HIS263Y1 Lecture : Canada and the Cold War
Document Summary
A term that is applied to relations between liberal countries of north america and western europe and communist countries of western europe and asia. North america competed with communist china on several levels. 1945-1948, soviets imposed dominance in several areas in eastern europe and local communists take over china in 1949. The us and other liberal democracies forged alliances to fight communism. Both sides said that the other was bent on world domination. The us called for the mobilization of all wills and resources against the global communist threat. Both sides possessed nuclear weapons, so a direct confrontation would have been catastrophic. Both focused on ideological competition and local and regional struggles. For the us, it meant that credibility was important. The us threat had to be credible in the soviet union. Both sides aimed to keep up with the others" technological advancements and the number of weapons, particularly nuclear.
