The Impact of Cold War Conflicts on Global Politics
Division of Germany: Germany was divided after the war into four zones of occupation (U.S., Britain, France, and the USSR). The same division was occurring in Berlin. In 1948, France, England, and the U.S. decided to unify their zones and support the creation of a democratic state. Stalin’s response was negative, and the practical total response was the blockade of Berlin: blocking of roads, railways, etc. The response of the other three was to create an airlift that supplied the city (population 2.2 million) for 322 days. It was costly. The result was the division of Germany into the German Federal Republic (West) and the German Democratic Republic (Communist), and the division of the city of Berlin created the Berlin Wall in 1961. Tension grew between the two regions. Services (bridges, borders, etc.) were halted. In the east, especially in Berlin, there was an uprising in 1953, as a result of their difficulties in life (in relation to West Berlin, which was long overdue), and they also protested against the policy of collectivization. The uprising spread to other cities in East Germany. The state’s response was harsh, suffocating the uprising, resulting in 620 deaths, 1,744 injured, 50,000 arrested, and 16 death sentences.
Korean War: After the defeat of Japan in the Second World War, the northern part of the Korean peninsula was occupied by Russian troops and the south by the Americans. In 1949, the withdrawal of Soviet and U.S. troops consolidated the division of Korea; the north had greater industrial wealth and was Communist, while the south was more agricultural and ruled by a pro-Western dictatorship. Encouraged by the Maoist victory in China, Stalin urged its allies to invade North Korea from South Korea. The UN condemned the aggression and accepted the dispatch of U.S. troops. They repelled the invasion and began their northward expansion, but the intervention of Chinese troops forced them to retreat. The conflict ended with the Peace of Panmunjom in 1953, which consolidated the division of the two Koreas. The fighting lasted three years and cost more than a million lives, contributing to the acceleration of the arms race and highlighting the strategic role of Japan in halting the communist advance in Asia.
Vietnam War: After the war of independence in Indochina, the French evacuated the region and affirmed the division of land into two states. The Communist leader of North Vietnam announced its decision to send troops to conquer South Vietnam. In 1960, the South Vietnamese communists established the National Front for the Liberation, known as the Vietcong, which was an armed wing supported by the North to achieve reunification. The Vietnam conflict became a scenario of the Cold War, with South Vietnam receiving support from the U.S. and North Vietnam from the USSR. The Americans provided troops and weapons. During the presidency of Kennedy, the conflict intensified, and under President Johnson, aid was maximized. The U.S. faced a population organized into guerrillas despite the use of resources such as chemical warfare and incendiary bombs on civilians. Over time, the weariness of an endless war became apparent, along with the international prestige that the conflict was dragging down and the protests of many Americans, which led to the opening of negotiations in 1968. The following year, the president advocated for the gradual withdrawal of foreign troops. In 1973, the talks ended with the signing of the Paris Agreements. In 1975, the U.S. withdrawal was completed, and in that same year, an offensive by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops entered Saigon and managed to proclaim the unification of the whole territory under a communist government. It was the first and only military defeat for the U.S. military.
War in Cambodia: In the former French Indochina, another country in the region, Cambodia (Kampuchea) was the focus of conflict and experienced a serious internal struggle exacerbated by military support from the blocs to the two warring factions. The Khmer Rouge, an armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, began a guerrilla war against the right-wing military government, which was pro-Western. This government was supported by the U.S. After the American withdrawal from Vietnam, the Khmer Rouge occupied the capital of Cambodia and began a bloody dictatorship. It is estimated that over one and a half million Cambodians were killed. Allies of Communist China, their relations with Vietnam deteriorated until a Vietnamese invasion ultimately ousted the Khmer Rouge from power.