Cold War
Cold War is a military, political, ideological and economic confrontation between the USSR and the USA and their supporters. It was a consequence of the contradictions between two state systems: capitalist and socialist.
The Cold War was accompanied by an intensification of the arms race and the presence of nuclear weapons, which could lead to a third world war.
The term was first used by the writer George Orwell October 19, 1945, in the article “You and the Atomic Bomb.”
Period:
1946-1989
Causes of the Cold War
Political
An insoluble ideological contradiction between two systems and models of society.
The West and the United States are afraid of the strengthening role of the USSR.
Economic
The struggle for resources and markets for products
Weakening the economic and military power of the enemy
Ideological
Total, irreconcilable struggle of two ideologies
The desire to shield the population of their countries from the way of life in enemy countries
Goals of the parties
Consolidate the spheres of influence achieved during World War II.
Put the enemy in unfavorable political, economic and ideological conditions
USSR goal: complete and final victory of socialism on a global scale
US goal: containment of socialism, opposition to the revolutionary movement, in the future - “throw socialism into the dustbin of history.” The USSR was seen as "evil empire"
Conclusion: Neither side was right, each sought world domination.
The forces of the parties were not equal. The USSR bore all the hardships of the war, and the United States received huge profits from it. Only by the mid-1970s was it achieved parity.
Cold War weapons:
Arms race
Bloc confrontation
Destabilization of the enemy's military and economic situation
Psychological warfare
Ideological confrontation
Interference in domestic politics
Active intelligence activity
Collection of incriminating evidence on political leaders, etc.
Main periods and events
March 5, 1946- W. Churchill's speech in Fulton(USA) - the beginning of the Cold War, in which the idea of creating an alliance to fight communism was proclaimed. Speech by the British Prime Minister in the presence of the new American President Truman G. two goals:
Prepare the Western public for the subsequent gap between the winning countries.
Literally erase from people’s consciousness the feeling of gratitude to the USSR that appeared after the victory over fascism.
The United States has set a goal: to achieve economic and military superiority over the USSR
1947 – "Truman Doctrine"" Its essence: containing the spread of the expansion of the USSR by creating regional military blocs dependent on the United States.
1947 - Marshall Plan - aid program for Europe after World War II
1948-1953 - Soviet-Yugoslav conflict over the question of ways to build socialism in Yugoslavia.
The world is split into two camps: supporters of the USSR and supporters of the USA.
1949 - the split of Germany into the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany, the capital is Bonn, and the Soviet GDR, the capital is Berlin. (Before this, the two zones were called Bisonia)
1949 – creation NATO(North Atlantic Military-Political Alliance)
1949 – creation Comecon(Council for Mutual Economic Assistance)
1949 - successful atomic bomb testing in the USSR.
1950 -1953 – Korean War. The USA participated in it directly, and the USSR participated in a veiled manner, sending military specialists to Korea.
US target: prevent Soviet influence in the Far East. Bottom line: division of the country into the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea (capital Pyongyang), established close contacts with the USSR, + into the South Korean state (Seoul) - a zone of American influence.
2nd period: 1955-1962 (cooling in relations between countries , growing contradictions in the world socialist system)
At this time, the world was on the verge of a nuclear disaster.
Anti-communist protests in Hungary, Poland, events in the GDR, Suez crisis
1955 - creation OVD- Warsaw Pact organizations.
1955 - Geneva Conference of Heads of Government of the Victorious Countries.
1957 - development and successful testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the USSR, which increased tension in the world.
October 4, 1957 - opened space age. Launch of the first artificial earth satellite in the USSR.
1959 - victory of the revolution in Cuba (Fidel Castro). Cuba became one of the most reliable partners of the USSR.
1961 - worsening relations with China.
1962 – Caribbean crisis. Settled by N.S. Khrushchev And D. Kennedy
Signing of a number of agreements on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
An arms race that significantly weakened the economies of countries.
1962 - complication of relations with Albania
1963-USSR, UK and USA signed first nuclear test ban treaty in three spheres: atmosphere, space and underwater.
1968 - complications in relations with Czechoslovakia (“Prague Spring”).
Dissatisfaction with Soviet policy in Hungary, Poland, and the GDR.
1964-1973- US war in Vietnam. The USSR provided military and material assistance to Vietnam.
3rd period: 1970-1984- tension strip
1970s - the USSR made a number of attempts to strengthen “ détente" international tension, arms reduction.
A number of agreements on the limitation of strategic weapons have been signed. So in 1970 there was an agreement between Germany (W. Brand) and the USSR (Brezhnev L.I.), according to which the parties pledged to resolve all their disputes exclusively peacefully.
May 1972 - American President R. Nixon arrived in Moscow. Treaty limiting missile defense systems signed (PRO) And OSV-1- Interim Agreement on Certain Measures in the Field of Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.
Convention on the prohibition of development, production and accumulation of reserves bacteriological(biological) and toxic weapons and their destruction.
1975- the highest point of détente, signed in August in Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe And Declaration of Principles on Relationships Between states. 33 states signed it, including the USSR, USA, and Canada.
Sovereign equality, respect
Non-use of force and threats of force
Inviolability of borders
Territorial integrity
Non-interference in internal affairs
Peaceful settlement of disputes
Respect for human rights and freedoms
Equality, the right of peoples to control their own destinies
Cooperation between states
Conscientious fulfillment of obligations under international law
1975 - joint space program Soyuz-Apollo.
1979- Treaty on the Limitation of Offensive Arms – OSV-2(Brezhnev L.I. and Carter D.)
What are these principles?
4th period: 1979-1987 - complication of the international situation
The USSR became a truly great power that had to be reckoned with. The detente of tension was mutually beneficial.
The aggravation of relations with the United States in connection with the entry of USSR troops into Afghanistan in 1979 (the war lasted from December 1979 to February 1989). USSR goal- protect the borders in Central Asia against the penetration of Islamic fundamentalism. Eventually- The United States did not ratify SALT II.
Since 1981, the new President Reagan R. launched programs SOI– Strategic defense initiatives.
1983- US hosts ballistic missiles in Italy, England, Germany, Belgium, Denmark.
Anti-space defense systems are being developed.
The USSR withdraws from the Geneva negotiations.
5 period: 1985-1991 - the final stage, mitigation of tension.
Having come to power in 1985, Gorbachev M.S. pursues a policy "new political thinking".
Negotiations: 1985 - in Geneva, 1986 - in Reykjavik, 1987 - in Washington. Recognition of the existing world order, expansion of economic ties between countries, despite different ideologies.
December 1989- Gorbachev M.S. and Bush at the summit on the island of Malta announced about the end of the Cold War. Its end was caused by the economic weakness of the USSR and its inability to further support the arms race. In addition, pro-Soviet regimes were established in Eastern European countries, and the USSR lost support from them as well.
1990 - German reunification. It became a kind of victory for the West in the Cold War. A fall Berlin Wall(existed from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989)
December 25, 1991 - President D. Bush announced the end of the Cold War and congratulated his compatriots on their victory.
Results
The formation of a unipolar world, in which the United States, a superpower, began to occupy a leading position.
The United States and its allies defeated the socialist camp.
The beginning of the Westernization of Russia
The collapse of the Soviet economy, the decline of its authority in the international market
The emigration of Russian citizens to the West, his lifestyle seemed too attractive to them.
The collapse of the USSR and the beginning of the formation of a new Russia.
Terms
Parity- the primacy of a party in something.
Confrontation– confrontation, collision of two social systems (people, groups, etc.).
Ratification– giving the document legal force, its acceptance.
Westernization– borrowing a Western European or American way of life.
Material prepared by: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna
The expression Cold War usually refers to the historical period from 1946 to 1991, which characterized relations between the United States and its allies and the USSR and its allies. This period was characterized by a state of economic, military, and geopolitical confrontation. However, this was not a war in the literal sense, so the term cold war is relative.
Although the official end of the Cold War is considered to be July 1, 1991, when the Warsaw Pact collapsed, it actually happened earlier - after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The confrontation was based on ideological principles, namely the contradictions between the socialist and capitalist models.
Although the states were not officially in a state of war, from the beginning of the confrontation the process of their militarization gained momentum. The Cold War was accompanied by an arms race, and the USSR and the USA entered into direct military confrontation around the world 52 times during its period.
At the same time, there was repeatedly the threat of the outbreak of a third world war. The most famous case was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the world was on the brink of disaster.
Origin of the expression cold war
Officially, the phrase Cold War was first used by B. Baruch (adviser to US President Harry Truman) in a speech before the House of Representatives in South Carolina in 1947. He did not focus on this expression, only pointed out that the country was in a state of Cold War .
However, most experts give the palm in the use of the term to D. Orwell, the author of the famous works “1984” and “Animal Farm”. He used the expression cold war in the article “You and the Atomic Bomb.” He noted that thanks to the possession of atomic bombs, superpowers become invincible. They are in a state of peace that is not really peace, but they are forced to maintain balance and not use atomic bombs against each other. It is worth noting that he described only an abstract forecast in the article, but in essence predicted the future confrontation between the USA and the USSR.
Historians do not have a clear point of view as to whether B. Baruch invented the term himself or borrowed it from Orwell.
It is worth noting that the expression “cold war” became widely known around the world after a series of publications by the American political journalist W. Lippmann. In the New York Herald Tribune, he published a series of articles analyzing Soviet-American relations, which were entitled "The Cold War: A Study of American Foreign Policy."
The main events of international politics in the second half of the 20th century were determined by the Cold War between two superpowers - the USSR and the USA.
Its consequences are felt to this day, and crisis moments in relations between Russia and the West are often called echoes of the Cold War.
How did the Cold War begin?
The term “Cold War” belongs to the pen of the novelist and publicist George Orwell, who used this phrase in 1945. However, the beginning of the conflict is associated with a speech by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, which he delivered in 1946 in the presence of American President Harry Truman.
Churchill declared that an “iron curtain” had been erected in the middle of Europe, to the east of which there was no democracy.
Churchill's speech had the following prerequisites:
- establishment of communist governments in states liberated by the Red Army from fascism;
- the rise of the leftist underground in Greece (which led to civil war);
- the strengthening of communists in Western European countries such as Italy and France.
Soviet diplomacy also took advantage of this, laying claims to the Turkish straits and Libya.
The main signs of the outbreak of the Cold War
In the first months after the victorious May 1945, on the wave of sympathy for the Eastern ally in the anti-Hitler coalition, Soviet films were freely shown in Europe, and the attitude of the press towards the USSR was neutral or friendly. In the Soviet Union, they temporarily forgot about the cliches that represented the West as the kingdom of the bourgeoisie.
With the onset of the Cold War, cultural contacts were curtailed, and the rhetoric of confrontation prevailed in diplomacy and the media. The people were told briefly and clearly who their enemy was.
All over the world there were bloody clashes between the allies of one side or another, and the Cold War participants themselves started an arms race. This is the name given to the buildup of weapons of mass destruction, primarily nuclear, in the arsenals of the Soviet and American military.
Military spending drained state budgets and slowed post-war economic recovery.
Causes of the Cold War - briefly and point by point
The conflict that began had several reasons:
- Ideological - the intractability of contradictions between societies built on different political foundations.
- Geopolitical - the parties feared each other's dominance.
- Economic - the desire of the West and the communists to use the economic resources of the opposite side.
Stages of the Cold War
The chronology of events is divided into 5 main periods
First stage - 1946-1955
During the first 9 years, a compromise was still possible between the victors of fascism, and both sides were searching for it.
The United States strengthened its position in Europe thanks to the economic assistance program under the Marshall Plan. Western countries joined NATO in 1949, and the Soviet Union successfully tested nuclear weapons.
In 1950, the Korean War broke out, with both the USSR and the United States involved to varying degrees. Stalin dies, but the Kremlin's diplomatic position does not change significantly.
Second stage - 1955-1962
The communists face opposition from the populations of Hungary, Poland and the GDR. In 1955, an alternative to the Western Alliance appeared - the Warsaw Pact Organization.
The arms race is moving to the stage of creating intercontinental missiles. A side effect of military developments was the exploration of space, the launch of the first satellite and the first cosmonaut of the USSR. The Soviet bloc is strengthening at the expense of Cuba, where Fidel Castro comes to power.
Third stage - 1962-1979
After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the parties are trying to curb the military race. In 1963, a treaty was signed banning atomic tests in the air, space and under water. In 1964, the conflict in Vietnam began, provoked by the West's desire to defend this country from leftist rebels.
In the early 1970s, the world entered the era of “international détente.” Its main characteristic is the desire for peaceful coexistence. The parties limit strategic offensive weapons and prohibit biological and chemical weapons.
Leonid Brezhnev's peace diplomacy in 1975 culminated in the signing of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe by 33 countries in Helsinki. At the same time, the joint Soyuz-Apollo program was launched with the participation of Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts.
The fourth stage - 1979-1987
In 1979, the Soviet Union sent the army to Afghanistan to install a puppet government. In the wake of worsening contradictions, the United States refused to ratify the SALT II treaty, signed earlier by Brezhnev and Carter. The West is boycotting the Moscow Olympics.
President Ronald Reagan showed himself to be a tough anti-Soviet politician by launching the SDI program - Strategic Defense Initiatives. American missiles are being deployed in close proximity to the territory of the Soviet Union.
Fifth period - 1987-1991
This stage was given the definition of “new political thinking.”
The transfer of power to Mikhail Gorbachev and the beginning of perestroika in the USSR meant the resumption of contacts with the West and a gradual abandonment of ideological intransigence.
Cold War crises
The Cold War crises in history refer to several periods of greatest aggravation of relations between rival parties. Two of them are the Berlin crises of 1948-1949 and 1961 - associated with the formation of three political entities on the site of the former Reich - the GDR, the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin.
In 1962, the USSR placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, threatening the security of the United States in an event called the Cuban Missile Crisis. Subsequently, Khrushchev dismantled the missiles in exchange for the Americans withdrawing missiles from Turkey.
When and how did the Cold War end?
In 1989, the Americans and Russians declared the end of the Cold War. In reality, this meant the dismantling of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe, right up to Moscow itself. Germany united, the Department of Internal Affairs disintegrated, and then the USSR itself.
Who won the cold war
In January 1992, George W. Bush declared: “With the help of God, America won the Cold War!” His jubilation at the end of the confrontation was not shared by many residents of the countries of the former USSR, where a time of economic turmoil and criminal chaos began.
In 2007, a bill was introduced into the American Congress establishing a medal for participation in the Cold War. For the American establishment, the theme of victory over communism remains an important element of political propaganda.
Results
Why the socialist camp ultimately turned out to be weaker than the capitalist one and what its significance was for humanity are the main final questions of the Cold War. The consequences of these events are felt even in the 21st century. The collapse of the left led to economic growth, democratic change, and a surge of nationalism and religious intolerance in the world.
Along with this, the weapons accumulated during these years are preserved, and the governments of Russia and Western countries act largely based on the concepts and stereotypes learned during the armed confrontation.
The Cold War, which lasted 45 years, is for historians the most important process of the second half of the twentieth century, which determined the contours of the modern world.
Cold War- global geopolitical, military, economic and ideological confrontation in 1946-1991 between the USSR and its allies, on the one hand, and the USA and its allies, on the other. This confrontation was not a war in the international legal sense. One of the main components of the confrontation was the ideological struggle - as a consequence of the contradiction between the capitalist and what was called socialist models in the USSR.
After the bloodiest war in human history, World War II, ended, where the USSR became the winner, the preconditions were created for the emergence of a new confrontation between the West and the East, between the USSR and the USA. The main reasons for the emergence of this confrontation, known as the “Cold War,” were the ideological contradictions between the capitalist model of society characteristic of the United States and the socialist one that existed in the USSR. Each of the two superpowers wanted to see itself at the head of the entire world community and organize life according to its ideological principles. In addition, after the Second World War, the Soviet Union established its dominance in the countries of Eastern Europe, where communist ideology reigned. As a result, the United States, along with Great Britain, was frightened by the possibility that the USSR could become a world leader and establish its dominance in both the political and economic spheres of life. America did not like communist ideology at all, and it was the Soviet Union that stood in its way to world domination. After all, America became rich during the Second World War, it needed somewhere to sell its manufactured products, so the countries of Western Europe, destroyed during hostilities, needed to be restored, which was what was offered to them by the US government. But on condition that the communist rulers in these countries will be removed from power. In short, the Cold War was a new kind of competition for world domination.
First of all, both countries tried to enlist the support of other countries in their course. The USA supported all the countries of Western Europe, when the USSR was supported by the countries of Asia and Latin America. Essentially, during the Cold War, the world was divided into two confrontational camps. Moreover, there were only a few neutral countries.
If we consider the chronological stages of the Cold War, then there is a traditional and most common division:
the initial phase of the confrontation (1946–1953). At this stage, the confrontation takes shape almost officially (with Churchill’s Fulton speech in 1946), and an active struggle for spheres of influence begins, first in Europe (Central, Eastern and Southern), and then in other regions of the world, from Iran to Korea. The military parity of forces becomes obvious, taking into account the presence of atomic weapons in both the United States and the USSR, and military-political blocs (NATO and the Warsaw Department of Internal Affairs) appear that support each superpower. The first clash of opposing camps on the “training ground” of third countries was the Korean War;
acute stage of confrontation (1953–1962). This stage began with a temporary weakening of the confrontation - after the death of Stalin and criticism of the cult of his personality by Khrushchev, who came to power in the USSR, opportunities emerged for a constructive dialogue. However, at the same time, the parties increased their geopolitical activity, which is especially obvious for the USSR, which suppressed any attempts by allied countries to leave the socialist camp. Combined with the ongoing arms race, this brought the world to the brink of open war between nuclear powers - the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the deployment of Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba almost started a war using atomic weapons between the USSR and the US;
so-called “détente” (1962–1979), the period of the Cold War, when a number of objective factors demonstrated to both sides the danger of increasing tension. Firstly, after 1962 it became obvious that a nuclear war, in which, most likely, there would be no winners, was more than real. Secondly, the psychological fatigue of the Cold War participants and the rest of the world from constant stress made itself felt and required a respite. Thirdly, the arms race also began to take its toll - the USSR experienced increasingly obvious systemic economic problems, trying to keep up with its rival in building up its military potential. In this regard, the United States had difficulties as its main allies, who were increasingly striving for peaceful development; in addition, the oil crisis was raging, in the conditions of which the normalization of relations with the USSR, one of the leading oil suppliers, was very useful. But the “détente” was short-lived: both sides viewed it as a respite, and already in the mid-1970s, the confrontation began to intensify: the United States began to develop scenarios for a nuclear war with the USSR, Moscow, in response, began to modernize its missile forces and missile defense;
stage of “evil empires” (1979-1985), at which the reality of armed conflict between the superpowers began to grow again. The catalyst for tension was the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in 1979, which the United States did not fail to take advantage of, providing all possible support to the Afghans. The information war became very acute, starting with the exchange of ignoring the Olympic Games, first in Moscow (1980), then in Los Angeles (1984), and ending with the use of epithets of “evil empire” in relation to each other (with the light hand of President Reagan). The military departments of both superpowers began a more detailed study of nuclear war scenarios and the improvement of both ballistic offensive weapons and missile defense systems;
end of the cold war, replacement of the bipolar system of the world order by a unipolar system (1985–1991). The actual victory of the United States and its allies in the Cold War, associated with political and economic changes in the Soviet Union, known as perestroika and associated with the activities of Gorbachev. Experts continue to argue how much of the subsequent collapse of the USSR and the disappearance of the socialist camp is due to objective reasons, primarily the economic inefficiency of the socialist model, and how much is due to incorrect geopolitical strategic and tactical decisions of the Soviet leadership. However, the fact remains: after 1991, there is only one superpower in the world that even has an unofficial award “For Victory in the Cold War” - the United States.
The results of the Cold War, which ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the entire socialist camp, can be divided into two categories. The first will include results that are important for all of humanity, since the Cold War was a global confrontation, in one way or another, directly or indirectly, almost all countries of the world were drawn into it. The second category is the results of the Cold War, which affected its two main participants, the USA and the USSR.
As for the results of the Cold War for the main opponents, the two superpowers, in this regard the outcome of the confrontation is obvious. The USSR could not withstand the arms race, its economic system turned out to be uncompetitive, and measures to modernize it were unsuccessful and ultimately led to the collapse of the country. As a result, the socialist camp collapsed, the communist ideology itself was discredited, although socialist regimes in the world remained and after a certain time their number began to increase (for example, in Latin America).
Russia, the legal successor of the USSR, retained its status as a nuclear power and its place in the UN Security Council, however, due to the difficult internal economic situation and the decline in the influence of the UN on real international politics, this does not look like a real achievement. Western values, primarily everyday and material ones, began to be actively introduced in the post-Soviet space, and the military power of the “successor” of the USSR significantly decreased.
The United States, on the contrary, strengthened its position as a superpower, and from that moment on, the only superpower.
The West's original goal in the Cold War, preventing the spread of communist regimes and ideology throughout the world, was achieved. The socialist camp was destroyed, the main enemy, the USSR, was defeated and for a certain time the former Soviet republics came under the political influence of the States.
True, after some time it became clear that during the confrontation between the two superpowers and the subsequent celebration of America’s victory, a potential new superpower, China, appeared in the world. However, relations with China are far from the Cold War in terms of tension, and this is the next page in the history of international relations. Meanwhile, the United States, which created the most powerful military machine in the world during the arms race, received an effective tool for protecting its interests and even imposing them anywhere in the world and, by and large, regardless of the opinion of the international community. Thus, a unipolar world model was established, which allows one superpower to use the necessary resources for its own benefit.
Planet Earth. |
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Collapse of the USSR |
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Opponents |
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ATS and CMEA: |
NATO and EEC: |
Albania (until 1956) |
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France (until 1966) |
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Germany (since 1955) |
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Cuba (since 1961) |
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Angola (since 1975) |
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Afghanistan (since 1978) |
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Egypt (1952-1972) |
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Libya (since 1969) |
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Ethiopia (since 1974 |
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Iran (until 1979) |
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Indonesia (1959-1965) |
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Nicaragua (1979-1990) |
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Mali (until 1968) |
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Cambodia (since 1975) |
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Commanders |
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Joseph Stalin |
Harry Truman |
Georgy Malenkov |
Dwight Eisenhower |
Nikita Khrushchev |
John Kennedy |
Leonid Brezhnev |
Lyndon Johnson |
Yuri Andropov |
Richard Nixon |
Konstantin Chernenko |
Gerald Ford |
Mikhail Gorbachev |
Jimmy Carter |
Gennady Yanaev |
Ronald Reagan |
Enver Hoxha |
George Bush Sr. |
Georgiy Dimitrov |
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Vylko Chervenkov |
Elizabeth II |
Todor Zhivkov |
Clement Attlee |
Matthias Rakosi |
Winston Churchill |
Janos Kadar |
Anthony Eden |
Wilhelm Pieck |
Harold Macmillan |
Walter Ulbricht |
Alexander Douglas-Home |
Erich Honecker |
Harold Wilson |
Boleslaw Bierut |
Edward Heath |
Wladyslaw Gomułka |
James Callaghan |
Edward Gierek |
Margaret Thatcher |
Stanislav Kanya |
John Major |
Wojciech Jaruzelski |
Vincent Auriol |
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej |
Rene Coty |
Nicolae Ceausescu |
Charles de Gaulle |
Klement Gottwald |
Konrad Adenauer |
Antonin Zapototsky |
Ludwig Erhard |
Antonin Novotny |
Kurt Georg Kiesinger |
Ludwik Svoboda |
Willy Brandt |
Gustav Husak |
Helmut Schmidt |
Fidel Castro |
Helmut Kohl |
Raul Castro |
Juan Carlos I |
Ernesto Che Guevara |
Alcide de Gasperi |
Mao Zedong |
Giuseppe Pella |
Kim Il Sung |
Amintore Fanfani |
Ho Chi Minh |
Mario Scelba |
Antonio Segni |
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Ton Duc Thang |
Adone Zoli |
Khorlogin Choibalsan |
Fernando Tambroni |
Gamal Abdel Nasser |
Giovanni Leone |
Fauzi Selu |
Aldo Moro |
Adib al-Shishakli |
Mariano Rumor |
Shukri al-Quatli |
Emilio Colombo |
Nazim al-Qudsi |
Giulio Andreotti |
Amin al-Hafez |
Francesco Cossiga |
Nureddin al-Atassi |
Arnaldo Forlani |
Hafez al-Assad |
Giovanni Spadolini |
Abdul Salam Aref |
Bettino Craxi |
Abdul Rahman Aref |
Giovanni Goria |
Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr |
Ciriaco de Mita |
Saddam Hussein |
Chiang Kai-shek |
Muammar Gaddafi |
Lee Seung Man |
Ahmed Sukarno |
Yoon Bo Song |
Daniel Ortega |
Park Chung Hee |
Choi Gyu Ha |
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Jung Doo Hwan |
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Ngo Dinh Diem |
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Duong Van Minh |
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Nguyen Khanh |
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Nguyen Van Thieu |
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Tran Van Huong |
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Chaim Weizmann |
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Yitzhak Ben-Zvi |
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Zalman Shazar |
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Ephraim Katzir |
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Yitzhak Navon |
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Chaim Herzog |
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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi |
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Mobutu Sese Seko |
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The global geopolitical, economic and ideological confrontation between the Soviet Union and its allies, on the one hand, and the United States and its allies, on the other, lasted from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s.
One of the main components of the confrontation was ideology. The deep contradiction between the capitalist and socialist models is the main cause of the Cold War. The two superpowers - winners of World War II - tried to rebuild the world according to their ideological principles. Over time, confrontation became an element of the ideology of the two sides and helped the leaders of military-political blocs consolidate allies around them “in the face of an external enemy.” The new confrontation required the unity of all members of the opposing blocs.
The expression “Cold War” was first used on April 16, 1947 by Bernard Baruch, an adviser to US President Harry Truman, in a speech before the South Carolina House of Representatives.
The internal logic of the confrontation required the parties to participate in conflicts and interfere in the development of events in any part of the world. The efforts of the USA and the USSR were aimed primarily at dominance in the military sphere. From the very beginning of the confrontation, the process of militarization of the two superpowers unfolded.
The USA and the USSR created their spheres of influence, securing them with military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Although the United States and the USSR never entered into direct military confrontation, their competition for influence often led to the outbreak of local armed conflicts around the world.
The Cold War was accompanied by a conventional and nuclear arms race that continually threatened to lead to a third world war. The most famous of such cases when the world found itself on the brink of disaster was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. In this regard, in the 1970s, both sides made efforts to “détente” international tensions and limit arms.
The growing technological backwardness of the USSR, along with the stagnation of the Soviet economy and exorbitant military spending in the late 1970s and early 1980s, forced the Soviet leadership to undertake political and economic reforms. The policy of perestroika and glasnost announced by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 led to the loss of the leading role of the CPSU and also contributed to the economic collapse in the USSR. Ultimately, the USSR, burdened by an economic crisis, as well as social and interethnic problems, collapsed in 1991.
In Eastern Europe, communist governments, having lost Soviet support, were removed even earlier, in 1989-1990. The Warsaw Pact officially ended on July 1, 1991, which can be considered the end of the Cold War.
Story
Beginning of the Cold War
The establishment of Soviet control over the countries of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, in particular the creation of a pro-Soviet government in Poland as opposed to the Polish émigré government in London, led to the fact that the ruling circles of Great Britain and the United States began to perceive the USSR as a threat.
In April 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the preparation of a plan for war against the USSR. The task was preceded by the conclusions that Churchill presented in his memoirs:
The operation plan was prepared by the joint planning staff of the British War Cabinet. The plan provides an assessment of the situation, formulates the objectives of the operation, determines the forces involved, the directions of attacks by the Western Allied forces and their likely results.
The planners came to two main conclusions:
- when starting a war with the USSR, you must be prepared for a long and expensive all-out war, and for a very possible defeat;
- The numerical superiority of Soviet troops on land makes it extremely doubtful that one of the sides can achieve victory quickly.
It should be pointed out that Churchill indicated in comments on the draft plan presented to him that it was a “precautionary measure” for what he hoped would be a “purely hypothetical case.”
In 1945, the USSR presented territorial claims to Turkey and demanded a change in the status of the Black Sea straits, including recognition of the USSR's right to create a naval base in the Dardanelles.
In 1946, Greek rebels, led by communists and fueled by arms supplies from Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, where communists were already in power, became more active. At the London meeting of foreign ministers, the USSR demanded the right to a protectorate over Tripolitania (Libya) in order to ensure its presence in the Mediterranean.
In France and Italy, the Communist Parties became the largest political parties and the Communists entered the governments. After the withdrawal of the bulk of American troops from Europe, the USSR became the dominant military force in continental Europe. Everything was favorable for Stalin to establish complete control over Europe, if he so desired.
Some Western politicians began to advocate pacification of the USSR. This position was most clearly expressed by US Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace. He considered the USSR's claims to be justified and proposed to agree to a kind of division of the world, recognizing the USSR's right to dominance in a number of areas of Europe and Asia. Churchill had a different point of view.
The formal beginning of the Cold War is often considered to be March 5, 1946, when Winston Churchill (at that time no longer serving as Prime Minister of Great Britain) made his famous speech in Fulton (USA, Missouri), in which he put forward the idea of creating a military alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries with goal of the fight against world communism. In fact, the aggravation of relations between the allies began earlier, but by March 1946 it intensified due to the USSR’s refusal to withdraw occupation troops from Iran (the troops were withdrawn only in May 1946 under pressure from Great Britain and the USA). Churchill's speech outlined a new reality, which the retired British leader, after protesting his deep respect and admiration for “the valiant Russian people and my wartime comrade Marshal Stalin,” defined as follows:
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...From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, the Iron Curtain stretched across the continent. On the other side of the imaginary line are all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. (...) The communist parties, which were very small in all the eastern states of Europe, seized power everywhere and received unlimited totalitarian control. Police governments prevail almost everywhere, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no real democracy anywhere. Turkey and Persia are also deeply alarmed and concerned about the demands that the Moscow government is making on them. The Russians made an attempt in Berlin to create a quasi-communist party in their zone of occupation of Germany (...) If the Soviet government now tries to separately create a pro-communist Germany in its zone, it will cause new serious difficulties in the British and American zones and divide the defeated Germans between the Soviets and the Western democracies. (...) The facts are: this, of course, is not the liberated Europe for which we fought. This is not what is needed for permanent peace. |
Churchill called not to repeat the mistakes of the 30s and to consistently defend the values of freedom, democracy and “Christian civilization” against totalitarianism, for which it is necessary to ensure close unity and cohesion of the Anglo-Saxon nations.
A week later, J.V. Stalin, in an interview with Pravda, put Churchill on a par with Hitler and stated that in his speech he called on the West to go to war with the USSR.
1946-1953: beginning of the confrontation
On March 12, 1947, US President Harry Truman announced his intention to provide military and economic assistance in the amount of $400 million to Greece and Turkey. At the same time, he formulated the objectives of US policy aimed at helping “free peoples resisting attempts at enslavement by an armed minority and external pressure.” In this statement, Truman, in addition, defined the content of the emerging rivalry between the USA and the USSR as a conflict between democracy and totalitarianism. This is how the Truman Doctrine was born, which became the beginning of the transition from post-war cooperation between the USSR and the USA to rivalry.
In 1947, at the insistence of the USSR, the socialist countries refused to participate in the Marshall Plan, according to which the United States provided economic assistance to countries affected by the war in exchange for the exclusion of communists from the government.
The efforts of the USSR, in particular Soviet intelligence, were aimed at eliminating the US monopoly on the possession of nuclear weapons (see the article Creation of the Soviet atomic bomb). On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear bomb tests at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. American scientists from the Manhattan Project had previously warned that the USSR would eventually develop its own nuclear capability - nevertheless, this nuclear explosion had a stunning impact on US military strategic planning - mainly because US military strategists did not expect that they would will have to lose its monopoly so soon. At that time, it was not yet known about the successes of Soviet intelligence, which managed to penetrate Los Alamos.
In 1948, the United States adopted the “Vandenberg Resolution” - the official US renunciation of the practice of non-alignment with military-political blocs outside the Western Hemisphere in peacetime.
Already on April 4, 1949, NATO was created, and in October 1954, Germany was admitted to the Western European Union and NATO. This step caused a negative reaction from the USSR. In response, the USSR began to create a military bloc that would unite the Eastern European countries.
At the end of the 1940s, repressions against dissidents intensified in the USSR, who, in particular, began to be accused of “worshipping the West” (see also the article Fighting Cosmopolitanism), and a campaign was launched in the United States to identify communist sympathizers.
Although the USSR now also had nuclear capabilities, the United States was far ahead in both the number of warheads and the number of bombers. In any conflict, the United States could easily bomb the USSR, while the USSR would have difficulty responding.
The transition to large-scale use of jet fighter-interceptors somewhat changed this situation in favor of the USSR, reducing the potential effectiveness of American bomber aircraft. In 1949, Curtis LeMay, the new commander of the US Strategic Air Command, signed a program for the complete transition of bomber aircraft to jet propulsion. In the early 1950s, the B-47 and B-52 bombers began to enter service.
The most acute period of confrontation between the two blocs (USSR and the USA with their allies) occurred during the Korean War.
1953-1962: on the brink of nuclear war
With the onset of Khrushchev’s “thaw,” the threat of world war receded - this was especially true in the late 1950s, which culminated in Khrushchev’s visit to the United States. However, these same years included the Events of June 17, 1953 in the GDR, the events of 1956 in Poland, the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, and the Suez Crisis.
In response to the numerical increase in Soviet bomber aircraft in the 1950s, the United States created a fairly strong layered air defense system around large cities, involving the use of interceptor aircraft, anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles. But the focus was still on the construction of a huge armada of nuclear bombers, which were destined to crush the defensive lines of the USSR - since it was considered impossible to provide effective and reliable defense of such a vast territory.
This approach was firmly rooted in US strategic plans - it was believed that there was no reason for special concern as long as US strategic forces exceeded the overall potential of the Soviet Armed Forces in their power. Moreover, according to American strategists, the Soviet economy, destroyed during the war, was unlikely to be capable of creating an adequate counterforce potential.
However, the USSR quickly created its own strategic aviation and tested in 1957 the R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of reaching US territory. Since 1959, serial production of ICBMs began in the Soviet Union. (In 1958, the United States also tested its first Atlas ICBM). Since the mid-1950s, the United States has begun to realize that in the event of a nuclear war, the USSR will be able to deliver a counter-value strike against American cities. Therefore, since the late 1950s, military experts have recognized that an all-out nuclear war between the United States and the USSR has become impossible.
The scandal with the American U-2 spy plane (1960) led to a new aggravation of relations between the USSR and the USA, the peak of which was the Berlin crisis of 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis (1962).
1962-1979: "Détente"
The ongoing nuclear arms race, the concentration of control of Western nuclear forces in the hands of the United States, and a number of incidents with nuclear weapons carriers caused increasing criticism of US nuclear policy. Contradictions in the principles of nuclear weapons management in the NATO command led to France's withdrawal in 1966 from participation in the formation of the armed forces of this organization. On January 17, 1966, one of the largest incidents involving nuclear weapons occurred: after a collision with a tanker aircraft, a US Air Force B-52 bomber crash-dropped four thermonuclear bombs over the Spanish village of Palomares. After this incident, Spain refused to condemn France's withdrawal from NATO and limited the military activities of the US Air Force in the country, suspending the 1953 Spanish-American Treaty on Military Cooperation; Negotiations to renew this treaty in 1968 ended in failure.
Regarding the competition between two systems in space, Vladimir Bugrov noted that in 1964, Korolev’s main opponents managed to create the illusion with Khrushchev that it was possible to land on the Moon before the Americans; according to the scientist, if there was a race, it was between the chief designers.
In Germany, the coming to power of the Social Democrats led by Willy Brandt was marked by a new “Eastern policy”, which resulted in the Moscow Treaty between the USSR and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1970, which established the inviolability of borders, the renunciation of territorial claims and declared the possibility of uniting the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.
In 1968, attempts at democratic reform in Czechoslovakia (Prague Spring) prompted military intervention by the USSR and its allies.
However, Brezhnev, unlike Khrushchev, had no inclination either for risky adventures outside the clearly defined Soviet sphere of influence, or for extravagant “peaceful” actions; The 1970s passed under the sign of the so-called “détente of international tension”, manifestations of which were the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki) and the joint Soviet-American space flight (the Soyuz-Apollo program); At the same time, treaties on the limitation of strategic arms were signed. This was largely determined by economic reasons, since the USSR already then began to experience an increasingly acute dependence on the purchase of consumer goods and food (for which foreign currency loans were required), while the West, during the years of the oil crisis caused by the Arab-Israeli confrontation, was extremely interested in the Soviet oil. In military terms, the basis for “detente” was the nuclear-missile parity of blocs that had developed by that time.
On August 17, 1973, US Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger put forward the doctrine of a “blinding” or “decapitation” strike: defeating enemy command posts and communications centers using medium- and shorter-range missiles, cruise missiles with laser, television and infrared targeting systems. This approach assumed a gain in “flight time” - the defeat of command posts before the enemy had time to make a decision on a retaliatory strike. The emphasis in deterrence has shifted from the strategic triad to medium- and shorter-range weapons. In 1974, this approach was enshrined in key documents on US nuclear strategy. On this basis, the United States and other NATO countries began modernizing Forward Base Systems - American tactical nuclear weapons located in Western Europe or off its coast. At the same time, the United States began creating a new generation of cruise missiles capable of hitting specified targets as accurately as possible.
These steps raised concerns in the USSR, since US forward-deployed assets, as well as the “independent” nuclear capabilities of Great Britain and France, were capable of hitting targets in the European part of the Soviet Union. In 1976, Dmitry Ustinov became the USSR Minister of Defense, who was inclined to take a tough response to US actions. Ustinov advocated not so much for building up the ground group of conventional armed forces, but for improving the technical park of the Soviet Army. The Soviet Union began modernizing the delivery systems for medium- and shorter-range nuclear weapons in the European theater of operations.
Under the pretext of modernizing the outdated RSD-4 and RSD-5 (SS-4 and SS-5) systems, the USSR began deploying RSD-10 Pioneer (SS-20) medium-range missiles on its western borders. In December 1976, the missile systems were deployed, and in February 1977, they were put on combat duty in the European part of the USSR. In total, about 300 missiles of this class were deployed, each of which was equipped with three independently targetable multiple warheads. This allowed the USSR to destroy NATO's military infrastructure in Western Europe in a matter of minutes - control centers, command posts and, especially, ports, which in the event of war made it impossible for American troops to land in Western Europe. At the same time, the USSR modernized the general-purpose forces stationed in Central Europe - in particular, it modernized the Tu-22M long-range bomber to a strategic level.
The actions of the USSR caused a negative reaction from NATO countries. On December 12, 1979, NATO made a double decision - the deployment of American medium- and shorter-range missiles on the territory of Western European countries and at the same time the start of negotiations with the USSR on the issue of Euromissiles. However, the negotiations reached a dead end.
1979-1986: a new round of confrontation
A new aggravation occurred in 1979 in connection with the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, which was perceived in the West as a violation of the geopolitical balance and the USSR’s transition to a policy of expansion. The aggravation reached its peak in the fall of 1983, when Soviet air defense forces shot down a South Korean civilian airliner, which, according to media reports, had about 300 people on board. It was then that US President Ronald Reagan called the USSR an “evil empire.”
In 1983, the United States deployed Pershing-2 medium-range ballistic missiles on the territory of Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Belgium and Italy within 5-7 minutes of approach from targets on the European territory of the USSR and air-launched cruise missiles. In parallel, in 1981, the United States began production of neutron weapons - artillery shells and warheads for the Lance short-range missile. Analysts suggested that these weapons could be used to repel the advance of Warsaw Pact troops in Central Europe. The United States also began developing a space missile defense program (the so-called “Star Wars” program); Both of these large-scale programs extremely worried the Soviet leadership, especially since the USSR, which maintained nuclear missile parity with great difficulty and strain on the economy, did not have the means to adequately fight back in space.
In response, in November 1983, the USSR withdrew from the Euromissile negotiations held in Geneva. General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Yuri Andropov said that the USSR would take a number of countermeasures: it would deploy operational-tactical nuclear weapons launch vehicles on the territory of the GDR and Czechoslovakia and move Soviet nuclear submarines closer to the US coast. In 1983-1986. Soviet nuclear forces and missile warning systems were on high alert.
According to available data, in 1981, Soviet intelligence services (KGB and GRU) launched Operation Nuclear Missile Attack (Operation RYAN) - monitoring the possible preparation of NATO countries for the start of a limited nuclear war in Europe. The concerns of the Soviet leadership were caused by the NATO exercises “Able archer 83” - in the USSR they feared that, under their cover, NATO was preparing to launch “Euromissiles” at targets in the Warsaw Pact countries. Similarly in 1983-1986. NATO military analysts feared that the USSR would launch a pre-emptive “disarming” strike on the Euromissile bases.
1987-1991: Gorbachev’s “new thinking” and the end of the confrontation
With the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, who proclaimed “socialist pluralism” and “the priority of universal human values over class values,” the ideological confrontation quickly lost its severity. In a military-political sense, Gorbachev initially tried to pursue a policy in the spirit of “detente” of the 1970s, proposing arms limitation programs, but negotiating rather harshly over the terms of the treaty (meeting in Reykjavik).
However, the development of the political process in the USSR towards the rejection of communist ideology, as well as the dependence of the USSR economy on Western technologies and loans due to the sharp drop in oil prices, led to the fact that the USSR made broad concessions in the foreign policy sphere. It is widely believed that this was also due to the fact that increased military spending as a result of the arms race became unsustainable for the Soviet economy, but a number of researchers argue that the relative level of military spending in the USSR was not excessively high.
In 1988, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan begins. The fall of the communist system in Eastern Europe in 1989-1990. led to the liquidation of the Soviet bloc, and with it the virtual end of the Cold War.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union itself was experiencing a deep crisis. The central authorities began to lose control over the union republics. Interethnic conflicts broke out on the outskirts of the country. In December 1991, the final collapse of the USSR occurred.
Manifestations of the Cold War
- An acute political and ideological confrontation between the communist and Western liberal systems, which has engulfed almost the entire world;
- creation of a system of military (NATO, Warsaw Pact Organization, SEATO, CENTO, ANZUS, ANZYUK) and economic (EEC, CMEA, ASEAN, etc.) alliances;
- creation of an extensive network of military bases of the USA and the USSR on the territory of foreign states;
- speeding up the arms race and military preparations;
- a sharp increase in military spending;
- periodically emerging international crises (Berlin crises, Cuban missile crisis, Korean War, Vietnam War, Afghan War);
- the unspoken division of the world into “spheres of influence” of the Soviet and Western blocs, within which the possibility of intervention was tacitly allowed in order to maintain a regime pleasing to one or another bloc (Soviet intervention in Hungary, Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, the American operation in Guatemala, the overthrow of the anti-Western organized by the United States and Great Britain government in Iran, US-led invasion of Cuba, US intervention in the Dominican Republic, US intervention in Grenada);
- the rise of the national liberation movement in colonial and dependent countries and territories (partly inspired by the USSR), the decolonization of these countries, the formation of the “Third World”, the Non-Aligned Movement, neo-colonialism;
- waging a massive “psychological war”, the purpose of which was to propagate one’s own ideology and way of life, as well as to discredit the official ideology and way of life of the opposite bloc in the eyes of the population of “enemy” countries and the “Third World”. For this purpose, radio stations were created that broadcast to the territory of the countries of the “ideological enemy” (see the articles Enemy Voices and Foreign Broadcasting), the production of ideologically oriented literature and periodicals in foreign languages was financed, and the intensification of class, racial, and national contradictions was actively used. The first main directorate of the KGB of the USSR carried out so-called “active measures” - operations to influence foreign public opinion and the policies of foreign states in the interests of the USSR.
- support for anti-government forces abroad - the USSR and its allies supported financially communist parties and some other leftist parties in Western countries and developing countries, as well as national liberation movements, including terrorist organizations. Also, the USSR and its allies supported the peace movement in Western countries. In turn, the intelligence services of the United States and Great Britain supported and took advantage of such anti-Soviet organizations as the People's Labor Union. The US has also secretly provided material assistance to Solidarity in Poland since 1982, and has also provided material assistance to the Afghan Mujahideen and the Contras in Nicaragua.
- reduction of economic and humanitarian ties between states with different socio-political systems.
- boycotts of some Olympic Games. For example, the USA and a number of other countries boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In response, the USSR and most socialist countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Lessons from the Cold War
Joseph Nye, a professor at Harvard University (USA), speaking at the conference “From Fulton to Malta: How the Cold War Began and How It Ended” (Gorbachev Foundation, March 2005), pointed out the lessons that should be learned from the Cold War:
- bloodshed as a means of resolving global or regional conflicts is not inevitable;
- the presence of nuclear weapons among the warring parties and the understanding of what the world could become after a nuclear conflict played a significant deterrent role;
- the course of development of conflicts is closely related to the personal qualities of specific leaders (Stalin and Harry Truman, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan);
- military power is essential, but not decisive (the USA was defeated in Vietnam, and the USSR in Afghanistan); in the era of nationalism and the third industrial (information) revolution, it is impossible to control the hostile population of an occupied country;
- in these conditions, the economic power of the state and the ability of the economic system to adapt to the requirements of modernity, the ability for constant innovation, acquire a much greater role.
- a significant role is played by the use of soft forms of influence, or soft power, that is, the ability to achieve what you want from others without coercing (intimidating) them or buying their consent, but attracting them to your side. Immediately after the defeat of Nazism, the USSR and communist ideas had serious potential, but most of it was lost after the events in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and this process continued as the Soviet Union used its military power.
Memory of the Cold War
Museums
- The Cold War Museum is a military history museum and museum and entertainment complex in Moscow.
- The Cold War Museum (UK) is a military history museum in Shropshire.
- Cold War Museum (Ukraine) is a naval museum complex in Balaklava.
- The Cold War Museum (USA) is a military history museum in Lorton, Virginia.
Medal "For Victory in the Cold War"
In early April 2007, a bill was introduced into both houses of the US Congress to establish a new military award for participation in the Cold War ( Cold War Service Medal), supported by a group of senators and congressmen from the Democratic Party led by the current US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The medal is proposed to be awarded to all those who served in the armed forces or worked in US government departments during the period from September 2, 1945 to December 26, 1991.
As Hillary Clinton stated, “Our victory in the Cold War was made possible only by the willingness of millions of Americans in uniform to repel the threat that came from behind the Iron Curtain. Our victory in the Cold War was a tremendous achievement, and the men and women who served during that time deserve to be rewarded."
Congressman Robert Andrews, who introduced the bill in the House, said: “The Cold War was a global military operation that was extremely dangerous and at times deadly for the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who fought in the campaign. The millions of American veterans who served around the world to help us win this conflict deserve to receive a unique medal to recognize and honor their service.”
In the United States, there is an Association of Cold War Veterans, which also demanded that the authorities recognize their services in the victory over the USSR, but only managed to achieve the issuance of certificates from the Ministry of Defense confirming their participation in the Cold War. The Veterans Association issued its own unofficial medal, the design of which was developed by a leading specialist at the US Army Institute of Heraldry, Nadin Russell.