Task: The focus of this topic should reveal a clear division between the two main adversaries of the cold war.

The two main adversaries of the Cold War were the United States and the Soviet Union. There was a prolonged period of competition and confrontations between the two countries beginning at the end of World War II.

The United States and Great Britain reached some agreements with the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. One agreement was that the new government in Poland after World War II would have some members of the pre-war government in it. There would also be free elections. After the World War II ended, the new government had very few members of the pre-war government in it, and there was no sign of free elections. Another agreement reached, known as the Declaration of Liberated Europe, was to allow European countries to choose the kind of government they wanted to have. The King of Romania, however, said he was pressured to have a communist government.

The Soviet Union wanted to spread communism. We wanted to prevent it from spreading. This to led to many areas of confrontation with the Soviet Union. The European Recovery Program offered aid to countries that were trying to prevent communism from spreading there. Greece and Turkey were examples of countries that accepted aid and remained noncommunist. The Soviet Union tried to force the Allies out of West Berlin by establishing the Berlin Blockade. All land routes into West Berlin were cut off by the Soviet Union. We responded with the Berlin Airlift, flying supplies over the blockade. The airlift lasted until the blockade ended.

We also opposed the attempt to expand communism into South Korea. When North Korea, unprovoked, invaded South Korea, we went to the United Nations to deal with this invasion. The United Nations, led by the United States, pushed the Soviet-backed North Korea out of South Korea.

The United States and the Soviet Union also clashed over communist-controlled Cuba. We blockaded the Cuban coast when we discovered the Soviet Union was building missile sites and placing missiles in Cuba. This led to an intense two-week crisis known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The United States and the Soviet Union competed in other areas also. There was a race to get the first satellite into space. The Soviet Union accomplished that first, but we were the first to land an astronaut on the moon. The two countries also competed in sports. The United States and the Soviet Union had intense competitions in world competitions and in the Olympic games.

The United States and the Soviet Union clearly were on the opposite ends of many issues between 1945-1990.