The Cold War is among the brightest examples of inter-state tensions in the twentieth century. A few decades of the war became the period of global changes related to political affairs. The competition between the USSR and the USA, the dissolution of the former, and major armed conflicts in Korea and Vietnam are among the events that still impact the world.
The superpowers involved in the Cold War needed to mobilize all resources to prove their superiority. Unlike the nuclear arms race increasing the risks of global wars, competition related to space exploration caused the development of science and technology (Holland and Burns 9). As for the impact of these events, modern achievements, including satellite communication, would not be possible without the scientific discoveries made during the Cold War. The arms race led to increases in the production of weapons, and nowadays, multiple countries possess nuclear warheads (Bell and Miller 74). It requires the global community to implement new measures for arms control.
The dissolution of the USSR, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War are also among the political events influencing the world. The end of the USSR changed the geopolitical situation due to the formation of new states and conflicts between its former members (Rezaev 1). As for its long-term impact, this event significantly decreased the popularity of socialism. The Korean War changed the world by causing further division of Korea and the emergence of two drastically different political regimes (Cumings 330).
The war has a variety of consequences impacting modern people’s lives. For instance, the approach to development and censorship chosen by North Korea affects the country’s foreign relations with modern economic superpowers (Cumings 330). In the twentieth century, the Vietnam War changed the lives of millions of families leading to the country’s reunification and the growth of socialism. Apart from its long-term political effects, the war still impacts veterans and injures people’s health (Schlenger et al. 543). Thus, during the Cold War, there have been numerous events contributing to political changes.
To sum up, the discussed events that took place during the Cold War significantly changed the world. Their key effects include the continuous conflict between the capitalist and the socialist states, casualties of war, and progress in science. These consequences still impact people in many countries, mostly in a negative way.
Works Cited
Bell, Mark S., and Nicholas L. Miller. “Questioning the Effect of Nuclear Weapons on Conflict.” Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 59, no. 1, 2015, pp. 74-92.
Cumings, Bruce. “Imagining the Korean War.” Reviews in American History, vol. 45, no. 2, 2017, pp. 330-336.
Holland, Dora, and Jack O. Burns. “The American Space Exploration Narrative from the Cold War through the Obama Administration.” Space Policy, vol. 46, 2018, pp. 9-17.
Rezaev, Andrey V. “25 Years after the USSR: Comparative Sociological Accounts: Introduction to a Special Issue of Comparative Sociology.” Comparative Sociology, vol. 16, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1-12.
Schlenger, William E., et al. “PTSD and Use of Outpatient General Medical Services among Veterans of the Vietnam War.” Psychiatric Services, vol. 67, no. 5, 2016, pp. 543-550.