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After World War II, Germany was divided into capitalist West Germany and communist East Germany, starting the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War was an arms race and economic war between the two nations. In Korea, the country was split into communist North Korea and anti-communist South Korea, leading to the Korean War. The war became a stalemate and ended in a ceasefire. The Soviet Union's development of the atomic bomb and China's fear of NATO's expansion influenced their involvement in the war. German scientists in the US started the space race, with the Soviet Union initially leading. However, the United States eventually put a man on the moon and won the race. The Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the United States as a superpower. In the times following World War II, the Western Allies and the Soviet Union split Germany in two with the goal of making Germany incapable of waging war. On one side, a capitalist West Germany, on the other, a communist East Germany. This would be the start of a long-lasting political hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union, known as the Cold War. Welcome to Introduction to the Cold War. I'm Caleb Ledger. So what does it mean for it to be called the Cold War? Well, it means two or more countries having political hostilities between each other. The Cold War was an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The two nations fought an economic war over who would keep their sphere of influence over the world. On the other side of the world at the end of World War II, Japan was forced to give up all of their conquered territory. One territory was Korea. They were split equally between the Soviet Union and the United States to reform the country. Naturally, the United States and the Soviet Union did not agree with the governing system of the country, so they decided to split in two. One was communist North Korea. The other was anti-communist South Korea. These two countries wanted to both reunify Korea under their own regime. This mentality would inevitably turn into a war. The Korean War, fought by North Korea, supported by the Soviets, and South Korea, supported by the United States and many other allied nations from NATO. At first, the North Koreans made substantial progress due to their readiness and their surprisingly fast advance, soon taking the capital of South Korea, Seoul. Once NATO was able to get their troops and supplies to the front, they pushed the North Koreans back almost all the way to the Chinese border. Soon later, the Chinese sent half a million soldiers to push back the Americans. Eventually, this would become a stalemate, enriching the border until a ceasefire was declared. I personally think it was due to the Soviet Union developing the atomic bomb. They were feeling more able to combat the Americans. This had led them to give a go-ahead to North Korea. At the time, China was a communist country, allied to the Soviet Union. And because NATO was an anti-communist alliance, China was scared that if NATO were to take over all of North Korea, they just might keep going. I believe because of this fear, China sent their soldiers there to help in the war effort against NATO. After World War II, many German scientists and engineers who worked on the V-1 and V-2 rockets fled to the United States. These scientists and engineers worked on the Apollo rockets and the American nuclear missiles. This would be the beginning of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. was undoubtedly the earliest success of the space race, with the first orbital satellite in battle in 1957, the first animal in space in late 1957, the first person in space in 1961. Later, due to their economic superiority, the United States had begun the Apollo program, its first launch in 1961. This would later end in the United States being the first man on Earth, and ultimately winning the space race. I believe the space race was ultimately about who could conquer space, meaning who would prove that they had dominance in space. The Soviet Union showed they could put satellites and humans in space, while the United States proved that they could put a man on the moon. A secondary and potentially controversial reason might have been to try and diminish the Soviet economy, which, if it was the reason, it succeeded. In conclusion, the Cold War was an economic war between the communists and capitalists. It ultimately ended the communist influence in Europe and dissolved the Soviet Union into smaller states, turning the large nation into what is now known as the Russian Federation. The Soviet Union's downfall was due to economic instability and the rebellious nature of their puppet states. In the end, the Cold War was a turning point in our world today, as it set the viewpoint of the United States as the world's superpower. Thank you for listening to my podcast. If you enjoyed, please feel free to subscribe.
