The End of the Cold War

                The Cold war, which was dated from 1947 – 1991, was political and military tension between powers in the Western bloc, dominated by the United States with NATO allies, and Eastern bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union with Warsaw Pact allies.  Although it is was called a ‘’war’’, no fighting was involved.  The U.S. and the USSR, each possessing nuclear power, were giving each other the ‘’cold shoulder’’.  Each kept sending spy’s over because both wanted to make sure no nuclear bombs were being sent to the other country. 

                 During this time there were two important leaders that had a lot to do with the Cold War.  The president of the United States, Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.  Both leaders wanted to stop the cold war.  On May 18^th, 1987 Reagan gave a speech to encourage the destruction of the Berlin Wall.  On November 1985, at Reykjavik Summit, Iceland, the two leaders met to discuss a treaty on intermediate nuclear missiles.  But soon it became an argument and the two began disagreeing and no treaty was signed.

                 Another important event of the Cold War was the fall of the Berlin Wall.  East Germany and West Germany were separated and nobody was allowed to cross or climb over the wall to get to the other side.  If the wall was put up when you were visiting family on the east side and you were from the west (or vice versa) you wouldn’t be able to get back home.  This all came to an end on November 9 1989.  People came from both sides and started hammering away at the wall to knock it down. Although the mob was big, the guards could not stop it.  Germans were celebrating and were extremely happy for this was going to be a day to remember.  As Germans came over from the opposite side, people welcomed them and greeted them like they had never greeted anyone before.  Twenty – eight years of bondage and they were free at last.

                  The Cold War also cause a lot of big problems.  Nuclear power was one of them.  The United States and USSR were afraid that each was making nuclear bombs to set off on the other country.  No accidents happened in either country.  But unfortunately, two nuclear power plants had their own accidents; one at the Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania and one in Chernobyl.  At Three Mile Island, one of their reactors stopped working and began to give off dangerous radioactivity.  Thankfully nobody was hurt.  In Chernobyl, a much bigger disaster occurred.  Instead of a non – working reactor, theirs got to hot and exploded.  So much radiation was in the air, thousands of people were exposed.  To stop more radiation from going into the air, scientists put a huge metal and concrete dome over the plant so that no more radioactivity would escape.      ( Chernobyl left - Three Mile Island right )

 

                      The end of the Cold War was simple.  When the Berlin Wall came down it was over.  In 1990 East and West Germany were finally unified.  The Soviet Union then broke up into little nations and couldn’t control Eastern Europe anymore.  The Cold War was a big event with many problems and problems that were solved and it always will be remembered.