Cold War: Origins, Conflicts, and End

Posted on Nov 25, 2024 in History

The Beginning of the Cold War: Blocs

The term Cold War refers to the complex system of international relations after World War II, marked by rivalry between two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, which sought to control the world. Each model represented opposing political, social, and economic theories: liberal capitalism and Soviet communism. Other countries aligned with one or the other bloc, known as block policy. The rivalry between the blocs, manifested at all levels, aimed to undermine and defeat the opponent. However, there was never a direct war or global conflict between the U.S. and the USSR. As the war was never openly fought, it was called the Cold War.

Features of the Cold War

• Mutual Distrust Between the U.S. and the USSR: This distrust arose immediately after the victory over their common enemy, Nazism. Culturally and ideologically, both countries had little in common. The mutual distrust was based on facts such as the U.S. having a monopoly on the atomic bomb and the Soviet Union exerting pressure on Eastern European governments.
• Ideological Rivalry: Both sides used propaganda. Ideological dissenters were considered enemies of the state. This intensified during the ’40s and ’50s, with intellectuals and artists persecuted for leftist ideologies (witch hunt). In communist countries, there was total censorship, no freedom of speech, and dissidents were sent to concentration camps or exiled.
• Collective Fear of Nuclear War: The outbreak of a conflict would mean the total destruction of civilization. For the first time, technological and scientific capacity threatened the complete annihilation of humankind. Fears of a new war helped prevent a full and direct armed confrontation between the U.S. and the USSR.
• Enemy Containment and Arms Balance: The strategy was to keep the enemy within its area of influence and maintain an arms balance between the two blocs so that neither gained a decisive advantage. If the military potential of both groups was equivalent, a conflict would result in mutual destruction, serving as a deterrent. Cold War clashes usually occurred in the unstable Third World, where new weapons were tested and limited advantages were gained. During these periodic crises, the U.S. and the USSR tested their strength.

The Stages of the Cold War
The Cold War started between 1946 and 1948 (at the end of World War II) and ended in 1991 (with the dissolution of the USSR and the Soviet bloc). During this long period, there were moments of evident tension and periods of détente, where the danger of war seemed to lessen, and the situation between the two blocs was stable enough for “peaceful coexistence.”

Triggers

The beginning of the Cold War occurred between 1946 and 1948 following a series of international events that increased distrust and fear between Western countries and the USSR:

• Churchill’s Speech in Fulton: In March 1946, Churchill delivered a speech at the University of Fulton, speaking of the emergence of an iron curtain dividing Europe in half and noting the need to stop Soviet expansionism by force. Stalin strongly rebutted this speech.
• The Iran Crisis: Iran agreed to a common troop withdrawal in 1946. However, the USSR refused. It finally relented and withdrew its troops due to pressure from the U.S. and Britain. Iran was in the western hinterland, posing a threat to the USSR.
• Eastern Europe’s Entry into the Soviet Orbit: In Eastern Europe, communist parties and pro-Soviet groups seized power through coups between 1947 and 1948. The case of Czechoslovakia, with its pre-war parliamentary tradition, was particularly striking. Single-party regimes similar to the USSR were established. Only Finland and Yugoslavia were excluded, with socialist regimes that were not clearly pro-Western and were independent of Moscow.
• Exclusion of Communists in Western Europe: Communists, very active in anti-Nazi resistance movements and postwar political coalitions, were marginalized politically from 1948, even in countries where they had significant influence, such as Italy and France.
• The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan: In 1947, the U.S. boosted its foreign policy. President Truman announced the Truman Doctrine: the U.S. should support free (capitalist) countries and prevent the imposition of totalitarian (Soviet) regimes. Support would be both military and economic, the latter channeled into Western Europe through the Marshall Plan, an economic aid program funded by the U.S., approved in April 1948, which helped rebuild Western Europe.
• The Division of Germany: The British, American, and French zones of Germany merged, benefited from the Marshall Plan, and formed the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, 1949), with a liberal democratic regime not recognized by the USSR. In the Soviet zone, the German Democratic Republic (GDR, 1949) was formed, a state not recognized by Western countries and excluded from the Marshall Plan due to its one-party communist regime. Austria remained united and declared itself neutral.
• The Berlin Crisis (1948-1949): After the war, Berlin was also divided into two areas. In protest of the inclusion of only one part of Germany in the Marshall Plan, the Soviets isolated West Berlin, blocking all transport from the West. This blockade caused the first major crisis of the Cold War and was neutralized by a massive airlift organized by the British and Americans to supply the city. In May 1949, the Soviet Union ended the blockade. In 1961, the communists built a wall across Berlin to prevent the population from fleeing to West Germany, marking the final division of the city.

Development: Major Cold War Conflicts

1948-1962

Between 1948 and 1962, there was a period of great international tension between the capitalist and Soviet blocs. It was the worst period of the Cold War, with increased radical propaganda, censorship, and “witch hunts” in both blocs. This stage saw an arms race and the consolidation of military and economic pacts. The main problems and crises of the Cold War were:

The Final Division of Europe: The Hungarian Crisis

The division of the European continent into two blocs became a reality. Western European countries established permanent economic and military alliances to form a common front against the Soviet threat. European countries benefited from the Marshall Plan, creating the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC, OECD since 1961) in 1948. Some, seeking greater economic cooperation and integration, formed the European Economic Community (Treaty of Rome, 1957), which later expanded. More important to the dynamics of the Cold War was the creation of a permanent military alliance between Western Europe and the United States, led by the latter: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). This military organization, based in Brussels, was established in 1949, initially including the United States, Canada, and most Western European countries. Over time, NATO expanded, and after the Cold War, it even welcomed former communist countries of Eastern Europe. The Eastern European bloc responded by creating COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) in 1949, an organization for economic cooperation among countries in the communist orbit. In 1955, the Warsaw Pact, a permanent military alliance including the USSR and most Eastern European countries, was established. This organization, like COMECON, disappeared in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR. The consolidation of Europe’s division was definite after Stalin’s death (1953) and the Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956 to end an anti-communist revolt. Soviet tanks invaded Budapest and restored the previous situation. Western bloc countries did not intervene, recognizing and consolidating the division of spheres of influence in Europe.

The Second Cold War (1975-1985)

The Apparent Soviet Offensive: The Invasion of Afghanistan

. In 1974, there were revolutions and wars desfafiar civilization wanting to U.S. power in the world: 1-In Africa, installed pro-Soviet regimes in Ethiopia and the former Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique. In South Yemen in the Arabian peninsula, what happened mismo.2-In Indochina, the Communists in Vietnam and Laos were pro-Soviet, while the Khmer Rouge (Communist groups) were prochinos.En Cambodia 1978 Vietnam decided to invade Cambodia, giving rise to a civil war in the latter Country-3 In Central America, the Sandinista revolution took power in Nicaragua and began a civil war in El Salvador (1979) .4 – In Afghanistan (Central Asia) won a government 1978.La pro-Soviet in the Soviet Union, did not participate or encouraged these revolutions, but took advantage of his opponent back or becoming U.S. allies to support governments that emerged from the problems conflictos.Los one of these governments, of Afghanistan , drove the Soviet military invaded the country in 1979 and occupy it until 1988.La USSR, despite its military superiority, could not pacify Afghanistan nor destroy the guerrilla groups, which after the withdrawal of Soviet troops would succeed in controlling the país.Por other hand, the intervention in Afghanistan was not aimed at expanding the influence of the USSR in the area but to prevent the spread of Islamic fundamentalism that had been imposed in 1979 in neighboring Irán.Este purpose was not met because the Taliban (mienbros radical guerrilla lusulmanas) triumphed and ruled Afghanistan until invasion of Afghanistan resulted 2001.La > The formal launch of the so-called second Cold War. The U.S. response: the foreign policy of Reagan’s apparent Sovietization offensive was one of the factors contributing to electoral success in the U.S., in 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan. Defensor of very conservative and nationalistic agenda, the new president sought to reassert U.S. global leadership of his country against any regime that threaten U.S. interests, also proposed the trauma they had brought the Vietnam conflict. In 80 years, guerrllas imitation of the old left, the U.S. funded and armed contraguerillas (cons) who were opposed to hostile regimes, America, Africa and Asia.Además, the Reagan administration developed new missiles and weapons experiments, such as the neutron bomb, and to rafirmar national pride, carried out several military operciones lightning against small countries (Grenada (1983), Libya (1986), Panama (1989). 3.4El end of the Cold War (1985-1991) ended as a result of crisis land was divided by the communist bloc and its subsequent disappearance (1985-1991). The process began in 1985 with the coming to power in the USSR’s reformist Mikhail Gorbachev, who made disarmament a priority for soviéticos.Como result, The following events occurred: 1 – It signed an agreement with the U.S. (Washington, 1987) to eliminate intermediate-range missiles stored by both países.Así ended the career of continued armamentos.2 “After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and leaving much of the Soviet troops (more than 200 thousand soldiers and tanks 10mil) in eastern Europe. This prompted, between 1989-1991, a series of democratic revolutions (fall of the Berlin Wall, German reunification) that 1 to hit Eastern Europe and then the very last URSS.Por, desparació the Soviet Union in 1991 meant that the Communist bloc had ceased to exist and that the cold war was over.