The Cold War is the historical period from 1946 to 1991, which was marked by the confrontation between two major superpowers - the USSR and the USA, which took shape after the end of World War II in 1945. The rivalry between the two strongest states of the planet at that time gradually acquired a fierce character of confrontation in all spheres - economic, social, political and ideological. Both states created military-political associations (NATO and the Warsaw Pact), accelerated the creation of nuclear and conventional weapons, and also constantly took covert or overt participation in almost all local military conflicts on the planet.
Main causes of confrontation
The position of the parties at the beginning of the conflict
The United States initially had a colossal economic head start over its eastern adversary, thanks to which, in many respects, they got the opportunity to become a superpower. The USSR defeated the strongest European army, but paid for it with millions of lives and thousands of destroyed cities and villages. No one knew how long it would take to restore the economy destroyed by the fascist invasion. The territory of the United States, unlike the USSR, did not suffer at all, and the losses against the background of the losses of the Soviet army looked insignificant, since it was the Soviet Union that took the strongest blow from the fascist core of all of Europe, fighting alone against Germany and its allies from 1941 to 1944.
The United States, on the other hand, participated in the war in the European theater of operations for less than a year - from June 1944 to May 1945. After the war, the United States became a creditor to the Western European states, effectively formalizing their economic dependence on America. The Yankees proposed the Marshall Plan to Western Europe, an economic aid program that 16 states had signed by 1948. For 4 years, the United States had to transfer 17 billion to Europe. dollars.
Less than a year after the victory over fascism, the British and Americans began to look anxiously at the East and look for some kind of threat there. Already in the spring of 1946, Winston Churchill delivers his famous Fullton speech, which is usually associated with the beginning of the Cold War. Active anti-communist rhetoric begins in the West. By the end of the 1940s, all communists were removed from the governments of Western European states. This was one of the conditions under which the United States provided financial assistance to European countries.
The USSR was not included in the financial aid program for obvious reasons - it was already seen as an enemy. The countries of Eastern Europe, which were under the control of the communists, fearing the growth of US influence and economic dependence, also did not accept the Marshall Plan. Thus, the USSR and its allies were forced to restore the destroyed economy exclusively on your own and this was done much faster than expected in the West. The USSR not only quickly restored infrastructure, industry and destroyed cities, but also in short time eliminated the US nuclear monopoly by creating nuclear weapons, thereby depriving the Americans of the opportunity to strike with impunity.
Creation of military-political blocs of NATO and the Warsaw Pact
In the spring of 1949, the United States initiated the creation of a NATO military bloc (Organization of the North Atlantic Alliance), citing the need to "fight the Soviet threat." The union initially included the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Iceland, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, as well as the USA and Canada. American military bases began to appear in Europe, the number of armed forces of European armies began to increase, and the number of military equipment and combat aircraft increased.
The USSR reacted in 1955 with the creation of the Warsaw Treaty Organization (OVD), in the same way creating the unified armed forces of the Eastern European states, as they did in the West. The ATS included Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Romania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia. In response to the buildup of military forces by the Western military bloc, the strengthening of the armies of the socialist states also began.
Symbols of NATO and the Warsaw Pact
Local military conflicts
Two military-political blocs launched a large-scale confrontation with each other all over the planet. A direct military clash was feared on both sides, since its outcome was unpredictable. However, there was a constant struggle in various parts of the globe for spheres of influence and control over non-aligned countries. Here are just a few of the most striking examples of military conflicts in which the USSR and the USA indirectly or directly participated.
1. Korean War (1950-1953)
After World War II, Korea was divided into two states - in the South, pro-American forces were in power, and in the north, the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) was formed, in which the Communists were in power. In 1950, a war broke out between the two Koreas - “socialist” and “capitalist”, in which, of course, the USSR supported North Korea, and the USA supported South Korea. Soviet pilots and military specialists, as well as detachments of Chinese "volunteers", unofficially fought on the side of the DPRK. The United States provided direct military assistance to South Korea, intervening openly in the conflict, which ended with the signing of a peace and the maintenance of the status quo in 1953.
2. Vietnam War (1957-1975)
In fact, the scenario of the beginning of the confrontation was the same - Vietnam after 1954 was divided into two parts. In North Vietnam, the Communists were in power, and in South Vietnam, political forces oriented towards the United States. Each side sought to unify Vietnam. Since 1965, the United States has provided open military assistance to the South Vietnamese regime. Regular American troops, along with the army of South Vietnam, participated in hostilities against North Vietnamese troops. Covert assistance to North Vietnam with weapons, equipment and military specialists was provided by the USSR and China. The war ended with the victory of the North Vietnamese communists in 1975.
3. Arab-Israeli wars
In a whole series of wars in the Middle East between the Arab states and Israel, the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc supported the Arabs, and the US and NATO supported the Israelis. Soviet military specialists trained the troops of the Arab states, which were armed with tanks and aircraft that came from the USSR, and the soldiers of the Arab armies used Soviet equipment and equipment. The Israelis used American military equipment and followed the instructions of US advisers.
4. Afghan war (1979-1989)
The USSR sent troops to Afghanistan in 1979 to support a political regime that was oriented toward Moscow. Large formations of the Afghan Mujahideen fought against the Soviet troops and the government army of Afghanistan, who enjoyed the support of the United States and NATO, and accordingly armed themselves with them. Soviet troops left Afghanistan in 1989, the war continued after their departure.
All of the above is only a small part of the military conflicts in which the superpowers participated, covertly or almost overtly fighting each other in local wars.
1 - American soldiers in position during the Korean War
2-Soviet tank in the service of the Syrian army
3-American helicopter in the sky over Vietnam
4-Column of Soviet troops in Afghanistan
Why did the USSR and the USA never enter into a direct military conflict?
As mentioned above, the outcome of the military conflict between the two large military blocs was completely unpredictable, but the main deterrent was the presence of nuclear missile weapons in huge quantities both in the United States and in the Soviet Union. Over the years of confrontation, the parties have accumulated such a number of nuclear charges that would be enough to repeatedly destroy all life on Earth.
Thus, a direct military conflict between the USSR and the USA would inevitably mean an exchange of nuclear missile strikes, during which there would be no winners - everyone would be losers, and the very possibility of life on the planet would be called into question. Nobody wanted such an outcome, so the parties avoided an open military clash with each other in every possible way, but nevertheless periodically tried each other's strength in local conflicts, helping any state covertly or directly participating in hostilities.
So, with the beginning of the nuclear age, local conflicts and information wars have become almost the only ways to expand their influence and control over other states. This situation persists to this day. The possibilities of the collapse and liquidation of such major geopolitical players as modern China and Russia lie only in the sphere of attempts to undermine the state from within by means of information wars, the purpose of which is a coup d'etat with subsequent destructive actions of puppet governments. There are constant attempts on the part of the West to find weaknesses in Russia and other uncontrolled states, to provoke ethnic, religious, political conflicts, etc.
End of the Cold War
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. There was only one superpower left on planet Earth - the United States, which tried to rebuild the whole world on the basis of American liberal values. Within the framework of globalization, an attempt is being made to impose on all mankind a certain universal model of social structure along the lines of the United States and Western Europe. However, this has not yet been possible. There is active resistance in all parts of the globe against the imposition of American values, which are unacceptable to many peoples. The story goes on, the struggle continues ... Think about the future and the past, try to understand and comprehend the world around, develop and do not stand still. Passive waiting and burning through life is essentially a regression in your development. As the Russian philosopher V. Belinsky said - who does not go forward, he goes back, there is no standing position ...
Best regards, mind-point administration
The article tells briefly about the Cold War - the confrontation between the USSR and the USA after the Second World War. The superpowers were in a state of confrontation. cold war found its expression in a number of limited military conflicts in which the USSR and the USA took a certain part. For about half a century, the world was in anticipation of the Third World War.
Causes of the Cold War
The course of the Cold War
Results of the Cold War
Introduction. 2
1. Causes of the Cold War. 3
2. "Cold War": beginning, development. 6
2.1 Beginning of the Cold War.. 6
2.2 Climax of the Cold War.. 8
3. Consequences, results and lessons of the cold war. eleven
3.1 Political, economic and ideological consequences of the cold war.. 11
3.2 Outcomes of the Cold War and whether its outcome was predetermined.. 14
Conclusion. 17
Literature. 19
Not only history, but also the attitude towards it, knows sharp turns that mark the qualitative stages of the political, social, and moral development of human society. With a fair degree of reliability, we can say that when civilization steps over power beliefs, everyone will agree that the Cold War - one of the saddest chapters of the 20th century - was the product of primarily human imperfections and ideological prejudices. She might not have been. It would not exist if the actions of people and the actions of states corresponded to their words and declarations.
However, the cold war has descended on humanity. The question arises: why did yesterday's military allies suddenly turn into enemies who are cramped on the same planet? What prompted them to exaggerate the old mistakes and add many new ones to them? It didn't fit with common sense, not to mention the allied duty and elementary concepts of decency.
The Cold War did not break out suddenly. She was born in the crucible of the "hot war" and left a very noticeable imprint on the course of the latter. Very many in the United States and England perceived interaction with the USSR in the fight against aggressors as forced, contrary to their attachments and interests and secretly, and some clearly dreamed that the battles, which London and Washington had long been observers of, would exhaust the forces of Germany as well. and the Soviet Union.
Many did not just dream, but worked out strategies and tactics behind tightly closed doors, counting on gaining a “decisive advantage” in the final direct war, when the time came to take stock, and on the active use of this advantage against the USSR.
G. Hopkins, an adviser to F. Roosevelt, wrote in 1945 that some people across the ocean "really wanted our (American armies), having passed through Germany, to start a war with Russia after the defeat of Germany." And who knows how things would have turned out in reality if the cards had not been confused by the unfinished war with Japan and the need for help from the Red Army, in order, as it was then calculated, to “save up to a million American lives.”
The relevance of the study is that the Cold War was a sharp confrontation between the two systems on the world stage. It became particularly acute in the late 1940s and 1960s. There was a time when the sharpness subsided somewhat, and then intensified again. The Cold War covered all spheres of international relations: political, economic, military and ideological.
At present, in connection with the deployment of the US anti-missile system and the negative attitude of representatives of a number of countries, including Russia, to this, since the missiles will be located near Russian borders, this topic is becoming especially acute.
Purpose of the work: to consider the "cold war" in Russia, its causes and origins, development.
The prologue of the "cold war" can be attributed even to the final stage of the Second World War. In our opinion, the decision of the leadership of the United States and Britain not to inform the USSR about the work on the creation of atomic weapons played an important role in its origin. To this we can add Churchill's desire to open a second front not in France, but in the Balkans and move not from West to East, but from south to north, in order to block the path of the Red Army. Then, in 1945, there were plans to push the Soviet troops from the center of Europe to the pre-war borders. And finally, in 1946, a speech in Fulton.
In Soviet historiography, it was generally accepted that the Cold War was unleashed by the United States and its allies, and the USSR was forced to take retaliatory, most often adequate, measures. But at the very end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, other approaches emerged in the coverage of the Cold War. Some authors began to argue that it is generally impossible to determine its chronological framework and establish who started it. Others call both sides, the US and the USSR, responsible for the emergence of the Cold War. Some accuse the Soviet Union of foreign policy mistakes that led, if not to the direct unleashing, then to the expansion, aggravation and long-term continuation of the confrontation between the two powers.
The very term "cold war" was coined in 1947 by the US Secretary of State. They began to designate the state of political, economic, ideological and other confrontation between states and systems. One Washington government document of that time states that the "cold war" is a "real war" in which the stake is "the survival of the free world."
What were the causes of the Cold War?
The economic reasons for the change in US policy was that the US had grown immeasurably rich during the war years. With the end of the war, they were threatened by an overproduction crisis. At the same time, the economies of European countries were destroyed, their markets were open to American goods, but there was nothing to pay for these goods. The United States was afraid to invest in the economies of these countries, since the influence of leftist forces was strong there and the environment for investment was unstable.
In the United States, a plan was developed, called the Marshall. European countries were offered assistance to restore the destroyed economy. Loans were given to buy American goods. The proceeds were not exported, but invested in the construction of enterprises in these countries.
The Marshall Plan was accepted by 16 states of Western Europe. The political condition for the assistance was the removal of communists from governments. In 1947, the communists were withdrawn from the governments of Western European countries. Assistance was also offered to Eastern European countries. Poland and Czechoslovakia began negotiations, but under pressure from the USSR, they refused to help. At the same time, the United States tore up the Soviet-American agreement on loans and passed a law prohibiting exports to the USSR.
The ideological basis of the Cold War was the Truman Doctrine, put forward by the President of the United States in 1947. According to this doctrine, the conflict between Western democracy and communism is irreconcilable. The tasks of the United States are the fight against communism throughout the world, "the containment of communism", "the throwing back of communism into the borders of the USSR." American responsibility for the events taking place all over the world was proclaimed, all these events were viewed through the prism of confrontation between communism and Western democracy, the USSR and the USA.
When talking about the origins of the Cold War, many historians believe it is illogical to try to completely whitewash one side and place all the blame on the other. By now, American and British historians have long accepted partial responsibility for what happened after 1945.
In order to understand the origin and essence of the Cold War, let us turn to the events in the history of the Great Patriotic War.
Since June 1941, the Soviet Union fought Nazi Germany in heavy combat. Roosevelt called the Russian front "the biggest support."
The great battle on the Volga, according to the biographer of Roosevelt and his assistant Robert Sherwood, "changed the whole picture of the war and the prospects for the near future." As a result of one battle, Russia became one of the great world powers. The victory of the Russian troops on the Kursk Bulge dispelled all doubts in Washington and London about the outcome of the war. collapse Nazi Germany was now only a matter of time.
Accordingly, in the corridors of power in London and Washington, the question arose of whether the anti-Hitler coalition had exhausted itself, was it not time to blow the anti-communist rally?
Thus, already during the war, in some circles in the United States and England, plans were being considered, having passed through Germany, to start a war with Russia.
It is widely known that Germany negotiated a separate peace with the Western powers at the end of the war. In Western literature, the Wolf case is often described as the first operation of the Cold War. It can be noted that the “Wolf-Dallas affair” was the largest operation against F. Roosevelt and his course, launched during the life of the president and designed to disrupt the implementation of the Yalta agreements.
Truman succeeded Roosevelt. At a meeting at the White House on April 23, 1945, he questioned the usefulness of any agreements with Moscow. “It needs to be broken now or never…” he said. This refers to Soviet-American cooperation. So Truman's actions crossed out the years of Roosevelt's work, when the foundations of mutual understanding with Soviet leaders were laid.
On April 20, 1945, at a meeting with the American President, in an unacceptable form, he demanded that the USSR change its foreign policy in a spirit pleasing to the United States. Less than a month later, without any explanation, deliveries to the USSR under Lend-Lease were stopped. In September, the United States set unacceptable conditions for the Soviet Union to receive the previously promised loan. As Professor J. Geddis wrote in one of his works, the USSR was demanded that "in exchange for an American loan, it should change its system of government and abandon its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe."
Thus, contrary to sober thinking, the concept of permissiveness, based on the monopoly possession of atomic weapons, has taken the leading place in politics and strategy.
So on final stage war, the rivalry between the two tendencies in the politics of the United States and Britain sharply escalated.
During the Cold War, the use of force or the threat of force became the rule. The desire to establish its dominance, to dictate on the part of the United States began to manifest itself long ago. After the Second World War, the United States used all means to achieve its goal - from negotiations at conferences, in the United Nations to political, economic and even military pressure in Latin America, in Western Europe, and then in the Near, Middle and Far East. The main ideological cover for their foreign policy doctrine was the struggle against communism. Characteristic in this respect were the slogans: "rejection of communism", "politics on the edge of a knife", "balancing on the brink of war".
From document NSS 68, declassified in 1975 and approved in April 1950 by President Truman, it is clear that the United States then decided to build relations with the USSR only on the basis of constant crisis confrontation. One of the main goals in this direction was to achieve US military superiority over the USSR. The goal of American foreign policy was to "accelerate the decay of the Soviet system."
Already in November 1947, the United States began to put into effect a whole system of restrictive and prohibitive measures in the areas of finance and trade, which marked the beginning of the economic war of the West against the East.
During 1948 there was a progressive advancement of mutual claims in the economic, financial, transport and other spheres. But the Soviet Union took a more accommodating position.
American intelligence reported that the USSR was not preparing for war and was not conducting mobilization measures. At the same time, the Americans understood the loss of their operational and strategic position in the center of Europe.
This is evidenced by an entry in the diary of influential US politician William Leahy on June 30, 1948: “The American military situation in Berlin is hopeless, since there are no sufficient forces anywhere and there is no information that the USSR is experiencing inconvenience due to internal weakness. It would be in the US interests to withdraw from Berlin. However, soon the Soviet side agreed to lift the blockade.
Such is the outline of the events that threatened to lead mankind to a third world war in 1948.
The years 1949-1950 were the culmination of the Cold War, marked by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949, whose "openly aggressive character" was tirelessly exposed by the USSR, the war in Korea and the rearmament of Germany.
1949 was an "extremely dangerous" year, since the USSR no longer doubted that the Americans would remain in Europe for a long time. But it also brought satisfaction to the Soviet leaders: the successful test of the first Soviet atomic bomb in September 1949 and the victory of the Chinese Communists.
The strategic military plans of that time reflected the national interests and capabilities of the country, the realities of that time. Thus, the national defense plan for 1947 set the following tasks for the Armed Forces:
ü To ensure a reliable repulse of aggression and the integrity of the borders in the west and east, established by international treaties after the Second World War.
ü To be ready to repulse an enemy air attack, including with the use of atomic weapons.
ü The Navy must repulse possible aggression from the maritime sectors and provide support for the actions of the ground forces for this purpose.
Soviet foreign policy decisions during the period of the emergence of the Cold War were mainly of a reciprocal nature and were determined by the logic of struggle, and not the logic of cooperation.
In contrast to its policy pursued in other regions of the world, in the Far East of the USSR, since 1945, it acted with extreme caution. The entry of the Red Army into the war with Japan in August 1945 allowed him to restore in this region the positions lost in 1905 by the tsarist empire. On August 15, 1945, Chiang Kai-shek agreed with Soviet presence in Port Arthur, Dairen and Manchuria. With Soviet support, Manchuria became an autonomous communist state headed by Gao Gang, who apparently had close ties to Stalin. At the end of 1945, the latter called on the Chinese Communists to find a common language with Chiang Kai-shek. This position has been confirmed several times over the years.
The fact that, starting from the summer of 1947, the political and military situation changed in favor of the Chinese Communists did not generally change the reserved attitude of the Soviet leadership towards the Chinese Communists, who were not invited to the meeting dedicated to the founding of the Comintern.
The USSR's enthusiasm for the "Chinese brothers in arms" manifested itself only after the final victory of Mao Zedong. On November 23, 1949, the USSR established diplomatic relations with Beijing. One of the main factors in the agreement was the general hostility towards the US. That this was the case was openly confirmed a few weeks later, when the Security Council refused to expel Nationalist China from the UN, the USSR withdrew from all its bodies (until August 1950).
It was thanks to the absence of the USSR that the Security Council was able on June 27, 1950 to adopt a resolution on the entry of American wax into Korea, where the North Koreans had crossed the 38th parallel two days earlier.
According to some modern versions, Stalin pushed North Korea to this step, who did not believe in the possibility of retaliatory actions by the United States after they “abandoned” Chiang Kai-shek and wanted to compete with Mao in the Far East. Nevertheless, when China, in turn, entered the war on the side of North Korea, the USSR, having come across a firm position from the United States, tried to maintain the local nature of the conflict.
More than the conflict in Korea, the "headache" of Soviet foreign policy in the early 1950s was the question of the integration of the FRG into the Western political system and its rearmament. On October 23, 1950, the foreign ministers of the Eastern European camp, who gathered in Prague, proposed signing a peace treaty with Germany, providing for its demilitarization and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from it. In December, the Western countries agreed to a meeting, but demanded that it discuss all the problems on which the confrontation between the West and the East took place.
In September 1951, the US Congress passed the Mutual Security Act, which granted the right to finance emigrant anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary organizations. On its basis, significant funds were allocated for the recruitment of persons living in the Soviet Union and other countries of Eastern Europe, and payment for their subversive activities.
Speaking of the "cold war" one cannot but touch upon the topic of conflicts that can escalate into a nuclear war. Historical analyzes of the causes and course of crises during the Cold War leave much to be desired.
So far, there are three well-documented cases in which American policy has taken a course for war. In each of them, Washington deliberately risked a nuclear war: during Korean War; in the conflict over the Chinese islands of Kuemoi and Matsu; in the Cuban crisis.
The Caribbean crisis of 1962 convincingly testified that the nuclear missile arsenals of both powers were not only sufficient, but also excessive for mutual destruction, that a further quantitative increase in nuclear potential could not give advantages to either country.
Thus, already in the early 60s, it became obvious that even in the conditions of the Cold War, only compromises, mutual concessions, understanding of each other's interests and the global interests of all mankind, diplomatic negotiations, the exchange of truthful information, the adoption of emergency rescue measures against the emergence of immediate threat nuclear war are an effective means of resolving conflicts in our time. This is the main lesson of the Caribbean crisis.
Being a product of the psychology of the Cold War, it clearly showed the vital need to discard the categories of the old thinking and adopt a new way of thinking, adequate to the threats of the nuclear-missile age, global interdependence, the interests of survival and universal security. The Caribbean crisis ended, as you know, in a compromise, the USSR removed Soviet ballistic missiles and Il-28 medium-range bombers from Cuba. In response, the United States gave guarantees of non-interference in the affairs of Cuba and removed the Jupiter missiles from Turkey, and then from Great Britain and Italy. However, militaristic thinking was far from outlived, continuing to dominate politics.
In September 1970, the London International Institute for Strategic Studies announced that the USSR was approaching nuclear parity with the United States. On February 25, 1971, Americans heard President Nixon say on the radio: "Today, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union has a clear nuclear advantage."
In October of the same year, in preparation for the Soviet-American meeting at highest level, he stated at a press conference: “If there is a new war, if there is a war between superpowers, then no one will win. That is why the moment has come to resolve our differences, to resolve them taking into account our differences of opinion, recognizing that they are still very deep, recognizing, however, that at the moment there is no alternative to negotiations.
Thus, the recognition of the realities of the nuclear age led in the early 1970s to a revision of policy, to a turn from the Cold War to detente, to cooperation between states with different social systems.
The United States constantly sought to preempt the USSR and be the initiators both in politics and in the economy and, especially, in military affairs. First, they rushed to use their advantage, which consisted in the possession of an atomic bomb, then in the development of new types of military equipment and weapons, thereby pushing the Soviet Union to prompt adequate action. Their main goal was to weaken the USSR, to break it up, to tear its allies away from it. By drawing the USSR into the arms race, the United States thus forced it to strengthen the army at the expense of funds intended for internal development, for improving the well-being of the people.
In recent years, some historians have accused the Soviet Union of adopting and implementing measures that allegedly helped the United States pursue its policy of confrontation, to intensify the Cold War. However, the facts say otherwise. The United States, along with Western allies started from Germany. In the spring of 1947, at a session of the Ministerial Council, representatives of the United States, Britain and France announced their rejection of the decisions previously agreed with the Soviet Union. With their unilateral actions, they put the eastern zone of occupation in a difficult situation and consolidated the split of Germany. By carrying out a monetary reform in the three western zones in June 1948, the three powers actually provoked the Berlin crisis, forcing the Soviet occupation authorities to protect the eastern zone from currency fraud and protect its economy and monetary system. For these purposes, a system of checking citizens arriving from West Germany was introduced and the movement of any transport was prohibited in case of refusal to check. The Western occupation authorities forbade the population of the western part of the city from accepting any aid from East Germany and organized the supply of West Berlin by air, while at the same time intensifying anti-Soviet propaganda. Later, such an informed person as J. F. Dulles spoke about the use of the Berlin crisis by Western propaganda.
In line with the Cold War, the Western powers carried out such foreign policy actions as the split of Germany into two states, the creation of a Western military alliance and the signing of the North Atlantic Pact, which was already mentioned above.
This was followed by the creation of military blocs and alliances in different parts of the world under the pretext of ensuring mutual security.
In September 1951 the USA, Australia and New Zealand create a military-political union (ANZUS).
On May 26, 1952, representatives of the USA, England and France, on the one hand, and the FRG, on the other, sign in Bonn a document on the participation of West Germany in the European Defense Community (EOC), and on May 27, the FRG, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg conclude an agreement in Paris on the creation of this bloc.
In September 1954, in Manila, the United States, England, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand sign the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty (SEATO).
In October 1954, the Paris Agreements were signed on the remilitarization of the FRG and its inclusion in the Western Union and NATO. They come into force in May 1955.
In February 1955, a Turkish-Iraqi military alliance (the Baghdad Pact) was created.
The actions of the US and its allies demanded retaliatory measures. On May 14, 1955, a collective defensive alliance of socialist states was formalized - the Warsaw Pact Organization. This was a response to the creation of the NATO military bloc and the inclusion of the FRG in it. The Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance was signed by Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia. It was exclusively defensive in nature and was not directed against anyone. Its task was to protect the socialist gains and the peaceful labor of the peoples of the countries participating in the treaty.
In the event of the creation of a system of collective security in Europe, the Warsaw Pact was to lose its force from the date of entry into force of the all-European treaty.
In order to make it difficult for the Soviet Union to resolve issues of post-war development, the United States imposed a ban on economic ties and trade with the USSR and the countries of Central and South Eastern Europe. The delivery to these countries of even previously ordered and already finished equipment, vehicles and various materials. A list of items prohibited for export to the USSR and other countries of the socialist camp was specially adopted. This created certain difficulties for the USSR, but also caused serious damage to the industrial enterprises of the West.
In September 1951, the American government annulled the trade agreement that had existed since 1937 with the USSR. Adopted at the beginning of January 1952, the second list of goods prohibited for export to the socialist countries was so wide that it included goods from almost all branches of industry.
What was the Cold War for us, what are its results and lessons from the point of view of the changes that have taken place in the world?
It is hardly legitimate to characterize the Cold War in unilateral terms, either as another conflict in human history or as a lasting peace. J. Gaddis adhered to this point of view. Apparently, this historical phenomenon carried the features of both.
In this regard, I agree with Academician G. Arbatov, who believes that the antagonisms and instability generated by the Second World War carried the same possibility of a military conflict as those that developed after the First World War.
In any case, both the Berlin Crisis of 1953 and, especially, the Caribbean Missile Crisis of October 1962 could well have culminated in a third world war. A general military conflict did not arise only due to the "dissuasive" role of nuclear weapons.
Political scientists and ideologists around the world have tried many times to clearly define the concept of the Cold War and identify its most characteristic features. From the position of today, in conditions when the Cold War has become a thing of the past, it is quite obvious that it was primarily a political course of the confronting parties, pursued from a position of strength on a peculiar ideological basis.
In the economy and trade, this manifested itself in blocs and discriminatory measures against each other. In propaganda activities - in the formation of the "image of the enemy." The goal of such a policy in the West was to contain the spread of communism, to protect the "free world" from it. In the East, the goal of such a policy was also seen in the protection of peoples, but from the "pernicious influence of the decaying Western world."
Now it is futile to look for the fault of any one of the parties as the main cause of the Cold War. It is quite obvious that there was a general "blindness", in which instead of political dialogue, preference was given to confrontation between the leading states of the world - the USSR and the USA.
The transition to confrontation happened imperceptibly quickly. Another circumstance of exceptional importance was the fact that nuclear weapons appeared on the world stage.
The Cold War, as a whole complex of phenomena, had a huge impact on overall growth tension in the world, to an increase in the number, scale and severity of local conflicts. There is no doubt that without the established climate of the Cold War, many crises in various regions of the planet would certainly have been extinguished by the concerted efforts of the world community.
Speaking about the peculiarities of the Cold War, it should be said that in our country for a long time everything that was connected with nuclear weapons was anathematized. Supposedly for moral reasons. Again, the question arises of what prevented the development of an armed conflict, when the world was literally on the verge of war?
It is, in my opinion, the fear of general annihilation, which has sobered up politicians, reoriented public opinion, forced to remember the eternal moral values.
The fear of mutual destruction has led to the fact that international politics has ceased to be exclusively "the art of diplomats and soldiers." New subjects actively joined in it - scientists, transnational corporations, mass media, public organizations and movements, individual people. They all brought their own interests, beliefs, and goals to it, including those based solely on moral considerations.
So who won this war?
Now, after the passage of time, which put everything in its place, it became clear that the winner was humanity as a whole, since the main result of the Caribbean crisis, as well as the Cold War as a whole, was an unprecedented strengthening of the moral factor in world politics.
Most researchers note the exceptional role of ideology in the Cold War.
AT this case the words spoken by General de Gaulle are true: “since the birth of the world, the banner of ideology has, it seems, covered nothing but human ambitions.” A country that proclaimed itself the bearer of universal moral values, unceremoniously discarded morality when it came to their own interests or the ability to win back at least one point in the political struggle with the enemy.
The question is legitimate: if the policy of the West in post-war history was based not on momentary state interests, but solely on the principles proclaimed in international law, in democratic constitutions, and finally in biblical commandments, if the demands of morality were addressed primarily to themselves, - would there be an arms race and local wars? There is no answer to this question yet, since humanity has not yet accumulated the experience of a policy based on moral principles.
At present, the "triumph" of the United States, won by them in the short term, now seems to the Americans to be something completely different, maybe even a defeat in the long term.
As for the other side, having suffered a defeat in the short term, the Soviet Union, or rather, its heirs, by no means deprived themselves of chances in the long term. Reforms and changes in Russia give her a unique opportunity to answer the questions facing civilization as a whole. The chance that Russia gave to the world today, having saved it from an exhausting arms race and a class approach, it seems to me, can be qualified as a moral achievement. And in this regard, I agree with the authors of the article “Were there any winners in the Cold War” B. Martynov.
This circumstance is also noted by many foreign politicians.
I believe that its outcome was predetermined, since a military balance had developed in the world and in the event of a nuclear threat there would have been no survivors.
The Cold War quite naturally became a kind of fusion of the traditional, forceful confrontation not only between two military blocs, but also between two worldview concepts. Moreover, the struggle around moral values was of a secondary, auxiliary nature. A new conflict was avoided only thanks to the presence of nuclear weapons.
Fear of mutually assured destruction, on the one hand, has become a catalyst for moral progress in the world (the problem of human rights, ecology), and on the other hand, the cause of the economic and political collapse of the society of so-called real socialism (the unbearable burden of the arms race).
As history shows, not a single socio-economic model, no matter how economically effective it is, has a historical perspective, if it is not based on any solid moral postulates, if the meaning of its existence is not oriented towards the achievement of universal humanistic ideals.
The triumph of moral values in politics and in the life of society can become the common victory of mankind as a result of the Cold War. Russia's contribution to achieving this goal determined its position in the world in the long term.
The end of the Cold War should not, however, lull the peoples and governments of the two great states, as well as the entire population. The main task of all healthy, realistically thinking forces of society is to prevent a second return to it. This is also relevant in our time, because, as noted, a confrontation is possible due to the deployment of a missile defense system, as well as in connection with the conflicts that have recently arisen between Russia and Georgia, Russia and Estonia, the former Soviet republics.
Refusal of confrontation of thinking, cooperation, mutual consideration of interests and security - such is the general line in relations between countries and peoples living in the nuclear missile era.
The years of the Cold War give grounds for the conclusion that, in opposing communism and revolutionary movements, the United States first of all fought against the Soviet Union, as the country that represented the greatest obstacle in realizing their main goal - establishing their dominance over the world.
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The Cold War was a period of confrontation between the USSR and the USA. The peculiarity of this conflict lies in the fact that it took place without a direct military clash between the opponents. The causes of the Cold War were ideological and ideological differences.
She seemed to be "peaceful". There were even diplomatic relations between the parties. But there was a quiet rivalry. It affected all areas - this is the presentation of films, literature, and the creation of the latest weapons, and the economy.
It is believed that the USSR and the USA were in a state of cold war from 1946 to 1991. This means that the confrontation began immediately after the end of World War II and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. All these years, each country sought to defeat the other - this is how the presentation of both states to the world looked like.
Both the USSR and America sought the support of other states. States enjoyed sympathy from Western European countries. The Soviet Union was popular with Latin American and Asian states.
The Cold War divided the world into two camps. Only a few remained neutral (perhaps three countries, including Switzerland). However, some even single out three sides, referring to China.
political map cold war world 
Political map of Europe during the Cold War
The most acute moments in this period were the Caribbean and Berlin crises. Since their beginning, the political processes in the world have deteriorated significantly. The world was threatened even with a nuclear war - it was hardly avoided.
One of the features of the confrontation is the desire of the superpowers to overtake each other in various areas, including military technology and weapons of mass destruction. It was called an "arms race". There was also competition in the field of propaganda in the media, in science, sports, and culture.
In addition, it is worth mentioning the total espionage of the two states against each other. In addition, many conflicts took place on the territories of other countries. For example, the United States installed missiles in Turkey and Western European countries, and the USSR in Latin American states.
The competition between the USSR and America could develop into the Third World War. Three world wars in one century is hard to imagine, but it could have happened many times. We list the main stages and milestones of the rivalry - the table below:
| the date | Event | Results |
| 1949 | The appearance of the atomic bomb in the Soviet Union | Achieving nuclear parity between adversaries. |
| Formation of the military-political organization NATO (from Western countries). | Exists to this day | |
| 1950 – 1953 | Korean War. It was the first "hot spot". The USSR helped the Korean communists with specialists and military equipment. | As a result, Korea was divided into two different states - the pro-Soviet North and the pro-American South. |
| 1955 | The creation of the military-political Organization of the Warsaw Pact - the Eastern European bloc of socialist countries, which was headed by the Soviet Union | Equilibrium in the military-political sphere, but today there is no such bloc |
| 1962 | Caribbean crisis. The USSR installed its own missiles in Cuba, close to the United States. The Americans demanded to dismantle the missiles - they were refused. Missiles from both sides put on alert | It was possible to avoid war thanks to a compromise, when the Soviet state removed the missiles from Cuba, and America from Turkey. In the future, the Soviet Union ideologically and materially supported the poor countries, their national liberation movements. The Americans supported pro-Western regimes under the guise of democratization. |
| From 1964 to 1975 | The Vietnam War, unleashed by the United States, continued. | Vietnam victory |
| Second half of the 1970s | The tension eased. Negotiations began. | Establishment of cultural and economic cooperation between the states of the eastern and western blocs. |
| Late 1970s | The period was marked by a new breakthrough in the arms race. Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. | New aggravation of relations. |
In the 1980s, the Soviet Union began perestroika, and in 1991 it collapsed. As a result, the entire socialist system was defeated. This is how the end of a long-term confrontation that affected all countries of the world looked like.
When the Second World War ended, the USSR and America felt like winners. The question arose of a new world order. At the same time, political and economic systems and the ideologies of both states were opposite.
The doctrine of the United States was to “save” the world from the Soviet Union and communism, and the Soviet side sought to build communism on everything. the globe. These were the main prerequisites for the emergence of the conflict.
Many experts consider this conflict artificial. It's just that every ideology needed an enemy - both America and the Soviet Union. Interestingly, both sides were afraid of the mythical “Russian/American enemies”, while seemingly having nothing against the population of the enemy country.
The culprits of the conflict can be called the ambitions of leaders and ideology. It took place in the form of the emergence of local wars - "hot spots". Let's take a look at some of them.
The story began with the liberation of the Red Army and the American military of the Korean Peninsula from the Japanese armed forces. Korea has already been divided into two parts - so the prerequisites for future events have arisen.
In the northern part of the country, power was in the hands of the communists, and in the south - the military. The former were pro-Soviet forces, the latter were pro-American. However, in fact, there were three interested parties - China gradually intervened in the situation.
Destroyed tank 
Soldiers in the trenches 
Detachment evacuation 
shooting training 
Korean boy on the road of death 
City defense
Two republics were formed. The state of the communists became known as the DPRK (in full - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea), and the military founded the Republic of Korea. At the same time, there were thoughts about the unification of the country.
The year 1950 was marked by the arrival of Kim Il Sung (the leader of the DPRK) in Moscow, where he was promised the support of the Soviet government. Chinese leader Mao Zedong also believed that South Korea should be annexed by military means.
Kim Il Sung - leader of North Korea
As a result, on June 25 of the same year, the DPRK army went to South Korea. During three days she managed to take Seoul, the South Korean capital. Thereafter offensive progressed more slowly, although in September the North Koreans were already in almost complete control of the peninsula.
However, the final victory did not take place. The United Nations Security Council voted to send an international military contingent to South Korea. The solution was implemented in September when the Americans came to the Korean Peninsula.
It was they who launched the strongest offensive from the territories that were still controlled by the army of Lee Syngman, the leader of South Korea. At the same time, troops landed on the West Coast. The US military took Seoul and even crossed the 38th parallel, advancing on the DPRK.
Lee Seung-man - leader of South Korea
North Korea was threatened with defeat, but China helped it. His government sent "People's Volunteers", that is, soldiers, to help the DPRK. A million Chinese soldiers began to fight the Americans - this led to the alignment of the front along the original borders (38th parallel).
The war lasted three years. In 1950, several Soviet aviation divisions came to the aid of the DPRK. It's worth saying that american technology was more powerful than the Chinese - the Chinese had heavy losses.
The truce came after three years of war - 07/27/1953. As a result, North Korea continued to be led by Kim Il Sung - the “great leader”. The plan for the division of the country after the Second World War is still in force, and Korea is led by the grandson of the then leader, Kim Jong-un.
A decade after the end of World War II, Europe was finally divided between West and East. But there was no clear line of conflict dividing Europe. Berlin was something like an open “window”.
The city was divided into two halves. East Berlin was part of the GDR, and West Berlin was part of the FRG. Capitalism and socialism coexisted in the city.
Schematic of the division of Berlin by the Berlin Wall
To change the formation, it was enough to go to the next street. Up to half a million people walked between West and East Berlin every day. It happened that East Germans preferred to move to the western part.
The East German authorities were worried about the situation, besides, the “Iron Curtain” should have been closed due to the spirit of the era. The decision to close the borders was made in the summer of 1961 - the plan was drawn up by the Soviet Union and the GDR. Western states spoke out against such a measure.
The situation escalated especially in October. Tanks of the US Armed Forces appeared near the Brandenburg Gate, and a Soviet army was approaching from the opposite side. military equipment. The tankers were ready to attack each other - the combat readiness lasted more than a day.
However, then both sides took the equipment to distant parts of Berlin. Western countries had to recognize the division of the city - it happened a decade later. The appearance of the Berlin Wall became a symbol of the post-war division of the world and Europe.
In January 1959, a revolution took place on the island, led by 32-year-old Fidel Castro, the leader of the partisans. His government decided to fight American influence in Cuba. Naturally, the Cuban government received support from the Soviet Union.
Young Fidel Castro
But in Havana, there were fears about the invasion of American troops. And in the spring of 1962, N. S. Khrushchev came up with a plan to put nuclear missiles of the USSR in Cuba. He believed that this would frighten the imperialists.
Cuba agreed with Khrushchev's idea. This led to the dispatch of forty-two missiles equipped with nuclear warheads to the island, as well as bombers for nuclear bombs. The equipment was transferred secretly, although the Americans found out about it. As a result, US President John F. Kennedy protested, to which he received assurances from the Soviet side that there were no Soviet missiles in Cuba.
However, in October, a US spy plane took photographs of the missile launch sites, and the US government thought about a response. On October 22, Kennedy made a televised address to the US population, where he spoke about Soviet missiles on Cuban territory and demanded that they be removed.
Then came the announcement of a naval blockade of the island. On October 24, a meeting of the UN Security Council was held at the initiative of the Soviet Union. The situation in the Caribbean became tense.
About twenty ships of the Soviet Union sailed towards Cuba. The Americans were ordered to stop them even with fire. However, the battle did not take place: Khrushchev ordered the Soviet flotilla to stop.
From 23.10 Washington exchanged official messages with Moscow. In the first of these, Khrushchev said that the behavior of the United States was "the madness of degenerate imperialism" and also "the purest banditry."
After a few days, it became clear: the Americans want to get rid of the enemy's missiles by any means. On October 26, N. S. Khrushchev wrote a conciliatory letter to the American president, where he acknowledged the presence of Soviet powerful weapons in Cuba. However, he assured Kennedy that he would not attack the United States.
Nikita Sergeevich said that this is the way to the destruction of the world. Therefore, he demanded from Kennedy a promise not to commit aggression against Cuba in exchange for the removal of Soviet weapons from the island. The President of the United States agreed to this proposal, so a plan for a peaceful settlement of the situation was already being created.
October 27 was the “Black Saturday” of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Then the Third World War could begin. Aircraft of the US Armed Forces flew in squadrons twice a day in the air of Cuba, trying to intimidate the Cubans and the USSR. On October 27, the Soviet military shot down an American reconnaissance aircraft using an anti-aircraft missile.
Pilot Anderson, who flew it, died. Kennedy decided to start bombing the Soviet missile bases and attack the island within two days.
But the next day, the authorities of the Soviet Union decided to agree to the conditions of the United States, that is, to remove the missiles. But this was not agreed with the leadership of Cuba, and Fidel Castro did not welcome such a measure. However, after that, the tension decreased and on November 20, the Americans ended the naval blockade of Cuba.
The conflict began in 1965 with an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin. Vietnamese coast guard ships fired on American destroyers that supported the anti-guerrilla struggle of the South Vietnamese troops. Thus happened the open entry into the conflict of one of the superpowers.
At the same time, the other, that is, the Soviet Union, indirectly supported the Vietnamese. The war proved difficult for the Americans and provoked massive anti-war demonstrations led by young people. In 1975, the Americans withdrew their contingent from Vietnam.
After that, America embarked on domestic reforms. The crisis continued in the country 10 years after this conflict.
In the spring of 1978, revolutionary events took place in Afghanistan that brought the communist movement, the People's Democratic Party, to power. Nur Mukhamed Taraki, a writer, became the head of the government.
The party soon became mired in internal conflicts, which in the summer of 1979 resulted in a confrontation between Taraki and another leader named Amin. In September, Taraki was removed from power, expelled from the party, after which he was arrested.
Afghan leaders of the 20th century
"Purges" began in the party, which caused indignation in Moscow. The situation was reminiscent of the "cultural revolution" in China. The authorities of the Soviet Union began to fear a change in the course of Afghanistan to a pro-Chinese one.
Amin voiced requests to bring Soviet troops into Afghan territory. The USSR implemented this plan, at the same time deciding to eliminate Amin.
The West condemned these actions - this is how the aggravation of the Cold War happened. In the winter of 1980, the UN General Assembly voted for the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Afghanistan by 104 votes.
At the same time, Afghan opponents of the communist revolutionary authorities began to fight against the Soviet troops. The armed Afghans were supported by the United States. They were "mujahideen" - supporters of "jihad", radical Islamists.
The war lasted 9 years and claimed the lives of 14 thousand Soviet soldiers and more than 1 million Afghans. In the spring of 1988, in Switzerland, the Soviet Union signed an agreement to withdraw troops. Gradually, this plan began to be put into action. The process of withdrawing the military lasted from February 15 to May 15, 1989, when the last soldier of the Soviet army left Afghanistan.
The last event in the confrontation is the elimination of the Berlin Wall. And if the causes and nature of the war are clear, then it is difficult to describe the results.
The Soviet Union had to reorient its economy towards financing the military sphere due to rivalry with America. Perhaps this was the reason for the shortage of goods and the weakening of the economy and the subsequent collapse of the state.
Today's Russia lives in conditions when it is necessary to find the right approaches to other countries. Unfortunately, there is no sufficient counterbalance to the NATO bloc in the world. Although 3 countries are still influential in the world - the USA, Russia and China.
The United States, by its actions in Afghanistan - by helping the Mujahideen - gave rise to international terrorists.
In addition, modern wars in the world are also waged locally (Libya, Yugoslavia, Syria, Iraq).
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After the end of World War II, which 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 reason Cold War became 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, played their role.
Historians distinguish the following stages of the Cold War:
March 5, 1946 - 1953 The beginning of the Cold War was marked by Churchill's speech, delivered in the spring of 1946 in Fulton, in which the idea of creating an alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries to fight communism was proposed. 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 it was precisely by the spring of 1946, due to the USSR's refusal to withdraw troops from Iran, that the situation seriously escalated.
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 Khrushchev's "thaw", it was at this stage that the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, the events in the GDR and, earlier, in Poland, as well as the Suez crisis took place. International tension increased after the development and successful testing of the USSR in 1957 of an intercontinental ballistic missile. But, 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. Also, as a result of the negotiations, a number of agreements on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons were signed.
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 presence of tension in relations between the USSR and the USA, agreements on the limitation of strategic weapons are signed. A joint space program Soyuz-Apollo. 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 become aggravated again after the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. In 1983 the United States deployed ballistic missiles at bases in Italy, Denmark, England, the FRG, and Belgium. An anti-space defense system is being developed. The USSR reacts to the actions of the West by withdrawing from the Geneva talks. During this period, the missile attack warning system is in constant combat readiness.
1987 - 1991 M. Gorbachev's coming to power in the USSR in 1985 entailed not only global changes within the country, but also radical changes in foreign policy, called "new political thinking". Ill-conceived reforms finally undermined the economy of the Soviet Union, which led to the country's virtual defeat in the Cold War.
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 various 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.
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