Discuss whether the Cold War was caused more by political ideology or technology. Why did this issue come to overshadow the process and importance of decolonization?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER:
The Cold War was really a matter of ideology that took advantage of the changing technology, allowing an arms race that escalated along political lines. The original cause was the breakdown of relations between the USSR and the Western Allies in the wake of World War II. During wartime, the fundamentally incompatible political philosophies of communism and capitalism were set aside to fight Hitler; the fight took on an ideological slant as communism fought to prove its viability and to fight against the opposite, fascism. Once the war was over and the alliance ended, the USSR could proceed with plans to extend communism throughout the world, a process that was opposed by Western nations. Churchill warned of this in discussing the threat of the "iron curtain" as the USSR annexed satellite states in central and eastern Europe as a "buffer zone" against renewed hostilities. As the military-industrial complex developed more advanced war machines, each side stocked weapons, particularly nuclear bombs but also long-distance missiles, improved aircraft, and finally, most alarming to the West, space ships. The United Nations provided a diplomatic forum to explore these ideological differences, but the formation of NATO and its counterpart in the East, the Warsaw Pact, reflected continuing Cold War rivalry. The Cold War escalated with the arms buildup and also through proxy wars, with the USSR supporting emerging decolonized nations that leaned toward communism, and the West trying to support noncommunist governments, particularly in Asia. The Cold War overshadowed decolonization primarily because it involved industrialized nations (principally the United States and the USSR) with the technology to destroy the globe.