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The global geopolitical, economic and ideological confrontation between the Soviet Union and its allies, on the one hand, and the United States and its allies, on the other, lasted from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s.

One of the main components of the confrontation was ideology. The deep contradiction between the capitalist and socialist models is the main reason cold war. The two superpowers - winners of World War II - tried to rebuild the world according to their ideological principles. Over time, confrontation became an element of the ideology of the two sides and helped the leaders of military-political blocs consolidate allies around them “in the face of an external enemy.” The new confrontation required the unity of all members of the opposing blocs.

The expression “Cold War” was first used on April 16, 1947 by Bernard Baruch, an adviser to US President Harry Truman, in a speech before the South Carolina House of Representatives.

The internal logic of the confrontation required the parties to participate in conflicts and interfere in the development of events in any part of the world. The efforts of the USA and the USSR were aimed primarily at dominance in the military sphere. From the very beginning of the confrontation, the process of militarization of the two superpowers unfolded.

The USA and the USSR created their spheres of influence, securing them with military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Although the United States and the USSR never entered into direct military confrontation, their competition for influence often led to the outbreak of local armed conflicts around the world.

The Cold War was accompanied by a conventional and nuclear arms race that continually threatened to lead to a third world war. The most famous of these cases, when the world found itself on the brink of disaster, was Caribbean crisis 1962. In this regard, in the 1970s, both sides made efforts to “détente” international tensions and limit arms.

The growing technological backwardness of the USSR, along with the stagnation of the Soviet economy and exorbitant military spending in the late 1970s and early 1980s, forced the Soviet leadership to take political and economic reforms. The policy of perestroika and glasnost announced by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 led to the loss of the leading role of the CPSU and also contributed to the economic collapse in the USSR. Ultimately, the USSR, burdened by an economic crisis, as well as social and interethnic problems, collapsed in 1991.

In Eastern Europe, communist governments, having lost Soviet support, were removed even earlier, in 1989-1990. The Warsaw Pact officially ended on July 1, 1991, which can be considered the end of the Cold War.

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Beginning of the Cold War

Establishment of Soviet control over countries at the end of World War II of Eastern Europe, in particular the creation of a pro-Soviet government in Poland as opposed to the Polish exile government in London, led to the fact that the ruling circles of Great Britain and the United States began to perceive the USSR as a threat.

In April 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the preparation of a plan for war against the USSR. The task was preceded by the conclusions that Churchill presented in his memoirs:

The operation plan was prepared by the joint planning staff of the British War Cabinet. The plan provides an assessment of the situation, formulates the objectives of the operation, determines the forces involved, the directions of attacks by the Western Allied forces and their likely results.

The planners came to two main conclusions:

• when starting a war with the USSR, you must be prepared for a long and expensive all-out war, and for a very possible defeat;
• numerical superiority Soviet troops on land makes it extremely doubtful that one of the sides can achieve victory quickly.

It should be pointed out that Churchill indicated in comments on the draft plan presented to him that it was a “precautionary measure” for what he hoped would be a “purely hypothetical case.”

In 1945, the USSR presented territorial claims to Turkey and demanded a change in the status of the Black Sea straits, including recognition of the USSR's right to create a naval base in the Dardanelles.

In 1946, Greek rebels, led by communists and fueled by arms supplies from Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, where communists were already in power, became more active. At the London meeting of foreign ministers, the USSR demanded the right to a protectorate over Tripolitania (Libya) in order to ensure its presence in the Mediterranean.

In France and Italy, the Communist Parties became the largest political parties and the Communists entered the governments. After the withdrawal of the bulk of American troops from Europe, the USSR became the dominant military force in continental Europe. Everything was favorable for Stalin to establish complete control over Europe, if he so desired.

Part politicians The West began to advocate the pacification of the USSR. This position was most clearly expressed by US Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace. He considered the USSR's claims to be justified and proposed to agree to a kind of division of the world, recognizing the USSR's right to dominance in a number of areas of Europe and Asia. Churchill had a different point of view.

The formal beginning of the Cold War is often considered to be March 5, 1946, when Winston Churchill (at that time no longer serving as Prime Minister of Great Britain) made his famous speech in Fulton (USA, Missouri), in which he put forward the idea of ​​​​creating a military alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries with goal of the fight against world communism. In fact, the aggravation of relations between the allies began earlier, but by March 1946 it intensified due to the USSR’s refusal to withdraw occupation troops from Iran (the troops were withdrawn only in May 1946 under pressure from Great Britain and the USA). Churchill's speech outlined new reality, which the retired English leader, after protesting his deep respect and admiration for “the valiant Russian people and my wartime comrade Marshal Stalin,” defined as follows:

Churchill called not to repeat the mistakes of the 30s and to consistently defend the values ​​of freedom, democracy and “Christian civilization” against totalitarianism, for which it is necessary to ensure close unity and cohesion of the Anglo-Saxon nations.

A week later, J.V. Stalin, in an interview with Pravda, put Churchill on a par with Hitler and stated that in his speech he called on the West to go to war with the USSR.

1946-1953: beginning of the confrontation

On March 12, 1947, US President Harry Truman announced his intention to provide military and economic assistance in the amount of $400 million to Greece and Turkey. At the same time, he formulated the objectives of US policy aimed at helping “free peoples resisting attempts at enslavement by an armed minority and external pressure.” In this statement, Truman, in addition, defined the content of the emerging rivalry between the USA and the USSR as a conflict between democracy and totalitarianism. This is how the Truman Doctrine was born, which became the beginning of the transition from post-war cooperation between the USSR and the USA to rivalry.

In 1947, at the insistence of the USSR, the socialist countries refused to participate in the Marshall Plan, under which the United States provided economic assistance to countries affected by the war in exchange for the exclusion of communists from the government.

The efforts of the USSR, in particular Soviet intelligence, were aimed at eliminating the US monopoly on the possession of nuclear weapons (see the article Creation of the Soviet atomic bomb). On August 29, 1949, the first tests were carried out in the Soviet Union nuclear bomb on Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. American scientists from the Manhattan Project had previously warned that the USSR would eventually develop its own nuclear capability - nevertheless, this nuclear explosion had a stunning impact on US military strategic planning - mainly because US military strategists did not expect that they would will have to lose its monopoly so soon. At that time, it was not yet known about the successes of Soviet intelligence, which managed to penetrate Los Alamos.

In 1948, the United States adopted the “Vandenberg Resolution” - the official US renunciation of the practice of non-alignment with military-political blocs outside the Western Hemisphere in peacetime.

Already on April 4, 1949, NATO was created, and in October 1954, Germany was admitted to the Western European Union and NATO. This step caused a negative reaction from the USSR. In response, the USSR began to create a military bloc that would unite the Eastern European countries.

At the end of the 1940s, repressions against dissidents intensified in the USSR, who, in particular, began to be accused of “worshipping the West” (see also the article Fighting Cosmopolitanism), and a campaign was launched in the United States to identify communist sympathizers.

Although the USSR now also had nuclear capabilities, the United States was far ahead in both the number of warheads and the number of bombers. In any conflict, the United States could easily bomb the USSR, while the USSR would have difficulty responding.

The transition to large-scale use of jet fighter-interceptors somewhat changed this situation in favor of the USSR, reducing the potential effectiveness of American bomber aircraft. In 1949, Curtis LeMay, the new commander of the US Strategic Air Command, signed a program for the complete transition of bomber aircraft to jet propulsion. In the early 1950s, the B-47 and B-52 bombers began to enter service.

The most acute period of confrontation between the two blocs (USSR and the USA with their allies) occurred during the Korean War.

1953-1962: on the brink of nuclear war

With the onset of Khrushchev’s “thaw,” the threat of world war receded - this was especially true in the late 1950s, which culminated in Khrushchev’s visit to the United States. However, these same years included the Events of June 17, 1953 in the GDR, the events of 1956 in Poland, the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, and the Suez Crisis.

In response to the numerical increase in Soviet bomber aircraft in the 1950s, the United States created a fairly strong layered air defense system around large cities, involving the use of interceptor aircraft, anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles. But the focus was still on the construction of a huge armada of nuclear bombers, which were destined to crush the defensive lines of the USSR - since it was considered impossible to provide effective and reliable defense of such a vast territory.

This approach was firmly rooted in US strategic plans - it was believed that there was no reason for special concern as long as US strategic forces exceeded the overall potential of the Soviet Armed Forces in their power. Moreover, according to American strategists, the Soviet economy, destroyed during the war, was unlikely to be capable of creating an adequate counterforce potential.

However, the USSR quickly created its own strategic aviation and tested in 1957 the R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of reaching US territory. Since 1959, serial production of ICBMs began in the Soviet Union. (In 1958, the United States also tested its first Atlas ICBM). Since the mid-1950s, the United States has begun to realize that if nuclear war The USSR will be able to deliver a counter-value strike against American cities. Therefore, since the late 1950s, military experts have recognized that an all-out nuclear war between the United States and the USSR has become impossible.

The scandal with the American U-2 spy plane (1960) led to a new aggravation of relations between the USSR and the USA, the peak of which was the Berlin crisis of 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis (1962).

1962-1979: "Détente"

The ongoing nuclear arms race, the concentration of control of Western nuclear forces in the hands of the United States, and a number of incidents with nuclear weapons carriers caused increasing criticism of US nuclear policy. Contradictions in the principles of nuclear weapons management in the NATO command led to France's withdrawal in 1966 from participation in the formation of the armed forces of this organization. On January 17, 1966, one of the largest incidents involving nuclear weapons occurred: after a collision with a tanker aircraft, a US Air Force B-52 bomber crash-dropped four thermonuclear bombs over the Spanish village of Palomares. After this incident, Spain refused to condemn France's withdrawal from NATO and limited military activities of the US Air Force in the country, suspending the 1953 Spanish-American Treaty on Military Cooperation; Negotiations to renew this treaty in 1968 ended in failure.

Regarding the competition between two systems in space, Vladimir Bugrov noted that in 1964, Korolev’s main opponents managed to create the illusion with Khrushchev that it was possible to land on the Moon before the Americans; according to the scientist, if there was a race, it was between the chief designers.

In Germany, the coming to power of the Social Democrats led by Willy Brandt was marked by a new “Eastern policy”, which resulted in the Moscow Treaty between the USSR and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1970, which established the inviolability of borders, the renunciation of territorial claims and declared the possibility of uniting the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.

In 1968, attempts at democratic reform in Czechoslovakia (Prague Spring) prompted military intervention by the USSR and its allies.

However, Brezhnev, unlike Khrushchev, had no inclination either for risky adventures outside the clearly defined Soviet sphere of influence, or for extravagant “peaceful” actions; The 1970s passed under the sign of the so-called “détente of international tension”, manifestations of which were the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki) and the joint Soviet-American space flight (the Soyuz-Apollo program); At the same time, treaties on the limitation of strategic arms were signed. This was largely determined by economic reasons, since the USSR already then began to experience an increasingly acute dependence on the purchase of consumer goods and food (for which foreign currency loans were required), while the West, during the years of the oil crisis caused by the Arab-Israeli confrontation, was extremely interested in the Soviet oil. In military terms, the basis for “detente” was the nuclear-missile parity of blocs that had developed by that time.

On August 17, 1973, US Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger put forward the doctrine of a “blinding” or “decapitation” strike: defeating enemy command posts and communications centers using medium- and shorter-range missiles, cruise missiles with laser, television and infrared targeting systems. This approach assumed a gain in “flight time” - the defeat of command posts before the enemy had time to make a decision on a retaliatory strike. The emphasis in deterrence has shifted from the strategic triad to medium- and shorter-range weapons. In 1974, this approach was enshrined in key documents on US nuclear strategy. On this basis, the United States and other NATO countries began modernizing Forward Base Systems - American tactical nuclear weapons located on the territory of Western Europe or off its coast. At the same time, the United States began creating a new generation of cruise missiles capable of hitting specified targets as accurately as possible.

These steps raised concerns in the USSR, since US forward-deployed assets, as well as the “independent” nuclear capabilities of Great Britain and France, were capable of hitting targets in the European part of the Soviet Union. In 1976, Dmitry Ustinov became the USSR Minister of Defense, who was inclined to take a tough response to US actions. Ustinov advocated not so much for building up the ground group of conventional armed forces, but for improving the technical park of the Soviet Army. The Soviet Union began modernizing the delivery systems for medium- and shorter-range nuclear weapons in the European theater of operations.

Under the pretext of modernizing the outdated RSD-4 and RSD-5 (SS-4 and SS-5) systems, the USSR began deploying RSD-10 Pioneer (SS-20) medium-range missiles on its western borders. In December 1976, the missile systems were deployed, and in February 1977, they were put on combat duty in the European part of the USSR. In total, about 300 missiles of this class were deployed, each of which was equipped with three independently targetable multiple warheads. This allowed the USSR to destroy NATO's military infrastructure in Western Europe in a matter of minutes - control centers, command posts and, especially, ports, which in the event of war made it impossible for American troops to land in Western Europe. At the same time, the USSR modernized the general-purpose forces stationed in Central Europe - in particular, it modernized the Tu-22M long-range bomber to a strategic level.

The actions of the USSR caused a negative reaction from NATO countries. On December 12, 1979, NATO made a double decision - the deployment American missiles medium and shorter range on the territory of Western European countries and at the same time the beginning of negotiations with the USSR on the problem of Euro-missiles. However, the negotiations reached a dead end.

1979-1986: a new round of confrontation

A new aggravation occurred in 1979 in connection with the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, which was perceived in the West as a violation of the geopolitical balance and the USSR’s transition to a policy of expansion. The aggravation reached its peak in the fall of 1983, when Soviet air defense forces shot down a South Korean civilian airliner, which, according to media reports, had about 300 people on board. It was then that US President Ronald Reagan called the USSR an “evil empire.”

In 1983, the United States deployed Pershing-2 medium-range ballistic missiles on the territory of Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Belgium and Italy within 5-7 minutes of approach from targets on the European territory of the USSR and air-launched cruise missiles. In parallel, in 1981, the United States began production of neutron weapons - artillery shells and warheads for the Lance short-range missile. Analysts suggested that these weapons could be used to repel the advance of Warsaw Pact troops in Central Europe. The United States also began developing a space missile defense program (the so-called " star wars"); Both of these large-scale programs extremely worried the Soviet leadership, especially since the USSR, which maintained nuclear missile parity with great difficulty and strain on the economy, did not have the means to adequately fight back in space.

In response, in November 1983, the USSR withdrew from the Euromissile negotiations held in Geneva. Secretary General The CPSU Central Committee Yuri Andropov stated that the USSR would take a number of countermeasures: it would deploy operational-tactical nuclear weapons launch vehicles on the territory of the GDR and Czechoslovakia and would advance Soviet nuclear submarines closer to the US coast. In 1983-1986. Soviet nuclear forces and missile warning systems were on high alert.

According to available data, in 1981, Soviet intelligence services (KGB and GRU) launched Operation Nuclear Missile Attack (Operation RYAN) - monitoring the possible preparation of NATO countries for the start of a limited nuclear war in Europe. The concerns of the Soviet leadership were caused by the NATO exercises “Able archer 83” - in the USSR they feared that, under their cover, NATO was preparing to launch “Euromissiles” at targets in the Warsaw Pact countries. Similarly in 1983-1986. NATO military analysts feared that the USSR would launch a pre-emptive “disarming” strike on the Euromissile bases.

1987-1991: Gorbachev’s “new thinking” and the end of the confrontation

With the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, who proclaimed “socialist pluralism” and “the priority of universal human values ​​over class values,” the ideological confrontation quickly lost its severity. In a military-political sense, Gorbachev initially tried to pursue a policy in the spirit of “detente” of the 1970s, proposing arms limitation programs, but negotiating rather harshly over the terms of the treaty (meeting in Reykjavik).

However, the development of the political process in the USSR towards the rejection of communist ideology, as well as the dependence of the USSR economy on Western technologies and loans due to the sharp drop in oil prices, led to the fact that the USSR made broad concessions in the foreign policy sphere. It is widely believed that this was also due to the fact that increased military spending as a result of the arms race became unsustainable for the Soviet economy, but a number of researchers argue that the relative level of military spending in the USSR was not excessively high.

In 1988, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan begins. The fall of the communist system in Eastern Europe in 1989-1990. led to the liquidation of the Soviet bloc, and with it the virtual end of the Cold War.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union itself was experiencing a deep crisis. The central authorities began to lose control over the union republics. Interethnic conflicts broke out on the outskirts of the country. In December 1991, the final collapse of the USSR occurred.

Manifestations of the Cold War

• An acute political and ideological confrontation between the communist and Western liberal systems, which has engulfed almost the entire world;
• creation of a system of military (NATO, Warsaw Pact Organization, SEATO, CENTO, ANZUS, ANZYUK) and economic (EEC, CMEA, ASEAN, etc.) alliances;
• creation of an extensive network of military bases of the USA and the USSR on the territory of foreign states;
• speeding up the arms race and military preparations;
• a sharp increase in military spending;
• periodically emerging international crises (Berlin crises, Cuban missile crisis, Korean War, Vietnam War, Afghan war);
• the unspoken division of the world into “spheres of influence” of the Soviet and Western blocs, within which the possibility of intervention was tacitly allowed in order to maintain a regime pleasing to one or another bloc (Soviet intervention in Hungary, Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, the American operation in Guatemala, the overthrow of the anti-Western organized by the United States and Great Britain government in Iran, US-led invasion of Cuba, US intervention in the Dominican Republic, US intervention in Grenada);
• the rise of the national liberation movement in colonial and dependent countries and territories (partly inspired by the USSR), the decolonization of these countries, the formation of the “Third World”, the Non-Aligned Movement, neo-colonialism;
• waging a massive “psychological war”, the purpose of which was to propagate one’s own ideology and way of life, as well as to discredit the official ideology and way of life of the opposite bloc in the eyes of the population of “enemy” countries and the “Third World”. For this purpose, radio stations were created that broadcast to the territory of the countries of the “ideological enemy” (see the articles Enemy Voices and Foreign Broadcasting), the production of ideologically oriented literature and periodicals on foreign languages, the escalation of class, racial, and national contradictions was actively used. The first main directorate of the KGB of the USSR carried out so-called “active measures” - operations to influence foreign public opinion and the policies of foreign states in the interests of the USSR.
• support for anti-government forces abroad - the USSR and its allies supported financially communist parties and some other leftist parties in Western and developing countries, as well as national liberation movements, including terrorist organizations. Also, the USSR and its allies supported the peace movement in Western countries. In turn, the intelligence services of the United States and Great Britain supported and took advantage of such anti-Soviet organizations as the People's Labor Union. The US has also secretly provided material assistance to Solidarity in Poland since 1982, and has also provided material assistance to the Afghan Mujahideen and the Contras in Nicaragua.

• reduction of economic and humanitarian ties between states with different socio-political systems.
• boycotts of some Olympic Games. For example, the USA and a number of other countries boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In response, the USSR and most socialist countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Lessons from the Cold War

Joseph Nye, a professor at Harvard University (USA), speaking at the conference “From Fulton to Malta: How the Cold War Began and How It Ended” (Gorbachev Foundation, March 2005), pointed out the lessons that should be learned from the Cold War:

• bloodshed as a means of resolving global or regional conflicts is not inevitable;
• the presence of nuclear weapons among the warring parties and the understanding of what the world could become after a nuclear conflict played a significant deterrent role;
• the course of development of conflicts is closely related to the personal qualities of specific leaders (Stalin and Harry Truman, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan);
• military power is essential, but not decisive (the USA was defeated in Vietnam, and the USSR in Afghanistan); in the era of nationalism and the third industrial (information) revolution, it is impossible to control the hostile population of an occupied country;
• in these conditions, the economic power of the state and the ability of the economic system to adapt to the requirements of modernity, the ability for constant innovation, acquire a much greater role.
• a significant role is played by the use of soft forms of influence, or soft power, that is, the ability to achieve what you want from others without coercing (intimidating) them or buying their consent, but attracting them to your side. Immediately after the defeat of Nazism, the USSR and communist ideas had serious potential, but most of it was lost after the events in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and this process continued as the Soviet Union used its military power.

Memory of the Cold War

Museums

• The Cold War Museum is a military history museum and museum and entertainment complex in Moscow.
• The Cold War Museum (UK) is a military history museum in Shropshire.
• Cold War Museum (Ukraine) is a naval museum complex in Balaklava.
• The Cold War Museum (USA) is a military history museum in Lorton, Virginia.

Medal "For Victory in the Cold War"

In early April 2007, a bill was introduced into both houses of the US Congress to establish a new military award for participation in the Cold War ( Cold War Service Medal), supported by a group of senators and congressmen from the Democratic Party led by the current US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The medal is proposed to be awarded to all those who served in armed forces or worked in a US government department between September 2, 1945 and December 26, 1991.

As Hillary Clinton stated, “Our victory in the Cold War was made possible only by the willingness of millions of Americans in uniform to repel the threat that came from behind the Iron Curtain. Our victory in the Cold War was a tremendous achievement, and the men and women who served during that time deserve to be rewarded."

Congressman Robert Andrews, who introduced the bill in the House, said: “The Cold War was a global military operation that was extremely dangerous and at times deadly for the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who fought in the campaign. The millions of American veterans who served around the world to help us win this conflict deserve to receive a unique medal to recognize and honor their service.”

In the United States, there is an Association of Cold War Veterans, which also demanded that the authorities recognize their services in the victory over the USSR, but only managed to achieve the issuance of certificates from the Ministry of Defense confirming their participation in the Cold War. The Veterans Association issued its own unofficial medal, the design of which was developed by a leading specialist at the US Army Institute of Heraldry, Nadin Russell.

In the second half of the 20th century, the foreign policy of almost all countries was determined by the undeclared Cold War. The world split into two hostile camps led by the USA and the USSR. The reasons for the confrontation were the fundamental differences between the two political systems.

The origins of the confrontation between the USA and the USSR

The causes of the Cold War were laid by the October Revolution in Russia, which brought the Bolsheviks to power.

Relations between the USSR and the West remained tense until the outbreak of World War II. The joint struggle against Nazi Germany united the allies and gave hope for the normalization of relations.

Rice. 1. Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt at the conference in Tehran. 1943

The preconditions for the confrontation were the rise of leftist forces to power in a number of states in Eastern and Central Europe. In the colonial possessions of Britain, France and the Netherlands, the national liberation movement, which was supported by the USSR, sharply intensified.

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Strengthening the USA

During the war years, the economic power of the United States, which became the leader of the Western world, increased sharply.

The invention and use of atomic weapons in Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9) allowed the American leadership to declare its world dominance.

Rice. 2. Hiroshima after the atomic strike.

This idea was based on the need to contain the USSR and the national liberation movement throughout the world.

The main stages of the beginning of the confrontation

The reason for the start of the Cold War is considered to be the famous speech of W. Churchill in Fulton (March 5, 1946), which ideologically justified the confrontation of the West against the Soviet Union:

• socialism poses a mortal threat to the entire Western world;
• the emergence of the “Iron Curtain” in Eastern Europe is a consequence of the aggressive policy of the USSR;
• English-speaking peoples must unite and destroy the “Evil Empire” with the help of nuclear weapons.

In the USA, back in September 1945, a plan for a nuclear strike against the USSR was developed.

In 1949, the atomic bomb was invented in the Soviet Union. The US monopoly on nuclear weapons was broken. From this time on, the arms race began between the USSR and the USA.

Nuclear parity has become a guarantee of a fragile peace. At the same time, the superpowers actively took part in the “hot spots” of the Cold War.

The split of Germany into the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (September 1949) divided the world into capitalist and socialist camps. This event was consolidated by the creation of military-political blocs:

• North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) of 12 states (1949);
• Warsaw Pact, including 7 countries (1955).

Rice. 3. Berlin Wall. 1965

Thus, briefly point by point, the causes of the Cold War were as follows:

• ideological, political and economic confrontation between capitalism and socialism;
• the emergence of two superpowers;
• activation of the national liberation and revolutionary movement in the world;
• the advent of the atomic age and the arms race.

Current international relations between East and West can hardly be called constructive. In international politics today it is becoming fashionable to talk about a new round of tension. What is at stake is no longer a struggle for the spheres of influence of two different geopolitical systems. Today, the new Cold War is the fruit of the reactionary policies of the ruling elites of a number of countries and the expansion of international global corporations in foreign markets. On the one hand, the USA, the European Union, the NATO bloc, on the other - Russian Federation, China and other countries.

Russia's foreign policy inherited from the Soviet Union continues to be influenced by the Cold War, which kept the whole world in suspense for 72 long years. Only the ideological aspect has changed. There is no longer any confrontation between communist ideas and the dogmas of the capitalist path of development in the world. The emphasis is shifting to resources, where the main geopolitical players are actively using all available opportunities and means.

International relations before the start of the Cold War

On a cold September morning in 1945, a capitulation was signed by official representatives of Imperial Japan aboard the American battleship Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay. This ceremony marked the end of the bloodiest and most brutal military conflict in the history of human civilization. The war, which lasted 6 years, engulfed the entire planet. During the hostilities that took place in Europe, Asia and Africa, different stages 63 states took part in the bloody massacre. 110 million people were drafted into the armed forces of the countries involved in the conflict. There is no need to talk about human losses. The world has never known or seen such a large-scale and mass murder. The economic losses were also colossal, but the consequences of the Second World War and its results created ideal conditions for the start of the Cold War, another form of confrontation, with other participants and with other goals.

It seemed that on September 2, 1945, the long-awaited and long-lasting peace would finally come. However, just 6 months after the end of World War II, the world again plunged into the abyss of another confrontation - the Cold War began. The conflict took other forms and resulted in a military-political, ideological and economic confrontation between two world systems, the capitalist West and the communist East. It cannot be said that Western countries and the communist regimes were going to continue to coexist peacefully. Plans for a new global military conflict were being developed at military headquarters, and ideas for the destruction of foreign policy opponents were in the air. The condition in which the Cold War arose was only a natural reaction to the military preparations of potential opponents.

This time the guns did not roar. Tanks, warplanes and ships did not come together in another deadly battle. A long and grueling struggle for survival between the two worlds began, in which all methods and means were used, often more insidious than a direct military clash. The main weapon of the Cold War was ideology, which was based on economic and political aspects. If previously large and large-scale military conflicts arose mainly for economic reasons, on the basis of racial and misanthropic theories, then in the new conditions a struggle for spheres of influence unfolded. The inspirers of the Crusade against Communism were US President Harry Truman and former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The tactics and strategy of confrontation have changed, new forms and methods of struggle have appeared. It is not for nothing that the global Cold War received such a name. During the conflict there was no hot phase, the warring parties did not open fire on each other, however, in terms of its scale and the amount of losses, this confrontation can easily be called the Third World War. After the Second World War, the world, instead of detente, again entered a period of tension. During the hidden confrontation between two world systems, humanity witnessed an unprecedented arms race; the countries participating in the conflict plunged into the abyss of spy mania and conspiracies. Clashes between the two opposing camps took place on all continents with varying degrees of success. The Cold War lasted for 45 years, becoming the longest military-political conflict of our time. This war also had its decisive battles, and there were periods of calm and confrontation. There are winners and losers in this confrontation. History gives us the right to assess the scale of the conflict and its results, making the right conclusions for the future.

Causes of the Cold War that broke out in the 20th century

If we consider the situation in the world that has developed since the end of the Second World War, it is not difficult to notice one important point. The Soviet Union, which bore the main burden of the armed struggle against Nazi Germany, managed to significantly expand its sphere of influence. Despite the enormous human losses and the devastating consequences of the war on the country's economy, the USSR became a leading world power. It was impossible not to take this fact into account. The Soviet Army stood in the center of Europe, and the positions of the USSR in the Far East were no less strong. This in no way suited the Western countries. Even taking into account the fact that the Soviet Union, the USA and Great Britain nominally remained allies, the contradictions between them were too strong.

These same states soon found themselves different sides barricades, becoming active participants in the Cold War. Western democracies could not come to terms with the emergence of a new superpower and its growing influence on the world political scene. The main reasons for rejection of this state of affairs include the following aspects:

• the enormous military power of the USSR;
• the growing foreign policy influence of the Soviet Union;
• expansion of the sphere of influence of the USSR;
• spread of communist ideology;
• activation in the world of people's liberation movements led by parties of Marxist and socialist persuasions.

Foreign policy and the Cold War are links in the same chain. Neither the United States nor Great Britain could calmly look at the capitalist system collapsing before their eyes, at the collapse of imperial ambitions and the loss of spheres of influence. Great Britain, having lost its status as a world leader after the end of the war, clung to the remnants of its possessions. The United States, emerging from the war with the world's most powerful economy and in possession of the atomic bomb, sought to become the sole hegemon on the planet. The only obstacle to the implementation of these plans was the mighty Soviet Union with its communist ideology and policy of equality and brotherhood. The reasons that prompted the latest military-political confrontation also reflect the essence of the Cold War. The main goal of the warring parties was the following:

• destroy the enemy economically and ideologically;
• limit the enemy's sphere of influence;
• try to destroy it political system from the inside;
• bringing the enemy's socio-political and economic base to complete collapse;
• overthrow of ruling regimes and political liquidation of state entities.

IN in this case the essence of the conflict was not very different from the military version, because the goals set and the results for the opponents were very similar. The signs characterizing the state of the Cold War also very much resemble the state in world politics that preceded the armed confrontation. This historical period is characterized by expansion, aggressive military-political plans, increased military presence, political pressure and the formation of military alliances.

Where does the term "Cold War" come from?

This phrase was first used by the English writer and publicist George Orwell. In this stylistic way, he outlined the state of the post-war world, where the free and democratic West was forced to face the brutal and totalitarian regime of the communist East. Orwell clearly outlined his rejection of Stalinism in many of his works. Even when the Soviet Union was an ally of Great Britain, the writer spoke negatively about the world that awaited Europe after the end of the war. The term invented by Orwell turned out to be so successful that it was quickly picked up by Western politicians, using it in their foreign policy and anti-Soviet rhetoric.

It was with their initiative that the Cold War began, the start date of which was March 5, 1946. The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom used the phrase “cold war” during his speech in Fulton. During the statements of a high-ranking British politician, the contradictions between the two geopolitical camps that emerged in the post-war world were publicly voiced for the first time.

Winston Churchill became a follower of the British publicist. This man, thanks to whose iron will and strength of character Britain came out of bloody war, the winner is rightfully considered " godfather» new military-political confrontation. The euphoria in which the world found itself after the end of World War II did not last long. The balance of power that was observed in the world quickly led to the fact that two geopolitical systems collided in a fierce battle. During the Cold War, the number of participants on both sides was constantly changing. On one side of the barricade stood the USSR and its new allies. On the other side stood the United States, Great Britain and other allied countries. As in any other military-political conflict, this era was marked by its acute phases and periods of detente; military-political and economic alliances were formed again, in the person of which the Cold War clearly identified the participants in the global confrontation.

The NATO bloc, the Warsaw Pact, and bilateral military-political pacts have become a military instrument of international tension. The arms race contributed to the strengthening of the military component of the confrontation. Foreign policy took the form of open confrontation between the parties to the conflict.

Winston Churchill, despite his active participation in the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition, pathologically hated the communist regime. During the Second World War, Britain, due to geopolitical factors, was forced to become an ally of the USSR. However, already during the military operations, at a time when it became clear that the defeat of Germany was inevitable, Churchill understood that the victory of the Soviet Union would lead to the expansion of communism in Europe. And Churchill was not mistaken. The leitmotif of the subsequent political career of the British ex-prime minister was the theme of confrontation, the Cold War, a state in which it was necessary to contain the foreign policy expansion of the Soviet Union.

The British ex-prime minister considered the United States to be the main force capable of successfully resisting the Soviet bloc. The American economy, American armed forces and navy were to become the main instrument of pressure on the Soviet Union. Britain, finding itself in the wake of American foreign policy, was assigned the role of an unsinkable aircraft carrier.

At the instigation of Winston Churchill, the conditions for the outbreak of the Cold War were clearly outlined overseas. This term was first used during its election campaign American politicians. A little later they started talking about the Cold War in the context of the foreign policy of the United States.

Major milestones and events of the Cold War

Central Europe, in ruins, was divided into two parts by the Iron Curtain. East Germany found itself in the Soviet zone of occupation. Almost all of Eastern Europe came under the influence of the Soviet Union. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Romania, with their people's democratic regimes, unwittingly became allies of the Soviets. It is incorrect to believe that the Cold War is a direct conflict between the USSR and the USA. Canada and all of Western Europe, which was in the zone of responsibility of the United States and Great Britain, entered the orbit of confrontation. The situation was similar on the opposite side of the planet. In the Far East in Korea, the military-political interests of the United States, the USSR and China collided. In every corner of the globe, pockets of confrontation arose, which subsequently became the most powerful crises of Cold War politics.

Korean War 1950-53 became the first result of the confrontation between geopolitical systems. Communist China and the USSR tried to expand their sphere of influence on the Korean Peninsula. Even then it became clear that armed confrontation would become an inevitable companion to the entire period of the Cold War. Subsequently, the USSR, the USA and their allies did not take part in military operations against each other, limiting themselves to using the human resources of other participants in the conflict. The stages of the Cold War are a whole series of events that, to one degree or another, influenced global foreign policy development. IN equally This time can be called a roller coaster ride. The end of the Cold War was not part of the plans of either side. The fight was to the death. The political death of the enemy was the main condition for the beginning of detente.

The active phase is replaced by periods of detente, military conflicts in different parts planets are replaced by peace agreements. The world is divided into military-political blocs and alliances. Subsequent Cold War conflicts brought the world to the brink of a global catastrophe. The scale of the confrontation grew, new subjects appeared in the political arena, causing tension. First Korea, then Indochina and Cuba. The most acute crises in international relations were the Berlin and Caribbean crises, a series of events that threatened to bring the world to the brink of a nuclear apocalypse.

Each period of the Cold War can be described differently, taking into account the economic factor and the geopolitical situation in the world. The mid-50s and early 60s were marked by increased international tension. The warring parties took an active part in regional military conflicts, supporting one side or another. The arms race picked up pace. Potential opponents entered a steep dive, where the count of time was no longer decades, but years. The economies of the countries were under enormous pressure from military expenditures. The end of the Cold War was the collapse of the Soviet bloc. The Soviet Union disappeared from the political map of the world. The Warsaw Pact, the military Soviet bloc that became the main opponent of the military-political alliances of the West, has sunk into oblivion.

Final salvos and results of the Cold War

The Soviet socialist system turned out to be unviable in the intense competition with the Western economy. This was due to the lack of a clear understanding of the path for further economic development of socialist countries, the insufficiently flexible mechanism for managing state structures and the interaction of the socialist economy with the main world trends in the development of civil society. In other words, the Soviet Union could not withstand the confrontation economically. The consequences of the Cold War were catastrophic. Within just 5 years, the socialist camp ceased to exist. First, Eastern Europe left the zone of Soviet influence. Then it was the turn of the world's first socialist state.

Today the USA, Great Britain, Germany and France are already competing with communist China. Together with Russia, Western countries are waging a stubborn struggle against extremism and the process of Islamization of the Muslim world. The end of the Cold War can be called conditional. The vector and direction of action has changed. The composition of the participants has changed, the goals and objectives of the parties have changed.

The article briefly talks about the Cold War - the confrontation between the USSR and the USA after World War II. The superpowers were in a state of confrontation. The Cold War found expression in a series of limited military conflicts in which the USSR and the USA took some part. For about half a century the world was waiting for the Third World War.

1. Introduction
2. Causes of the Cold War
3. Progress of the Cold War
4. Results of the Cold War

Causes of the Cold War

• After the end of World War II, two superpowers emerged in the world: the USSR and the USA. The Soviet Union made a decisive contribution to the victory over fascism, possessed at that time the most combat-ready army, armed with last word technology. The movement in support of the Soviet Union intensified throughout the world due to the emergence of states with socialist regimes in Eastern Europe.
• Western countries, led by the United States, watched with alarm the growing popularity of the Soviet Union. The creation of the atomic bomb in the United States and its use against Japan allowed the American government to believe that it could dictate its will to the whole world. Plans for an atomic strike on the Soviet Union immediately began to be developed. The Soviet leadership realized the possibility of such actions and hastily carried out work to create such weapons in the USSR. During the period while the United States remained the sole owner of atomic weapons, the war did not begin only because the limited number of bombs would not allow for complete victory. In addition, the Americans were afraid of support from many states for the USSR.
• The ideological justification for the Cold War was W. Churchill’s speech in Fulton (1946). In it, he stated that the Soviet Union was a threat to the whole world. The socialist system strives to conquer the globe and establish its dominance. Churchill considered the English-speaking countries (primarily the USA and England) to be the main force capable of countering the global threat, which should declare a new crusade against the Soviet Union. The USSR took note of the threat. From this moment the Cold War begins.

Progress of the Cold War

• The Cold War did not develop into World War III, but situations arose when this could well have happened.
• In 1949, the Soviet Union invented the atomic bomb. The seemingly achieved parity between the superpowers turned into an arms race - a constant increase in military-technical potential and the invention of more powerful weapons.
• In 1949, NATO was formed - a military-political bloc of Western states, and in 1955 - the Warsaw Pact, which united the socialist states of Eastern Europe led by the USSR. The main warring parties have emerged.
• The first "hot spot" of the Cold War was the Korean War (1950-1953). IN South Korea there was a pro-American regime in power, and a pro-Soviet one in the North. NATO sent its armed forces, USSR assistance was expressed in the supply of military equipment and the dispatch of specialists. The war ended with recognition of the division of Korea into two states.
• The most dangerous moment of the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). The USSR stationed its nuclear missiles in Cuba, in close proximity to the United States. The Americans became aware of this. The Soviet Union was demanded to remove the missiles. After the refusal, the military forces of the superpowers were put on alert. However, common sense prevailed. The USSR agreed to the demand, and in return the Americans removed their missiles from Turkey.
• The further history of the Cold War was expressed in the material and ideological support by the Soviet Union for third world countries in their national liberation movement. The United States, under the pretext of the struggle for democracy, provided the same support to pro-Western regimes. The confrontation led to local military conflicts around the globe, the largest of which was the US war in Vietnam (1964-1975).
• Second half of the 70s. marked by a relaxation of tensions. A series of negotiations were held, and economic and cultural ties between the Western and Eastern blocs began to be established.
• However, in the late 70s, the superpowers made another breakthrough in the arms race. Moreover, in 1979, the USSR sent its troops into Afghanistan. Relations became strained again.
• Perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union led to the collapse of the entire socialist system. The Cold War ended due to the voluntary withdrawal of one of the superpowers from the confrontation. Americans rightfully consider themselves victors in the war.

Results of the Cold War

• The Cold War for a long time kept humanity in fear of the possibility of a Third World War, which could well be the last in human history. By the end of the confrontation, according to various estimates, the planet had accumulated such a quantity of nuclear weapons that would be enough to blow up the globe 40 times.
• The Cold War led to military clashes in which people were killed and states suffered enormous damage. The arms race itself was ruinous for both superpowers.
• The end of the Cold War should be recognized as an achievement for humanity. However, the conditions under which this became possible led to the collapse of the great state with all the ensuing consequences. There was a threat of the formation of a unipolar world led by the United States.

The Cold War is the name given to the historical period from 1946 to 1991, which took place under the sign of the confrontation between two major superpowers - the USSR and the USA, which took shape after the end of World War II in 1945. The beginning of the rivalry between the two strongest states on the planet at that time gradually acquired the nature of a fierce confrontation in all spheres - economic, social, political and ideological. Both states created military-political associations (NATO and Warsaw Warsaw), accelerated the creation of nuclear missile and conventional weapons, and also constantly took covert or overt participation in almost all local military conflicts on the planet.

Main reasons for confrontation

• The desire of the United States to consolidate its global leadership and create a world based on American values, taking advantage of the temporary weakness of potential opponents (European states, like the USSR, lay in ruins after the war, and other countries at that time could not even come close to competing with the strengthened overseas “empire” )
• Different ideological programs of the USA and the USSR (Capitalism and Socialism). The authority of the Soviet Union after its defeat fascist Germany was unusually tall. Including in Western European countries. Fearing the spread of communist ideology and its mass support, the United States began to actively oppose the USSR.

Position of the parties at the beginning of the conflict

The USA initially had a colossal economic head start over its eastern adversary, thanks to which it was largely able 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, single-handedly fighting Germany and its allies from 1941 to 1944.

The United States 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 Western European states, effectively formalizing their economic dependence on America. The Yankees proposed the Marshall Plan to Western Europe, an economic assistance program that by 1948 had been signed by 16 states. Over 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 delivered 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 40s, 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 assistance program for obvious reasons - it was already considered an enemy. The countries of Eastern Europe that were under communist control, 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 our 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 quickly eliminated the US nuclear monopoly by creating nuclear weapons, thereby depriving the Americans of the opportunity to strike with impunity.

Creation of the military-political blocs of NATO and the Warsaw Department

In the spring of 1949, the United States initiated the creation of the NATO military bloc (North Atlantic Alliance Organization), citing the need to “fight the Soviet threat.” The union initially included Holland, 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 amount of military equipment and combat aircraft increased.

The USSR responded in 1955 by creating the Warsaw Pact Organization, just as the West had done. 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 armies of socialist states also began to strengthen.

NATO and ATS symbols

Local military conflicts

Two military-political blocs have launched a large-scale confrontation with each other across the planet. Direct military conflict 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 participated indirectly or directly.

1.Korean War (1950-1953)
After World War II, Korea was divided into two states - in the Republic of Korea, pro-American forces were in power in the South, 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 began between two Koreas – “socialist” and “capitalist”, in which, naturally, the USSR supported North Korea, and the USA supported South Korea. Fought unofficially on the side of the DPRK Soviet pilots and military specialists, as well as detachments of Chinese “volunteers”. The United States provided direct military assistance to South Korea, openly intervening in the conflict, which ended with peace and the status quo in 1953.

2. Vietnam War (1957-1975)
In essence, the scenario for the beginning of the confrontation was the same - Vietnam after 1954 was divided into two parts. In North Vietnam, communists were in power, and in South Vietnam, political forces oriented toward the United States. Each side sought to unite 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, took part in military operations against North Vietnamese troops. Hidden 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 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 supplied 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 in order to support a political regime oriented towards Moscow. Large formations of Afghan Mujahideen fought against 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, and the war continued after their departure.

All of the above is just a small part of the military conflicts in which the superpowers participated, covertly or almost openly fighting each other in local wars.

1 - American soldiers in positions during the Korean War
2-Soviet tank in the service of the Syrian army
3-American helicopter in the skies over Vietnam
4-Column of Soviet troops in Afghanistan

Why have the USSR and the USA never entered into direct military conflict?

As mentioned above, the outcome of the military conflict between the two large military blocs was completely unpredictable, but the main limiting factor 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 warheads that would be enough to repeatedly destroy all life on Earth.

Thus, a direct military conflict between the USSR and the USA inevitably meant 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 did their best to avoid open military conflict with each other, but nevertheless periodically tested each other’s strength in local conflicts, helping a state covertly or directly participating in hostilities.

So, with the beginning of the nuclear era, local conflicts and information wars became almost the only ways to expand their influence and control over other states. This situation continues to this day. The possibility of the collapse and liquidation of such major geopolitical players as modern China and Russia lies only in the sphere of attempts to undermine the state from the inside through information wars, the goal of which is a coup d'état followed by destructive actions of puppet governments. There are constant attempts by the West to find the weak points of Russia and other uncontrolled states, to provoke ethnic, religious, political, etc. conflicts.

End of the Cold War

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. There was only one superpower left on planet Earth - the USA, which tried to rebuild the whole world on the basis of American liberal values. Within the framework of globalization, there is an attempt to impose on all humanity a certain universal model of social order, modeled on the USA and Western Europe. However, this has not yet been achieved. There is active resistance in all parts of the globe against the inculcation of American values, which are unacceptable to many peoples. History moves on, the struggle continues... Think about the future and the past, try to understand and comprehend the world around you, develop and do not stand still. Passively waiting and wasting your life is essentially a regression in your development. As the Russian philosopher V. Belinsky said - those who do not go forward go back, there is no standing position...

Best regards, administration mind-point