American History (Dr. Stansbury): Superpower Confrontation Essay

This essay examines America's role as a superpower, focusing on confrontations during the Cold War and Post-Cold War periods. The introduction sets the stage by defining the Cold War and its tensions. The body of the essay delves into specific strategic concerns and confrontations, such as the domino theory and the Vietnam War during the Cold War, and the concerns related to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and the Gulf War in the Post-Cold War era. The essay compares the two periods, highlighting similarities in US military power and economic stability while also noting key differences. The conclusion reinforces the idea of the US as a constant participant in conflicts and its emergence as a superpower. The essay uses sources to support its arguments.

I. M. “Always” Wright
Assignment 3
3/9/2020
American History
Dr.Stansbury
America as Superpower—Confrontation in a Nuclear Age (1947-Present)

Introduction
Cold War was a period of political as well as social tension between Russia and the USA
along with their allies popularly known as the eastern as well as western block. Post cold war
was too filled with tensions because of the proxy wars. The aim of the essay is to discuss the
strategic concern and confrontation from cold war to post cold war.
HISTORY AND ISSUES
One of the strategic concern during the cold war was the domino theory where the USA
suggested that if one state accepts communism then the neighbouring states too would follow the
same path each will fall like an aligned row of dominos. It was suggested by President
Eisenhower thinking about Vietnam (Zobnin, 2016). The strategy was primarily devised to see
the activities of South east Asia. It was devised to support non-communism in Vietnam. They
feared that their failure to prevent communism in Vietnam had little impact than they had
thought in the domino theory (Zobnin, 2016). Vietnam war was considered to be one of the
confrontation of the USA in the cold war period and was known as the proxy war. Though the
USA and Soviet Union did not go to war however each of them supported different sides during
the war (Wiest & McNab 2016). The war was to prevent the spread of communism throughout
the Southeast Asia. It was considered as a struggle because it never took shape of the war but at
the same time it was very dangerous. The American morale had become weak after the war.
After the cold war the USA had other strategic concern relating to WMD. The latter was
considered as a political as well as sensitive construct. The USA defined it explosives and
radioactive weapons. They defined these weapons as unconventional so that they would be able
to distinguish it from munitions (Atrey et al., 2019). Throughout the post cold war they were

concerned about the developed nations who would use these munitions that would cause
causalities in popular areas. The USA confrontation after the post cold war started when the Iraqi
president Saddam Hussein decided to invade Kuwait in August 1990. The US president Bush
condemned the invasion. They requested Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. When it was denied in
1991 the US led air offensive hit that slowly moved to Kuwait’s communication network, oil
refineries as well as weapon sites (Gerbner, 2018). The Iraqi airforce was destroyed and had to
combat the attack that was relentless.
COMPARISON
One of the comparison between the two periods was that during both the periods the
USA was engulfed in war. During both the periods the US showed their military power and
strong resentment towards those who posed a threat to them. During both the periods the US
was economically stable. However there were differences between the two periods.
CONCLUSION
Therefore to conclude it must be noted that the US was always a superpower who were
always involved in war or struggle whether directly or indirectly. They never hesitated to
actively participate in war. The cold war initiated the difference between the USA and the Soviet
Union. The post cold war was a period of peace between the USA and the Soviet Union. The
arms race reduced compared to the cold war era. The USA was thus able to establish themselves
as a superpower.

Sources
Atrey, P. K., Trehan, B., & Saini, M. K. (2019). Watch Me from Distance (WMD) A Privacy-
Preserving Long-Distance Video Surveillance System. ACM Transactions on Multimedia
Computing, Communications, and Applications (TOMM), 15(2), 1-18.
Gerbner, G. (2018). Persian Gulf War. Triumph Of The Image: The Media's War In The Persian
Gulf, A Global Perspective, 243.
Wiest, A., & McNab, C. (2016). The Vietnam War. Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC.
Zobnin, A. V. (2016). Domino theory within the foreign political thought. Politics and Society,
(10), 1323-1334.