Question

If you were a government leader of a third world country during the cold war, do you think that you would have been more likely to side with the U.S. or the Soviet Union? Would the location of your country make a difference?

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

If it was in Asia, bordering the Soviet Union, or in the Middle East, I would side with the Soviet Union. Through examples seen in Vietnam, the soviets would have potentially tried to preform a government change in my country to a more communist one. They could have also helped the current government run the country financially, or through armaments so that our government would become friendly with the soviets allowing them to influence my country, or make our government feel indebted towards them. They could also influence our countries inhabitants so they feel like siding with the soviets will be good for the country and benefit themselves.

Answer 2

My answer would totally be based on where my country is located.
If it was in Asia, bordering the Soviet Union, or in the Middle East, I would side with the Soviet Union. Through examples seen in Vietnam, the soviets would have potentially tried to preform a government change in my country to a more communist one. They could have also helped the current government run the country financially, or through armaments so that our government would become friendly with the soviets allowing them to influence my country, or make our government feel indebted towards them. They could also influence our countries inhabitants so they feel like siding with the soviets will be good for the country and benefit themselves. With this, added pressure from the population would be added to sway towards the soviets because of the fear of a coup from the people. Fear can also influence my country. If we were close to the soviets we may fear that the soviets would invade our country if we did not side with them. Not only would we fear a Soviet invasion, but an invasion from an ally of the soviets. An example would be Communist China who assisted North Korea in the Korean War.

All of these factors are vice versa with the U.S. Therefore, siding with the U.S or the Soviets would be a location based decision.

If the factor of location was out of the picture, I would side with the United States. I would choose the U.S because of the amount of freedoms given to the people in mainland United States and to the people living in the western bloc compared to soviet Russia and people living in the Eastern bloc. Another reason I would choose the U.S is because of fear of the power of their nuclear arsenal, as seen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki which ultimately ended the War between Japan and the United States.