The Cold War - Brrrrrr!

Sadly my historical knowledge ranges from Rome to the Nuremberg Trials so I'm abit lost here.

But what I think we all know that basically, electing an actor as your leader puts the American Electorate in serious suspect...

Western Europe didn't come together because of a single threat. It came together because the remaining disruptive bits of it had just had the shit kicked out of them. The rest of Europe had already been all for peaceful coexistance for decades.

The theory of coming together now is for exactly the same reason. Trade and political weight. Europe doesn't really want an enemy.

But when it came to needing enemies... that is certainly the position both the US and the USSR had after World War II. The Nazis had made them stronger than ever, and then having each over to ***** at was very convenient. That is what much of the Cold War was about- exploitation of a potential enemy. That had as much to do with it not becoming outright conflict as the threat of destruction did- neither side really had the heart to go all the distance. Only the extremists.

This thread title is great.

Its not dierctly related, to pro's and cons, but I'm currently writing a paper on military science fiction in the Cold War US. A lot of it revolves around a demsaculinzation of the Americna male during the Great Depression (as they could not provide for society at all). This was replaced by the "hero" GI during WWII and an ultramasculinized soicety (Rosie anyone?). After WWII, a lot of authors used GI type characters to install a certain degree of conservatism in American culture. COmbined with all the veterans returning home, the Eisenhower and Truman administrations, the lack of significant disarmament after the war, and the development of the defense industry....American really geared up for war. The Cold War got pushed because of this severe militarization of American society.

Just thought it was interesting.

"We must never forget... the War against Germany is merely a side show... the real enemy is, and always has been, the spread of Communism." general Eisenhower, 1943

All through the Cold war, and even before, the products of Communism were rubbished... why were Communist cars ridiculed? it was nothing to do with build quality, reliability or anything like that... it was simply that if Communist technology was any good, the people in the capitalist west might have been tempted to overthrow their governments.... every time the Russians or one of their allies had a success, it was either dumbed down or ridiculed by the West... look at Concorde... the Tupolev 144 had been flying months before, but the organisers of the Paris Air Show deliberately delayed its appearance so that the Anglo French concorde could steal the thunder... even now we are told that the loss of concorde is the end of supersonic passenger flight... yet the 144 is still going strong in service with Aeroflot.... we were always led to believe thatRussian aircraft were inferior to ours... which is why they ran rings around us in Korea... the Cold war wasn't anything to o with russia threatening the West.. it was all to do with communism threatening the rich...

Good points there.

Originally posted by big gay kirk
"We must never forget... the War against Germany is merely a side show... the real enemy is, and always has been, the spread of Communism." general Eisenhower, 1943

I think the Cold War was somewhat too much. After WWII, alot of Europe was destroyed and looked hopeless for repair. Then when the Cold War broke out, it made things worse. Europe's government shattered after WWII, and were just getting to stand on their feet when they were shoved back down and pinned. 😬

Luckily it ended without the world being destroyed by nuclear weapons..most likely, if it did, Russia would've been to blame..

Russia has control over the worlds fate with nuclear weapons in their possesion..😬

The cold war was a big bluff that kept a lot of people in jobs more so in defence manufacturing. The perfect stand off neither side would dare start a war as both sides knew it was a no win situation.

just like the vietnam war and all other wars that the usa has been involved in, it was mainly a referendum proposed by the USA government for the sole purpose of controlling the expansion of the communist view.

to me the 2nd world war was only too horrible. if humanity could face such a severe situation, i wonder what may come next... a world war 3? so many died-really the 2nd world war was uncalled for... but history had to have it for what we have today....

Well, I don't have much to say about this thread, but I guess I could note that my dad says that the Sears building (which according to him was built in the late 1950s, the time of the height of the Cold War) in Metrotown Mall (this is in Vancouver FYI) was built to withstand a near-direct nuclear explosion and that there's a bomb shelter in it and that that building is one of the safest places to be (or the safest to be; I don't really perfectly remember everything he said) in case of a nuclear war. Although it just looks like a rickety old pile of shit to me, but I guess that's how buildings were made 50 years ago.