Paper Example: How the Atomic Bomb Mart the Beginning of the Cold War

According to Arnold, advancements of weapons used during World War I(WWI), which began in 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and lasted till 1918, led to the invention of more powerful and harmful weapons that were later used in World War II(WWII) which lasted from 1939 to 1945 after Germany invaded (Poland 126). Such inventions and innovations led to the establishment of the atomic bomb which was used in 1945 to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Fig.1) and brought WWII to an end but set up space for the Cold War which later began in 1947 and lasted until the Soviet Union was dissolved. This paper tries to explain how inventions and innovations in terms of weapons used in WW1 and WW2 changed the current modern warfare and the possible benefits and problems of taking the same turn. It will also try to explain the effects of this historical event, its impacts on history, and how history could have been shaped now if the same turn was not taken.

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Since it was in America, where the Cold war was first witnessed in 1947 Americans are the people who experienced its effects earlier than everyone else in the world (Schlesinger 25). I, therefore, chose to discuss this event with the main aim of exploiting its impacts, particularly on Americans. There were both short and long-term effects of the cold war in America affecting people's normal way of life, their systems of governance and more so on their economy. Among the long-term effects are:

First, Cold War shaped American foreign policy and ideology, and impacted on the domestic economy and the ruling patterns. It also affected the personal lives of the Americans, leading to the creation of a climate of expected conformity and normalcy. The Cold War injected changes to the presidency of the United States. This was influenced by both internal and external forces where, internally, the opposition of Stalin by Truman pressured enough on the administration to affect many presidential acts. At the same time, externally, the political intellect used anti-communist hysteria to ask for a rightist platform, instantly asking the current administration to reduce its softness to increase their lot (Baldwin 538).

Cull argues that the Cold War’s rhetoric and anti-communist propaganda resulted in foreign policy to venture in (14). American allies relied heavily on their stance of collectivism. This was also the case for foreign policy. The cold war affected domestic policy socially and economically. Socially, much teachings to the American people led to regression of social norms. At the same time, economically, the large growth brought about by industries related to war was assisted by government expansion. However, the new deals experienced the great impact of the cold war. In terms of human behaviour, agreements to anti-communism perfection became everyone's norm, for the most part, government officials.

The heritage of the cold war also affected world affairs (Cerny 27). This was after the collapse of Soviet Union which was earlier considered unipolar with the United States the only remaining superpower. The Union's economy was terrible and had spent heavily on weapons just intending to keep up the United States. Its dissolution, therefore, resulted in the supremacy of the United States in the world as it was earlier on. Other arising issues from its collapse were the conflicts of interests and issues in former Soviet states. As a result of the Cold War also, U.S. backed coups in Central and South America that left some of the states with non-human dictators that were allowed to do what pleased them. Some of these countries have bitter relations with the U.S. because of it. On a short-term note, the cold war put the whole world in endless fear of nuclear disintegration. It also permitted for various close calls between Soviet and American troops.

The Cold War was at its terminal point in 1948-53. It was during this time when Soviet had tried to grab western-held sectors of West Berlin but failed. The U.S. therefore and its allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to resist Soviet in Europe. Soviet exploded their first atomic warhead in 1949 therefore American monopoly on the atomic bomb. This was a blow to America's supremacy. Apart from America, the effects of the cold war were also felt in many other parts of the world. The continuous rivalry between U.S. and Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) provided chances for one side to gain the merits against the other. USSR, for instance, developed an "iron curtain" to control most of central and east Europe. America's fear of the diversification of communism gave rise to many delegate wars. The cold war also spread the global fear of nuclear war which, by great percentage, influenced international diplomacy and affairs. It was also as a result of the cold war that led to the division of the Berlin and the nation of Germany into communist and pro-western regions. China also emerged as a superpower as a result of cold war with the support of the Soviet Union (Baldwin 558).

As a result of the emergence of the cold war, several historical changes have been noted. Since this modern form of warfare doesn't include the use of arms, the killings of uniformed men have never been witnessed again as it was done during WWI and WWII. This has therefore changed the history to the positive side since it has reduced to almost zero percent. The history of the development of industries, especially arms-producing ones, have also been seen. It has brought about a negative impact due to lack of market for the product and has even led to the closure of some. This is due to the absence of physical wars. It has also led to the emergence of new superpower countries, for instance, China. The history of such countries as China has therefore changed. The history of unions has also been noted, and union formation has also been noted. The dissolution of Soviet and USSR marked a great departure in the unions and their formation history. New but not powerful as Soviet and USSR have been formed since their dissolution. The emergence of the cold war has also led to a reduction in properties. It has also led to the elimination of the effects of harmful effects caused by explosives as it was witnessed during the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bomb blast. History of the usage of such weapons has therefore been changed, and thus such effects caused by the same bomb blast has been eliminated (Cerny 51).

If a different outcome after WWII apart from the emergence of the cold war had taken place, I think there might have occurred a lot of deaths maybe in war if another world war was experienced instead, non-growing economies, due to maybe lack of peace which tends to shy away from people from making investments, destruction of properties, this is usually a great impact of wars. Free movement of people might also have been hindered, thus limiting economic growth. On a positive note, the emergence of another outcome might have favoured the production of arms. Thus more powerful explosives as compared to the atomic bomb might have been witnessed to be produced.

In conclusion, the emergence of the cold war after WWII has helped a great deal. It is, therefore, a favourable form of war as it favors life, economic activities, innovations and inventions in harmony. It has also helped to reduced terrorist activities which could at now be intimidating countries state of security at any time of their wish.

The atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. At time when the Hiroshima photo was taken, the smoke from the burst of atomic bomb had risen 20,000 feet above and had covered an area of not less than 10,000 feet at the base rising column. Right photo shows the bombing Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, taken by Charles Levely The U.S. gave out the two nuclear weapons with the knowledge of United Kingdom, a requirement of Quebec agreement. The two-bombing claimed 129,000 and 226,000 people a large percentage being civilians, and remain the one and only uses of nuclear weapons in arm conflict (Arnold 126). History claims that the central intention of initiating the two massive explosions in the two Japanese cities was to let the Japanese surrender from the war. However, the rumors during investigation that the potential parties’ behind the origin of the explosions was the United States sparked Japan into the production of weapons and other military tools. The practice imminently propagated the beginning of cold war.

Works Cited

Arnold, Lorna. "The history of nuclear weapons: The Frisch-Peierls Memorandum on The Possible Construction of Atomic Bombs of February 1940," Cold War History, vol 3, no. 3, 2003, pp. 111-126.

Baldwin, Melinda. "Scientific Autonomy, Public Accountability, and the Rise of “Peer Review” In the Cold War United States," Isis, vol 109, no. 3, 2018, 538-558.

Cerny, Philip G. "Plurilateralism: Structural Differentiation and Functional Conflict in the Post-Cold War World Order," Millennium, vol 22, no. 1, 1993, pp. 27-51.

Cull, Nicholas J. "The Cold War and The United States Information Agency: American Propaganda and Public Diplomacy, 1945–1989," Naval War College Review, vol62, no.2, 2009, p14.

Maguire, A. "World politics Explained: The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Photograph. The Conversation, 3 Sept. 2018, images.theconversation.com/files/234600/original/file-20180903-41729-1xnbp60.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=926&fit=clip.

Schlesinger, Arthur. "Origins of the Cold War," Foreign Affairs, vol 46, no. 1, 1967, pp. 22-52.