The Threat of Nuclear War Since the Cold War I partly agree and disagree with the above statement. Nuclear war was at its peak during the Cold War, and although it has subsided somewhat since it ended, it has not yet completely disappeared. The nuclear threat is different today than it was in the 20th century, to prove my point I will talk about the Cold War in reference to the nuclear threat and what it means today. By the end of World War II, the world was devastated, Germany was finally defeated, and a new superpower emerged: the United States of America. To examine the threats of nuclear war during the Cold War, I must first examine the causes of the Cold War, this will help me analytically later. A real rivalry was building in the aftermath of World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union. But these two countries were a world apart; the United States was a democracy while the USSR was ruled by communism – two very different beliefs. Russians had virtually no freedom while Americans enjoyed freedom in virtually every aspect of life. Another important difference between these two countries that played an important role in the Cold War was the economy. The United States was a capitalist country and therefore much richer, while the USSR had a communist economy where all control was with the government. The Russians feared the Americans and the Americans feared the Russians: huge contrasts. All this fear definitely pushed both countries to produce nuclear weapons and was a significant factor in triggering the nuclear threat. The Soviets felt they needed secure borders, so they decided to put all of Eastern Europe (middle of paper). ...the national community (specifically the United States) is North Korea. North Korea showed hostility by withdrawing from the NPT and beginning to produce atomic weapons. It began doing so in the last decade, which greatly angered the United States, which labeled it a member of the NPT. North Korea does not pose a big threat, but it could in the very near future. In conclusion, I think the nuclear threat has lessened (only slightly) since the end of the Cold War, but it still exists in a different form. Much more than in the 20th century, the nuclear threat today is more secret and in the hands of terrorists, while during the Cold War the nuclear threat was more in the public eye and in the hands of independent and responsible states. . The threat of nuclear war is still there, but. it lessened a little after 1991, but it has not yet completely disappeared..