World War II Compared with the Cold War

Figure 1. U.S. Marine after Battle of Eniwetok, found in the Marshall Islands during WWII.

World War II and the Cold War are inextricably linked, as the latter emerged from the unsettled endgame of the former, and from the deep ideological differences between the two major political and military powers of the twentieth century: the USSR and the United States. A temporary alliance during the war pushed the incompatibility of these belief systems into the background, but after the war’s conclusion in 1945 this rift would produce a new type of conflict. While both episodes are described by historians as “wars,” it’s important to understand why the later war is described as “cold.”

Figure 2. The Cold War Era is represented here with President John F. Kennedy in front of American flag and Premiere Nikita Khrushchev in front of Soviet flag.

As the first image to the left implies, World War II was largely fought by soldiers on the ground and sea, facing off in large-scale battles. This conventional model of war is what we think of when studying both World Wars or the American Civil War. It is fought out in the open, and often draws on the personal participation and support of the broad public.

The second image depicts U.S. president John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev against the background of their respective nation’s flag and separated by a silhouette of long-range missiles. This double image has the features of a poster, suggesting a contest not just between nations, but between opposed belief systems as symbolized by the stars and stripes and the hammer and sickle. In short, we can say that the Cold War was an indirect conflict where two adversaries sought to convince the non-aligned nations to join their side and adopt their political system. This campaign of influence proceeded in small, subtle steps, and not through decisive battles or singular events.

Introduction

To better understand the differences between World War II and the Cold War, our task is to think through and organize a comparative analysis. Recall that to analyze something is to break it down into its smaller elements and to consider how those elements are related to each other in meaningful ways. If we do this work on two related historical events, then we can see similarities and differences and place the events in a fuller, more detailed context.

Assignment

Step 1: Review the sections of from this module on the Cold War and the last about World War II, as well as any notes you took while reading that address the causes, overall objectives, key events, and key figures in these two episodes. Also consider what seemed to be at stake in how the two conflicts might be negotiated, or in how they might conclude.

Step 2: Fill in the grid below according to the categories of our comparative analysis. Try to locate at least two examples for each category. A few answers have been provided to get you started.

Step 3: When you’ve got the grid filled in, write a short paragraph or two (200 words maximum) explaining the differences between the “hot” conflict of World War II and the Cold War. Assume that your reader has a working knowledge of conventional wars such as World War II but is a little foggy on how to understand the details of the Cold War. If you find that some of your grid examples fit in both the World War II and Cold War categories, explain why.

A Note

Before moving on, we should pause to consider that the Cold War occasionally turned hot. That is, wars of smaller scale and shorter duration than World War II, such as the Korean War or the Vietnam War, were what historians call “proxy” wars. Given that a proxy is a stand-in or substitute, what historians mean by this term is that the major powers worked behind the scenes to direct, fund, and arm smaller nations that were aligned with or against them. For example, in the Vietnam War the United States was the primary backer of the fledgling democracy of South Vietnam, whereas the Communist fighters of North Vietnam benefited from the support of China and the USSR.

Rubric