COLD WAR COLD WAR
"COLD WAR", a term denoting a state of military-political confrontation between states and groups of states, in which an arms race is being waged, economic pressure measures are applied (embargo, economic blockade, etc.), and military-strategic bridgeheads and bases are being organized. The Cold War emerged shortly after World War II (cm. THE SECOND WORLD WAR). Mostly ended in the second half of the 1980s - early 1990s. mainly in connection with the democratic transformations in many countries of the former socialist system.
The beginning of the confrontation
After World War II, the unity of the victorious countries could not be maintained for long. The USSR, on the one hand, and the USA, Great Britain and France, on the other, represented different social systems. Both sides sought to expand the territory in which their social orders were prevalent. The USSR sought to gain access to resources that were previously controlled by the capitalist countries. Pro-communist and pro-Soviet partisan movements unfolded in Greece, Iran, China, Vietnam and other countries. The US and its allies sought to maintain their dominance in Western Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The war-torn inhabitants of Europe and Asia were very interested in the experience of rapid industrial construction in the USSR. Information about the Soviet Union was often idealized, and millions of people hoped that replacing the capitalist system, which was going through hard times, with a socialist one, could quickly overcome the devastation.
The Cold War caused the world to split into two camps, gravitating towards the USSR and the USA. The conflict between the USSR and the former allies took place gradually. March 5, 1946, speaking in the presence of US President Truman (cm. TRUMAN Harry) in Fulton, W. Churchill (cm. CHURCHILL Winston Leonard Spencer) accused the USSR of launching world expansion, of attacking the territory of the "free world", that is, that part of the planet that was controlled by the capitalist countries. Churchill called on the "Anglo-Saxon world", that is, the United States, Great Britain and their allies to repulse the USSR. His words about the division of Europe by the "Iron Curtain" became winged. The Fulton speech became a kind of declaration of the Cold War. However, there were many opponents of confrontation with the USSR in the USA.
But in 1946-1947. The USSR stepped up pressure on Greece and Turkey. There was a civil war in Greece, and the USSR demanded from Turkey the provision of territory for a military base in the Mediterranean, which could be a prelude to the seizure of the country. Under these conditions, Truman announced his readiness to "contain" the USSR throughout the world. This position was called the "Truman Doctrine" and meant the end of cooperation between the victors of fascism.
However, the Cold War front ran not between countries, but within them. About a third of the population of France and Italy supported the Communist Party. The poverty of war-torn Europeans was the breeding ground for communist success. In 1947, the US launched the Marshall Plan. (cm. MARSHALL PLAN) to provide European countries with material assistance for economic recovery. For this, the United States demanded political concessions: the Europeans were to maintain private property relations and withdraw the communists from their governments. This consolidated the split of Europe into regimes that accepted American conditions and submitted to the USSR, which opposed such a plan. Under pressure from the USSR, by the end of the war in Eastern Europe, the positions of the communists and their allies sharply strengthened. In these countries, regimes of "people's democracy" emerged. The political split of Europe was supplemented by a socio-economic one. The split line passed through the territory of Germany, from which the Federal Republic of Germany emerged in 1949. (cm. FEDERAL DISTRICT) and the German Democratic Republic (cm. GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC). But the blockade of West Berlin (cm. GERMANY) undertaken by the USSR in 1948-1949 failed.
The Cold War required the strengthening of the communist movement, which during the war brought new people, often democratically minded. In 1947, the Cominform was created by the largest European Communist Parties instead of the Comintern. (cm. COMINFORM), which was supposed to coordinate the activities of the communists in different countries. However, the Cominform was used to denounce the attempts of the Eastern European communists to seek their own options for moving towards socialism. This policy led to the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict and the deployment of mass repressions in Eastern Europe. In 1948 repressive campaigns were also launched in the USSR against anyone who could have cultural contacts with the outside world. Repressions directed against dissidents also began in Western countries, primarily in the United States. These events became known as the "witch hunt". (cm. WITCH-HUNT)
In April 1949, the United States, Canada and most of the countries of Western Europe created a military alliance - the North Atlantic bloc. (cm. ORGANIZATION OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY)(NATO). USSR and countries of Eastern Europe in 1955 they responded to this by creating their own military alliance - the Warsaw Pact Organization (cm. WARSAW AGREEMENT 1955).
Immediately after the start of the Cold War, the countries of the Far East turned into an arena for a fierce struggle between supporters of communist ideas and the pro-Western path of development. The significance of this struggle was very great, since the Pacific region had huge human and raw material resources. The stability of the capitalist system largely depended on control over this region. After the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War of 1946-1949. communist expansion to Far East intensified. The United States and other Western countries chose a tough military response to the communist challenge, which led to the national liberation war in Vietnam 1946-1954. and the Korean War (cm. KOREA (South Korea)). The involvement of Western countries in wars in Asia significantly weakened their strategic positions. At the same time, the colonial system collapsed.
The rivalry between the USSR and the USA inevitably led to the buildup of armaments by both blocs - socialist and capitalist. The goal of the adversaries was to achieve superiority precisely in the field of atomic and then nuclear weapons, as well as in their means of delivery. Soon, rockets became such means in addition to bombers. A nuclear arms race has begun. Initially, the United States was the leader in the race. They had atomic weapons, first tested back in August 1945. The plans of the American General Staff provided for the use of atomic weapons against the USSR and its allies in the event of a military conflict. The Soviet military-industrial complex made every effort to create its own atomic bomb. Soviet scientists and intelligence officers worked on this task. Some engineering solutions were obtained through intelligence channels from secret American institutions, but these data could not have been used if Soviet scientists had not come close to creating atomic weapons on their own. The creation of atomic weapons in the USSR was a matter of time, but there was no such time, so intelligence data were of great importance. In 1949 the USSR tested its own atomic bomb. This news shocked the American leadership. The presence of the bomb in the USSR kept the US from using nuclear weapons in Korea, although such a possibility was discussed by high-ranking US military officials.
In 1952, the United States tested a thermonuclear device. (cm. THERMONUCLEAR WEAPONS). In 1953 the USSR tested a thermonuclear bomb. From this time the United States until the 1960s. they overtook the USSR only in the number of bombs and bombers, that is, quantitatively, but not qualitatively - the USSR had any weapon that the United States had. These two states were the most powerful in the world - superpowers.
In 1953 after the death of Stalin (cm. STALIN Joseph Vissarionovich) the new Soviet leadership began to look for ways to improve relations with the West.
From confrontation to "détente"
In 1953-1954. The wars in Korea and Vietnam ended. In 1955 the USSR established equal relations with Yugoslavia and the FRG. The great powers also agreed to grant a neutral status to Austria occupied by them and to withdraw their troops from the country.
In 1956 the situation in the world escalated again due to Suez Crisis (cm. SUET CRISIS) and the Hungarian events of 1956 (cm. HUNGARIAN EVENTS 1956). But this time, the superpowers avoided confrontation. In 1958, the United States came up with the so-called "Eisenhower Doctrine", (cm. Eisenhower Dwight) which provided for the possibility of US military intervention in all cases when revolutionary movements threaten the stability of legitimate regimes. The United States thus assumed the functions of the world's policeman. This soon led them into a long war in Indochina.
Leader of the USSR, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU N. S. Khrushchev (cm. Khrushchev Nikita Sergeevich) during this period was not interested in intensifying the confrontation. The positions of the USSR in the world were strong, the USSR was ahead of the USA in space exploration, which was a symbol of the success of the scientific and technological revolution in the Soviet Union. In 1959 Khrushchev visited the USA. It was the first ever visit of a Soviet leader to America. But in 1960, relations between the USSR and the USA worsened again due to an incident with an American U-2 aircraft that invaded the airspace of the USSR.
In 1960, J. Kennedy won the US presidential election (cm. KENNEDY John). He built his campaign around the idea of America falling behind Soviet Union. Kennedy put forward the slogan "new frontiers". America and its allies had to reach new frontiers both technically and militarily-politically. The doctrine of containment of communism was deemed insufficient, and a counteroffensive against communist expansion was needed.
Immediately after coming to power, Kennedy attempted to overthrow the pro-communist regime of F. Castro (cm. CASTRO Fidel) in Cuba, operation on Playa Giron (cm. CARIBBEAN CRISIS) failed. No sooner had Kennedy recovered from this defeat than a new crisis overtook him. At the very first meeting with the new American president in April 1961, Khrushchev demanded that the status of West Berlin be changed - the center of Western civilization, surrounded on all sides by the territory of the socialist GDR. Kennedy opposed, and the Berlin Crisis of 1961 unfolded. (cm. BERLIN (city)).
In 1962, the nuclear-missile rivalry reached its peak in the Cuban Missile Crisis. (cm. CARIBBEAN CRISIS). This crisis taught both the Soviet and American leadership a lot. The leaders of the superpowers realized that they could bring humanity to ruin. Having approached a dangerous line, the Cold War began to decline. During the crisis, the USSR and the USA for the first time agreed to limit the arms race. Kennedy called for a more realistic course towards the USSR, for resolving controversial issues through negotiations. In case of emergency, a direct telephone connection (“hot line”) was established between the President of the United States and the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Scientists around the world have pointed to this dangerous consequence arms races are like nuclear weapons testing. On August 15, 1963, the Treaty Banning Nuclear Tests in Three Environments was signed.
The conclusion of the 1963 treaty did not mean the end of the Cold War. The very next year, after the death of President Kennedy in November 1963, the rivalry between the two blocs intensified. But now it has been pushed away from the borders of the USSR and the USA - in South East Asia where the Vietnam War took place (cm. WAR IN VIETNAM).
In the mid 1960s. the superpowers faced great difficulties (the Sino-Soviet conflict, the war in Indochina), which forced them to move from the Cold War to establishing more peaceful relations, to politics "detente" international tension.
The aggravation of the "cold war" in 1979-1985.
During detente, important documents on the limitation of strategic arms were adopted. However, by limiting the total volume of nuclear weapons and rocket technology, these agreements almost did not concern the deployment of nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the superpowers could concentrate a large number of nuclear missiles in the most dangerous parts of the world without even violating the agreed total volumes of nuclear weapons. This led to the missile crisis of 1979-1987.
Detente was finally buried by the invasion of Soviet troops into Afghanistan during Afghan war (cm. AFGHAN WAR) in December 1979. Relations between the blocs worsened even more after the suppression of the Solidarity trade union (cm. SOLIDARITY) in Poland. In 1980-1982 The United States waged a series against the USSR economic sanctions. In 1983 US President R. Reagan (cm. REAGAN Ronald) called the USSR an "evil empire" and called for its elimination. Installation of new American missiles in Europe. In response to this, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Yu. V. Andropov (cm. ANDROPOV Yury Vladimirovich) stopped all negotiations with the United States. The world has come to the brink of a third world war almost as close as during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 1983, Reagan proposed the idea of the Strategic Defense Initiative. (cm. STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE)(SDI), the ideas of "star wars" - space systems that could protect the United States from nuclear strike. This program was carried out in circumvention of the ABM treaty (cm. MISSILE DEFENSE). The USSR did not have the technical capabilities to create the same system. Although the US was also far from successful in this area, the communist leaders realized that they could lose the Cold War.
Perestroika and "new thinking"
By the mid 1980s. the countries of "real socialism" entered a period of crisis. Bureaucratic economy (administrative-command system (cm. ADMINISTRATIVE-COMMAND SYSTEM)) could no longer meet the growing needs of the population and could hardly withstand the arms race. It was becoming increasingly difficult for the USSR to bear the burden of the Cold War, support allied regimes around the world, and wage war in Afghanistan. The technical backwardness of the USSR from the capitalist countries was more and more noticeable and dangerous.
In March 1985, a new General Secretary Central Committee of the CPSU M. S. Gorbachev (cm. GORBACHEV Mikhail Sergeevich). In 1985-1986 he proclaimed a policy of sweeping reforms known as perestroika (cm. RESTRUCTURING). These transformations implied the improvement of relations with the capitalist countries on the basis of equality and openness ("new thinking"). Gorbachev tried to improve relations with Western countries. In November 1985, he met with Reagan in Geneva and proposed a significant reduction in nuclear weapons in Europe. It was still impossible to solve the problem, because Gorbachev demanded the abolition of SDI, and Reagan did not concede. But the two presidents got to know each other better, which helped them negotiate later. After an unsuccessful meeting in Reykjavik in 1986, the two presidents finally reached an agreement in Washington in December 1987: American and Soviet intermediate-range missiles would be withdrawn from Europe. In 1989, during the Eastern European revolutions of 1989, the Iron Curtain collapsed.
In February 1989, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan began. The problems that caused the aggravation of international tension not only in 1979-1980, but also in 1946-1947 were removed. Therefore, we can state the actual cessation of the Cold War already in 1990. The level of relations between the USSR and Western countries returned to the state before the Cold War, and it was remembered only in order to proclaim its end, as President George W. Bush did (cm. BUSH George (senior), announcing victory in the Cold War after the collapse of the USSR, and Presidents B. N. Yeltsin (cm. Yeltsin Boris Nikolaevich) and Bush, announcing its end in 1992. However, the connection between the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR is indirect. They have a common cause - the crisis of the social system of the USSR.
encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .
- (Cold War) The term is usually used in relation to the period of deep confrontation between the US and the USSR after the 2nd World War. In 1945, the US and the USSR acted as superpowers. At the same time, the USSR easily occupied the countries of Eastern Europe, and the United States, as ... ... Political science. Dictionary.
A term denoting the state of military-political confrontation of states and groups of states, in which an arms race is being waged, economic pressure measures are applied (embargo, economic blockade, etc.), organization is carried out ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
The Cold War is a global military, geopolitical and economic confrontation between the Soviet Union and supported by various allies from all sides. This confrontation continued for almost fifty years (from 1946 to 1991).
The Cold War was not a military battle in the truest sense. The basis for the disputes was the ideology of the two most powerful states on the planet at that time. Scientists characterize this confrontation as a very deep contradiction between the socialist and capitalist systems. It is symbolic that the Cold War began immediately after the end of World War II, as a result of which both countries remained victorious. And since devastation prevailed in the world at that time, ideal conditions were created for planting many territories by their people. But, unfortunately, the United States and the USSR at that time disagreed in their opinions, so each side wanted to get ahead of the rival and make sure that on a vast territory where people did not know what to believe in and how to live, as soon as possible to implant their ideology. As a consequence, the people of the losing states will trust the winning country and enrich it at the expense of their human and natural resources.
This confrontation is divided into stages of the Cold War, among which are the following:
Beginning (1946-1953). This stage can be characterized as attempts by the USSR and the USA to hold the first events in Europe that would be aimed at imposing their ideology. As a result, since 1948, the possibility of starting a new war has hung over the world, so both states began to rapidly prepare for new battles.
On the verge (1953-1962). During this period, relations between the opponents improved slightly and they even began to make friendly visits to each other. But at this time, the European states, one by one, start revolutions in order to independently lead their country. The USSR, in order to eliminate the indignation, actively began the bombing of the outbreak of conflicts. The United States could not allow such liberties to the enemy and began to set up their air defense system themselves. As a result, the relationship deteriorated again.
Stage of detente (1962-1979). During this period, more conservative rulers came to power in the warring countries, who were not particularly willing to conduct an active confrontation, which could well lead to war.
A new round of confrontation (1979-1987). The next stage began after the Soviet Union sent troops to Afghanistan and several times shot down foreign civilian aircraft that flew over the state. These aggressive actions provoked the United States to deploy its forces on the territory of several European countries, which naturally pissed off the USSR.
Gorbachev's coming to power and the end of the confrontation (1987-1991). The new one did not want to continue the struggle for ideology in other European countries. Moreover, his policy was aimed at eliminating the communist government, which was the ancestor of political and economic repressions towards the United States.
The end of the Cold War was marked by the fact that he made great concessions and did not particularly claim power in Europe, especially since the defeated countries had already moved away from devastation and began independent development. The USSR began to experience a deep crisis, which led to the final one in December 1991. Thus, the Cold War did not bring a positive result to our state, but became one of the elements that led to the collapse of a great state.
We do not want a single inch of foreign land. But we will not give our land, not a single inch of our land, to anyone.
Joseph Stalin
The Cold War is a state of contradiction between the two dominant world systems: capitalism and socialism. Socialism represented the USSR, and capitalism, in a major way, the USA and Great Britain. Today it is popular to say that the Cold War is a confrontation between the USSR and the USA, but at the same time they forget to say that the speech of the British Prime Minister Churchill led to the formal declaration of war.
In 1945, contradictions began to appear between the USSR and other members of the anti-Hitler coalition. It was clear that Germany had lost the war, and now main question- the post-war order of the world. Here, everyone tried to pull the blanket in his direction, to take a leading position relative to other countries. The main contradictions were in European countries: Stalin wanted to subordinate them to the Soviet system, and the capitalists sought to prevent the Soviet state from entering Europe.
The causes of the Cold War are as follows:
The active stage of confrontation between the two systems begins with the US atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If we consider this bombing in isolation, then it is illogical - the war is won, Japan is not a competitor. Why bomb cities, and even with such weapons? But if we consider the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War, then in the bombing appears the goal is to show the potential enemy their strength, and to show who should be the main thing in the world. And the factor of nuclear weapons was very important in the future. After all, the atomic bomb appeared in the USSR only in 1949 ...
If we briefly consider the Cold War, then its beginning today is associated exclusively with Churchill's speech. Therefore, they say that the beginning of the Cold War is March 5, 1946.
In fact, Truman (President of the United States) delivered a more specific speech, from which it became clear to everyone that the Cold War had begun. And Churchill's speech (it is not difficult to find and read it on the Internet today) was superficial. It talked a lot about the Iron Curtain, but not a word about the Cold War.
On February 10, 1946, the Pravda newspaper published an interview with Stalin. Today this newspaper is very hard to find, but this interview was very interesting. In it, Stalin said the following: “Capitalism always breeds crises and conflicts. This always creates the threat of war, which is a threat to the USSR. Therefore, we must restore the Soviet economy at an accelerated pace. We must prioritize heavy industry over consumer goods.”
This speech of Stalin turned over and it was on it that all Western leaders relied, talking about the desire of the USSR to start a war. But, as you can see, in this speech of Stalin there was not even a hint of the militaristic expansion of the Soviet state.
To say that the beginning of the Cold War is connected with Churchill's speech is a bit illogical. The fact is that at the time of 1946 it was just former prime minister Great Britain. It turns out a kind of theater of the absurd - the war between the USSR and the USA is officially started by the former Prime Minister of England. In reality, everything was different, and Churchill's speech was just a convenient pretext, on which it was later profitable to write everything off.
The real beginning of the Cold War should be attributed to at least 1944, when it was already clear that Germany was doomed to defeat, and all the allies pulled the blanket over themselves, realizing that it was very important to gain dominance over the post-war world. If you try to draw a more accurate line for the start of the war, then the first serious disagreements on the topic of “how to live on” between the allies happened at the Tehran conference.
For a correct understanding of the processes that took place during the Cold War, you need to understand what this war was in history. Today, more and more often they say that it was actually the third world war. And this is a huge mistake. The fact is that all the wars of mankind that were before, including including the Napoleonic wars and 2 world wars, these were the warriors of the capitalist world for the rights dominated in a certain region. The Cold War was the first global war where there was a confrontation between two systems: capitalist and socialist. Here it may be objected to me that in the history of mankind there were wars, where at the forefront was not capital, but religion: Christianity against Islam and Islam against Christianity. In part, this objection is true, but only from happiness. The fact is that any religious conflicts cover only part of the population and part of the world, while the global cold war has engulfed the whole world. All countries of the world could be clearly divided into 2 main groups:
There were also "indefinite". There were few such countries, but they were. Their main specificity was that outwardly they could not decide which camp to join, therefore they received funding from two sources: both from Moscow and from Washington.
One of the problems of the Cold War is the question of who started it. Indeed, there is no army here that crosses the border of another state, and thereby declares war. Today you can blame everything on the USSR and say that it was Stalin who started the war. Nose evidence base this hypothesis is in trouble. I will not help our “partners” and look for what motives the USSR could have for the war, but I will give the facts why Stalin did not need an aggravation of relations (at least not directly in 1946):
The facts show that in 1944-1946 the USSR was not ready to start a war. And Churchill's speech, which formally started the Cold War, was not delivered in Moscow, and not at its suggestion. But on the other hand, both opposing camps were extremely interested in such a war.
As early as September 4, 1945, Memorandum 329 was adopted in the United States, in which a plan was developed atomic bombs Arrangements of Moscow and Leningrad. In my opinion, this is the best proof of who wanted war and aggravation of relations.
Any war has goals, and it is surprising that our historians for the most part do not even try to define the goals of the Cold War. On the one hand, this is justified by the fact that the USSR had only one goal - the expansion and strengthening of socialism by any means. But Western countries were more resourceful. They sought not only to spread their world influence, but also to inflict spiritual blows on the USSR. And it continues to this day. The following goals of the United States in the war in terms of historical and psychological impact can be distinguished:
There are, of course, pages of history with which our country can be reproached, but most of the stories are sucked out of thin air. Moreover, liberals and Western historians for some reason forget that it was not Russia that colonized the whole world, it was not Russia that destroyed the indigenous population of America, it was not Russia that shot Indians with cannons, tying 20 people in a row to save cannonballs, it was not Russia that exploited Africa. There are thousands of such examples, because every country in history has hard-hitting stories. Therefore, if you really want to poke around in the bad events of our history, be kind enough not to forget that Western countries have no less such stories.
The stages of the Cold War is one of the most controversial issues, since it is very difficult to graduate them. However, I can suggest dividing this war into 8 key phases:
These are the main stages of the Cold War. As a result, socialism and communism lost out to capitalism, since the moral and psychic influence of the United States, which was openly directed at the leadership of the CPSU, achieved its goal: the leadership of the party began to put their personal interests and benefits above socialist foundations.
The confrontation between the two ideologies began in 1945. Gradually, this confrontation embraced all spheres of public life.
The main military confrontation of the Cold War era is the struggle between the two blocs. On April 4, 1949, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created. NATO included the USA, Canada, England, France, Italy and a number of small countries. In response, on May 14, 1955, the OVD (Warsaw Pact Organization) was created. Thus, there was a clear confrontation between the two systems. But again, it should be noted that the first step was taken by the Western countries, which organized NATO 6 years earlier than the Warsaw Pact appeared.
The main confrontation, about which we have already partially spoken, is atomic weapons. In 1945, this weapon appeared in the United States. Moreover, in America they developed a plan to strike with nuclear weapons at 20 major cities USSR, using 192 bombs. This forced the USSR to do even the impossible to create its own atomic bomb, the first successful tests of which took place in August 1949. In the future, all this resulted in an arms race on a huge scale.
In 1947, the United States developed the Marshall Plan. According to this plan, the United States provided financial assistance to all countries affected during the war. But there was one limitation in this plan - only those countries that shared the political interests and goals of the United States received assistance. In response to this, the USSR begins to provide assistance in post-war reconstruction to countries that have chosen the path of socialism. Based on these approaches, 2 economic blocks were created:
Despite the formation of alliances, the essence has not changed: ZEV helped with US money, and CMEA helped with USSR money. The rest of the countries only consumed.
In the economic confrontation with the United States, Stalin took two steps that had an extremely negative effect on the American economy: on March 1, 1950, the USSR moved away from calculating the ruble in dollars (as it was around the world) to gold backing, and in April 1952, the USSR, China and Eastern European countries are creating an alternative trade zone to the dollar. This trading zone did not use the dollar at all, which means that the capitalist world, which previously owned 100% of the world market, lost at least 1/3 of this market. All this happened against the backdrop of the "economic miracle of the USSR." Western experts said that the USSR would be able to reach the level of 1940 after the war only by 1971, but in reality this happened as early as 1949.
| Event | the date |
|---|---|
| 1948 | |
| Vietnam War | 1946-1954 |
| 1950-1953 | |
| 1946-1949 | |
| 1948-1949 | |
| 1956 | |
| Mid 50s - mid 60s | |
| Mid 60s | |
| War in Afghanistan |
These are the main crises of the Cold War, but there were others, less significant. Next, we will briefly consider what the essence of these crises was, and what consequences they led to in the world.
Many people in our country do not take the Cold War seriously. We have an understanding in our minds that war is “drawn swords”, weapons in hand and in the trenches. But the Cold War was different, although even it was not without regional conflicts, some of which were extremely difficult. The main conflicts of those times:
For a correct understanding of the essence of the Berlin crisis of 1948, one should study the map.
Germany was divided into 2 parts: western and eastern. Berlin was also in the zone of influence, but the city itself was located deep in the eastern lands, that is, on the territory controlled by the USSR. In an effort to put pressure on West Berlin, the Soviet leadership organized its blockade. It was a response to the recognition of Taiwan and its admission to the UN.
England and France organized an air corridor, supplying the inhabitants of West Berlin with everything they needed. Therefore, the blockade failed and the crisis itself began to slow down. Realizing that the blockade leads to nothing, the Soviet leadership removes it, normalizing life in Berlin.
The continuation of the crisis was the creation of two states in Germany. In 1949, the western states were transformed into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). In response, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was created in the eastern lands. It is these events that should be considered the final split of Europe into 2 opposing camps - West and East.
In 1946, a civil war broke out in China. The Communist bloc staged an armed coup seeking to overthrow the government of Chiang Kai-shek from the Kuomintang party. Civil War and the revolution were made possible by the events of 1945. After the victory over Japan, a base was created here for the rise of communism. Starting in 1946, the USSR began supplying weapons, food and everything necessary to support the Chinese communists who were fighting for the country.
The revolution ended in 1949 with the formation of the Chinese People's Republic(PRC), where all power was in the hands of the Communist Party. As for the Chiang Kai-shek, they fled to Taiwan and formed their own state, which was very quickly recognized in the West, and even admitted to the UN. In response, the USSR leaves the UN. it important point, as he had a great influence on another Asian conflict - the Korean War.
From the first meetings of the UN, one of the main issues was the fate of the state of Palestine. At that time, Palestine was actually a British colony. The division of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state was an attempt by the US and the USSR to strike at Great Britain and its positions in Asia. Stalin approved of the idea of creating the state of Israel, because he believed in the power of the "leftist" Jews, and expected to gain control over this country, gaining a foothold in the Middle East.
The Palestinian problem was resolved in November 1947 at the UN Assembly, where the position of the USSR played a key role. Therefore, we can say that Stalin played a key role in the creation of the state of Israel.
The UN Assembly decided to create 2 states: Jewish (Israel" Arab (Palestine). In May 1948, Israel's independence was declared and immediately the Arab countries declared war on this state. The Middle East crisis began. Great Britain supported Palestine, the USSR and the USA supported Israel. In In 1949, Israel won the war, and immediately a conflict arose between the Jewish state and the USSR, as a result of which Stalin severed diplomatic relations with Israel.The battle in the Middle East was won by the United States.
The Korean War is an undeservedly forgotten event that is little studied today, which is a mistake. After all, the Korean War is the third in history in terms of human casualties. During the war years, 14 million people died! More casualties in only two world wars. A large number of casualties due to the fact that it was the first major armed conflict in the Cold War.
After the victory over Japan in 1945, the USSR and the USA divided Korea (a former colony of Japan) into zones of influence: reconciled Korea - under the influence of the USSR, South Korea- under the influence of the United States. In 1948, 2 states were officially formed:
With the support of the USSR and China, on June 25, 1950, Kim Il Sung starts a war. In fact, it was a war for the unification of Korea, which the DPRK planned to end quickly. The factor of a quick victory was important, since this was the only way to prevent the US from intervening in the conflict. The beginning was promising, the UN troops, which were 90% American, came to the aid of the Republic of Korea. After that, the DPRK army retreated and was close to collapse. The situation was saved by Chinese volunteers who intervened in the war and restored the balance of power. After that, local battles began and the border between North and South Korea was established along the 38th parallel.
The first détente in the Cold War occurred in 1953 after the death of Stalin. An active dialogue began between the opposing countries. Already on July 15, 1953, the new government of the USSR, headed by Khrushchev, announced its desire to build new relations with Western countries, based on a policy of peaceful coexistence. Similar statements were made from the opposite side.
A major factor in stabilizing the situation was the end Korean War and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Israel. Wishing to demonstrate to the Western countries the desire for peaceful coexistence, Khrushchev brought Soviet troops from Austria, having obtained a promise from the Austrian side to maintain neutrality. Naturally, there was no neutrality, just as there were no concessions and gestures from the United States.
Detente lasted from 1953 to 1956. At that time, the USSR established relations with Yugoslavia, India, began to develop relations with African and Asian countries, which had only recently freed themselves from colonial dependence.
At the end of 1956, an uprising began in Hungary. Local residents, realizing that the position of the USSR after the death of Stalin, became noticeably worse, raised an uprising against the current regime in the country. As a result, the cold war came to its critical point. For the USSR there were 2 ways:
The 2nd option was chosen. The army crushed the rebellion. For suppression in places it was necessary to use weapons. As a result, the revolution was won, it became clear that the "detente" was over.
Cuba is a small state near the US, but it almost led the world to a nuclear war. At the end of the 50s, a revolution took place in Cuba and Fidel Castro seized power, who declared his desire to build socialism on the island. For America, this was a challenge - a state appeared near their border, which acts as a geopolitical enemy. As a result, the United States planned to resolve the situation by military means, but were defeated.
The Krabi Crisis began in 1961, after the USSR secretly delivered missiles to Cuba. This soon became known, and the US President demanded to withdraw the missiles. The parties escalated the conflict until it became clear that peace was on the threshold of nuclear war. As a result, the USSR agreed to withdraw its missiles from Cuba, and the United States agreed to withdraw its missiles from Turkey.
In the mid-1960s, new tensions arose, this time in Czechoslovakia. The situation here strongly resembled the one that was earlier in Hungary: democratic tendencies began in the country. Basically, young people opposed the current government, and the movement was headed by A. Dubcek.
A situation arose, as in Hungary - to allow for a democratic revolution, meant to give an example to other countries that the socialist system could be overthrown at any moment. Therefore, the Warsaw Pact countries sent their troops to Czechoslovakia. The rebellion was suppressed, but the suppression caused outrage throughout the world. But it was a cold war, and, of course, any active actions of one side were actively criticized by the other side.
The peak of the Cold War came in the 1950s and 1960s, when the aggravation of relations between the Soviet Socialist Republic and the United States was so great that a war could break out at any moment. Beginning in the 1970s, the war was detente and the subsequent defeat of the USSR. But in this case I want to focus briefly on the USA. What happened in this country before "détente"? In fact, the country ceased to be popular and came under the control of the capitalists, under which it is to this day. One can say even more - the USSR won the Cold War from the USA in the late 60s, and the USA, as the state of the American people, ceased to exist. Capitalists seized power. The apogee of these events is the assassination of President Kennedy. But after the United States became a country representing the capitalists and oligarchs, they already won the USSR in the Cold War.
But let us return to the Cold War and détente in it. These signs were indicated in 1971 when the USSR, the USA, Britain and France signed agreements on the start of the work of a commission to solve the Berlin problem, as a point of constant tension in Europe.
In 1975, the most significant event of the détente era of the Cold War took place. During this year, a pan-European meeting on security was held, in which all the countries of Europe took part (of course, including the SSR, as well as the USA and Canada). The meeting was held in Helsinki (Finland), so it went down in history as the Helsinki Final Act.
As a result of the congress, an Act was signed, but before that there were difficult negotiations, primarily on 2 points:
The commission from the USSR agreed to both points, but in a special formulation that did little to oblige the country itself. The final signing of the Act was the first symbol that the West and the East can agree among themselves.
In the late 70s and early 80s, a new round of the Cold War began, when relations between the USSR and the USA heated up. There were 2 reasons for this:
US deployed missiles in Western Europe medium range that were able to reach the territory of the USSR.
The beginning of the war in Afghanistan.
As a result, the Cold War reached a new level and the enemy engaged in their usual business - an arms race. It hit the budgets of both countries very painfully and ultimately led the United States to a terrible economic crisis in 1987, and the USSR to defeat in the war and subsequent collapse.
Surprisingly, in our country the Cold War is not taken seriously. best fact demonstrating the relationship to this historical event here and in the west, this is the spelling of the name. In our country, the "Cold War" is written in quotation marks in all textbooks and with capital letter, in the west - without quotes and with a small one. This is the difference in attitude.
It really was a war. Just in the understanding of people who have just defeated Germany, war is weapons, shots, attack, defense, and so on. But the world has changed, and in the Cold War contradictions and ways to resolve them have come to the fore. Of course, this resulted in real armed clashes.
In any case, the outcome of the Cold War is important, because the USSR ceased to exist as a result of it. This ended the war itself, and Gorbachev received a medal in the United States "for victory in the cold war."
The confrontation between the two superpowers, in which their allies also participated, was not a war in the truest sense of the term, the main weapon here was ideology. For the first time, the expression "" was used in his article "You and the Atomic" by the famous British writer George Orwell. In it, he accurately described the confrontation between invincible superpowers that possess atomic weapons, but agreed not to use them, remaining in a state of peace, which, in fact, is not peace.
After the end of the Second World War, before the allied states - members of the Anti-Hitler coalition stood global issue forthcoming struggle for the world. The United States and Great Britain, concerned about the military power of the USSR, not wanting to lose their leadership positions in global politics began to perceive the Soviet Union as a future potential adversary. Even before the signing of the official act of surrender of Germany in April 1945, the British government began to develop plans for a possible war with the USSR. In his memoirs, Winston Churchill justified this by saying that at that time Soviet Russia, inspired by a hard and long-awaited victory, had become a deadly threat to the entire free world.
The USSR was well aware that the former Western allies were planning a new aggression. European part The Soviet Union was depleted and destroyed, all resources were involved in the reconstruction of cities. A possible new war could become even more protracted and require even greater expenses, which the USSR would hardly have coped with, unlike the less affected West. But the country could not show its vulnerability in any way.
Therefore, the authorities of the Soviet Union invested huge funds not only in the reconstruction of the country, but also in the maintenance and development of the communist parties in the West, seeking to expand the influence of socialism. In addition, the Soviet authorities put forward a number of territorial demands, which further intensified the confrontation between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain.
In March 1946, Churchill, speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, USA, gave a speech that in the USSR came to be considered a signal to start. In his speech, Churchill explicitly called on all Western states to unite for the coming fight against the communist threat. It is worth noting the fact that at that time Churchill was not the Prime Minister of England and acted as a private person, but his speech clearly outlined the new foreign policy of the West. It is historically believed that it was Churchill's Fulton speech that gave impetus to the formal beginning of the Cold War - a long confrontation between the USA and the USSR.
A year later, in 1947, US President Harry Truman, in his statement known as the Truman Doctrine, finally formulated the US foreign policy objectives. The Truman Doctrine marked the transition from post-war cooperation between the US and the USSR to open rivalry, which was named in the statement american president conflict of interests between democracy and totalitarianism.
What was the reason for such a long "cold" confrontation between the West and the East? Between the model of society represented by the United States of America and the system of socialism headed by the Soviet Union, there were deep and insoluble gaps.
Both world powers wanted to strengthen their economic and political influence and become the undisputed leaders of the world community.
The United States was extremely unhappy that the USSR had established its influence in a number of Eastern Europe. Now there began to dominate the communist . The reactionary circles of the West feared that communist ideas would penetrate further to the West, and that the resulting socialist camp would be able to seriously compete with the capitalist world in the economic and sphere.
Historians consider the beginning of the Cold War to be the speech of the leading British politician Winston Churchill, which he delivered in March 1946 in Fulton. In his speech, Churchill warned the Western world against mistakes, bluntly speaking of the impending communist danger, in the face of which it is necessary to unite. The provisions expressed in this speech became a de facto call for unleashing a "cold war" against the USSR.
"Cold" had several climaxes. One of them was the signing next Western states North Atlantic Treaty, the war in Korea and the testing of nuclear weapons in the USSR. And in the early 1960s, the world followed with alarm the development of the so-called Caribbean crisis, which showed that the two superpowers possessed such powerful weapons that there would be no winners in a possible confrontation.
The realization of this fact led politicians to the idea that the political confrontation and the buildup of armaments should be brought under control. The desire of the USSR and the USA to strengthen their military power led to huge budget spending and undermined the economy of both powers. Statistics suggested that both economies were unable to sustain the pace of the arms race any longer, so the governments of the US and the Soviet Union eventually concluded a nuclear arsenal treaty.
But the Cold War was far from over. It continued in the information space. Both states actively used their ideological apparatuses to undermine each other's political power. In the course were provocations and subversive activities. Each side tried to present the advantages of its own social system in a winning light, while at the same time belittling the achievements of the enemy.
As a result of the harmful effects of external and internal factors By the mid-1980s, the Soviet Union was in a deep economic and political crisis. The process of perestroika began in the country, which in essence was the course of socialism with capitalist relations.
These processes were actively supported by foreign opponents of communism. The socialist camp began. The culmination was the collapse of the Soviet Union, which in 1991 broke up into several independent states. The goal of the opponents of the USSR, which they set several decades earlier, was achieved.
The West won an unconditional victory in the Cold War with the USSR, and the United States remained the only superpower in the world. This was the main result of the "cold" confrontation.
Yet some analysts believe that the collapse of the communist regime did not lead to a complete end to the Cold War. Russia, which possesses nuclear weapons, although it has embarked on the capitalist path of development, still remains an unfortunate obstacle to the implementation of the aggressive plans of the United States, striving for complete world domination. The ruling American circles are especially annoyed by the desire of the renewed Russia to lead an independent foreign policy.
The Cold War is a stage in the development of relations between the USSR and the USA, which is characterized as confrontation and increased hostility of countries to each other. This is a huge period in the development of Soviet-American relations, which lasted almost 50 years.
Historians believe that the official start of the Cold War was Churchill's speech in March 1946, in which he invited everyone Western countries declare war on communism.
After Churchill's speech, Stalin openly warned US President Truman about the danger of such statements and the possible consequences.
Historians believe that the main root cause of the Cold War was the desire of the United States to crush the growing power of the USSR. Thanks to the expansion of the Soviet Union's sphere of influence, communism spread slowly but surely across Europe. Even in Italy and France, communist parties began to receive more influence and support. The economic ruin in the European countries basically led people to think about the correctness of the positions of communism, about the equal distribution of benefits.
This is what terrified powerful America: they came out the most powerful and richest from the Second World War, so why not ask for help from the United States. Therefore, politicians first developed the Marshall Plan, then the Truman Doctrine, which were supposed to help free the countries from communist parties and devastation. Struggle for European countries This is one of the reasons for the Cold War.
Not only Europe was the goal of the two powers, their cold war also affected the interests of third world countries that did not openly join any of the countries. The second premise of the Cold War is the struggle for influence in African countries.
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR, who sought to end the Cold War. Thanks to his actions, the Cold War was ended.
In the 1960s, the USSR and the USA signed treaties on the renunciation of weapons testing, on the creation of nuclear-free spaces, and so on.
Among the various military and political conflicts of the 20th century, the Cold War stands out. It lasted more than 40 years and covered almost all corners of the globe. And to understand the history of the second half of the 20th century, it is necessary to find out what this confrontation was.
The very expression "cold war" appeared in the second half of the forties, when it became clear that the contradictions between the recent allies in the war against fascism had become insurmountable. This described a specific situation of confrontation between the socialist bloc and Western democracies led by the United States.
The Cold War was named because there were no full-scale military actions between the armies of the USSR and the USA. This confrontation was accompanied by indirect military conflicts outside the territories of the USSR and the USA, and the USSR tried to hide the participation of its troops in such military operations.
The question of the authorship of the term "cold war" is still debatable among historians.
Propaganda was of great importance during the Cold War, in which all information channels were involved. Another method of fighting opponents was economic rivalry - the USSR and the USA expanded the circle of their allies by providing significant financial assistance other states.
The period commonly referred to as the Cold War began shortly after the end of World War II. Having defeated the common one, the USSR and the USA lost the need for cooperation, which revived the old contradictions. The United States was frightened by the trend towards communist regimes in Europe and Asia.
As a result, already at the end of the forties, Europe was divided into two parts - the western part of the continent accepted the so-called Marshall Plan - economic assistance from the United States, and the eastern part went into the zone of influence of the USSR. Germany, as a result of contradictions between the former allies, was eventually divided into the socialist East Germany and the pro-American West Germany.
The struggle for influence was also going on in Africa - in particular, the USSR managed to establish contacts with the Arab states of the Southern Mediterranean, for example, with Egypt.
In Asia, the conflict between the USSR and the USA for world domination has passed into a military phase. The war in Korea divided the state into northern and southern parts. Later, the Vietnam War began, which resulted in the defeat of the United States and the establishment of socialist rule in the country. China also fell under the influence of the USSR, but not for long - although China remained in power communist party, began to pursue an independent policy, entering into a confrontation with both the USSR and the USA.
In the early sixties, the world was closer than ever to a new world war - the Cuban Missile Crisis began. In the end, Kennedy and Khrushchev managed to agree on non-aggression, since a conflict of this magnitude with the use of nuclear weapons could lead to the complete destruction of mankind.
In the early 1980s, a period of "détente" began - the normalization of Soviet-American relations. However, the Cold War ended only with the collapse of the USSR.
