UNIV 3539 Blog

A New Era of World History: The Nuclear Age

According to the Brookings Institution, from 1940 to 1996, the United States spent $7 trillion (in 2006 dollars) on nuclear weapons . This represents only 29% of ALL U.S. military spending for the period. According to the Federal Bureau of the Public Debt, on November 23, 2007 the U.S. national debt stood at $9,130,889,561,057.31.

Cost aside, nuclear weapons also pose numerous other problems: long-term radioactive contamination and other ecological consequences, proliferation dangers, terrorism potential, Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), and brinksmanship to name a few. And yet, from its inception, the nuclear age has also tantalized us with "the peaceful atom" of nuclear reactors that would produce electricity "too cheap to meter." Nuclear medicine has opened new vistas for the medical profession.

For many ordinary people, the nuclear age evoked a fearful bravado?not unlike whistling past the graveyard?as forces seemingly beyond their control threatened annihilation at a moment's notice. The resultant wave of bomb and fallout shelters, "duck and cover" drills, and civil defense preparations were more psychological defenses against the unthinkable than reasonable, realistic, rational responses.

Nevertheless, since the apparent end of the Cold War in 1991, many insist that the very presence of a huge nuclear arsenal kept the peace for more than half a century?World War III did not follow World War II (at least not yet).

Given the unprecedented calamities of the world wars, has the nuclear age been a blessing or a curse? Is the verdict still to be determined? Do you feel safe or does the spectre of global thermonuclear war sometimes haunt you?

Having grown up in the Great Depression and winning World War II, the ?Greatest Generation? turned decidedly domestic: a house in the suburbs, a new car or two, a ?nuclear? family. How did such simple postwar ambitions of ordinary people bring about the radical transformation of the American landscape (both physically and culturally)?

When World War II in Europe came to an end on May 7, 1945, a new war was just beginning. This war became known as the Cold War and was between the two world superpowers, the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR). The Cold War lasted from 1945 to 1991. Fears between the two nations, which started in World War I, and grew in World War II, caused the Cold War to break after the end of World War II. The conflict in the Cold War was the difference in politics between the US and the USSR. The United States was capitalist when the USSR was communist. Both nations started a nuclear arms race among each other. In other words, the Cold War was a war of tension and competition.

At the end of World War II, at the Yalta Conference, Germany was divided into 4 sections controlled by Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. What marked the start of the Cold War was that there wasn?t an agreement on unifying Germany. The Allies were angry due to the free election promises given by Stalin at the Yalta Conference. The developed a foreign policy of containment to keep communism in the areas where it already was. In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was issued. It stated that America would help any non-communist country to resist communism. The United States also gave large amounts of money to help aid the non-commuist countries. This was known as the Marshall Plan. The Western Allies unified West Germany and the USSR reacted by putting a blockade on Berlin. The people in Berlin were starving from the lack of food. The United States arranged that all food and other items be airlifted to West Berlin. This is what is known as the Berlin Airlift. In 1946, Mao Zedong, a Communist leader, was in war with Jiang Jieshi, a nationalist leader. The civil war in China lasted until 1949. The communists came out victorious. This added to the Cold War.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was one of the leading spiritual, political, moral, and cultural leaders of the 1900's. He helped free India from British control by using a unique method of nonviolent resistance. Gandhi is honored by the people of India, as the father of their nation. He was slight in build, but had great physical and moral strength. He was assassinated, by an Indian, who resented his program of tolerance for all creeds and religions.
Gandhi was born on Oct. 2, 1869, in Porbandar, India. His parents belonged to a Vaisya (merchant) caste of Hindus. Young Gandhi was a shy, serious boy. When he was 13 years old, he married Kasturba, a girl the same age. Their parents had arranged the marriage. Gandhi had four children. Gandhi studied law in London. He returned to India in 1891 to practice law, but he met with little success.
People in India called Gandhi the Mahatma (Great Soul). His life was guided by a search for truth. He believed truth could be known only through tolerance and concern for others and that finding a truthful way to solutions required constant testing. He called his autobiography My Experiments with Truth. Gandhi overcame fear and taught others to master fear.
He believed in nonviolence and taught that to be truly nonviolent required courage. He lived a simple life and thought it was wrong to kill animals for food or clothing. Gandhi developed a method of direct social action, based upon principles of courage, nonviolence, and truth, which he called Satyagraha. In this method, the way people behave is more important than what they achieve. Satyagraha was used to fight for India's independence and to bring about social change.

Mohandas K. Gandhi is a very well known, wonderful man who made a great difference in the world, especially in the twenetieth century, and many/most people have great respect for him and his works. Gandhi's message of hope spurred a struggle for freedom that, in 1947, would lead to the birth of a nation -- and inspire the fight for independence on another continent half-a-world away.Freedom Now talks to the people who witnessed and participated in the fight for freedom in India and Africa. What emerges is a story of struggle, exhilaration -- and, more than occasionally, civil war. England was under imperial rule until Gandhi made a huge campaign of civil disobedience--he was fighting for their freedom. Another man who also preached civil disobedience like Gandhi did was Kwame Nkrumah, but when he was imprisoned Komla Gbedema took over.In 1951, in the face of growing unrest, the British acceded to demands for free elections and a national assembly. Nkrumah's party won a landslide victory. It was the beginning of the end of British rule in Africa. In 1957, the people of the Gold Coast became the first black Africans to achieve complete freedom.
To Africans, the Mau Mau were freedom fighters; to the Europeans, they were terrorists. By the late 1950s, it was becoming increasingly evident to British officials that they could hardly continue to protect their one percent of the population in the face of escalating African demands. Although Africa finally got their freedom in 25 countries over the British, French, and Belgians; there were new problems: Unity was difficult in new countries whose boundaries had been drawn to suit European convenience. Many tribes were forced to live on the wrong side of new borders -- in hostile territory. Takeover followed takeover in many countries. Most of the new governments were cruel and corrupt -- and for many Africans, one kind of repression was replaced by another. For most of Africa, the colonial legacy was a bitter one. New nations still had to convert their new autonomy into freedoms they'd hoped for, but had yet to win: freedom from hunger, poverty, political oppression.

the cold war did have effects on colonies around the world. with the world powers busy with an arms race and trying to keep an eye on each other the colonies around the world where left alone to thrive on their own. In this time they were able to live they way that they wanted to and start building their land they way they wanted it without any interfering from world powers. now that many governments were pulling their people and resources out of colonies many had to find a way to stand on their own. this was not easy as many had conflicts.

Gandhi?s long struggle to liberate India from colonial rule reached fruition in the aftermath of World War II. Nonviolent civil disobedience appeared successful but within a year of India?s independence, Gandhi was assassinated. Today, celebrating fifty years of independence, India is a rising economic force, a nuclear power, and the world?s largest democracy.

In Africa, colonial rule was challenged more forcefully?notably the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya and the Algerian war against France. Although Britain (and especially the United States) believed that the Soviet Union was supplying the rebels, there is little evidence to support these Cold War fears.

In Egypt, however, Gamal Abdel Nasser exploited Cold War tensions to seize the Suez Canal from British and French control. Britain and France intervened militarily to recapture the canal but the U.S. forced a cessation of hostilities as the Soviets grew increasingly belligerent in their support of Nasser. To what extend did the Cold War affect the struggles for independence by colonials around the world? What other factors shaped the era of decolonization?

There is no way that the United States could have wiped out communism. despite their best efforts in the cold war their crusade for democracy failed. The Cold War lasted nearly 50 years and put the United States no closer to their goal at the end of it. The cold war was better than world war III and better option. although peace would have been the best option as many other countries suffed and still suffer from the side effects of the cold war. the cold war mass produced weapons which is where all terrorist weapons come from.

With a blinding flash the world entered the nuclear age in 1945, bringing to an end the greatest calamity in human history. In the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the speculation grew (and continues today) that the A-bombs had been used?at least in part?to demonstrate American strength and resolution to the Soviet Union. The devil?s bargain of alliance with Stalin had rapidly degenerated as Nazi defenses collapsed. The seeds of the Cold War were sown well before VE-Day.

The postwar division of Europe was inevitable given the fact of Soviet military occupation. Unless the U.S. (and other Allies) went to war with the U.S.S.R. to liberate eastern Europe, Soviet control was a fait accompli. Postwar tensions (e.g. the communist revolution in Greece) quickly led to the development of the Truman Doctrine?the U.S. would seek to ?contain? the expansion of the Soviet empire by all means short of total war.

In Europe, the Iron Curtain (in Churchill?s eloquent description) would be the trip line for total war?hostilities between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. would rapidly escalate beyond diplomacy unless cool heads prevailed. When the Berlin crisis occurred in 1948, the U.S. monopoly on nuclear weapons undoubtedly deterred further Soviet aggression. Within a year, the monopoly ended and the nuclear arms race began. The arsenal of megadeath still stands poised for World War III.

Should (could) the western allies have freed eastern Europe from communism in 1945? Was Cold War a better choice (more cost effective, less deadly, etc.)?