Characteristics

16. By the 1970s, both superpowers had attained the level of military power for mutually assured destruction, or the aptly named MAD. That is, both nations had the nuclear ability to wipe each other out if any “funny business” was observed from either side.
17 The USSR could not match the US in terms of economical power, as the US entered an economic boom, with great productivity, wealth, and prosperity.
18. Although it was not publicized, the US took many Nazi scientists and used them as high quality governmental laborers. A prominent example of this would be how the US used them extensively in NASA for the space race.
19. As the world was finally exiting a very long period of Total War, many countries suffered from massive damage and labor loss from the Second World War. This meant that many countries had to decide for themselves which way they should reconstruct their political system. This led to a split within many of the countries as they were not sure whether they should be Communist or Capitalist. This meant that the US and the USSR had to protect their respective interests in these countries so they typically resorted to supporting one of the parties based on the parties' policies of whether it favored communism or capitalism. This constant “cold” political warfare was a characteristic of the Cold War.
20. As America was going through rapid economic expansion and growth, the USSR began to stagnate and weaken dramatically over time causing it to be “left in the dust” in the wake of America’s new found economic power. The reason that the USSR slowly weakened over time during the Cold War was because of the inefficient economic system that it used as well as the continuous decrease in oil prices.