Discuss the beginnings of the Cold War in the Soviet Union and the United States. What led to the end of the Cold War in the Soviet Union?...

This is
quite a large question, as the Cold War is very complex. The Cold War originated when the Soviet
Union and the United States did not trust one another after WWII. The Soviets were angry that
the Americans did not share their atomic weapon technology, and the Americans did not like that
the Soviet Union continued to control Eastern Europe after WWII ended.

The
United States grew even more anxious when the Soviets clandestinely tested their own nuclear
device in 1949, years before American intelligence experts claimed that they would be able to.
This led to an arms race and the two superpowers fighting each other by proxy in Korea, Vietnam,
Afghanistan and various other nations. It also led to the United States supporting right-wing
governments in the developing world only because those leaders were against communism, even
though they had a dubious record on human rights. Finally, it led to the Soviet Union spending
millions of dollars sending their weapons throughout the developing world.

Many of the key events involved the developing world using both of these superpowers
towards their own ends. Fidel Castro used the Soviet Union and Khrushchev in order to overthrow
the American-backed Batista. Ho Chi Minh willingly took Soviet weaponry and advisers in order to
push out first the French and then the Americans. The Americans backed Diem in Vietnam only
because he was not a communist. Americans also backed the mujaheddin in Afghanistan because they
resented the Soviets invading their country.

Both superpowers backed leaders
and organizations they knew little about only because they were against the other side's
ideology. Minh was more of a Vietnamese nationalist than he was a true communist. Diem had his
own secret police and clamped down on freedom of speech, yet the United States backed him
because he was someone they could control. This lack of knowledge and interest about the
happenings in the developing world still has repercussions todaym as many places who took either
Soviet or US money and aid remain in turmoil.

The end of the Cold War
happened when the Soviet Union started to splinter with the exodus of the Baltic states and
Ukraine, followed by other nations. Russia gradually adopted capitalism, though with mixed
results. Berlin united after the fall of the Berlin Wallthis is probably the most graphic
demonstration of the end of the Cold War. American president Ronald Reagan is celebrated for
ending the Cold War, yet his military spending increased the national debt exponentially. The
United States celebrated as the world's lone superpower, but it soon faced challenges in the
form of non-state actors who would prove to be more difficult to target than another
superpower.

This is not an exhaustive list of the events of the Cold War, but
hopefully, it will be enough to get you started.