Perspectives on the Cold War, Decolonization, and the Vietnam War Essay

Perspectives on the Cold War, Decolonization, and the Vietnam War - Essay Example and the USSR entered the postwar age as adversaries. Their competition for worldwide supremacy formed a phenomenon referred to as the Cold War. The Second World War also aided to fasten the pace of nationalism or self-rule in the earlier colonies, in Europe. From 1945 to 1985, over 90 nations (a third of the world’s populace) attained self-rule from their colonies. As decolonization happened together with the Cold War, the two worldwide occurrences had an extremely close, as well as interrelated past, with each one persuading the character and context of the other. This paper will make use of various historical documents to look into the ideas, perceptions and strategies, which formed the course of the Cold War and decolonization. Also, during the Cold War era, individuals invoked tough moral stands in a world filled concurrently with fear of one’s enemies and purpose to create circumstances for a brighter future, mainly in Third World nations (Sanders, Nelson, Morillio n and Ellenberger 190). Using the introductory material and documents from the section in the textbook, Perspectives on the Cold War, Decolonization and the Vietnam War, this paper will explain and analyze the historical context in which these developments occurred and the specifics of moral arguments made by individuals from the United States, the Soviet Union and Vietnam. In both sentiment and rhetoric, the Cold War was frequently perceived and viewed as a moral crusade (Sanders, Nelson, Morillion and Ellenberger 190). It was also perceived as a prolonged endeavor between the right and the wrong. These parties perceived themselves as the superior and exclusive model for the entire world. They each sought to use this view as a reason for their actions. To the people from the Soviet Union, Americans were aggressors, warmongers, capitalist imperialists and exploiters. To the Americans, on the other hand, communists were deceitful, expansionists, dishonorable and fanatics. Therefore, the cold war turned into something far more than simply a geopolitical attempt to benefit and attract other spheres of influence. The Cold War was also the basis of decolonization in much of Asia and Africa. Even though, opposition against European colonialism started much before the independence group gained momentum following the Second World War, much effect of decolonization was felt during the Cold War. Led by educated and determined elites, nationalist movements both in Asia and Africa mobilized their people to struggle for independence and resist colonial authority. In some regions, the formation of political groups, as well as the use of mass rebellions and public disobedience, forced the colonizers to offer independence in a fairly peaceful and orderly way. However, in other regions such as Kenya, Algeria and Angola, the colonizers forcefully endeavored to hang on to power, and it led to the formation of liberation movements, which caused actual fighting (Sanders, Nelson, M orillion and Ellenberger 191). Soviet’s thoughts of the U.S. and the Cold War As a leader of the USSR for more than 20 years, Josef Vissarionovich Stalin was one of the most significant figures of the 20th century (Sanders, Nelson, Morillion and Ellenberger 194). Stalin joined the Bolshevik Party, meaning communist and became one of the closest collaborators to communism. Having cautiously secured his political role by 1930, Josef managed a number of