Before we can talk about the Cold War, we have to talk about the two global superpowers at the center of the conflict: the United States and the Soviet Union. Here are five facts about the United States to introduce its history going into the Cold War. There will be more information on the United States in relation to itself and the Cold War, but this will act as a descent introduction to the country:
Currently, the United States is a federal republic of 50 states and the fourth largest nation on Earth in terms of area (with 3,677,649 sq mi or 9,525,067 sq km)after Russia, Canada, and China. The nation is secular with no official language or religion.
The United States was originally thirteen British colonies: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. These colonies were the states that existed in the United States prior to the United States declaring independence with a document called the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The American Revolution was a war between these colonies and the nation of Great Britain fought for colonist independence that occurred from 1775 to 1783. After the war, the United States formed as the first nation to be explicitly founded as a democracy.
Various inventions were created in the United States including the first automatic electric fire alarm in 1890 by Francis Robbins Upton, the first Ferris Wheel by Ferris Jr., the first liquid-propellant rocket in 1926, and the Iron lung medical device in 1928.
The United States has a Constitution, but before the current constitution, the nation had a document called the Articles of Confederation (1781–89) which basically made each state a sovereign nation in a confederation. It was abandoned because the weak central government was unable to demand centralized taxes or have a central military not made from troops volunteered by the states allowed an armed uprising known as Shays' Rebellion to occur from 1786 to 1787 that almost overthrew the government. The current constitution establishes a government with three branches of government: Judicial, Executive, and Legislative (with two houses: the Senate and House of Representatives).
Image From Encyclopedia Britannica
The United States runs on a general two party system with no third party ever winning a Presidential election or majorities in the Legislative branches two houses or gained any share of electoral votes since 1968. The two main parties in modern times and around the time of the Cold War are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Third parties have to payee a fee and petition in each state to be placed on the ballet, plus the United States has a winner-takes-all system which would make it difficult for third parties to win without having sweeping support for the U.S. populace.
