geography of southeast asia why was it called the cold war

In 1991 the Soviet Union split up and the Cold War ended. By the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev was reforming the Soviet Union as they faced economic problems and individual countries were demanding independence. During the Cold War, the threat of nuclear Armageddon was an everyday fear. The Soviets sent the first people into space, but the Americans achieved the first moon landing. The world came very close to nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.Įach side also tried to show their technological superiority in the space race. Both the USA and the Soviets spent huge amounts of money on their military and nuclear weapons, trying to outdo each other, creating an Arms Race. These wars happened in Korea, Algeria, Vietnam, Afghanistan and other countries.

So the two sides were indirectly fighting each other. Proxy wars were wars fought in or between other countries, with each side getting financial and military support from either the Soviets or the Americans. But they battled each other in different ways. It was called the Cold War, as the two sides never directly fought. The Soviets and their satellite states believed in communism, a political system where the government controls the economy and the people work collectively.Ī symbolic Iron Curtain cut through the middle of Europe: East vs West. The USA and their allies supported a democratic system that gave economic power to individuals and companies: capitalism. The conflict was about ideologies, how each side thought the world should be run. The Soviet Union led one side with other Eastern European countries such as Hungary and Poland, whilst the USA was allied with countries such as France and Britain. One side was led by the USA, the other by the Soviet Union - the two superpowers.

Narrator: After World War Two, a 45-year struggle for global supremacy emerged: the Cold War.

Geography of southeast asia why was it called the cold war