The Cold War: Answer the Questions

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The Cold War
The Cold War is described as a war that was "fought by all means short of international armed conflict" (Kent Para.1). Kent asserts that this War was based on ideologies realist extension of relations between different states. As a result, it involved concerns over hard power, foreign policy and the Soviet-American diplomacy which underscored the active role of propaganda, covert operations and ideology. They were considered to have been central in the Cold War- with exception of international armed conflict- hence leading to assertions that the Cold War was merely based on ideas and soft power, as opposed to war characterized by military strength and nuclear weapons. Policy makers who were involved in the Cold war had a competition over social-economic systems and political forms. On the other hand, Holloway asserts that the root cause of the Cold War was eminent fear of the "The Bomb" and the possibility of resulting into a global thermo-nuclear annihilation (1).
As a result, the American citizens were always alert to events, both at home and abroad, that could endanger their lives and peace. Their alertness made them suffer from cultural and political hysteria which were attributed to their fear and anxiety about Soviet’s threat (Hendler 4). This introduced anti-communism in the United States as many Americans started believing in the existence of communists within their societies with the sole purpose of undermining the United Stated (Lieberman 182). This did not only intensify their fears but it also led to panic as many Americans started charging each other as communist sympathizers or being communists. Because of the threat of the perceived anti-communist hysteria, fear made many Americans to both withdraw from politics and kept their views to themselves. Another event that intensified fear was the United States’ involvement in the 1949 China civil war (Cohen para.1). The United States sided with the Communists on grounds that the Nationalists were corrupt and incompetent. Nevertheless, when the communists won, the Republican politicians, in an alliance with their friends out of government, who supported the nationalists leader Chiang, publicized that China had bee lost to communists because of the treachery perpetrated by the US Department insiders. This aggravated an outcry about the involvements of these insiders and they were considered catalysts who betrayed China into the hands of the adversary-communism.
The communist menace was slowly taking effect in the lives of people as the Soviet Union continued to expand its communist influence. With the increasing threat of communism, some American politicians claimed that there were many traitors in the United States who thwarted America’s activities in the Cold War (acquiring domineering effect over the Soviet Union). Fo...