Causes and Effects of the Cold WarThe Soviet-American combat, known as the "Cold War" hung heavy over global affairs for morethan forty long years; structuring the world with extensive military buildups, an unceasing nucleararms rivalry, intensive surveillance, and relentless technological emulations. Further elaboratedare the causes and repercussions of this menacing fracas drawn upon the world by the twosuperpowers; the United States of America and the Soviet Union.The Cold War dominated the second half of the 20th century, resulting in the collapse ofcommunism. The Cold War was a period of tension and hostility between the United States ofAmerica and the Soviet Union from the mid-40s to the late 80s. It began with the end of theSecond World War. Free society would have termed it as World War III, but instead, used awhimsical name pertaining to no direct military confrontation between the two nations, fearingnuclear escalation assured mutual destruction. Nevertheless, both the nations indulged in indirectconflicts and proxy wars by supporting allied nations in places like Korea and Vietnam. Cubanmissile crisis in 1962 was the closest the world ever came to a nuclear war; when an American U2spy plane took photographs of Soviet intermediate ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclearpayloads, sending a total of 42 medium range missiles and 24 intermediate range missiles to Cuba.The US, then threatened to invade Cuba over the issue forcing the Soviets to remove the missileson America's assurance of not invading Cuba.Role of the Soviet UnionAlthough the Soviet Union and China started off as allies in 1949, there emerged an estrangementbetween them, which was cleverly exploited by the Americans. The US formed an alliance withChina in 1971 to contain the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1980, whichled to the United States and its allies boycotting the 1980 Olympic games in Moscow. Inretaliation, the Soviet Union and its allies boycotted the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles, USA.The US financed and armed the Afghan guerrillas to fight against the Soviet troops. The AfghanWar was a major factor in bankrupting the Soviet Union.In the '80s, President Ronald Reagan of the US dubbed the Soviet Union as an "evil empire" andpredicted that it would be consigned to the ash heap of history. He...
