Approach:

1. Introduction: What was cold war and give a brief timeline about coldwar
2. Body: Mention the causes of cold war,mainly ideological differences and others.Mention its impact in the succeeding years
3. Conclusion: Write a conclusion discussing the impact on major geo-political events leading to the end of the cold war.

Ans: The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, which began following World War II.

Cold War: Causes

1. 1. Ideological differences-Capitalism and communism: ideological opposites

The political and economic systems of the capitalist USA and communist USSR were ideologically incompatible. Both sides wanted to affirm their model and force countries around the world to conform to their ideologies

1. 2. Disagreements over Germany

In 1947, Bizonia was created: the British and American zones unified economically thanks to a new currency

Fearing the spread of new idea to the Soviet zone and strengthen rather than weaken Germany. He decided to introduce his own currency in East Germany, called the Ostmark.This eventually took turn to Berlin Blockade, where Stalin to block all road and rail access to the western part of Berlin from June 24, 1948

1. 3. Formation of Alliances

The western alliance was formalised into an organisation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which came into existence in April 1949.It was an association of twelve states which declared that armed attack on any one of them in Europe or North America would be regarded as an attack on all of them.

Each of these states would be obliged to help the other.

While, the eastern alliance, known as the Warsaw Pact, was led by the Soviet Union.

It was created in 1955 and its principal function was to counter NATO’s forces in Europe

Impact of cold war in succeeding years:

1. 1. Wars around the world:There was never any direct large-scale fighting between the US and USSR. The two superpowers waged war only by supporting different regional conflicts, known as proxy wars
      1. Korean War

In 1950, Korea was divided into two zones: the communist north, and the capitalist democratic south. In a bid to contain the spread of communism to South Korea, the US sent troops to the country. The Chinese responded by sending their own troops to the border.This war however ended in a stalemate, while till present both North & South Korea are still at war

1. 1. 2. Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was an extremely long and costly conflict that pitted North Vietnam against South Vietnam and the United States in the 1960s.The Soviet Union sent money and supplied weapons to the communist forces. By 1975, the US was forced to withdraw, and the North seized control of the South

1. 1. 3. Afghanistan War

In the 1980s, just as the United States had done in Vietnam, the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan

In response, the US supported the Mujahideen (Afghani guerrillas) against the USSR, by sending them money and weaponsThe USSR was unsuccessful in its efforts to turn the country into a communist state during the Afghan War, and the Taliban, a US-funded Islamic extremist group, eventually claimed power in the region

1. 2. Space Race

The space race was a series of technological advancements that were exhibits of superiority in spaceflight, each nation trying to outdo the other.The origins of the space race lie in the nuclear arms race between the two nations after the Second World War when ballistic missiles were being developedOn 4 October 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, into orbit. On 20 July 1969, the US successfully landed on the moon, thanks to the Apollo 11 space mission

1. 3. Cuban missile crisis

In 1962, the Soviet Union began to secretly install missiles in communist Cuba, in easy striking distance of the USThe confrontation that followed became known as the Cuban missile crisis. The US and USSR were on the brink of nuclear war.

The Cold War came to an end, with Break of Unity in Eastern BlocThe Fall of the Berlin Wall ultimately leading to The collapse of the Soviet Union