Looking back over the centuries representing American history, it is easy to call the great military negotiations representing the great wars of this country. From World War II to the Cold War to Korea to World War I, the United States participated in many military operations and emerged victorious in all but a few. But one of the strangest, longest-running wars the United States has been in is the so-called "Cold War".
In many Americans living today, the Cold War proved to be a reality for decades. The reason for the cold war was that there was no battlefield, no troops sent, no body statistics and no major negotiations to be reported. Instead it was a long period of silent hostilities between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted from the end of World War II until the early 1990's.
Ironically, the Cold War grew in our relationship with the Soviet Union during World War II, which was a friendly relations. But the seeds of “conflict” were there at the end of that terrible war. With the advent of nuclear technology, the idea of a "great power" was born. This did not cause controversy until the Soviet Union itself launched the bombing and there was a long cold stand when both nations trained thousands of these weapons to warn each other never to consider firing those weapons.
It was a hotly contested competition that lasted nearly fifty years and created a struggle for both economies. Both countries had to maintain their own “equality” of nuclear weapons, so neither country has achieved more than it has, thus lowering its power balance and giving one of its soldiers the opportunity to do so. This was a strange idea because both countries had ample weapons to destroy the world many times but still insisted on “cooperation” throughout the Cold War.
It was clear that no war between the Soviet Union and the United States could be tolerated. The potential effect of such weapons was potentially devastating to life on earth. But no country was willing to lay down its arms and start a peace process with another. So the weapons kept blazing, day after day, year after year, for fifty years.
So instead of waging war directly, both nations are fighting on a global scale. The Soviet Union, in cooperation with China, happily contributed to the humiliating loss of Vietnam in the United States. But then the United States turned around and armed the Afghan Mujahideen which led to the defeat of the Soviet Union in their occupation of that country. From representative wars, air racing, and occasional confrontations such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War continued for decades to test the will and determination of both countries to never look back and offer another chance.
Pressure on the economies of both countries finally had a devastating effect in the early 1990's, especially in the Soviet Union as pressure to stabilize the costly and productive war forced the Soviet economy to collapse and the empire disintegrated. The United States had won a cold war with a will that was full of tolerance and a stubborn refusal to acknowledge. This is not often the case with the American spirit but is what the Soviets learned from their own tragedy not to explore. Hopefully, no other “superpowers” will ever think they are equipped to explore it again.
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