do you think that ideological differences contributed to the emergence of cold war
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Explanation:
IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICT IN THE COLD WAR
Lasting from the end of World War II in 1945 until the early 1990s, the Cold War was one of the most significant events of the 20th century. While the Cold War is remembered for many of the important events that occurred during its timeframe, including the major wars in both Vietnam and Korea, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the buildup and fall of the Berlin Wall, it is also remembered for the ideological conflict that occurred during the time.
The Cold War was essentially a ‘face off’ or completion between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. At the time, the Soviet Union was a communist nation that was based on the principles of collectivism, while the United States was a modern liberal nation based primarily on the principles of individualism. This means that the Soviet Union was positioned on the far-left side of the economic spectrum, while the United States was position on the right side. This difference in ideology was a major source of the conflict between the two nations because throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union sought to expand communism to other regions and the United States sought to stop it with its policy of containment. As such, many people now view the Cold War as a conflict of the left and right sides of the spectrum, among other things.
This conflict was famously characterized by British Prime Minister as an ‘iron curtain’. Less than a year after the end of World War II, Churchill delivered a speech that introduced the Cold War era term ‘iron curtain’. His March 5th, 1946 speech at Fulton, Missouri, United States was titled the “Sinews of Peace”. It was a significant step in the early stages of the Cold War. He used the term ‘iron curtain’ to describe the line in Europe that divided Western Europe from Eastern Europe. The Western European nations were self-governing and based on the western principles of capitalism and democracy, while the Eastern European nations were under Soviet communist control. Throughout the rest of the Cold War, many of the most significant events can be best understood, by viewing them as part of this ideological conflict.
For example, in both the Korean War and Vietnam War, the Soviet Union was seeking to expand communism into the countries while the United States was fighting to stop the spread of communism and instead support the values of capitalism and democracy. This can also be seen in the events of the Berlin Blockade. Essentially, the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, attempted to blockade the West Berlin which was in Soviet-controlled East Germany. By carrying out the blockade, Stalin had hoped to end the Allies (Britain, France and the United States) control of West Berlin and therefore spread communism and limit capitalism. In response, the United States carried out a massive air campaign called the Berlin Airlift. United States President Harry S. Truman refused to give in to the Soviet’s and fought to keep control over West Berlin. As such, it can now be viewed as an ideological conflict wherein each side was trying to promote their own ideology while trying to limit the other.
To better understand the ideological conflict of the Cold War it is first important to understand the main principles of capitalism, communism, democracy and dictatorship. During the Cold War, the United States was based upon capitalism and democracy while the Soviet Union was based upon communism and dictatorship.