The Vietnam War: The Period Of The Cold War

The period of the Cold war began in 1945 following World War II after the defeat of Hitler, Germany and Japan. The Cold War wasn’t a one time event, rather it was a long period of fighting between the leadership of the Western World and Eastern Europe. The two countries known as superpowers led the charge with the Western side led by the USA and Eastern Europe led by the Soviet Union. Although once allies during World War II, mistrust with the leadership of Joseph Stalin and his leadership caused the USA to take a stand against the communist country. Although a war was never formally declared, the two super powers fought indirectly through proxy wars, space race, and arms race.
Proxy wars came about during the time of other wars and the support of USSR and the USA on opposing sides. The Korean War and Vietnam wars, for example, each had a different super power on their side.
Likewise, it was important to both the USA and USSR to demonstrate they had bigger, better and more weapons and bombs than the other.
The end of the Cold War came during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. While the Reagan administration increased military spending, the Soviet Union attempted to keep up with this arms race, but eventually ran out of funds and went broke trying to do so. As a result, the USSR could no longer afford the most basic of consumer products, so their economy and their country