Western leaders were seriously
concerned about the USSR’s growing influence in the postwar world.
The Soviet victory over a fascist capitalist state served to enhance
the global appeal of Communist ideology. Following the postwar
collapse of European overseas colonies, many of the newly
independent countries in the third world adopted a socialist
orientation. Soviet influence appeared to spread like a tidal wave
across the entire globe: from Eastern Europe to China, from Vietnam
to Cuba. Even within Western democracies themselves the popularity
of Communist parties was far from negligible.
NATO VS. WARSAW PACT 1949-90
The extreme
rivalry and distrust between the two antagonistic camps of
states—one led by the USSR, the other by the United
States—threatened repeatedly to engulf the world in a global
conflict. The world entered the era of the cold war that was to last
for nearly a half century (1946-91). At its core was the intense
military, economic, ideological, and political competition between
the two socioeconomic models: the system of capitalism and the
system of socialism.
By the 1970s
the Soviet Union had achieved seemingly assured superpower status
through military parity with the United States. Not since the days
of Nicholas I had Russian power been rated so highly at home or
abroad.
