So what was the “Cold War”? I would define the Cold War as a struggle for power between communism and capitalism which concluded in a stand-off between East and West, not only in Europe but throughout the world. However, it could be defined as the following. “From 1945-90 Communist Russia and the capitalist west confronted each other in what was known as the Cold War – Cold because there was no actual fighting,”1. Another definition is, “The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension and conflict short of full-scale war, characterised by mutual perception of hostile intention between military-political alliance or blocs.”2. It has also been described as “the shifting struggle for power and prestige between the western powers and the communist bloc from the end of the World War II until 1989”3.

Each side was of the opinion that they were superior to the other

America was a very democratic country where the population could vote for different political parties. It was also a capitalist country where all business and property was owned by individuals and not by the government. America also believed in the people’s liberty where their rights were protected and the government didn’t interfere in people’s lives.

Reagan also had a mad plan which consisted of destroying missiles from space by using lasers. I know it sounds a bit like Austin Powers and the people back then were not overly convinced about how realistic this plan of his was, but whether he was serious or not, the Soviet Union had neither the money or the technology to even consider challenging Reagan. Let’s face it; the Soviet Union had barely enough money to feed its people.

Some topics in this essay:
Soviet Union, Cold War, America Russia, Nuclear Forces, War II, West Europe, Obviously Russia, European Market, European Union, War”8 USA, cold war, soviet union, “cold war”, world war, europe rest world, political systems, east europe, east west, war ii, europe rest, rest world, world war ii, east west europe, throughout europe rest, fall iron curtain,