Cold war and decolonization Essay - 550 Words

Cold war and decolonization (Essay Sample) Content: Cold war and decolonizationCold war is not actually a war but a supremacy contest that was there between capitalist front led by the United States and communism front led by the Soviet Union. It involved scramble of the regions that seemed of common interest to both, not excluding: Germany, Middle Eastern Asia, south East and North East Asia. This contest seemed to be a way to prove the superiority of economic and political system in power generation and development models of the then new independent nations (Harper 1).Origin of cold warThe origin of this war was nothing short of ideological differences between capitalists and communists. Outlined are the immediate factors that led to cold war (Arnold and Roberta xiii-xiv):Opposing ideologiesWorld War II was aimed at defeating the Nazi government as the world's common enemy. After achieving it the main superpowers were sharply divided since each one wanted to spread its influence in nations that they occupied during t he war. Americans and allied nations were opposed to Soviet's communism and one party rule ideologies.Atomic bombIn 1945, United States and Britain were involved in Manhattan program, where they were developing atomic bombs and other weapons of mass destruction. They did this secretly and in exclusion of USSR. In knowing this the Soviet Union was angered by the move and fearing that the two would use those weapons to force them out of Eastern Europe and therefore started opposing the move.Power vacuumsAfter the World War II there were power vacuums in Europe and the two fronts at war were divided on the type of government that would be set in the area, especially the Eastern Europe in which Germany and Poland were the main nations of interest.As a result of the war there was a sharp division in Germany leading to Eastern communist state and western capitalist and a wall divided the two. Americans on the other hand spread their influence so strongly following the famous Marshall plan , which aimed at reviving the ruined European economy. This war ended in 1989 after the wall that had divided Germany came down after twenty eight years.Effects of decolonization after the World War IIAfter 1945 decolonization program was established to see that every Nation in the world had a stable government in place. It mostly affected an overseas colonial territory as a whole, where it was highly misinterpreted and misused by European colonial masters for selfish gains. The program resulted to: scramble and partition of Africa, disintegration of indigenous systems of government, assimilation, marginalization and increased societal discrimination (Abate and Elizabeth 41). Positively decolonization led to the rise of strong figures in various parts of the world like in Northern Africa where Muammar Gaddafi established an African Islamic state of Libya (Dayson 215). Other Africans whose eyes had been opened by this movement were able to organize themselves in to transnational mov ement that saw them included in international human rights in law making. Such kind of movements enabled indigenous people to familiarize themselves with the western world and in the process they even created societies in the West.During the cold war the misinterpretation of decolonization program went even further where the colonial masters used their colonies to spread their influence across the world. Many social facilities were set up in colonies to black mail the indigenous people so that they could be source of aid in spreading capitalism.Israel and its role in Middle EastSince Israel was founded, it has all through been under protection of U.S. The U.S. government has been for a long time tried to destabilize Palestine Liberation Organization in favor of Israel (Amirahmadi 125). However the move is not aimed to bring a lasting peace between the two nati...