Cold War, but it was not the only issue that contributed to this worldwide
Reflection I chose this topic for my historical investigation as I believe the topic of the Cold War is still significant and relevant today. It still has relevance to today’s society because it has drastically shaped civilization. The Cold War can explain the current instability in many of the world’s hotspots and is the origin of major institutions such as NATO which are still influential. North Korea is proof that segregation between communism and capitalism is not over and shows that the tension still remains prominent even though the Cold War ended almost 3 decades ago.
If all US officials really believed that they could use their great atomic monopoly to gain more diplomatic advantage, they had very little time to put their plan into action and do it successfully. In 1949, the Soviets had developed their own atomic bomb and began the nuclear arms