History 108 Response on a classmates Discussion Post (Nathan)
The Cold War
The destruction of the Berlin wall in later 1989 was the symbolic ending of the cold war. But the real ending came when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 (Carranza). So, who won the war? The United States clearly did because we are still standing, and the Soviet Union is not. The Regan Doctrine of the mid 80’s summarized the beliefs of the American people. In a televised speech he gave to the nation he said, “we are at war with the most dangerous enemy ever known to man”. With his stance on anticommunism, a defense build up by the tune of $253 billion dollars and the support for the mujahideen in Afghanistan, Regan was able to put enough economic pressure on the Soviets for their empire to finally collapse (Hilton).
The lasting implications that the cold war had on the world are vast. For one, we as Americans are not under a communist government. Nor is 90% of the world. Another lasting implication of the cold war is the technological advances that were achieved. Man walked on the moon, satellites are in orbit, the creation of the Hydrogen bomb, nuclear power plant and microchips were all due to the technology race during the two world powers during the cold war. Though you can debate if the hydrogen bomb is a positive for the world, a lot of what came out of the cold war can be seen as positive. Even civil rights were expanded due to the cold war. President Truman said “If the United States were to offer the people of the world a choice of freedom or enslavement, it must correct remaining imperfections in our own practice of democracy” when asked about his feelings on the civil right movement and the cold war (Noodles).
To the question of should we back off the world policing as the leaders of the free world, or should we continue down our path, I tend to find myself divided. Though I do not like the amount of money that is spent in other parts of the world, on wars, aide and influence. I do see the purpose of it. Communism still exists, but it isn’t necessarily a expansionist threat to the United States as it was during the Cold War. But some of the costs of being the world police man are more than 240,000 United States soldiers stationed in foreign countries or at sea. With another 700,000 at home, and the cost being over 60% of the U.S defense budget (Pena).
While being the leaders of the free world has its downfalls such as cost and soldiers deployed overseas. Let us not forget that each service member voluntarily signed up for their service. Their choice in duty is to serve this country from all enemies foreign and domestic. They fight for us, so we have the privilege to live in the type of country that we do today, and we should all be eternally grateful for that. So, should we police the rest of the world? Yes, because never do I want to live without freedom of choice, expression or speech as some of those in communist countries like China, North Korea, Eritrea and others live in today.
Carranza, Carolina. Effects of the Cold War 2012. https://prezi.com/rliu1cfopecw/effects-of-the-cold-war/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Accessed Nov 2018
Hilton, Raymond. The Collapse of the Soviet Union and Ronald Regan. https://wais.stanford.edu/History/history_ussrandreagan.htm (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Accessed Nov 2018
Noodles. The unseen positive effects of the Cold War. http://hohonoodles.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-unseen-positive-effects-of-cold-war.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. Accessed Nov 2018
Pena, Charles. Should America Be the Worlds Policeman? 2017. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/should-america-be-the-worlds-policeman/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. AccessedThe post History 108 Response on a classmates Discussion Post (Nathan) first appeared on https://essaysresearch.org.History 108 Response on a classmates Discussion Post (Nathan) was first posted on January 13, 2021 at 5:19 am.©2019 "Submit Your Assignment". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at support@essaysresearch.org
