<P> Among the more specific consequences of the Cold War was a huge fiscal mortgage placed on many domestic economies . Financial obligations included those necessary to avoid further dislocations while the change took place from a wartime footing to a peacetime environment . National military establishments and alliances had to be reconfigured . Highly dependent institutional frameworks were to be restructured, and new obligations were acquired by nations that were once bystanders to the East - West confrontation . </P> <P> In the wake of the Cold War, freed or newly founded nations inherited expenses, commitments, and resources for which they were not prepared . The successor states also found themselves with contemporary national - security burdens and substantial environmental contamination legacies, all to be financed while new or revised civilian economies had to be instituted . Since the superpowers carried much of the confrontational burden, both Russia and the United States ended up with substantial economic liabilities . </P> <Ol> <Li> ^ Jump up to: Åslund, p. 49 </Li> <Li> ^ Jump up to: Nolan, pp. 17--18 </Li> <Li> ^ Jump up to: Halliday 2001, p. 2e </Li> <Li> ^ Jump up to: "The Effects of the Cold War on us Education by Michael Totten". Education Space 360 . Retrieved 2013 - 11 - 27 . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Country profile: United States of America . BBC News . Retrieved on March 11, 2007 </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Nye, p. 157 </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Blum 2006, p. 87 </Li> <Li> ^ Jump up to: Calhoun, Craig (2002). "Cold War (entire chapter)". Dictionary of the Social Sciences . Oxford University Press . ISBN 0 - 19 - 512371 - 9 . Retrieved 2008 - 06 - 16 . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ LaFeber 2002, p. 1 </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Gaddis 2005, p. 213 </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Gaddis 2005, p. 266 </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Monty G. Marshall and Ted Gurr, Peace and Conflict 2005 Archived June 24, 2008, at the Wayback Machine . (PDF), Center for Systemic Peace (2006). Retrieved on June 14, 2008 . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ "Radioactive Waste Management - Nuclear Waste Disposal - World Nuclear Association". www.world-nuclear.org . Retrieved 12 May 2018 . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ "Immigration History Archives - Boundless Immigration". Boundless Immigration . Retrieved 12 May 2018 . </Li> </Ol> <Li> ^ Jump up to: Åslund, p. 49 </Li>

The impact of the cold war on western europe