Chikiamco, Mary Ysabelle Samantha A.

II – BA International Studies

United States of America vs USSR and Russia

On the year 1946, a war between the United States of America and Soviet Union, which
was called the cold war, began. Russia was considered as the successor or dominant state of the
Soviet Union which means that it was where the nuclear weapons were kept, and it also preserved
Soviet Union’s seat on the Security Council of the United Nations. It was also in this era that the
USSR or Soviet Union and the United States of America was considered as the superpowers of the
world.

Before the actual cold war, the westward expansion of the communist countries was seen
by the US as a threat to their capitalist and democratic government and that of others. This was the
time when the US and USSR relations started to crumble and decay. In 1945, the relationship of
US and Soviet Union became worse because before the Potsdam conference of both countries, the
US tested an atomic bomb which made the Soviet Union realize how much power the US had.
After the conference, the US and Soviet Union viewed each other with total suspicion and their
relations changed because the US feared the spread of communism by the Soviet Union across
Europe and the world. On the other hand, USSR also feared that the US would dominate Europe
and the world. Plainly at that point, the most essential reason behind why relations changed
between the US and the USSR in the years 1945 to 1949 was a direct result of the way that each
side mistrusted and doubted each other.

USSR had a wealth of natural resources and military equipment, and it also was producing
more oil, iron, coal, and many other metallic properties than any other country. Whereas the power
of the US came from its size, natural resources, military might, and human capital. With this said,
it is clear that they both had strong military armies, abundant military equipment, and natural
resources, but who really was more powerful? Based on an economic perspective, USSR had
14.31% of the world’s economy while the US had 38.69% which makes the US more dominant in
having economic power. The low economy of the USSR was because of low efficiency, political
issues, and high corruption as they were also supporting their allies in order to keep them
functioning.

One of the most important elements in power analysis during the cold war era is to
recognize the military potential and power. The USSR had the strongest conventional land-based
military and it fundamentally dominated in Europe, while the US had the strongest Navy which
controlled the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. In addition, the USSR had a higher ground as far as the
pure total yield of all nuclear weapons, but had a lower total military spending than the US. The
USSR had a military expenditure of 290 billion dollars, while the US spent 409 billion dollars. In
terms of air forces, they were both evenly matched. As the years progressed, this relative balance
of military power more or less remained the same.

In the mid-50s the USSR was the most advanced nation in rocketry because on October 4,
1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first man-made object to be placed into the
earth’s orbit and the first artificial satellite. Scrambling to catch up, the US launched its own
satellite, Explorer I, in January 1958. Even though they were both in the race, the USSR was firmly
on the lead because they then followed the launch of Luna 2, the first space probe to hit the moon,
and Vostok 1 with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin who was the first person to orbit earth. The US, of
course, also designed a capsule with Alan Shepard who became the first American in space, and
John Glenn who became the first American to orbit earth just like what the USSR did. This race
followed the launch of Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 of NASA with Neil Armstrong becoming the first
man to walk on the moon’s surface. The space race ended with the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission
where the US and Soviet commanders had a “handshake in space” which symbolized the
improvement of US-Soviet relations in the late Cold War era.

Another element in power analysis is the recognition of population. On the year 1991, the
USSR had a population count of 293 million, while the US had 252 million. The area of the USSR
was twice larger than that of the US. With this said, the USSR had a stronger military in terms of
man power because they had larger number of population compared to the US. With regard to
government, the USSR was a federal Marxist-Leninist one-party socialist state, whereas the US
was a federal presidential constitutional republic two-party system.
 On December 1991, the world witnessed a historical moment where the Soviet Union
disintegrated into fifteen separate countries. This caused the US to celebrate for they considered it
as a victory of freedom and a triumph of capitalism over communism and democracy over
totalitarianism hereby ending the Cold War. The separation of the Soviet Union changed the
world’s political circumstance prompting an entire reformulation of political, economic, and
military unions throughout the globe. A new entity called “Commonwealth of Independent
Republics” was formed which composed of most of the independent countries under the former
Soviet Union. Since the Soviet Union collapsed, the US ended up victorious and also being more
powerful than the USSR.

The new state, called the Russian Federation, set off making progress toward democracy
and a market economy without any clear notion or idea of how to finish such a change on the
world’s biggest state. Just like the other former Soviet republics, it entered freedom and
independence in a state of serious chaos and financial disarray. Russia had to find solutions to their
falling economy because their Gross Domestic Product dropped by about one-sixth. But today,
Russia is now making the climb as they are now one of the top two oil producers in the world. In
terms of natural resources, Russia is richer than any other country because it has abundant supply
of oil, natural gas, timber, copper, diamonds, gold, silver, and many more valuable minerals. The
abundance of oil and natural gas has made Russia self-sufficient in energy and fuel.

Russia wants to be perceived as a country with great power since they have adequate
monetary or economic ability and they have the potential to urge to act likewise. However, under
its present leader, it recognizes that there are economic limits to its conduct and behavior. There
is, be that as it may, a range of greatness along which Russia can place itself. In spite of the fact
that Russia will attempt to arrange itself as far along the spectrum, it is done quite discreetly at
present. Its economic autonomy is questionable in terms of policy commitment and reality. Its
command over its authoritative reach and influence is constrained, most certainly when compared
with Soviet times.

During the cold war, USSR showed a steep curve in technological advancements, but
because of their huge loss in the war, they collapsed and the US destroyed their technological
potential. Ever since, the US is still continuously thriving and growing in many aspects, and even
though Russia is now a highly developed country, their technological advancements are slightly
left behind. This technological and also economical downfall of Russia after the Soviet Union fell
apart has led to my conclusion that the US is more powerful than Russia. In my opinion, if the
Soviet Union remained a strong unified union, they could have had the potential and power to beat
the US in many aspects of power analysis.

In addition, the first ten years also became a major economic collapse due to being
controlled by western advisors. In terms of innovation and research, even though Russia seems to
develop large-scale civil and military technologies well, the US still has more edge because of
their innovations and techno-industrial base which Russia cannot catch up with. Nowadays,
because of the fast changing globalized world, technology is now considered one of the factors in
determining the power of a state. Additionally, since the US has more number of population today
compared to Russia, they are able to produce and mold more military men and women, intelligent
units, businessmen and women, potential leaders, and many more people and laborers who are
helping in the development and power of the US. The US by and by remains the region’s
predominant outside power, allying with Israel and the Gulf states, maintaining numerous bases in
various nations and states throughout the locale, and also battling endless wars for years.

Bandow, D. (2017) wrote an article entitled “The U.S Shouldn’t Fear Russia: America is
Vastly More Powerful”. He stated that Russia does not have the worldwide reach to challenge
America. As Putin noted in an interview with an Italian columnist: “Publish a world map and mark
all the US military bases on it. You will see the difference between Russia and the US.” According
to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Russia lacks the economic foundation to match
the US, “One effect of the country’s deteriorating economic situation has been the delay in
concluding the next State Armament Program; originally intended to have been started in 2016,
this has now been pushed back to 2018.”
References:

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Galker, R. B. (2015, April 22). Out of the USA or the USSR, which was more powerful in the
periods 1945-1991? Retrieved October 14, 2018, form https://www.quora.com/Out-of-the-
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Lourie, S. (2016, November 9). Is Russia more technologically advanced than US?
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