The Cold War - Brrrrrr!

Western Civilisation (USA) Vs. Communist Civilisation (U.S.S>R)

Yeah, the War of fear, that came close to destroying the world, what are your thoghts?

The 'war' happened because tensions grew strong after the 2nd world war and another superpower emerged; a communist one, and as we all know, the American government hates a bit of that; each side with allies and a large amount of nuclear explosives, things were almost certain to erupt.....

... but they didn't....

What are your views? What are the pro's and con's for each side? What about that damned Cuban Missle Crisis?

Originally posted by §P0oONY
Western Civilisation (USA) Vs. Communist Civilisation (U.S.S>R)

Yeah, the War of fear, that came close to destroying the world, what are your thoghts?

The 'war' happened because tensions grew strong after the 2nd world war and another superpower emerged; a communist one, and as we all know, the American government hates a bit of that; each side with allies and a large amount of nuclear explosives, things were almost certain to erupt.....

... but they didn't....

What are your views? What are the pro's and con's for each side? What about that damned Cuban Missle Crisis?

Well, it did mark a totally different concept to the world at the time- that of threat of total annihilation. The paranoia and fear rampant at this time is pretty unique.

I really can;t say I know too much either, I've studied the roots, and effects of the Russian Revolution on the Russian citizens but nothing in Russia/USSR after that time.

After the revolution was a time of terror. Stalin basically took over the damn country and put a lot of people to death- directly and indirectly. Some 10-20 million people died between the start of WWI and the late 1930s because of both the war and the communist takeover. Stalin was a larger butcher than Hitler was, or Hirohito.

Indeed, Stalin's 5 year plans and his purging of the Russian people, it's brutal and horrific, not so much the 5 year plans, which did improve the countries economic power greatly, even if they fell well below target, and the ways they came about puting the plans into action were pretty bad.

Interesting thing is, I read somewhere a lot of the mass grave sites and killings in Belarus and Poland may have been Soviet instead of Nazi caused. I think this extends to a lot of eastern Europe killings, though the Nazis sure did take their fair share. In particular, the Soviet judge at Nürnberg trials pinned a few killings on the Nazis that the Soviets had a hand in.

It would have been terrifying knowing that Cuba was sitting just about 90 miles off the coast American soil, and there was the possibility they were harboring enemy missiles. 😬

I wonder what will happen with Cuba now? Fidel is ancient. He won't last long, and the economic situation there is rough.

I believe the government will probably collapse after Fidel, God only knows what will take it's place.

Depends on how much pressure the U.S. puts on it.

I'm expecting a new dicatator and a gradual walk towards democracy.

But who could take Fidel's place? He's only been in power since before any of us were born.

Originally posted by Janus Marius
But who could take Fidel's place? He's only been in power since before any of us were born.

Oh joy. You know, I kinda wish Fidel had just played baseball and not gotten into politics.

Originally posted by Janus Marius
Oh joy. You know, I kinda wish Fidel had just played baseball and not gotten into politics.

Political figure then.

Originally posted by Janus Marius
Political figure then.

I think had Communism not been meant to spread by violent upheaval of the prior government, the U.S. would have not had such a big problem with it. Or they might have...the U.S. tends to find fault with any government that doesn't possess a sense of democracy.

I didn't live in the Cold War, so I can't tell you very well what I think of it...I know a lot of you can say that as well, but I feel that if I were to get a real good opinion of the Cold War, I'd have to live through it. The Red Scare and all.

Otherwise, I think it's a bunch of nonsense and that Russia and the U.S. were playing cat and mouse just for the hell of it...

And Castro just won't die, will he?

No, Castro and Kirk Douglas are trying to outdo each other.

And the Red Scare was pretty damn radical. Certainly after WWII there was a dramatic shift in how foreign policy was made and how wars were conducted. In particular, the U.S. and Soviets never directly warred against each other, but they used others as tools against each other (Vietnam, Korea, Cuba, Guatemala, Afghanistan, etc.) or battlegrounds, funding the locals and sending them after each other.

Second, western Europe was united in a sense. This is even more evident after the fall of communism (With the European union), but this marks the first time in... well, ever that Britain hasn't wanted a piece of France, France a piece of Germany, and so on. The nations rallied together because of the incoming Soviet threat. On a side note, now that the Soviet Union has gone under, the power vacuum is incredible. In the case of a united Europe... what are they united against? Nations are naturally selfish and paranoid. With no big baddie in the east, who are they rallying against?