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The '''Cold War''' was a military standoff between the [[United States]] and its [[NATO]] allies, and the [[USSR]] and its allies that began after the end of the [[Second World War]]. There was no direct fighting between the superpowers, but each country was involved in a number of proxy conflicts, most notably in [[Vietnam]], [[Korea]] and [[Afghanistan]]. The Cold War was marked by a nuclear [[arms race]] between the two super-powers, and the unchecked proliferation of [[nuclear weapons]] was a cause for concern in many quarters. The Cold War also was marked by high levels of [[espionage]].
The '''Cold War''' was a military standoff between the [[United States]] and its [[NATO]] allies, and the [[USSR]] and its [[Comintern]] allies that began in the absence of a formal [[Peace Treaty]] at the end of the [[Second World War]].
The root of the Cold War lies in the clash between [[Soviet]] [[communism]] and [[American]] [[capitalism]].
There was no direct fighting between the superpowers, but each country was involved in a number of proxy conflicts, most notably in [[Vietnam]], [[Korea]] and [[Afghanistan]].
The Cold War was marked by a nuclear [[arms race]] between the two super-powers, and the unchecked proliferation of [[nuclear weapons]] was a cause for concern in many quarters. The Cold War also was marked by high levels of [[espionage]].
The root of the Cold War lies in [[Soviet]] [[expanionism]].
The tension during the war fluctuated, with the super powers going through periods of heightened conflict and also periods of improved relations. It ended on [[December]] 26, 1991 with the fall of the [[Soviet Union]].
The tension during the war fluctuated, with the super powers going through periods of heightened conflict and also periods of improved relations. It ended on [[December]] 26, 1991 with the fall of the [[Soviet Union]].
==Early Fronts==
November 18, 1945, General Secretary of the [[Communist Party USA]] [[William Z. Foster]] told delegates to the National Convention that "on the international scale the key task is to stop American intervention in China." On December 4, 1945, the Communists staged a "Get Out of China Rally," while communist dominated [[labor union]]s put on work stoppages with the same slogan. Conditions inviting the North Korean attack were created by the [[United Nations]] which issued a resolution for withdrawal of both Soviet and American troops. Troops began withdrawing September 15, 1948, leaving only about 7500 Americans lightly armed. This left in South Korea 16,000 Koreans and 7500 Americans, both groups lightly armed, against 150,000 fully armed North Korean Communists. General Roberts, head of the U. S. Military Mission said the South Koreans were not permitted to arm adequately.
August 31, 1946, Harold J. Noble wrote an article in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' entitled, "Our Most Dangerous Boundary." The author pointed out that the Soviet Union had garrisoned [[North Korea]] with a larger force than the Americans possessed in [[Japan]] and [[Manchuria]]. The Communists were disposed to invade at a moment's notice. Where the U.S. had a squad near the border commanded by a corporal, the Soviet Union had a battalion, commanded by an officer, equipped with motor transport, ninety per cent of which came from America. The Soviet Union had established a police state in North Korea and suppressed every political organization except the Communist Party.
In 1947, General Albert Wedemeyer made his report on China and Korea. The Korean part was suppressed. Wedemeyer said:
:"American and Soviet forces . . . are approximately equal, less than 50,000 troops each, [but] the Soviet-equipped and trained North Korean People's (Communist) Army of approximately 125,000 is vastly superior to the United States-organized constabulary of 16,000 Koreans equipped with Japanese small arms. The North Korean People's Army constitutes a potential military threat to [[South Korea]], since there is strong possibility that the Soviets will withdraw their occupation forces and thus induce our own withdrawal."<ref>Hearings before the Senate Committee on Armed Services and Committee on Foreign Relations, June 6, 1951.</ref>
Wedemeyer warned that this would take place as soon as "they can be sure that the North Korean [[puppet government]] and its armed forces . . . are strong enough . . . to be relied upon to carry out Soviet objectives without the actual presence of Soviet troops." General Lyman L. Lemnitzer said that before June 1950, when the attack occurred, no aid had been sent but a few hundred dollars worth of bailing wire.<ref>Hearings before the Senate Committee on Armed Services and Committee on Foreign Relations, June 6, 1951.</ref>
[[Owen Lattimore]] in the [[leftist]] ''New York Compass'' said that the U.S. should give Korea a "parting grant" of $150,000,000 and "let [[South Korea]] fall but not to let it look as though we pushed it."<ref> New York Compass, Jan. 17, 1949.</ref>
[[Chiang Kai-shek]] was caught between two wars—a war on China by Japan and a war on China by the Soviet Union. American leaders refused to see this and insisted on acting in the illusion that China was fighting the Japanese only and that Soviet Union was an ally. Then came the startling realization that the United States, too, like China, were engaged in two wars in Asia, one against a common enemy, Japan; the other against a common enemy, the Soviet Union. The United States, with its ally China, fought the Japanese. But all the time the Soviet Union, with its satellite Comintern army in China, was fighting both China and the United States. The [[iron curtain]] that, with the [[Yalta agreement]], was rung down over American allies in Europe—[[Poland]] and [[Czechoslovakia]] and other little countries—now fell on China. And this was made possible wholly because of the Soviet Union's allies—conscious and unconscious—in America, in the U.S. government and even in the [[U.S. State Department]].