Essay Sample about Cold War

The term "Cold War" was used for the first time by the English writer George Orwell in an article published in 1945 (Cold War | Summary, Causes, History, & Facts, 2021). The Cold War was mainly the antagonism between the world's superpowers that emerged after World War 2. This Cold War period lasted from 1945 until 1989, and for almost forty-five years, Cold War dominated international relations. This war was called 'Cold' because it was mainly waged through ideological and diplomatic means rather than force (Canon, 2009). When World War 2 ended, the two big superpowers that emerged in the world were the United States Of America, and another one was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). However, they fought together in World War 2 as allies against the Axis powers, but their relationship was tense. Americans were concerned about Soviet Communism and the tyrannical rule of the Russian leader Joseph Stalin and the Soviets also resented America's decade-long refusal of not treating the USSR as the legitimate part of the global community (Cold War History, 2009). Both of these superpowers believed in different ideologies. The United States of America was based upon capitalism and democracy, whereas the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) believed in communism and socialism. These superpowers antagonized each other through different ways like military coalitions, arms build-ups, political manoeuvring, propaganda, espionage, economic aid, and proxy wars between the other nations (The Cold War | JFK Library, n.d.).The world got divided into two blocs, i.e., Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc, and they both fought each other for the ultimate supremacy of the world. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established in 1949 in opposition to the Soviet expansion in the Western part of Europe. NATO was an intergovernmental military alliance led by the United States, and its main aim was to counter the attack by the USSR on the United States or its allies. In contrast, USSR and its partners established a collective defence treaty called Warsaw pact in 1955. Although there were no actual military conflicts between the two superpowers, some confrontations occurred during the Cold War period. 

During the Cold War phase, the conflict was not only limited to Europe but also spread across Asia and Africa. The countries of East Asia like China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan played a significant role in the Cold war. The situation in Asia was quite different, and the Cold War tensions became entangled with the struggles that were going on in these countries to overthrow the colonial rule. This essay will mainly focus on how Cold War impacted these East Asian countries and Cold War's importance in the political and economic developments in East Asia.