Example DBQ- The Cold War was a time of political and ideological tensions where the two major global superpowers of the time the United States and the Soviet Union disagreed over their political and ideological standpoints (capitalism vs communism). This conflict arose after the tragedies that occurred after the World Wars. During this time it was very privileged to call the Cold War "cold" as around the world the interventions of the superpowers on minor problems created proxy wars that caused more damage than they should have. Due to these conflicts there was the creation of the non-aligned movement in which countries searched for neutrality in the situation apart from the two superpowers but it was not always successful. The recently independent African countries of the time were not fully able to conduct their independent policies due to the pressures of the superpowers to choose economic ideologies and the remaining effects of past imperialism and the continued dependency of these countries.New African states were not free to implement their policies due to the pressures of the USA and USSR to choose whether they would implement a capitalist or not society. As countries wished to disassociate themselves from the problematic creating movements such as the Non-alignment movement they were not always capable of reaching their full potential. Just as Frantz Fanon in Document 4 suggests they were part of these separate ideas "In order to devote themselves to the urgent economic tasks, to staving off hunger, to the improvement of man’s lot." This way countries could focus on themselves before going into an unnecessary conflict.The superpowers still continued with their pressures, this can be seen in Document 3 from (CIA) Director Allen Dulles " you expressed the opinion that the Congo is experiencing a classic communist takeover* whether or not Lumumba himself is a Communist or just playing the Communist game to help him solidify his power." The USA had an idea of the domino effect of communism and as one country began others would soon fall and it placed all its will on not letting that occur. The point of view of the same author plays key importance to understanding the reach of this domino idea as the CIA Director saw the nationalist ideas of the elected leader of the time as a communist game of its part working in secret and viewing communism as the sole enemy for its country. This is important as it comes into effect in the interventions done by the USA all for their own gain in the global market as it was not beneficial to have another country to communism. Still, countries had enough of the unnecessary conflicts these ideological differences brought to their people after such a long time fighting for independence.
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