Cold War: Cuba

Cold War Research Paper: Cuba
World War Two left the world devastation, or a “power vacuum”, into which emerged two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, in what became known as the Cold War. World War Two’s end came with celebration in both these countries at home, where family’s were again united and bloodshed finally came to a halt, but this celebration was short-lived due to these countries inability to cooperate in peacemaking. The question lay unanswered on what would be done with Eastern Europe. With two different political and economic structures, these world powers became immediate enemies, which created a dividing line where the Eastern world would be communist and the Western world a capitalist democracy. The United States and Soviet Union would quarrel over Eastern Europe domination, which turned into a global confrontation. This confrontation over Eastern Europe would become institutionalized and form the bedrock for the long cold war of the second half of the 20th century.
Eastern Europe was very unstable after World War Two both politically and economically. Therefore, Eastern communism led by Stalin, and the Western institutions of democracy and capitalism, battled to gain support in these vulnerable countries. Two major blocs were formed, and an “iron curtain” was believed to divide these two blocs. The United States believed it their obligation to stop communism from spreading and believed in a theory called the “domino effect”, where when one nation turned to communism, neighboring countries would turn to communism, and thus create a worldwide communism. The United States wanted free trade in a capitalist world with low tariffs and a Common Market. With these two government systems racing for support, an arms race resulted. Therefore, the US found it important to gain third world support. One of the imperative third world countries, located very close to the United States, was Cuba, which had actually fallen under Communist...