End of the Cold War
Fear of other powers taking over the world contributed heavily to the post-Cold War world.
The events that happened post cold war reflected the fear the world still had about outside ideas and powers taking over the world.
After the Cold War ended, the problems did not end with it and the fear did not go away. After the cold war, The us and the Soviet union were sent into a recession. This created fear and forced the government to do things based on fear. Fear lead Gorbachev adapted a form of government policy called "openness" this allowed citizens to have more freedoms such as the freedom of speech. "Openness" is similar to capitalism. Communism began to collapse all over the East and eventually the Soviet Union fell. Communism didn't die silently. In China in 1989, a group of students and workers protested at Tiananmen Square for democracy. The Chinese government sent tanks and open fired on the protesters. This event surprised the world. Major world powers stopped all communication with china until it shaped up. Fear of other powers taking over the world caused many small wars after the cold war. One of these wars was the Persian Gulf War. Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein sent his army to take over Kuwait. Kuwait was very rich in oil. America feared that this would lead to Iraq taking over all the oil reserves in Saudi Arabia. This fear lead the us government to remove Iraq from Kuwait in Operation Dessert Storm. This killed many Iraqi people. There was also a crisis in Panama. The dictator of panama Manuel Noriega abandoned US ways and began to aid drug traffic, and harassed American military. Since the Panama canal is an important canal, The US was scared it would loose control. US troops invaded panama and threw the current Dictator out of power. The US then helped Panama set a government like that of the US. Fear will never stop playing a large role in the decisions made by a government and its people.
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Context
The Post Cold War World was filled with fear.
Social
Movies, Plays, Novels, and TV shows all reflected aspects of the Cold War. Many new genres of action movies were created, one major one being spy thrillers. Music was also changed to relate to the Cold War. The distinction of different ethnic groups began to blur, especially on the communist side. This prominently demonstrates the role fear can play in a society. The fear has led to the creation of these new forms of entertainment.
Economic The major powers spent trillions of dollars on armies and weaponry. As a result, the Cold War left those countries in a recession. The U.S. fell into a major recession in 1990 due partly to cold war. The Soviet Union was facing an even worse depression. The instability in the government lead the civilians to have fear towards the government
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Political There was a massive gridlock in the US government During the recession of 1990. This created the fear that the government would never pull itself out of the recession and recover. Bill Clinton was the president and in the 19912 election, instead of getting reelected. Bill Clinton was elected.
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Historical Connections
The ideas in events relating to fear that are reflected in the end of the cold war connect to many other events in history.
US as a World Power
Because of the imperialist view, more countries were relying on other
countries to get raw materials and other supplies. US becoming a world power lead to the industrialization of the U.S. and other places. This rises the fear of being isolated from other countries and the impacts that would have on that country. After the shooting at Tiananmen Square, other world powers, including the US, isolated china. This played on fear of the collapse of the country until China shaped up and changed its ways. World War 1 Much like in WW1 with the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entante, The Cold War was broken into those who supported America and capitalism, the west, and those who supported The Soviet Union and Communism, The East. The fear of the other side was the same fear in both cases.
Great Depression and New Deal The downward curve of the business cycle was reflected in the recession of 1990. Free market capitalists would argue that the recession was caused by the natural ups and downs of the business cycle. But some would also argue it was because of the cold War. The recession, like all recessions, cause fear in the civilians about not being able to maintaining their normal life.
My NHD Project Wyoming was in control of the water because it was a head water state. The geographic of the state made it a place of high importance. Because of geographic, Panama was also made a place of great importance because of the Panama Canal. When Panama’s government started going against what the U.S. government believed, The US got rid of the current leader and helped the people of Panama hold elections and form a new government.
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Progressive Era The Progressive era began to make huge developments in industrialization. This was a completely different view on businesses and working. With this completely different view came the fear of it getting out of hand. The Cold War made drastic improvements in the way wars were fought by introducing nuclear warfare. There was a lot of fear about this new technique causing more harm than gain. In both instances fear lead the decision making process of how far these could take over the current way things are.
Roaring '20s In the ‘20s, many people greatly feared the new change. Many governments also feared the change from communism to capitalism. That is why the Chinese slaughtered all the protesters in Tiananmen Square. Fear of change was controlling the government and civilians in both situations.
Westward Migration When people moved west, they had to leave their home and ways and state governments. When communism fell, the governments were left to reconstruct their government and build the country from
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Significance
Even Though the cold war was a terrible war and lead to a harsh recovery, the technologies that came out of it greatly improved life for many people around the world.
The technologies that came out of the cold war allowed for drastic changes in life in all countries. Rockets, satellites, and guided-missiles provided for space exploration, and lead to the space race. Computers were invented and used only in the military and hospitals
during the cold war, however after the war ended, Computers started to become common appliances. The rise of nuclear weaponry made nuclear warfare possible with just the push of a button. Espionage also made major leaps because of the cold war. The cold War made everybody realize that with all the new nuclear weaponry, another major world war would end in the destruction of everyone. There would be no winner, only losers.
during the cold war, however after the war ended, Computers started to become common appliances. The rise of nuclear weaponry made nuclear warfare possible with just the push of a button. Espionage also made major leaps because of the cold war. The cold War made everybody realize that with all the new nuclear weaponry, another major world war would end in the destruction of everyone. There would be no winner, only losers.