What became the largest and most violent conflict in the history of mankind, a confrontation arose between the countries of the communist camp on the one hand and the Western capitalist countries on the other, between the two superpowers of that time - the USSR and the USA. The Cold War can be briefly described as a rivalry for dominance in the new post-war world.
The main cause of the Cold War was the insoluble ideological contradictions between the two models of society - socialist and capitalist. The West feared the strengthening of the USSR. The absence of a common enemy among the victorious countries, as well as the ambitions of political leaders, also played a role.
Historians distinguish the following stages of the Cold War:
- March 5, 1946 - 1953: The Cold War began with Churchill's speech in the spring of 1946 in Fulton, which proposed the idea of creating an alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries to fight communism. The goal of the United States was an economic victory over the USSR, as well as the achievement of military superiority. In fact, the Cold War began earlier, but by the spring of 1946, due to the USSR's refusal to withdraw troops from Iran, the situation seriously escalated.
- 1962-1979: The period was marked by an arms race that undermined the economies of rival countries. The development and production of new types of weapons required incredible resources. Despite the tension in relations between the USSR and the USA, agreements on the limitation of strategic arms were signed. The development of the Soyuz-Apollo joint space program has begun. However, by the beginning of the 80s, the USSR began to lose in the arms race.
- 1979-1987: Relations between the USSR and the USA deteriorated again after the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. In 1983 the United States deployed ballistic missiles at bases in Italy, Denmark, England, Germany, and Belgium. An anti-space defense system was being developed. The USSR reacted to the actions of the West by withdrawing from the Geneva talks. During this period, the missile attack warning system was in constant combat readiness.
- 1987-1991: coming to power in the USSR in 1985 led not only to global changes within the country, but also to radical changes in foreign policy, called "new political thinking". Ill-conceived reforms finally undermined the economy of the Soviet Union, which led to the actual defeat of the country in the Cold War.
1953-1962: During this period of the Cold War, the world was on the brink of nuclear conflict. Despite some improvement in relations between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Khrushchev Thaw, it was at this stage that the events in the GDR and Poland, the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, and the Suez Crisis took place. International tension increased after the development and successful testing of the USSR in 1957 of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
However, the threat of nuclear war receded, as the Soviet Union now had the opportunity to retaliate against US cities. This period of relations between the superpowers ended with the Berlin and Caribbean crises of 1961 and 1962. respectively. It was possible to resolve the Caribbean crisis only during personal negotiations between the heads of state - Khrushchev and Kennedy. As a result of the negotiations, agreements on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons were signed.
The end of the Cold War was caused by the weakness of the Soviet economy, its inability to support the arms race any longer, as well as the pro-Soviet communist regimes. Anti-war speeches in different parts of the world also played a certain role. The results of the Cold War were depressing for the USSR. The reunification of Germany in 1990 became a symbol of the West's victory.
After the USSR was defeated in the Cold War, a unipolar model of the world was formed with the US as the dominant superpower. However, these are not the only consequences of the Cold War. The rapid development of science and technology, primarily military, began. So, the Internet was originally created as a communications system for the US military.
There have been many documentaries and feature films about the Cold War period. One of them, which tells in detail about the events of those years, is "Heroes and Victims of the Cold War."
During World War II, the US and the USSR fought together as allies against the Axis powers. However, relations between the two peoples were tense. Americans had long feared Soviet communism and were concerned about the tyranny of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
For its part, the USSR resented the Americans' years-long refusal to consider the country as a legitimate part of the world community, as well as their late entry into World War II, which led to the deaths of tens of millions of Soviet citizens.
After the end of the war, these grievances grew into an irresistible feeling of mutual distrust and enmity. Post-war Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe fueled many Americans' fears of wanting to control the world order.
Meanwhile, the USSR resented US officials' belligerent rhetoric, arms buildup, and interventionist approach to international relations. In such a hostile atmosphere, neither country was entirely to blame for the Cold War, the problem was mutual, and in fact some historians believe it was inevitable.
Cold War: containment
By the time World War II ended, most US officials agreed that the best defense against the Soviet threat was a "containment" strategy. In 1946, diplomat George Kennan (1904-2005) explained it this way in his famous "long telegram": The Soviet Union was a "political force" fanatically determined that there could be no permanent modus vivendi (agreement between the parties) with the United States who disagree).
As a result, America's only choice was "long-term, patient, but tough and vigilant measures to contain Russia's expansive tendencies."
President Harry Truman (1884-1972) agreed: "It should be the policy of the United States," he told Congress in 1947, "to support free peoples who resist attempts at submission by external pressure." This way of thinking will shape US foreign policy for the next four decades.
The term "cold war" first appeared in a 1945 essay by the English writer George Orwell, which he called "you and the atomic bomb."
Atomic Age of the Cold War
The containment strategy also provided the basis for an unprecedented US arms buildup. In 1950, a National Security Council report known as NSH-68 joined Truman's recommendation that the country use military force to "contain" communist expansionism. In this regard, the authors of the report called for a fourfold increase in defense spending.
In particular, US officials have called for the creation of , despite having only just ended. Thus began a deadly "arms race".
In 1949, the Soviet Union tested its own atomic bomb. In response, President Truman announced that the United States would build an even more destructive weapon than the atomic bomb: the hydrogen bomb, or "superbomb." Stalin followed suit.
As a result, the stakes in the Cold War were dangerously high. The first hydrogen bomb tested, in Enewetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands, showed how terrible a nuclear age can be for all of us.
The explosion created a 25-square-mile fireball that vaporized the island and blew a huge hole in the ocean floor. Such an explosion could easily and naturally destroy half of Manhattan.
Subsequent American and Soviet tests spewed tons of poisonous radioactive waste into the atmosphere.
The constant threat of nuclear annihilation has had a profound effect on American domestic life. People built bomb shelters in their backyards. Schoolchildren practiced evacuation methods and ways of surviving a nuclear strike.
In the 1950s and 1960s, a lot of new films saw the light, with images of nuclear strikes and the devastation that followed, the mutation of people exposed to radiation, the audience was horrified. In every aspect of life, the Cold War was a constant presence in American daily life.
Cold War expansion into space
Outer space has become another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile P-7 is delivered to the world's first artificial Earth satellite, and the first man-made object launched into the Earth's orbit.
The launch of the satellite came as a surprise, and not a very pleasant one, to most Americans. In the United States, outer space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the Great American Tradition of Exploration.
In addition, the demonstration of the power of the R-7 rocket, which apparently was capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the United States from outer space, was like a slap in the face for the Americans. Intelligence increased the collection of information about Soviet military activities.
In 1958, the US launched its own satellite, developed by the US Army under the direction of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, and the Space Race began. That same year, President Dwight Eisenhower signed an executive order establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The federal agency dedicated to space exploration, as well as several programs, were aimed at using the military potential of outer space. Still, the USSR was one step ahead, the launch of the first man into space took place in April 1961.
After Alan Shepard became the first American in space, (1917-1963) made a bold statement to the public, he claimed that the US planned to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. His prediction came true on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong, on NASA's Apollo 11 mission, became the first man to walk on the moon. This event marked the victory in the American space race. American astronauts began to be seen as American national heroes. The Soviets, in turn, were presented as villains who were investing all their strength to overtake America and prove the great strength of the communist system.
Cold War: Red Menace
Meanwhile, beginning in 1947, the Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began to work the other way. The committee began a series of hearings designed to show that communist subversion is taking place in the United States.
In Hollywood, HUAC forced hundreds of people who worked in the film industry to renounce leftist political beliefs and testify against each other. More than 500 people lost their jobs. Many of these blacklisted people were screenwriters, directors, actors, and others. They couldn't find a job for over ten years. HUAC also accused State Department employees of subversive activities. Soon other anti-communist politicians, especially Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957), extended this line to eliminate anyone who worked in the federal government. Thousands of federal employees were under investigation. Some of them were fired or even criminal proceedings were initiated against them. This anti-communist hysteria continued throughout the 1950s. Many liberal college professors lost their jobs, people were forced to testify against colleagues and "loyalty oaths", such a phenomenon has become commonplace.
Impact of the Cold War on the world
The fight against subversive activities in the United States was also reflected in the growing Soviet threat abroad. In June 1950, actual Cold War hostilities began when the pro-Soviet North Korean People's Army invaded its pro-Western neighbor to the south. Many American officials feared that this was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world. And they believe that non-intervention is a bad course of events. President Truman sent , but the war dragged on, reached a stalemate, and ended in 1953.
Other international conflicts followed. In the early 1960s, President Kennedy faced a series of troubling situations in the Western Hemisphere. The Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis the following year. Seemingly to prove that there was no real communist threat to the Third World, the Americans had to take part in the civil war in Vietnam, where the collapse of the French colonial regime led to a struggle between the pro-American Dinh Diem and the communist Ho Chi Minh in the north. Since the 1950s, a number of measures have been taken in the US to ensure the survival of the anti-communist state in the region, and in the early 1960s it seemed clear to American leaders that if they were to successfully “contain” communist expansionism, it would be necessary to intervene more actively in conflicts. However, what was planned as a short-term action actually dragged out for 10 years of armed conflict.
End of the Cold War
Almost immediately after taking office, President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) embarked on a new approach to international relations. Instead of seeing the world as hostile, “bi-polar,” he suggested, why not use diplomacy rather than military action? To this end, he called on the United Nations to recognize the communist Chinese government and, after a trip there in 1972, the Americans began to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing. At the same time, he adopted a policy of "détente"—"relaxation"—with respect to the Soviet Union. In 1972, he and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT), which banned the production of nuclear missiles for both sides and took a step towards reducing the ten-year threat of nuclear war.
Despite Nixon's efforts, the Cold War flared up again during the administration of President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). Like many leaders of his generation, Reagan believed that the spread of communism anywhere threatened freedom throughout the world. As a result, he worked to secure financial and military assistance to anti-communist governments and insurgencies against established communist rule around the world. This policy, especially in countries like Grenada and El Salvador, was known as the Reagan Doctrine.
Who called the war "cold": 10 facts from the history of the confrontation between the USA and the USSR
Editorial responseOn February 1, 1992, the Russian-American declaration was signed on the end of the Cold War, which was waged by the United States and the USSR, as well as their allies from 1946 to 1991, within the framework of which an arms race was carried out, economic pressure measures were applied (embargo, economic blockade) were created by military political blocs and military bases were built. Signed on February 1, 1992 at Camp David, the joint declaration between Russia and the United States officially put an end to ideological rivalry and confrontation.
The Cold War was invented by George Orwell
The term "cold war" was launched in 1946 and came to mean a state of political, economic, ideological and "semi-military" confrontation. One of the main theorists of this confrontation, founder and first head of the CIA Allen Dulles considered it the pinnacle of strategic art - "balancing on the brink of war." Expression "cold war" first heard on April 16, 1947 in a speech by Bernard Baruch, adviser to US President Harry Truman, before the South Carolina House of Representatives. However, he was the first to use the term "cold war" in his work "You and the Atomic Bomb" George Orwell, wherein "cold war" meant a prolonged economic, geopolitical and ideological war between the United States, the Soviet Union and their allies.
The United States planned to drop 300 atomic bombs on the USSR
In 1949, the Pentagon adopted the Dropshot plan, according to which it was planned to drop 300 atomic bombs on 100 Soviet cities, and then occupy the country with 164 NATO divisions. The operation was to begin on January 1, 1957. Due to the bombing, they wanted to destroy up to 85% of Soviet industry. Massive attacks on Soviet cities were supposed to force the USSR and its allies to surrender. It was planned to involve about 6 million 250 thousand people in the war against the Soviet Union. The developers set the goal of conducting not only military operations, but also psychological warfare, emphasizing that “psychological warfare is an extremely important weapon for promoting dissent and betrayal among the Soviet people; it will undermine his morals, sow confusion and create disorganization in the country.”
Operation Anadyr on Liberty Island
The Cuban Missile Crisis became a serious test of the Cold War. In response to the deployment of American medium-range missiles near the Soviet borders - in Turkey, Italy and England - the Soviet Union, in agreement with the government of Cuba, began installing its own missiles. In June 1962, an agreement was signed in Moscow on the deployment of Soviet armed forces on Svoboda Island. The first combat units participating in the operation, codenamed "Anadyr", arrived in early August 1962, after which the transfer of nuclear missile charges began. In total, the number of the Soviet group in Cuba was to be 44 thousand people. However, the blockade of Cuba prevented the plans from being realized. The United States announced it after they managed to find launch pads on the island for launching medium-range ballistic missiles. Before the blockade was declared, about 8,000 soldiers and officers arrived in Cuba and 2,000 vehicles, 42 missiles and 36 warheads were deployed.
Beginning of the arms race
August 29, 1949, when the Soviet Union conducted the first test of the atomic bomb, which was the beginning of the arms race. Initially, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union had a large arsenal of nuclear weapons. But between 1955 and 1989, an average of 55 tests were conducted each year. In 1962 alone, 178 tests were carried out: 96 by the United States and 79 by the Soviet Union. In 1961, the most powerful nuclear weapon, the Tsar Bomba, was tested in the Soviet Union. The test took place at the Novaya Zemlya test site in the Arctic Circle. During the Cold War, many attempts were made to negotiate a universal ban on nuclear weapons testing, but it was not until 1990 that the Nuclear Test Limitation Treaty began to be implemented.
Who will win the Cold War?
Since the second half of the 60s, doubts appeared in the USSR about the possibility of winning the war. The leadership of the USSR began to look for the possibility of concluding treaties on the prohibition or limitation of strategic nuclear weapons. The first consultations on possible negotiations were started in 1967, but no mutual understanding was reached at that time. In the USSR, they decided to urgently eliminate the backlog in the field of strategic weapons, and it was more than impressive. Thus, in 1965, the United States had 5,550 nuclear warheads on strategic launchers, while the USSR had only 600 (these calculations do not include warheads on medium-range missiles and nuclear bombs for bombers with a flight range of less than 6,000 km).
Eight zeros for ballistic missiles
In 1960, the United States began production of ground-based intercontinental nuclear ballistic missiles. Such missiles had a mechanism for protection against accidental launch - using a digital display, the operator had to enter a code. At that time, the command ordered to install the same code 00000000 (eight zeros in a row) on all such missiles. This approach was supposed to ensure a quick response at the outbreak of a nuclear war. In 1977, taking into account the threat of nuclear terrorism, the command decided to change the simple and well-known code to an individual one.
Plan to Bomb the Moon
During the Cold War, the United States sought to prove to the USSR its superiority in space. Among the projects was a plan to bombard the moon. It was developed by the US Air Force after the Soviet Union launched its first satellite. It was supposed to launch a nuclear rocket to the surface of the moon to provoke a terrible explosion that could be seen from Earth. Ultimately, the plan was not realized, because, according to scientists, the consequences of the mission would be catastrophic if it ended in failure. The rockets of those times could hardly go beyond the Earth's orbit. Priority was given to expeditions to the moon, and the existence of plans to detonate the bomb remained a secret for a long time. Most of the documentation about the "Project A119" was destroyed, its existence became known in 2000. The American government has not yet officially acknowledged the existence of such plans.Secret underground city in Beijing
Starting in 1969 and over the next decade, by order of Mao Zedong An underground emergency shelter for the government was being built in Beijing. This "bunker" stretched under Beijing for a distance of 30 kilometers. The giant city was built during the period of the Sino-Soviet split, and its only purpose was to defend itself in case of war. The underground city contained shops, restaurants, schools, theatres, hairdressers and even a roller skating rink. The city could simultaneously accommodate up to 40 percent of the inhabitants of Beijing in the event of war.
$8 trillion in ideological confrontation
Cold War Victory Medal (USA) Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry
Famous historian Walter Lafaber estimated U.S. military spending during the Cold War at $8 trillion. This amount does not include military operations in Korea and Vietnam, intervention in Afghanistan, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Chile and Grenada, many CIA military operations, and spending on research, development, testing and manufacturing of nuclear ballistic missiles. At the height of the Cold War, the US and the USSR were preparing for a possible attack from the enemy, so they spent a total of $ 50 million daily on weapons.
The United States was awarded medals for participation in the Cold War
In April 2007, a bill was introduced in the US House of Congress to establish a new military award for participation in the Cold War (Cold War Service Medal), which was previously supported by senators and congressmen from the Democratic Party, led by Hillary Clinton. The medal was awarded to all those who served in the armed forces or worked in US government departments from September 2, 1945 to December 26, 1991. The award does not have a specific status and is not formally a state award of the country.
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 rule 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 term Cold War is commonly referred to as the historical period from 1946 to 1991, which characterized the relationship between the United States and its allies and the USSR and its allies. This period was distinguished by the state of economic, military, geopolitical confrontation. At the same time, it was not a war in the literal sense, so the term cold war is conditional.
Although the official end of the Cold War is considered to be July 1, 1991, when the Warsaw Pact collapsed, in fact it happened earlier - after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The confrontation was based on ideological attitudes, 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 was gaining momentum. The Cold War was accompanied by an arms race, and during its period the USSR and the USA entered into direct military confrontation around the world 52 times.
At the same time, the threat of the outbreak of a third world war repeatedly stood. The most famous case was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the world was on the brink of disaster.
The origin of the expression cold war
Officially, the phrase cold war was first used by B. Baruch (adviser to US President G. Truman) in a speech before the House of Representatives in South Carolina in 1947. He did not focus on this expression, he 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, which is essentially not peace, but they are forced to maintain a balance and not use atomic bombs against each other. It is worth noting that he described in the article only an abstract forecast, but in fact he predicted the future confrontation between the USA and the USSR.
Historians do not have an unambiguous point of view as to whether B. Baruch invented the term himself or borrowed it from Orwell.
It is worth noting that the term Cold War became widely known worldwide after a series of publications by the American political journalist W. Lippman. In the New York Herald Tribune, he published a series of articles analyzing Soviet-American relations entitled "The Cold War: A Study of US Foreign Policy."
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