To what extent did the cold war really aid the world (and America specifically), who were the real winners, if any? Yes I know it is a broad question, but I think that I can re-specify it so that this paper will be a readable length. During the research process, I noticed that there were three general views of how the cold war ended:

(1) It was a great American victory; we stopped the evil empire. (Rourke, 2)

(2) It was an American loss, because the cost of the war, and it's after effects were so great. (Rourke, 2)

(3) It was a zero-sum game, in the end the costs were equal to the benefits

On the one hand there were some mostly good things did come from the cold war: the freedom of the Russia

and carries in itself the causes of its destruction. But both may have a constitution

There are no absolutes when interpreting history, this being said I think that the answers should be re-specified: in order for the results to be clearly positive, or negative the costs must either be less than or greater than the benefits respectively. If the costs and benefits are relatively equal, than it was a tie - a zero sum game. Armed with our new pseudo math, let's begin.

If we were to look over the negatives for a moment, the cold war was possibly the best thing that happened to the United States. During the 'war' we experienced a record economic and populous growth (boom of the 1950's, 60's, and 80's), and expanded the rights of Americans. Successfully evading a nuclear war with the USSR, the U.S. stands alone as the last great superpower. Competition between the two sides strengthened international agencies like the U.N., setting a historical precedent that the world had never seen before.

A majority of the benefits are intangible, or in the process of occurring, this intangibility makes it far more difficult to assess their value, what value does something not happening have? How can you put a figure on an evaded accident? Some are easier that others, it is obvious that as far as humans are concerned, the avoidance of a nuclear war has a great value. But what about the rest of them, how can we measure freedom abroad, and with the fall of the USSR will the international community remain strong? I think that the positive results will outlive the negative results, but this is an assumption, and cannot be proven (I would hope that when I am old, I would find this paper, and laugh at the temporary nature of the negative effects that I have cited). Using the evidence that is available now, it is far easier to make that case that the world is a big mess because of the cold war. (160,000+ Americans killed in military operations from Korea to Grenada, this is the most tangible evidence: 160,000 individual gravestones)

I contend that almost any major problem

Some common words found in the essay are:
, Russia United, United Nations, Sates NATO, Cuban Missile, Independence Constitution, Soviet American, Americans Successfully, cold war, Middle East, Korea Grenada, nuclear war, cuban missile crisis, 20th century, avoidance nuclear, military forces, missile crisis, rourke 2, cuban missile, avoidance nuclear war, costs benefits, nuclear weapons,
Approximate Word count = 1404
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)