The Journey of Flight.pdf - Valkyrie Cadet

Chapter Chapter 5 5 5 - - AA
Aviation: A viation: F FFrom
FF
rom the the Cold Cold WW
War W ar to to Desert Desert Storm
Storm
Setting Setting the the Stage:
Stage:
The The P PPolitical
P olitical Situation
Situation
The postwar years (after World War II) were called the “Cold War.” The Soviet Union (Russia)
tried to increase her influence in the world, and the United States tried to prevent the spread of the
communist influence.
Although the Soviet Union and the United States were Allies during World War II, they did not
share the same ideas on freedom, economics and government. The Soviet Union (Russia) had been
hurt terribly by World War II and by previous wars. They wanted to ensure that never happened again.
They also desired all the countries that were near them to be friendly towards them. So they directly
influenced these nations’ fate after World War II and beyond.
The countries the Soviet Union had liberated during World War II (Hungary, Czechoslovakia,
Rumania, Yugoslavia, Poland, East Germany, etc.) were shaped in the image of the Soviet Union. The
Soviet Union installed governments that restricted people’s freedoms, created socialist economies,
and unrepresentative governments. All of these were exactly what the United States did not favor. The
United States believed in freedom of speech, freedom to choose your religion, freedom to choose who
represents you in government, and the freedom to choose what you want to do in life.
The United States and the Soviet Union clearly did not believe in the same things. This led to their
antagonistic relationship. This relationship was known as the “Cold War” because their objective was
not to get into a “hot” war. They both wanted to influence what happened in the world, but they didn’t
want to go to war. If they went to
war, leaders feared it would be the
last world war. The destruction
would be too great. The two sides
were clearly marked off. The Soviet
Union and her new socialist friends,
and the United States and her Allies.
Each side was trying to influence
as many countries as possible into
believing in its system of
government and economics. The
Cold War was so influential it shaped
many of the developments in the
world including the development of
aviation.
The Douglas JD-1 served in WWII, then again during the
Cold War.
Militar Military Militar y Developments
Developments
Just like after World War I, the United States immediately rushed to “return to normal.” The Army
Air Forces had 2,125,000 men in uniform in September 1945, and by January 1946, there were less
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