1he Co|d War

At |ts Lnd
ken rovard er|od 1 Mrs S|mmons

April 13,2011
When the Cold War started, it would seem this war would destroy all the countries
Iighting in it. The countries wanted to take part in making and perIecting nuclear weapons Ior the
countries use to dominate by Iear. The countries were having trouble on the inside also. The age
oI jazz was growing with the age group oI teens. But at the end oI the Cold War, many things
were done to end it and America was the leader to end it. Not only did America have nuclear
weapons, the other countries did too, the governments were having a Ieud about which
government was the best Ior the world, and while the Ieud was going on, there were many ideas
put Iorth to end the war. The countries knew blowing each other apart was not an option either.
By the end oI the Second World War, all the major countries like Russia, America, Great
Britain, China and Germany were developing their own nuclear weapons. The Russians and the
Americans were in a race to get the best nuclear weapon. The developer oI the soviet atomic
bomb stopped the work that was being done when Igor Kurchatov viewed the eIIects oI the Iirst
air-dropped hydrogen bombing 1955.
1
Igor Kurchatov said, 'That was such a terrible, monstrous
sight! That weapon must not be allowed ever to be used.
2
The nuclear weapons oI the soviets
were becoming more advanced in the targeting systems and the range oI the missile. The range
oI the newest Soviet missile was Irom one continent to another continent (See Image 1). These
nuclear missiles were called ICBM`s.
3
The ICBM`s started out as a regular atomic bomb, then a
thermonuclear devise, and then the ICBM`s were next. The soviets had a lead on rocketry. The
Soviets were rushing to launch an ICBM.
4
AIter Joseph Stalin died, Nikita Khrushchev recorded
his Iirst look at the rockets designed by Sergei Korolyov:

1
Robert Cowley, The Cold War. A Military History, (New York: Random House, 2005), 420
2
Ibid
3
Ibid
4
Ibid
'I don`t want to exaggerate, but I`d say we Gawked at what he showed us as iI we were a
bunch oI sheep seeing a new gate Ior the Iirst time. When he showed us one oI his rockets,
we thought it looked like nothing but a huge cigar-shaped tube and we didn`t believe it
could Ily. Korolev took us on a tour oI a launching pad and tried to explain to us how the
rocket worked. We were like peasants in a market place. We walked around and around the
rocket, touching it, tapping it to see iI it was sturdy enoughwe did everything but lick it to
see how it tasted.
5

The Soviet Union was well into making its own nuclear weapons, including a nuclear warhead
Iour times the size oI the American Atomic Bomb Big Boy. This nuclear warhead was called
the Tzar (See Table 1). It was and is the biggest nuclear weapon in history. But, were the
Americans keeping up with the Soviets in nuclear warIare? In America, the Atomic Bomb was
one step behind the Soviets Atomic Bomb in the end. The bomb went Irom an ordinary Atomic
Bomb to a hydrogen bomb. The Americans also had a Ileet oI 1,309 long-range bombers to
deliver the atomic and hydrogen bombs by 1955.
6
The Americans stopped the Soviets in Cuba
in1962 when the Soviets tried to bring some IRBM`s and MRBM`s to have an easier time
hitting a target. President Kennedy humiliated the Soviets and removed the missiles.
7

The removal oI the missiles was not the only humiliating thing at the time. The soldiers
oI the Soviet Union that came home Irom the Second World War brought a disease. This
disease was a new kind oI music called jazz.
8
The youth were having the need to get the new
music and have it playing at the parties, but the government was aIraid it would destroy the

5
Cowley, A Military History, 420-421
6
Ibid, 420
7
Ibid, 422
8
Thaddeus Russell, A Renegade History of the United States, (New York: Free Press, 2010), 285
socialist government and communism.
9
The government was thinking it would turn the youth
into an Americanized people. The Central Committee oI the Communist party later banned
saxophones, the plucking oI bass strings, wah-wah trumpet mutes, and playing drums with too
much rhythm.
10
AIter the banning oI the jazz instruments, the government had brigades monitor
dance halls and theaters to make sure there was no jazz was being played. The Iew dances that
couples could dance were the waltz, the polka, or Russian Iolk dances.
11
II there was anyone
that was a part oI a jazz group, those people would be rounded up and put in a Siberian prison.
The revolting was not quite as rambunctious as other riots in history. These riots consisted oI
many bright and outstanding outIits. Others would buy bootleg recordings on the black market
so it was possible to get the jazz music and play it at the secret parties.
12
In East Germany, many
communist youth were having a hairstyle called rockabilly (See Figure 3).
13
As the continuation
oI these kinds oI revolts made it look like the youth oI the Soviet Union were copying the
American culture. Some male youth were accused oI corrupting the discipline oI the
Communist state.
14
As one East German newspaper argued the youth were shaped by 'the
sluttish kitchen oI American gangster movies, oI crime stories, oI murder and other sensational
trails, to whose inIluence he succumbed.
15
Many other newspapers oI East Germany and the
USSR were saying the youth are being corrupted by the American culture. But as the
restrictions on jazz were eased, the demand oI the jazz music increased. The East Berlin would
cross the border to West Berlin to watch movies. The youth oI East Berlin made up about 90 to

9
Russell, A Renegade History of the United States, 285
10
Ibid
11
Ibid
12
lbld
13
lbld 286
14
lbld 287
13
lbld
100 percent oI the customers.
16
Although the youth were traveling to the other side oI the border
in Berlin, there were riots outside the theaters that only showed educational and patriotic movies.
The youth asked why the theaters did not show any Hollywood movies. The government would
not let the theaters show these movies because oI the thought that the Iuture oI Communism
would come to an end and the government would be destroyed.
The governments and economies oI these countries, capitalism and communism, did not
want to have the country be ruined Ior the rest oI time. The two economies are the exact
opposite oI each other. Capitalism is a Iree money economy. The people get to decide what is
done with the money that is earned. The investments are made at the risk oI losing everything.
The people are not Iorced to do the things that are necessary. On the other hand is the
communism. The economy is ruled by the government. The government owns all the property,
money, and things which are bought. The government has the power to give an equal amount oI
money to all oI the people even iI one person works more than the other. The government also
has the power to say what is available and not available to buy. The same things are given to
everyone. The diIIerent opinions oI the United States and the Soviet Union on communism
were very diIIerent. The Soviets had communism as its economic base. The Untied States had
the capitalist as its economic base. The leaders were trapped by the ideas oI the opportunities
and dangers oI the international system.
17
As the Americans were looking at what would happen
iI the world became a communist economy, the leaders saw that the Ireedom oI speech, religion,

16
Russell, A Renegade History of the United States, 289
17
Melvyn Leffler lot tbe 5ool of MookloJ 1be uolteJ 5totes 1be 5ovlet uoloo ooJ 1be colJ wot (new ?ork Plll
and Wang 2007) 432
and trade would be lost. The communist economy would crush human Ireedom.
18
The other
option the Americans were noticing was the totalitarian economy.
19

When the Cold War ended, the peace was brought to the world. The Americans helped in
many ways including the humiliation oI the Soviets, the disease oI jazz to create internal
conIlicts, and the proposition oI the best government Ior the people. The Cold War was a war
that could not have been Iought with nuclear warheads alone. The nuclear warheads would be
used to blow the other country up to Iind nuclear weapons coming Ior the country which Iired
them oII (See Figure 2). It had to have the majority oI conIlict within the reaches oI the political
leaders. II it was not Ior the leaders oI America, the Cold War would not have ended as Iast.


18
Leffler lor Lhe Soul of Manklnd 433
19
Unknown, "Cold War." accessed 15 March 2011; Available Irom http://Iaculty.ucc.edu/egh-
damerow/coldwar1.htm Internet.

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