The Vietnam War: The Cold War

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The Cold War is a term which describes the relationship between the two Superpowers of the world after World War II, the United States (supported by its democratic-Western allies) and the Soviet Union. It marked the end of the relations of the two alliance nations due to conflicts of national interests. The Cold War was not a typical kind of war that involve direct bombing or fighting, but there was a huge armistice race between two countries. Furthermore, it was a war of ideological discord. The Cold War was a non-declared war so that there was no specific time when it began. Still, there were several occasions that marked its tension. Even before the World War II, the ideological differences between the US’s capitalism and the USSR’s communism …show more content…
In the next decade, the Soviets stepped up the Cold War by moving ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads to Cuba during the summer of 1962. The US found out this juncture by espionage, using the U-2 planes. President JFK engaged in brinkmanship by ordering the navy to begin “a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba.” Since this occasion brought two nations close to war, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council was arranged. At the end, a compromise of removing atomic and thermonuclear weapons and armaments was reached; a test-ban treaty was signed in 1963 which resulted a Détente policy, the relaxation of tension, from the US. Under President Richard Nixon’s Détente policy, Strategic Arms Limitation Talk/Treaty I (SALT I) took place from 1969 to 1972 and was signed in May 26, 1972. This treaty aimed to slow down the hazardous nuclear arms race. However, relations with the Soviet Union was more seriously strained by Jimmy Carter’s outspoken stand for human rights. Although in July 1977, President Carter had made an effort to improve relations with the USSR and Détente seemed to be back on track, SALT II was never ratified by the US Senate because of the new aggression by the
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