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Cheyenne Arviso
Professor Griffith
English 113B
Due: 28 March 2016
The Result of Action
The Cold War was pseudo warfare between two superpowers who are both striving in the
race for technological advancement. The Cold War was between the US and the USSR from
1947- 1991 has gone through multiple events that influenced and impacted society along with
their way of living. Throughout this Cold War there had been: containment, nuclear arms race,
space race, red scare, Cuban missile crisis, etc. The strategy called containment was a policy
made by the US to prevent the spread of communism. The goal was to restore balance and stop
the Soviets from gaining power. The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy on
developing nuclear weapons but not using them against each other. The space race was a 20th
century competition between two Cold War rivals for supremacy in spaceflight; to see who
discovered more in space. The Soviet Union was the first to launch Luna 2, a probe to hit the
moon; along with the soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first person to orbit earth.
Then later on in the U.S. July 20th, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk the moon. One
small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, is what Neil Armstrong said. By landing on the
moon, the US won the space race. The red scare was just about the fear of communism and
how people now are still scared of communism being influenced today. There was a variety of
issues happening during the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis started when the US president
Kennedy had a failed attempt attacking Cuba, called the Bay of Pigs in 1961. Cuba then worked
with the Soviets and allowed them to secretly install missiles. The Soviets and US then
exchanged letters and made a treaty to not invade each other and for the Soviets to dismantle

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their bombs. This impacted society in the US and Russia because no one was harmed during the
Cold War; instead it was a competition along with disagreements of one another. It influenced
society in a positive way by developing advanced technology. The Cold War gave birth to the
new age society uses today, called Information Age. Information is key to any strategic
conflict; whoever has more information wins the war. This is why there were spies used during
wars, to see how developed and advanced an opponent was. Having spies changed the behavior
in space, because people had to be more alert for any snitches in order to protect themselves. The
inventions the Cold War produced changed the world forever. The most impacted inventions
created because of the cold war are: microwaves, integrated circuits, communications, spy
satellites, ICBM (Inter Continental Ballistic Missile), internet, smoke detectors, super computer,
and GPS. The Cold War has made a huge impact on the space environment for the U.S. from the
Berlin Wall, Satellites, and covert operations.
Berlin was separated by East and West Berlin to isolate Western fascists. During the
Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviets took over Berlin and separated it by a wall to keep their
influences apart, between the Soviets which were communists and the US that were capitalists.
Later on it was shared with France and Great Britain, the US allies. According to History.com,
The existence of West Berlin, a conspicuously capitalist city deep within communist East
Germany, stuck like a bone in the Soviet throat, as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev put it,
(History.com Staff). Nikita chooses these words because Russia tried to starve Western Berlin out
so the Soviets can take full control. This all has to do with power, and taking control. But the
U.S. didnt retreat; instead they worked with their allies to get supplies for Berlin. The West side
of Berlin was seen as poor and the East side was the rich. The Soviets then called off the
Blockade in 1949. The space in Berlin drove the residents crazy, having to be separated from

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their family, friends, and loved ones by a wall. It resulted negatively for the people by hundreds
of people dying trying to cross the wall. The wall was created to make it impossible to climb
over, but even then there were multiple death traps practically all over. There was soft sand to
track the people crossing, vicious dogs to chase runner, trip wire machine guns, and patrolling
soldiers that kill anyone who crosses the wall. Having the Berlin Wall gave social issue by
forcing people to risk their lives to get to the other side. But for power relations president
Kennedy was content, Though he was not happy about it, President Kennedy conceded that a
wall is a hell of a lot better than a war, (History.com Staff). Both superpowers were better off
with a wall than going to war where more people would have died. The Berliners struggle ended
when the Berlin Wall was knocked down and people were able to cross on November 9, 1989,
when the Cold War started to come to an end. In East Berlin, the Communists opened the gates
for people to cross; flooding the west part of Berlin. A resolution for the people was when they
celebrated on the West part of Berlin, where people used hammers and picks to knock away
chunks of the wallthey became known as mauerspechte, or wall woodpeckerswhile cranes
and bulldozers pulled down section after section, (History.com Staff). Only today, one
Berliner spray-painted on a piece of the wall, is the war really over, (History.com Staff). The
space the Berlin Wall gave people was discomfort, anger, frustration; the wall gave a bad vibe for
everyone, separating families, and friends. People still fear that there will be war sooner or later;
it never ends. To make sure there were no threats against the U.S., they had to have advanced
technology for protection.

The U.S. needed to keep surveillance on society in their country and around the world
along with counter intelligence in a way where the government can watch out for any threats. To

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prevent further confrontation an important innovation the U.S. did was the way the government
handles foreign affairs, using high tech. surveillance through satellites to ensure proper
diagnostics on international threats. Both Soviet Union and the U.S. used missiles to attack each
other during the war, which is why they want to be able to see each other and know when they
would attack. During the space age people acknowledged when (spy) satellites were on October
1, 1978. At that time, at the Kennedy Space Center when President Jimmy Carter stated:
Photographic reconnaissance satellites have become an important stabilizing factor in world
affairs in the monitoring of arms control agreements. They make an immense contribution to the
security of all nations, (Pat Norris). So around the world the space people are in are always
being watched for the benefit of their country. This can be uncomfortable for some people, but it
influences social issues when it comes down to war, and being able to protect our country from
any threats. Satellites were used as spies during the Cold War to photograph the activities of the
Soviet Union and China. These photographs can be used to study desertification, urbanization,
and other environmental changes. They can also help scientists spot many surface features from
space. This is why satellites were a huge impact on the world for technology; satellites has
influenced space all over the world because not only can the U.S. keep an eye on the enemy but
we could see from outer space any climate change, or any natural disaster that are happening. We
are able to track people down because of satellites. The first satellites were used to study the
Earth's upper atmosphere and inner space. Today, scientific satellites study a far greater range of
objects. American Telephone and Telegraph asked to make medium- orbit satellites to
communicate. The major application of artificial satellites has been to provide long-distance
communication links. Telephone companies, cable television stations, newspapers, and
magazines use communications satellites to transmit data to various parts of the globe.

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Meteorological satellites use highly sensitive instruments for modern weather forecasting.
Navigation satellites use laser-beam signals to determine the exact location of a ship on Earth.
The technique used by navigation satellites are also used to make accurate maps of remote areas
of the Earth. Countries use military surveillance or spy satellites to monitor the activity of other
nations, (Demeis 72). This space focused for the general public, where people are able to
communicate through telephone far away, and to know whats near meters away, and to be able
to navigate oneself without any confusion. This can make society work faster which can be a
great way to have advance technology. Being able to communicate and get around faster, means
we are capable to do more things. During the cold war, satellites were only used to spy on the
enemy.
The three main features to the spying operations are: the collection of documents and
evidence from the opposite side by the spies, counter intelligence, and covert operations. Spies
were a necessity during the war to see how fast their opponent has developed their technology
and how advanced it is so they can know what theyre up against. Governments also used the
CIA to do undercover work because they excelled at their job and were cheap. There are pros and
cons to having spies that were apart from the cold war. Further on, Covert Operations, Cold War
and Beyond, it states that During the Cold War almost any kind of covert action was sanctioned
as long as it had a chance of success, as one veteran covert operator noted, Given the black and
white definition of the Cold War there was no shilly shallying about morality. In many respects
the Cold War gave many Western agencies a carte blanche in regard to covert operations. As
time went on spies became less beneficial but are still used today drug dealers and smugglers,
etc. Overall, spies were necessary and protected in order to receive information that can benefit

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the U.S. and make the people safe rather than be chaotic and frighten of someone striking at their
country.

In conclusion, the Cold War actions and technological advances have changed the world
and the way society functions based off the Berlin Wall, satellites, and covert operations. Since
the U.S. and the Soviets focused on competing with each other on who was the best, didnt
realize how much their action would change the world in such a beneficial way. What would
happen if both rivals actually went to war instead of making treaties and competing against each
other instead? Would the world still have advanced technology we have today?

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Works Cited
"COLD WAR: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS." Revelations from the Russian Archives. Web. 25
Mar. 2016.
"Covert Operations, Cold War and beyond." Covert Operations, Cold War and beyond. 29 Aug.
2003. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
Gaddis, John Lewis. "Nuclear Files: About Us: Contact Us." Nuclear Files: About Us: Contact
Us. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
History.com Staff. "Berlin Wall." History.com. A E Networks, 2009. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.