Who won the Cold War?

[MegalomaniacVirus]

I was talking to a man from the Ukraine and he says that the Soviet Union won the Cold War but I think that the USA won the Cold War.

Who's right?

[reviewer-general]

The USSR no longer exists, but we do, what does that tell you?

lol

There wasn't really a clear winner, both sides pretty much agreed to a disarmament because saner minds realized the direction they were heading.

[MortifiedPenguins]

At 3/15/07 09:01 PM, MegalomaniacVirus wrote: I was talking to a man from the Ukraine and he says that the Soviet Union won the Cold War but I think that the USA won the Cold War.

Who's right?

Where's the Soviet Union then?

Please, find it?

[reviewer-general]

At 3/15/07 09:06 PM, MortifiedPenguins wrote: Where's the Soviet Union then?

I believe I made that point already.

I've been doing some brush up research on my history:

-By the early 80s, The Soviets had the biggest armed forces in the world, both by numerical measures, and also by the weapons able to be utilized by the Soviets. Naturally, supporting such a large army puts a massive drain on resources. Numbers show that up to 25% of the GNP were required to keep this massive war machine oiled. Figuratively and literally. Therefore there was little money or food, etc., to be invested in the consumer aspects of the USSR, pushing the Soviets economic growth rate close to zero by the the time Gorbachev [sp?] took power with his ideas of perestroika and glasnost; rapid reforms. The Soviets also took a massive blow economically when the price on oil fell sharply. Facing a total meltdown econmically and under increasing pressure by the US, the Soviets rushed to make concessions and scale back the arms race, as well as agreeing not to interfere in Eastern Europe. In 1989 the Cold War was officially declared over as the USSR neared collapse and the Communists struggled to hold power. Stoping the arms production also greatlly hurt the Russian population, one in five who worked in the manufacturing aspect of this war. But that is another story . . .

Thats it in a nutshell . . .

[MortifiedPenguins]

At 3/15/07 09:20 PM, reviewer-general wrote:

At 3/15/07 09:06 PM, MortifiedPenguins wrote: Where's the Soviet Union then?

I believe I made that point already.

Actually, we were making it at the same time, someone just posted it a wee bit earlier.

[Dr-Worm]

At 3/15/07 09:01 PM, MegalomaniacVirus wrote: I was talking to a man from the Ukraine and he says that the Soviet Union won the Cold War but I think that the USA won the Cold War.

Who's right?

I really hope you're kidding.Sigh...

The USSR collapsed and every former Soviet Socialist Republic (including Russia) is now a steaming shithole of poverty, corruption, and kleptomania.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is the world's only remaining superpower.

I'll let you read that and try to figure out who won the Cold War.

[Brick-top]

There are no winners in cold wars. It's ironic that we call it cold war where there is no war to speak of. Just flashing you're pistol and see if the other guy flashes his.

[MightierThanThou]

At 3/16/07 05:33 AM, I-have-2-arms wrote: There are no winners in cold wars. It's ironic that we call it cold war where there is no war to speak of. Just flashing you're pistol and see if the other guy flashes his.

The fact that both sides had nukes makes what you said irrelevant.

The war was more of a struggle to outperform the other in military as well as political and economic terms. The US won because the US outperformed the USSR all around. The US is now the worlds lone superpower. Capitalism, which the US epitomizes, now reigns supreme in the world. Communism, that the Soviet Union epitomized is now almost non existent in a similar form other than in name. Even China has developed capitalist economic policies, it still may be a brutal communist government, but it saw that Capitalism always succeeds over Communism.

The Soviet Union lost, the US won, it's as simple as that. The Soviet no longer exists, and all but 2 of the former USSR member states have aligned themselves with the US, the only countries that constitute the former Soviet Union that haven't are Russia and Belarus.

The other 15 giddily adopted better relations with the US the moment Moscow relinquished power (with the US engineering and overseeing the transition of power).

Modern Democratic Capitalism founded by and maintained by the US outperformed and defeated Authoritarian "Socialism" that was embodied in the Soviet Union.

The US won the Cold War.

End of discussion.

[cure4death]

the cold war just ended with no winners. im sure if the US won they would have had some parade or some day named after it. The cold war is just something that i think the world (aka USA...) wants to forget... the war they "won" by not blowing anything up.

*sniff* so proud of you guys... when you still stood for something.

[Larzas]

The Furons won.
Cryptosporidium-138 single-handedly defeated the USSR.

On a serious note- I really don't know.
Of all topics we haven't gone into full study in Social Studies, the Cold War is one of them.

At 3/16/07 11:32 AM, Larzas wrote: On a serious note- I really don't know.
Of all topics we haven't gone into full study in Social Studies, the Cold War is one of them.

In that case why are you posting?

[MidgetHobo]

At 3/15/07 09:06 PM, MortifiedPenguins wrote: Where's the Soviet Union then?

In my pocket.

[SirXVII]

Just because a man lives in Ukrain doesn't mean he's not stupid.

I assume the collapse of the USSR made the Cold War end in the US favor.

[highland-toffee-cow]

'm doing this just now in school. Don't forget that it isin't just US, it was NATO vs USSR even though USA was the most important member there were also other countries involved. Since the cold "war" ended there hasn't been a major war in Europe for like 55 years. In my opinion i think NATO was a success and are basically the "winners" of the cold war.

[TheMason]

At 3/16/07 05:33 AM, I-have-2-arms wrote: There are no winners in cold wars. It's ironic that we call it cold war where there is no war to speak of. Just flashing you're pistol and see if the other guy flashes his.

Actually the Cold War was more than you make it out. The Cold War was frequently hot, especially during the following proxy wars:

Korea
Vietnam
Afghanistan

The first two involved one superpower (the US) militarily intervening in the internal politics of divided nations, while the other (the USSR) provided behind the scenes support to the Communist side.

The last involved a superpower (the USSR) invading another country and the other (the US) supplying the resistance fighters and foreign insurgents with weapons and funding for training (the US never really trained the Mujahideen, but we did finance it).

All three wars significantly bloodied the nose of the superpower who was overtly fighting, and the last one was one of the major events that lead to the collapse of the USSR.

As for who won:

Immediate Winners
US
NATO

Long-term Winners
China
Japan
Korea
India
al-Qaida/Political Islam

Immediate Losers
USSR
Warsaw Pact

Long-term Losers
The Middle East
Eurasia

[Eoewe]

Quit posing as a faux intellectual.

[Der-Lowe]

At 3/16/07 03:55 PM, highland-toffee-cow wrote: 'm doing this just now in school. Don't forget that it isin't just US, it was NATO vs USSR even though USA was the most important member there were also other countries involved. Since the cold "war" ended there hasn't been a major war in Europe for like 55 years.

How could there have been no war in Europe for 55 years after the end of the Cold War, if 55 years haven't still passed since the end?

Anyway, if you consider the Cold War as US vs. USSR, yes, the US won clearly. But if you consider a war of ideologies, it's more mixed, since few countries have the US way of thinking, and socialist goverments are getting more popular (socialist, not communist, meaning a strong influence of the State in the economy, call it keynesianism, if you like).

[TSCom]

What the fuck? The USA won it, dumb ass. The Soviet Union was gradually drained of financial resources by insiting in competing with USA in the Nuclear Arms Race and the Space Race.

USA won.

[SolInvictus]

At 3/15/07 09:01 PM, MegalomaniacVirus wrote: I was talking to a man from the Ukraine and he says that the Soviet Union won the Cold War but I think that the USA won the Cold War.

no one really won since no one defeated the other, but one side definetley lost.

[Ptcfast]

U.S.A won by default, Russia's economy collapsed from communism.

[HippyDippyGandalf]

Does anybody get the feeling this thread was made for the sole purpose of pissing people off?

[highland-toffee-cow]

Aye most likely.

At 3/15/07 09:01 PM, MegalomaniacVirus wrote: I was talking to a man from the Ukraine and he says that the Soviet Union won the Cold War but I think that the USA won the Cold War.

If the soviets really won you would be referring to him as a soviet/russian not a ukrainian.

[morefngdbs]

It was a tie, nobody won.

[Ancient-Evil]

The Americans are too big headed. They say THEY won world war 2. DID THE SHITE! They HELPED. The cold war was a stalemate as neather side wanted to rick a nuclear war. No matter how you word it IT WAS A FUCKING DRAW. Man, the Yanks don't like to lose. If either side won the other side wouldn't exist. Sure the USSR broke up but the cities and countries are still there. That's just my opinion. You'd be better off reading the history books from both sides and comming to your own desision though.

[YHWH]

How the fuck can anyone say it was a draw? The USSR completely collapsed; the US remained strong. The USSR lost its position as superpower; the US remained as the lone superpower. Hell, most of the nations that made up the USSR aligned with the US immediately after the collapse. If that's a draw, then there is no such thing as a victory.

[LordJaric]

At 3/16/07 05:33 AM, Brick-top wrote: There are no winners in cold wars. It's ironic that we call it cold war where there is no war to speak of. Just flashing you're pistol and see if the other guy flashes his.

The definition of the cold war is compution between the superpowers, like the arms and space race.

[Bolo]

At 4/13/07 05:44 PM, Ancient-Evil wrote: The Americans are too big headed. They say THEY won world war 2.

Question: What allied countries were still standing, in the war, prior to the United States' entrance in early 1942?

Hint: There was only one.

If the US hadn't gotten involved on the Western front, I think England would've eventually fallen to the Nazis. Then they would've regrouped and gone after the USSR—and perhaps after solidifying their victories on other fronts, the outcome of Hitler's infamously disastrous crusade in the Soviet Union would've turned out differently. America's involvement was key to Allied success. Probably the factor that tipped the scales in favor of an Allied victory.

DID THE SHITE! They HELPED.

The American GIs fucking destroyed the "impenetrable" Atlantic wall on D-Day. Right, saving the world's ass constitutes "helping".

[Phen0]

I say they both won, because there never was a war.
Nobody lost, everybody won.

[LegendaryLukus]

To put it VERY simply, the US 'won' the Cold War, since the Russians lost. The collapse of the Soviet Union signalled an end to the long stand-off, with the USA as the survivor. Such a momentus point in history, and he we all are, bickering about who won.

Has Russia changed since the collapse of the USSR though? Are the people any better off? Russia is still a threat, but at least the US won.