The space race was an important aspect of the Cold War. Both the Soviet Union and the United States wanted to prove who the superior superpower was. Each had launched satellites with varying degrees of success until the U.S had ultimately landed on the moon.The space race was more than just space exploration, it was about proving who was more superior, who had better technology, it helped to gain the confidence of the citizens throughout the war. It was not seen as just a race to the moon but as the U.S versus the Soviet Union, Capitalism versus Communism.The space race helped improve today’s technology and educational system, but to understand how it affected today’s world you must understand the space race and the Cold War.
The Cold War was a continuing conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.Even though they were former allies in World War II, they were always opposed to each other because of their beliefs. The Cold War is said to have begunin thepost-World War II period and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This war began as more of a politicalstruggle with both the Soviet Union and the United States trying to gain other country’s support. Each shared its own view of how it saw the world in the future.However, on March 12, 1947 the United States president Harry S. Truman delivered a speech in which he talked about a new policy.The so-called Truman Doctrine stated that the United States would give economic and military aid to smaller countries in need to help prevent them from falling into communism at the hands of the Soviets (Cold War pg.1).
If the United States began helping one country fight another that the Soviets were aiding, that is an example of Proxy warfare. Proxy warfare is when two super powers use smaller countries to fight each other instead of fighting directly. This was very common during the Cold War because since the U.S and the Soviet Union both had nuclear weapons, the entire world would be at risk...