Cold War under which ruler. Causes of the Cold War
The term "Cold War" was first coined by US Representative on the UN Atomic Energy Committee Bernard Baruch in a speech to the South Carolina House of Representatives on April 16, 1947.
Cold War years 1946 - 1991
The formal beginning of the Cold War
The beginning of the Cold War is considered to be Winston Churchill's speech in Fulton (Missouri, USA), in which he described the situation in the world after the end of World War II:
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended on the continent. On the other side of the curtain are all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe - Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, Sofia. All these famous cities and the populations in their districts fell within what I call the Soviet sphere, all of them in one form or another are subject not only to Soviet influence, but also to the significant and increasing control of Moscow .... The Communist Parties, which were very small in number in all these states of Eastern Europe, have attained an exceptional strength, far outnumbering them, and everywhere they strive to establish totalitarian control. Almost all of these countries are ruled by police governments... With the exception of the British Commonwealth and the United States, where communism is in its infancy, communist parties, or fifth columns, represent an ever-increasing challenge and danger to Christian civilization.
The end of the Cold War was the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent disappearance of the Socialist camp
Cold War conflicts
- Korean War 1950-1953
- Uprising in the GDR 1953
- First Arab-Israeli War 1956
- Uprising in Hungary 1956
- Vietnam War 1965-1974
- Second Arab-Israeli War 1967
- Uprising in Czechoslovakia 1968
- Third Arab-Israeli War 1973
- Military coup in Chile 1973
- Angola Civil War 1975-2002
- Afghan war 1979-1989
- Civil war in Nicaragua 1981-1990
Only once, in 1962, during the so-called Caribbean crisis, the USSR and the USA almost came together in a personal confrontation.
Stages of the Cold War
- Churchill's speech
- Creation of the NATO bloc 1949
- The McCarthy period in the USA 1950-1953
- "Fight against cosmopolitanism" in the USSR 1948-1953
- "Thaw" in the USSR 1953-1964
- Creation of the Warsaw Pact organization 1955
- Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow 1957
- Construction of the Berlin Wall 1961
- Caribbean Crisis 1962
- Brezhnev Doctrine 1968
- Détente of international tension 1972-1975
- Boycott of the 1980 and 1984 Olympics
- The destruction of the South Korean passenger airliner Boeing 1983 by Soviet air defense
- Beginning of Perestroika in the USSR 1986
- German unification 1990
- Charter of Paris 21 November 1990.
The Cold War, which lasted from 1946 to 1989, was not an ordinary military confrontation. It was a struggle of ideologies, different social systems. The very term "cold war" appeared among journalists, but quickly became popular.
Causes
It seems that the end of the terrible and bloody World War II should have led to world peace, friendship and unity of all peoples. But the contradictions among the allies and the victors only intensified.
The struggle for spheres of influence began. Both the USSR and the Western countries (led by the USA) sought to expand "their territories".
- Westerners were frightened by communist ideology. They could not even imagine that private property would suddenly become state property.
- The United States and the USSR did their best to increase their influence by supporting various regimes (which sometimes led to local wars around the world).
There was no direct confrontation. Everyone was afraid to press the "red button" and launch nuclear warheads.
Main events
Speech in Fulton as the first "swallow" of the war
In March 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill blamed the Soviet Union. Churchill said that he was engaged in active world expansion, violating rights and freedoms. At the same time, the British Prime Minister called on Western countries to repulse the USSR. It is from this moment that historians count the beginning of the Cold War.
The Truman Doctrine and "Containment" Attempts
The United States decided to start "containment" of the Soviet Union after the events in Greece and Turkey. The USSR demanded territories from the Turkish authorities for the subsequent deployment of a military base in the Mediterranean. This immediately alerted the West. The doctrine of the American President Truman marked the complete cessation of cooperation between the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.
Creation of military blocs and division of Germany
In 1949, a military alliance of a number of Western countries, NATO, was created. After 6 years (in 1955) the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe united in the Warsaw Treaty Organization.
Also in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany appeared on the site of the western zone of occupation of Germany, and the German Democratic Republic appeared on the site of the eastern one.
Chinese Civil War
The civil war in China in 1946–1949 was also a consequence of the ideological struggle between the 2 systems. China after the end of World War II was also divided into 2 parts. The northeast was under the control of the People's Liberation Army of China. The rest were subordinate to Chiang Kai-shek (leader of the Kuomintang Party). When peaceful elections failed, war broke out. The Chinese Communist Party won.
Korean War
Korea also at that time was split into 2 zones of occupation under the control of the USSR and the USA. Their henchmen are Kim Il Sung in the north and Lee Syngman in the south of Korea. Each of them wanted to take over the whole country. A war broke out (1950-1953), which, apart from huge human losses, did not lead to anything. The borders of North and South Korea have not changed much.
Berlin Crisis
The most difficult years of the Cold War - the beginning of the 60s. It was then that the whole world was on the brink of nuclear war. In 1961, Soviet Secretary General Khrushchev demanded that US President Kennedy radically change the status of West Berlin. The Soviet Union was alarmed by the activity of Western intelligence there, as well as the "brain drain" to the West. There was no military clash, but West Berlin was surrounded by a wall - the main symbol of the Cold War. Many German families found themselves on opposite sides of the barricades.
Cuban Crisis
The most intense conflict of the Cold War was the crisis in Cuba in 1962. The USSR, in response to the request of the leaders of the Cuban revolution, agreed to deploy medium-range nuclear missiles on Liberty Island.
As a result, any town in the US could be wiped off the face of the earth in 2-3 seconds. The United States did not like this "neighborhood". I almost got to the “red nuclear button”. But even here the parties managed to agree peacefully. The Soviet Union did not deploy missiles, and the United States guaranteed Cuba not to interfere in their affairs. American missiles were also withdrawn from Turkey.
The policy of "détente"
The Cold War did not always proceed in an acute phase. Sometimes tension was replaced by "detente". During such periods, the US and the USSR entered into important agreements to limit strategic nuclear weapons and missile defense. In 1975, the Helsinki Conference of 2 countries was held, and the Soyuz-Apollo program was launched in space.
A new round of tension
The entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in 1979 led to a new round of tension. The United States in 1980-1982 waged a set of economic sanctions against the Soviet Union. The installation of regular American missiles in European countries has begun. Under Andropov, all negotiations with the United States ceased.
Crisis of the socialist countries. perestroika
By the mid-1980s, many socialist countries were on the verge of a crisis. Less and less aid came from the USSR. The needs of the population grew, people sought to travel to the West, where they discovered a lot of new things for themselves. The consciousness of people has changed. They wanted change, a life in a more open and free society. The technical lag of the USSR from the countries of the West was intensifying.
- Understanding this, the General Secretary of the USSR Gorbachev tried to revive the economy through "perestroika", give the people more "glasnost" and move on to "new thinking".
- The communist parties of the socialist camp tried to modernize their ideology and move on to a new economic policy.
- The Berlin Wall, which was the symbol of the Cold War, has fallen. The unification of Germany took place.
- The USSR began to withdraw its troops from European countries.
- In 1991, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved.
- The USSR, which did not survive the deep economic crisis, also collapsed.
Results
Historians argue about whether to link the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR. Nevertheless, the end of this confrontation occurred as early as 1989, when many authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe ceased to exist. Contradictions on the ideological front were completely removed. Many countries of the former socialist bloc became part of the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance
The Cold War is a global geopolitical, military, economic and information confrontation between the USSR and its allies, on the one hand, and the United States and its allies, on the other, which lasted from 1946 to 1991.
The name "cold" here is arbitrary, since this confrontation was not a war in the literal sense. One of the main components of the war was ideology. The deep contradiction between the capitalist and socialist models is the main cause of the war. The two victorious superpowers in World War II tried to rebuild the world according to their ideological guidelines. Over time, confrontation became an element of the ideology of the two sides and helped the leaders of the military-political blocs to consolidate allies around them "in the face of an external enemy." A new confrontation required the unity of all members of the opposing blocs.
The term "cold war" was first used on April 16, 1947 by Bernard Baruch, 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 directed, first of all, to dominance in the political sphere. From the very beginning of the confrontation, the process of militarization of the two superpowers unfolded.
The USA and the USSR created their own spheres of influence, securing them with military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The United States and the USSR regularly entered into direct military confrontation (52 hot episodes around the world).
The Cold War was accompanied by a race of conventional and nuclear arms that every now and then threatened to lead to a third world war. The most famous of these cases, when the world was on the brink of disaster, was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. In this regard, in the 1970s, both sides made efforts to "defeat" international tension and limit arms.
The policy of perestroika and glasnost, announced by General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, led to the loss of the leading role of the CPSU. In 1991, the USSR collapsed, which marked the end of the Cold War.
In Eastern Europe, communist governments, deprived of Soviet support, were removed even earlier, in 1989-1990. The Warsaw Pact officially ended on July 1, 1991, marking the end of the Cold War.
1. 1946-1953: the beginning of the confrontation
2. 1953-1962: On the brink of nuclear war - the nuclear arms race, the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and the Caribbean Crisis (1962).
3. 1962-1979: "Detente" policy aimed at reducing the aggressiveness of the confrontation between the countries of the socialist and capitalist camps.
4. 1979-1987: A new round of confrontation (with the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan)
5.1987-1991: Gorbachev's "new thinking" and the end of the confrontation.
Consequences: 1 division of the world according to ideological principle - with the beginning of the Cold War and the formation of military-political blocs. Led by the USA and the USSR, the whole world found itself in a state of division into "us" and "them". This created numerous practical difficulties, as it put many obstacles in the way of economic, cultural and other cooperation, but first of all it had negative psychological consequences - humanity did not feel like a single whole. In addition, the fear was constantly fanned that the confrontation could go into an acute phase and end in a world war with the use of nuclear weapons;
2. the division of the world into spheres of influence and the struggle for them - in fact, the entire planet was considered by the opposing sides as a springboard in the fight against each other. Therefore, certain regions of the world were spheres of influence, for control over which there was a fierce struggle between the superpowers at the level of economic policy, propaganda, support for certain forces in individual countries and secret operations of special services. As a result, severe disagreements were provoked in various regions, which, after the end of the Cold War, led to numerous hotbeds of tension, the emergence of local armed conflicts and full-scale civil wars (the fate of Yugoslavia, “hot spots” on the territory of the former USSR, numerous conflicts in Africa, and so on) ;
3. militarization of the world economy - huge material resources, natural, technical and financial resources were directed to the military industry, to the arms race. In addition to the fact that this undermined the economic potential of many countries (primarily from the socialist camp), it also became a very serious factor in the subsequent emergence of local conflicts and global terrorism. After the end of the Cold War, a large number of weapons and weapons remained, which, through the black market, began to feed "hot spots" and organizations of extremists;
4. the formation of a number of socialist regimes - the end of the Cold War marked the anti-communist and anti-socialist revolutions in many countries, primarily in Europe. However, a number of countries have retained socialist regimes, and in a rather conservative form. This is one of the factors of instability in modern international relations: for example, it is still very unprofitable for the United States to have a socialist state (Cuba) at its borders, and the DPRK, whose political regime is very close to Stalinism, is an irritant for the West, South Korea and Japan in view of information about the work on the creation of North Korean nuclear weapons;
5. The Cold War was actually not so "cold" - the fact is that this confrontation was called the Cold War because it did not come to an armed conflict between the superpowers and their most powerful allies. But meanwhile, in a number of parts of the world, full-scale military conflicts took place, partly provoked by the actions of the superpowers, as well as with their direct participation in them (the war in Vietnam, the war in Afghanistan, a whole list of conflicts on the African continent);
6. The Cold War contributed to the emergence of some countries in the leading positions - after the Second World War, the United States actively supported the economic revival and development of West Germany and Japan, which could be their allies in the fight against the USSR. The Soviet Union also provided some assistance to China. At the same time, China developed independently, but while the rest of the world focused on the confrontation between the USA and the USSR, China received favorable conditions for transformation;
7. scientific, technical and technological development - the Cold War stimulated the development of both fundamental science and applied technologies, which were originally sponsored and developed for military purposes, and then were repurposed for civilian needs and influenced the growth of the standard of living of ordinary people. A classic example is the Internet, which originally appeared as a communication system for the US military in the event of a nuclear war with the USSR;
the formation of a unipolar model of the world - the United States, which actually won the Cold War, became the only superpower. Relying on the NATO military-political mechanism created by them to counter the USSR, as well as on the most powerful military machine that also appeared during the arms race with the Soviet Union, the States received all the necessary mechanisms to protect their interests in any part of the world, regardless of the decisions of international organizations and interests of other countries. This was especially evident in the so-called "export of democracy" carried out by the United States since the turn of the 20th-21st centuries. On the one hand, this means the dominance of one country, on the other hand, it leads to an increase in contradictions and resistance to this domination.
There are such historical phenomena that are really important not only for passing the exam, but also for understanding the entire period. For example, if you are just studying the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, but did not pay attention to the fact that the lion's share of events relate to this historical phenomenon, then remembering all this will be extremely difficult for you.
In this article, we will briefly reveal, point by point, the causes of the Cold War, which lasted from 1946/49 to 1989. A publication on this topic will help you answer the most “dumpy” exam question: why did the anti-Hitler coalition disintegrate so quickly, and the allied countries turned out to be enemies after 1946?
Causes
The Cold War is a period of political, economic and military confrontation (confrontation) between states and systems of states. It was mainly between the USSR and the USA, between two systems of economic and political structure. In fact, there are key reasons for this.
- The confrontation was due to mutual distrust between countries, between the Soviet Union and the United States. Added fuel to the fire was the fact that the Soviet army was right in the center of Europe, and nothing prevented it from moving further - to the West.
- There is a big difference in ideologies: capitalism dominated in the USA with its inherent liberalism and neoliberalism; in the Soviet Union, the Marxist-Leninist ideology dominated, which, by the way, envisaged a course towards a world revolution. That is, it was about the overthrow of the bourgeois governments by the forces of the local working class and the establishment of Soviet power.
- Different system of management: in the USA there was a market and mainly natural market mechanisms, which were improved after the Great Depression of the 30s. In the USSR, there was a planned command-administrative system of management.
- The popularity of the post-war USSR was extremely high all over the world: this also added fuel to the fire.
You should also remember about the accompanying prerequisites: in the course of the liberation of the states of Europe from the Nazis and fascists, pro-Soviet and pro-communist regimes were established in them, in which, immediately after the war, industrialization and collectivization of the Soviet type took place. Of course, it was incomparably softer than in the Soviet Union itself, but it was.
Such an unprecedented intervention of the USSR in the internal affairs of the liberated states created a real threat to the existence of other independent states. As a result, no one could give guarantees that the Soviet army would move further: towards England, or France, or the USA. It was these fears, among other things, that W. Churchill expressed in his speech in Fulton on March 5, 1946. By the way, I highly recommend reading this speech, because the text from it may well be included in the exam.
Course of events
As part of a regular post, I do not have the opportunity to talk in detail about these events. In addition, I have already done this in my video tutorials available on our training courses and in. But I still wanted to name the events in order to give you at least some guidance.
- 1949 - the formation of NATO, the testing of the Soviet atomic bomb.
- 1950 - 1953 - The Korean War is the first serious military confrontation in which both sides indirectly and directly participated.
- 1955 - the formation of the Department of Internal Affairs.
- 1956 Suez Crisis.
- 1961 - Cuban Missile Crisis. This is the peak of the confrontation between the USSR and the USA, when these countries, and indeed the whole world, were on the brink of nuclear war. It was this event that initiated the process of defusing international tension under L.I. Brezhnev. It was after this event that subcultures appeared in the West in large numbers, within which young people are trying to find their way in life.
- 1965 - 1975 - Vietnam War.
- 1973 - 75 - negotiations in Helsinki and the adoption of the Final Act on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
- 1979 - 1989 - the war in Afghanistan.
Again, these are just guidelines. I have analyzed everything in detail in my video tutorials, and
a state of tense confrontation between the USSR and the USA and their allies, which continued with some relaxations from 1946 until the end of the 1980s.
Great Definition
Incomplete definition ↓
"COLD WAR"
a term that defines the course, to-ry imperialist. circles app. powers began to carry out in relation to the Soviets. Union and other socialist. state-in at the end of the 2nd World War 1939-1945. It came into use shortly after W. Churchill openly called on March 5, 1946 (in Fulton, USA) for the creation of Anglo-Amer. alliance to fight "world communism led by Soviet Russia". The initiators of the "X. century." extended it to all spheres of relations with the countries of socialism - military, political, economic, ideological - basing these relations on the policy "from a position of strength." "X. in." meant: the ultimate aggravation of the international. environment; rejection of the principles of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems; the creation of closed military-political. unions (NATO, etc.); an accelerated arms race, including nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction with the threat of their use ("atomic diplomacy"); attempts to organize a blockade of the socialist. countries; activation and expansion of the subversive activities of the imperialist. intelligence; rampant anti-communist. propaganda and ideological sabotage against the socialist. countries under the guise of "psychological warfare". One of the forms of "X. c." was proclaimed in the USA in the 50s. doctrine of "balancing on the brink of war." In the inner capitalist politics. state-in "X. century." was accompanied by an increase in reaction and the suppression of progressive forces. Causing serious complications in the international setting, inspirers "X. in." At the same time, they failed to achieve their main task - to weaken the Soviet Union, to slow down the process of development of the forces of world socialism, to prevent the growth of anti-imperialist, national liberation. the struggle of peoples. As a result of the active peace-loving foreign policy of the USSR and other socialist. countries and the efforts of the world progressive community aimed at detente int. tension, to the beginning. 60s the inconsistency of the 10th century policy was revealed, which prompted President Kennedy to look for ways to resolve disputes with the USSR. After a new complication int. military-related environment. US actions in Vietnam (1964-73), aggravation of the situation in Bl. East as a result of Israel's attack on the Arab. country in 1967 and the incessant attempts of anti-Soviet, anti-socialist. forces to increase tension on the continent of Europe, early. 70s was marked by a number of important summits (the USSR - the USA, the USSR - the FRG, the USSR - France, etc.), multilateral and bilateral meetings (including the conferences opened in 1973 on security and cooperation in Europe, the reduction of armaments and armed forces to the Centre. Europe, the Middle East settlement) and agreements (among them are treaties between the FRG and the Soviet Union, the FRG and Poland, the FRG and the GDR, the FRG and Czechoslovakia; the Quadripartite Agreement on West Berlin; a number of agreements between the USSR and the USA, incl. The 1973 Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War, the 1974 Treaty on the Limitation of Underground Nuclear Tests, and other agreements serving to limit armaments; the Paris Agreement of 1973 on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam), prepared on the initiative and with the active participation of the USSR and other socialist countries . commonwealth. Marking a turn in world politics and the collapse of the 10th century, these actions open up the prospect of strengthening relations of peaceful competition and cooperation between countries belonging to different social systems. D. Asanov. Moscow.
Loading...