home-Tops-Second period of the Cold War. Cold War

Second period of the Cold War. Cold War

COLD WAR- a global confrontation between two military-political blocs led by the USSR and the USA, which did not lead to an open military clash. The concept of the “Cold War” appeared in journalism in 1945–1947 and gradually became entrenched in the political vocabulary.

But Western countries suffered important defeats in colonial wars - France lost the war in Vietnam 1946–1954, and the Netherlands in Indonesia in 1947–1949.

The Cold War led to repression in both “camps” against dissidents and people who advocated cooperation and rapprochement between the two systems. In the USSR and Eastern European countries, people were arrested on charges of “cosmopolitanism” (lack of patriotism, cooperation with the West), “adulation of the West” and “Titoism” (ties with Tito). A “witch hunt” began in the United States, during which secret communists and “agents” of the USSR were “exposed.” The American “witch hunt,” unlike Stalin’s repressions, did not lead to mass repressions, but it also had its victims caused by spy mania. Soviet intelligence was active in the United States, just as American intelligence was in the USSR, but American intelligence agencies decided to publicly show that they were able to expose Soviet spies. Civil servant Julius Rosenberg was chosen to play the role of “chief spy”. He really provided minor services to Soviet intelligence. It was announced that Rosenberg and his wife Ethel had "stolen America's atomic secrets." It subsequently turned out that Ethel did not even know about her husband’s collaboration with Soviet intelligence, but despite this, both spouses were sentenced to death and executed in June 1953.

The execution of the Rosenbergs was the last serious act of the first stage of the Cold War. In March 1953, Stalin died, and the new Soviet leadership, led by Nikita Khrushchev, began to look for ways to normalize relations with the West.

The wars in Korea and Vietnam ended in 1953–1954. In 1955, the USSR established equal relations with Yugoslavia and Germany. The Great Powers also agreed to grant neutral status to Austria, which they occupied, and to withdraw their troops from the country.

In 1956, the world situation deteriorated again due to unrest in socialist countries and attempts by Great Britain, France and Israel to seize the Suez Canal in Egypt. But this time, both “superpowers” ​​- the USSR and the USA - made efforts to ensure that conflicts did not escalate. In 1959, Khrushchev was not interested in intensifying confrontation during this period. In 1959, Khrushchev came to the United States, this was the first visit of a Soviet leader to America in history. American society made a great impression on him, and he was especially struck by the successes of agriculture, which was much more efficient than in the USSR.

However, by this time, the USSR could impress the USA and the whole world with its successes in the field of high technology, and above all, in space exploration. The system of state socialism made it possible to concentrate large resources on solving one problem at the expense of others. On October 4, 1957, the first artificial earth satellite was launched in the Soviet Union. From now on, the Soviet rocket could deliver cargo to any point on the planet, including a nuclear device. In 1958, the Americans launched their satellite and began mass production of rockets. The USSR continued to lead, although achieving and maintaining nuclear missile parity in the 60s required the exertion of all the country's forces.

Successes in space exploration also had enormous propaganda significance - they showed what kind of social system was capable of achieving great scientific and technical successes. On April 12, 1961, the USSR launched a ship into space with a person on board. The first cosmonaut was Yuri Gagarin. The Americans were hot on their heels - the rocket with their first astronaut Alanon Shepard launched on May 5, 1961, but the device did not go into space, making only a suborbital flight.

In 1960, relations between the USSR and the USA deteriorated again. On May 1, shortly before the Soviet-American summit, the United States sent a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft to fly over the territory of the USSR. He flew at altitudes inaccessible to Soviet fighters, but was shot down by a missile right during the May Day demonstration in Moscow. A scandal broke out. At the summit, Khrushchev expected an apology from Eisenhower. Not receiving them, he interrupted the meeting with the president.

As a result of the crisis, which brought the world to the brink of a nuclear missile disaster, a compromise was reached: the USSR removed its missiles from Cuba, and the United States withdrew its missiles from Turkey and guaranteed military non-intervention to Cuba.

The Cuban missile crisis taught both the Soviet and American leadership a lot. The leaders of the superpowers realized that they could lead humanity to destruction. Having reached a dangerous point, the Cold War began to decline. The USSR and the USA spoke for the first time about limiting the arms race. On August 15, 1963, a treaty was concluded banning nuclear weapons tests in three environments: the atmosphere, space and water.

The conclusion of the 1963 treaty did not mean the end of the Cold War. The very next year, after the death of President Kennedy, the rivalry between the two blocs intensified. But now it has been pushed away from the borders of the USSR and the USA - to southeast Asia, where the war in Indochina broke out in the 60s and first half of the 70s.

In the 1960s, the international situation changed radically. Both superpowers faced great difficulties: the United States was bogged down in Indochina, and the USSR was drawn into conflict with China. As a result, both superpowers chose to move from the Cold War to a policy of gradual détente (détente).

During the period of “détente,” important agreements were concluded to limit the arms race, including treaties to limit missile defense (ABM) and strategic nuclear weapons (SALT-1 and SALT-2). However, the SALT treaties had a significant drawback. While limiting the overall volumes of nuclear weapons and missile technology, he barely touched upon the deployment of nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, adversaries could concentrate large numbers of nuclear missiles in the most dangerous places in the world, without even violating the agreed total volumes of nuclear weapons.

In 1976, the USSR began modernizing its medium-range missiles in Europe. They could quickly reach their target in Western Europe. As a result of this modernization, the balance of nuclear forces on the continent was disrupted. In December 1979, NATO decided to deploy the latest American Pershing-2 and Tomahawk missiles in Western Europe. If war broke out, these missiles could destroy the largest cities of the USSR in a matter of minutes, while US territory would remain invulnerable for a time. The Soviet Union's security was threatened and it launched a campaign against the deployment of new American missiles. A wave of rallies against the deployment of missiles began in Western European countries, since in the event of a first strike by the Americans, Europe, and not America, would become the target of a retaliatory strike by the USSR. The new US President Ronald Reagan proposed in 1981 the so-called “zero option” - the withdrawal of all Soviet and American medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe. But in this case, British and French missiles aimed at the USSR would remain here. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev rejected this “zero option.”

The detente was finally buried by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The Cold War resumed. In 1980–1982, the United States introduced a series of economic sanctions against the USSR. In 1983, US President Reagan called the USSR an “evil empire.” The installation of new American missiles in Europe has begun. In response to this, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Yuri Andropov stopped all negotiations with the United States.

By the mid-80s, the countries of “socialism” entered a period of crisis. The bureaucratic economy could no longer meet the growing needs of the population; wasteful expenditure of resources led to their significant reduction; the level of social consciousness of people grew so much that they began to understand the need for change. It was becoming increasingly difficult for the country to bear the burden of the Cold War, support allied regimes around the world, and fight the war in Afghanistan. The USSR's technical lag behind the capitalist countries was becoming increasingly noticeable and dangerous.

Under these conditions, the US President decided to “push” the USSR to weaken. According to Western financial circles, the USSR’s foreign exchange reserves amounted to 25–30 billion dollars. In order to undermine the economy of the USSR, the Americans needed to inflict “unplanned” damage to the Soviet economy in the same amount - otherwise the difficulties associated with the economic war would be smoothed out by a currency “cushion” of considerable thickness. It was necessary to act quickly - in the second half of the 80s, the USSR was supposed to receive additional financial injections from the Urengoy - Western Europe gas pipeline. In December 1981, in response to the suppression of the labor movement in Poland, Reagan announced a series of sanctions against Poland and its ally, the USSR. The events in Poland were used as a pretext, because this time, unlike the situation in Afghanistan, the norms of international law were not violated by the Soviet Union. The United States announced a cessation of supplies of oil and gas equipment, which was supposed to disrupt the construction of the Urengoy-Western Europe gas pipeline. However, the European allies, interested in economic cooperation with the USSR, did not immediately support the United States, and Soviet industry managed to independently produce pipes that the USSR had previously planned to purchase from the West. Reagan's campaign against the pipeline failed.

In 1983, US President Ronald Reagan put forward the idea of ​​the “Strategic Defense Initiative” (SDI), or “star wars” - space systems that could protect the United States from a nuclear attack. This program was carried out in circumvention of the ABM Treaty. The USSR did not have the technical capabilities to create the same system. Despite the fact that the United States was also far from successful in this area and the idea of ​​SDI was intended to force the USSR to waste resources, Soviet leaders took it seriously. At the cost of great effort, the Buran space system was created, capable of neutralizing SDI elements.

Together with external, internal factors significantly undermined the system of socialism. The economic crisis in which the USSR found itself put on the agenda the issue of “savings on foreign policy.” Despite the fact that the possibilities of such savings were exaggerated, the reforms that began in the USSR led to the end of the Cold War in 1987–1990.

In March 1985, the new General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power in the USSR. In 1985–1986 he announced a policy of sweeping changes known as “perestroika.” It was also envisaged to improve relations with capitalist countries on the basis of equality and openness (“new thinking”).

In November 1985, Gorbachev met with Reagan in Geneva and proposed a significant reduction in nuclear weapons in Europe. It was still impossible to solve the problem, because Gorbachev demanded the abolition of SDI, and Reagan did not yield. The American president promised that when the research was successful, the United States would “open its laboratories to the Soviets,” but Gorbachev did not believe him. “They say, believe us, that if the Americans are the first to implement SDI, they will share it with the Soviet Union. I said then: Mr. President, I urge you, believe us, we have already stated this, that we will not be the first to use nuclear weapons and will not be the first to attack the United States of America. Why are you, while maintaining all offensive potential on land and under water, still going to start an arms race in space? Don't you believe us? It turns out you don’t believe it. Why should we trust you more than you trust us?” Despite the fact that significant progress was not achieved at this meeting, the two presidents got to know each other better, which helped them reach agreement in the future.

However, after the meeting in Geneva, relations between the USSR and the USA deteriorated again. The USSR supported Libya in its conflict with the United States. The United States refused to comply with the SALT agreements, which were implemented even during the years of confrontation 1980–1984. This was the last surge of the Cold War. The “cooling” in international relations dealt a blow to the plans of Gorbachev, who put forward a large-scale disarmament program and seriously counted on the economic effect of conversion, which, as it later became clear, dealt a huge lesson to the country’s defense capability. Already in the summer, both sides began to probe the possibilities for holding a “second Geneva,” which took place in October 1986 in Reykjavik. Here Gorbachev tried to force Reagan to make reciprocal concessions by proposing large-scale reductions in nuclear weapons, but “in a package” with the abandonment of SDI, but the American president refused to cancel SDI and even feigned indignation at the linkage of the two problems: “After everything, or almost everything, As it seemed to me, it was decided that Gorbachev pulled out a feint. With a smile on his face, he said: “But all this, of course, depends on whether you give up SDI.” As a result, the meeting in Reykjavik actually ended in nothing. But Reagan realized that improving international relations was not possible by pressing USSR, but with the help of mutual concessions.Gorbachev's strategy was crowned with the illusion of success - the United States agreed to freeze the non-existent SDI until the end of the century.

In 1986, the US administration abandoned a frontal attack on the USSR, which ended in failure. However, financial pressure was increased on the USSR; the United States, in exchange for various concessions, persuaded the Saudi authorities to sharply increase oil production and reduce world oil prices. The income of the Soviet Union depended on oil prices, which began to fall sharply in 1986. The Chernobyl disaster further undermined the financial balance of the USSR. This made it difficult to reform the country from above and forced more active encouragement of initiative from below. Gradually, authoritarian modernization gave way to civil revolution. Already in 1987–1988, “perestroika” led to a rapid increase in public activity, and the world was moving at full speed towards ending the Cold War.

After an unsuccessful meeting in Reykjavik in 1986, the two presidents finally reached an agreement in Washington in December 1987 that removed American and Soviet medium-range missiles from Europe. “New thinking” triumphed. The major crisis that led to the resumption of the Cold War in 1979 is a thing of the past. It was followed by other “fronts” of the Cold War, including the main one – the European one.

The example of Soviet “perestroika” intensified anti-socialist movements in Eastern Europe. In 1989, the transformations carried out by the communists in Eastern Europe developed into revolutions. Along with the communist regime in the GDR, the Berlin Wall was also destroyed, which became a symbol of the end of the division of Europe. By that time, faced with severe economic problems, the USSR could no longer support communist regimes, and the socialist camp collapsed.

In December 1988, Gorbachev announced at the UN a unilateral reduction of the army. In February 1989, Soviet troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan, where the war continued between the Mujahideen and the government of Najibullah.

In December 1989, off the coast of Malta, Gorbachev and the new US President George W. Bush were able to discuss the situation of the actual end of the Cold War. Bush promised to make efforts to extend most favored nation treatment to the USSR in US trade, which would not have been possible if the Cold War continued. Despite the persistence of disagreements over the situation in some countries, including the Baltics, the atmosphere of the Cold War has become a thing of the past. Explaining the principles of the “new thinking” to Bush, Gorbachev said: “The main principle that we have accepted and which we follow within the framework of the new thinking is the right of each country to free choice, including the right to review or change the initially made choice. This is very painful, but it is a fundamental right. The right to choose without outside interference.”

But by this time the methods of pressure on the USSR had already changed. In 1990, supporters of speedy “Westernization,” that is, the restructuring of society according to Western models, came to power in most countries of Eastern Europe. Reforms began based on “neoliberal” ideas close to Western neoconservatism and neoglobalism. Reforms were carried out hastily, without a plan or preparation, which led to a painful breakdown of society. They were called “shock therapy” because it was believed that after a short “shock” relief would come. Western countries provided some financial support for these reforms, and as a result, Eastern Europe managed to create a market economy based on the Western model. Entrepreneurs, the middle class, and some young people benefited from these transformations, but a significant part of society - workers, employees, pensioners - lost, and Eastern European countries found themselves financially dependent on the West.

The new governments of Eastern European countries demanded the speedy withdrawal of Soviet troops from their territory. By that time, the USSR had neither the ability nor the desire to maintain its military presence there. In 1990, the withdrawal of troops began, and in July 1991 the Warsaw Pact and CMEA were dissolved. NATO remains the only powerful military force in Europe. The USSR did not survive the military bloc it created for long. In August 1991, as a result of an unsuccessful attempt by the leaders of the USSR to establish an authoritarian regime (the so-called State Emergency Committee), real power passed from Gorbachev to the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin and the leaders of the republics of the USSR. The Baltic states left the Union. In December 1991, in order to consolidate their success in the struggle for power, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed an agreement on the dissolution of the USSR in Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

The almost exact coincidence of the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR sparked debate in the world about the connection between these phenomena. Maybe the end of the Cold War is a result of the collapse of the USSR and therefore the US won this “war”. However, by the time the USSR collapsed, the Cold War had already ended - several years before this event. If we take into account that in 1987 the missile crisis was resolved, in 1988 an agreement was concluded on Afghanistan, and in February 1989 Soviet troops were withdrawn from this country, in 1989 the socialist governments disappeared in almost all countries of Eastern Europe, then we can talk about the continuation of the “Cold War” after 1990 it is not necessary. The problems that caused an aggravation of international tension not only in 1979–1980, but also in 1946–1947 were resolved. Already in 1990, the level of relations between the USSR and Western countries returned to the pre-Cold War state, and it was remembered only to proclaim its end, as President George W. Bush did when he declared victory in the Cold War after the collapse of the USSR and Presidents B. Yeltsin and D. Bush, declaring its end in 1992. These propaganda statements do not remove the fact that in 1990–1991 the signs of the “Cold War” had already disappeared. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR have a common cause - the crisis of state socialism in the USSR.

Alexander Shubin



Cold War - Briefly covers just a few global events that are actually worth knowing. Of course, there are also small events that should not be overlooked. Without knowing these events, it is extremely difficult to navigate tests and exam assignments. Everything must be systematized, because history is an exact science. So I recommend reading this short article to the end, in which we briefly and clearly outlined the key events.

Key events

Before reading this article, I strongly recommend that you read and. Otherwise, things won't work out! In addition to these events, which we discussed below, we must also keep in mind the arms race, the unification of Germany, and many more nuances that will really help you learn the material at the proper level. Where to find all this, I wrote at the end of the article.

The Cold War covers the following events:

Berlin crisis of 1948-49.

Causes: Berlin was mostly in the Soviet zone of occupation, as a result people fled to the western zone of occupation. Plus, the Western Allies decided to carry out a monetary reform, which led to chaos in the monetary system of the Eastern part of the city.

Course of events:

  • On June 21, 1948, the USSR imposed a blockade of Berlin.
  • Western countries are trying to organize an air bridge. Any plane crash could lead to a new world war.
  • In May 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade of Berlin, and relations normalized.

Results: in 1949, Germany was split into two states, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, under Western and Soviet influence, respectively. For a very long time, these two states did not diplomatically recognize each other.

Korean War 1950 - 1953

Causes: After the unconditional surrender of Japan, on September 2, 1945, the USSR and the USA agreed that North Korea would fall under the protectorate of the USSR, and South Korea would fall under the protectorate of the US. What does Korea have to do with it if we are talking about the surrender of Japan? If you asked this question, then you are not at all aware of world history. The fact is that Korea, like the lion’s share of China, lived under Japan throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Accordingly, a communist government was formed in North Korea, controlled by the USSR, headed by Kim Il Sung, and South Korea followed the path of capitalist development. However, the USSR and the North wanted to expand their influence and, since 1948, had been preparing an attack on South Korea.

Course of events:

Results: As a result of the peace treaty, the border between the Koreas again passed along the 38th parallel.

Suez crisis of 1956

Berlin crisis of 1961

Cause: the USSR's desire for greater independence of the GDR, ideally to extend its influence to the Federal Republic of Germany. Tension was created by the fact that there was still no peace treaty between the GDR and the FRG.

Course of events: negotiations took place continuously from 1958 to 1961. And in principle, both sides were ready to compromise. Questions were raised by Khrushchev's aggressive rhetoric. As a result, Kennedy declared that if necessary, the United States would fight for West Germany and West Berlin.

Results: In 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected overnight, dividing West and East Berlin.

Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962

This event is considered the highest peak of the Cold War.

Causes: the emergence of the communist regime of F. Castro in Cuba in the late 1950s, right “under the nose” of the United States, as well as the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles there.

Course of events: deployment of US nuclear missiles in Turkey, which could reach the territory of the USSR.

Negotiations between the USA and the USSR lasted throughout September and October 1962. As a result, on October 28, the USSR accepted the US conditions: it removed missiles from Cuba in exchange for the US removing missiles from Turkey.

Consequences: this event showed that nuclear war was real and predetermined the period of détente.

  • The Vietnam War 1964 - 1975.
  • Final Act on Security and Cooperation in Europe 1975.
  • War in Afghanistan 1979 - 1989
  • Collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Other events will be added as I have free time. By the way, I analyzed all of them and many other nuances in.

In conclusion, I would like to clarify something. It seems that the events of the Cold War have sunk into history. However, one can look at the current international situation and say that nothing is over: the incomprehensible confrontation between states with imperial ambitions has not disappeared and continues to pose a threat to global security. And it is not a fact that a new crisis, like the Caribbean one, is already on the way. What do you think about this? Write in the comments!

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov

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 and had, at that time, the most combat-ready army, armed with the latest 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, in North Korea it was pro-Soviet. 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.

Holodnaya voyna (1946—1989...present)

In short, the Cold War is an ideological, military and economic confrontation between the two strongest powers of the 20th century, the USSR and the USA, which lasted 45 years - from 1946 to 1991. The word “war” here is conditional; the conflict continued without the use of military force, but this did not make it any less severe. If we talk briefly about the Cold War, then the main weapon in it was ideology.

The main countries of this confrontation are the Soviet Union and the United States. The USSR has caused concern in Western countries since its inception. The communist system was the extreme opposite of the capitalist one, and the spread of socialism to other countries caused an extremely negative reaction from the West and the United States.

Only the threat of Nazi Germany's seizure of Europe forced the former fierce opponents to become temporary allies in World War II. France, Great Britain, the USSR and the USA created an anti-Hitler coalition and jointly fought against German troops. But the conflicts were forgotten only for the duration of the war.

After the end of the bloodiest war of the 20th century, a new division of the world into spheres of influence between the major victorious countries began. The USSR extended its influence to Eastern Europe. The strengthening of the Soviet Union caused serious concerns in England and the United States. The governments of these countries already in 1945 were developing plans to attack their main ideological enemy. British Prime Minister William Churchill, who hated the communist regime, made an open statement in which he emphasized that military superiority in the world should be on the side of Western countries, not the USSR. Statements of this kind caused increased tension between Western countries and the Soviet Union.

In short, the Cold War began in 1946, immediately after the end of World War II. Churchill’s speech in the American city of Fulton can be considered its beginning. It showed the true attitude of the Western allies towards the USSR.
In 1949, the West created the NATO military bloc in order to protect against possible aggression from the USSR. In 1955, the Soviet Union and its allied countries also formed their own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact Organization, as a counterbalance to Western countries.

The main participants in the conflict, the USSR and the USA, did not engage in hostilities, but the policies they pursued led to the emergence of many local conflicts in many regions of the world.
The Cold War was accompanied by increased militarization, an arms race and ideological warfare. The Cuban Missile Crisis that occurred in 1962 showed how fragile the world is under such conditions. A real war was barely averted. After him, the USSR came to understand the need for disarmament. Mikhail Gorbachev, starting in 1985, pursued a policy of establishing more trusting relations with Western countries.

Ufa State Aviation Technical University

Department of History of the Fatherland and Cultural Studies


Test

in history

"Cold War": causes, essence, consequences


Completed:

Gaisin A.N.

FIRT student

Group PIE-210z




Introduction

1.The beginning of the Cold War

Causes of the Cold War

1 Korean War

2 Construction of the Berlin Wall

3 Cuban Missile Crisis

4 Vietnam War

5 Afghan War

4. Consequences

Conclusion

Bibliography


INTRODUCTION


The unity of the victorious countries could not be strong. The USSR, on the one hand, and the USA, Great Britain and France, on the other, represented different social systems. Stalin sought to expand the territory led by the communist parties. The Soviet Union sought to gain access to resources that were previously controlled by capitalist countries. The United States and its allies sought to maintain their dominance in Asia, Africa and Latin America. All this brought humanity to the brink of the third world war. The confrontation between the USSR and the USA, which unfolded in the mid-40s-80s of the twentieth century and was called the “Cold War,” never resulted in a “hot” war, although it constantly led to conflicts in certain regions. The Cold War caused a split in the world into two camps, gravitating towards the USSR and the USA. The term "Cold War" was coined by Churchill during his speech in Fulton (USA) on March 5, 1946. No longer the leader of his country, Churchill remained one of the most influential politicians in the world. In his speech, he stated that Europe was divided by the “Iron Curtain” and called on Western civilization to declare war on “communism.” In fact, the war between two systems, two ideologies has not stopped since 1917, however, it took shape as a completely conscious confrontation precisely after the Second World War.

Why did it start only after the Second World War? Obviously, this was dictated by the time itself, the era itself. The allies came out of this war so strong, and the means of warfare became so destructive that it became clear: sorting things out using the old methods was too much of a luxury. However, the desire to harass the other side among the coalition partners has not diminished. To a certain extent, the initiative to start the Cold War belonged to Western countries, for which the power of the USSR, which became obvious during the Second World War, turned out to be a very unpleasant surprise.

So, the Cold War arose shortly after the end of World War II, when the Allies began to take stock of its results. What did they see? Firstly, half of Europe found itself in the Soviet zone of influence, and pro-Soviet regimes were feverishly emerging there. Secondly, a powerful wave of liberation movements arose in the colonies against the mother countries. Thirdly, the world quickly polarized and turned into a bipolar one. Fourthly, two superpowers emerged on the world stage, whose military and economic power gave them significant superiority over others. Plus, the interests of Western countries in various parts of the globe are beginning to collide with the interests of the USSR. It was this new state of the world that emerged after the Second World War that Churchill realized faster than others when he proclaimed the “Cold War.”


1.THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR


In 1945, there was a deep disparity in power and strength between the two main victor countries. Even before the war, imbalances were shifting in America's favor, especially in the economy. But hostilities drove the two countries even further in opposite directions. The war did not touch American soil: the fighting took place far from the shores of America. The US economy, which was the main supplier and financier of the entire victorious coalition, experienced an unprecedented leap between 1939 and 1945. The potential of US industrial capacity increased by 50%, production increased by 2.5 times. They produced 4 times more equipment and 7 times more vehicles. Agricultural production increased by 36%. Wages grew, as did all incomes of the population.

Inequality also manifested itself in relation to the possession of nuclear weapons. As you know, until 1949, the only power with an atomic bomb was the United States. The Americans did not hide the fact that they perceived nuclear weapons as an attribute of the power of a great power, as a means of intimidating a potential enemy - the USSR and its allies, as a means of pressure.

I.V. Stalin considered it necessary to create a military counterweight to the United States. Since 1949, he became convinced of the possibility of destabilizing the capitalist system and the approach of the proletarian revolution in the West.

For its part, the US leadership sought to implement a policy “from a position of strength” and tried to use all its economic and military-political power to put pressure on the USSR. In 1946, US President Henry Truman's doctrine of "limiting communist expansion" was proclaimed, supported in 1947 by the doctrine of economic assistance to "free peoples" (the "Marshall Plan", which was abandoned by the USSR). This meant a turn to the Cold War, which predetermined the deterioration of the international climate and created the threat of military-political crises. Stalin faced a difficult dilemma: whether to resist the pressure that his former allies, now armed with the atomic bomb, were putting on the USSR in conditions when the country was exhausted. Stalin was convinced that the United States and England would not dare to start a war. The Soviet government decided to speed up work on producing its own atomic bomb. The work, carried out in strict secrecy, began in full from August-September 1945. After Potsdam and Hiroshima, Stalin formed, under the supreme control of Beria, a special committee headed by People's Commissar Vannikov, designed to supervise all activities to create new weapons.

The deterioration of relations with the Western world, as well as the revival of imperial ambitions, pushed the Soviet leadership to consolidate control over Central and South-Eastern Europe. In response to the US attempt to link the Western occupation zones with Western European states through economic and political agreements, the USSR and under its pressure, the Eastern European countries refused to participate in the American assistance program, and subsequently in the activities of international economic organizations. This is what the world was like after the war. The role of the communists has grown greatly, the authority of the USSR in the world has risen high. This was clearly not beneficial for the USA, Great Britain and other major capitalist powers. The confrontation between the West and the Soviet Union began to become acute. Moreover, Stalin was irritated by the economic power of the United States after the war, in which the states suffered almost no losses. They began to talk more and more often about the bipolar structure of the world; the USSR, which was in ruins, was gradually rising to its feet. Two superpowers rose above all others - the USSR and the USA. Gradually, unnoticed by both opposing camps, an arms race began between them - the Cold War.



Its beginning was associated with atomic weapons. The American military, thinking in the usual categories of naked force, began to look for the appropriate means to strike the “enemy,” that is, the Soviet Union. The philosophical stone in solving a problem that seemed insoluble in the recommendations dating back to 1943-1944 was atomic weapons. Support for the position of the United States by the majority of countries in the world was combined with their exceptional position as holders of a monopoly on the atomic bomb: the Americans again demonstrated their power by conducting test explosions on Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946. Stalin made a number of statements during this period in order to downplay the importance of the new weapon. These statements set the tone for all Soviet propaganda. But the behavior of the representatives of the Soviet Union in private showed their great concern in reality.

But the American monopoly on nuclear weapons lasted only four years. In 1949, the USSR tested its first atomic bomb. This event was a real shock for the Western world and an important milestone in the Cold War. In the course of further accelerated development in the USSR, nuclear and then thermonuclear weapons were soon created. Fighting has become very dangerous for everyone, and is fraught with very bad consequences. The nuclear potential accumulated over the years of the Cold War was enormous, but the gigantic stockpiles of destructive weapons were of no use, and the costs of their production and storage were growing. If earlier they said “we can destroy you, but you cannot destroy us,” now the wording has changed. They began to say “you can destroy us 38 times, and we can destroy you 64 times!” The debate is fruitless, especially considering that if a war broke out and one of the opponents used nuclear weapons, very soon there would be nothing left not only of him, but of the entire planet.

The arms race was growing at a rapid pace. As soon as one of the sides created some fundamentally new weapon, its opponent threw all its forces and resources into achieving the same thing. Crazy competition affected all areas of the military industry. They competed everywhere: in the creation of the latest small arms systems (the US responded to the Soviet AKM with the M-16), in new designs of tanks, aircraft, ships and submarines, but perhaps the most dramatic competition was in the creation of rocketry. The entire so-called peaceful space in those days was not even the visible part of the iceberg, but a snow cap on the visible part. The USA has overtaken the USSR in the number of nuclear weapons. The USSR overtook the USA in rocket science. The USSR was the first in the world to launch a satellite, and in 1961 it was the first to send a man into space. The Americans could not bear such obvious superiority. The result is their landing on the moon. At this point, the parties reached strategic parity. However, this did not stop the arms race. On the contrary, it has spread to all sectors that have at least some connection with weapons. This could, for example, include the race to create supercomputers. Here the West took unconditional revenge for lagging behind in the field of rocket science, since for purely ideological reasons the USSR missed a breakthrough in this area.

The arms race has even affected education. After Gagarin's flight, the United States was forced to reconsider the foundations of the education system and introduce fundamentally new teaching methods.

The arms race was subsequently voluntarily suspended by both sides. A number of treaties were concluded limiting the accumulation of weapons.


3.CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR


The Cold War was characterized by the frequent appearance of “hot” spots. Each local conflict was brought to the world stage, thanks to the fact that Cold War opponents supported the opposing sides. Let's take a look at some of the "hot spots".


3.1 Korean War


In 1945, Soviet and American troops liberated Korea from the Japanese army. US troops are located south of the 38th parallel, and the Red Army to the north. Thus, the Korean Peninsula was divided into two parts. In the North, the communists came to power, in the South - the military, relying on the help of the United States. Two states were formed on the peninsula - the northern Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the southern Republic of Korea. The North Korean leadership dreamed of uniting the country, even if only by force of arms.

In 1950, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung visited Moscow and enlisted the support of the Soviet Union. Plans for the "military liberation" of South Korea were also approved by Chinese leader Mao Zedong. At dawn on June 25, 1950, the North Korean army moved to the south of the country. Her offensive was so powerful that within three days she occupied the capital of the South, Seoul. Then the advance of the northerners slowed down, but by mid-September almost the entire peninsula was in their hands. It seemed that only one decisive effort separated the army of the north from final victory. However, on July 7, the UN Security Council voted to send international troops to help South Korea.

And in September, UN troops (mostly American) came to the aid of the southerners. They launched a powerful attack on the North from the area that was still held by the South Korean army. At the same time, troops were landed on the west coast, cutting the peninsula in half. Events began to develop with the same speed in the opposite direction. The Americans occupied Seoul, crossed the 38th parallel and continued their offensive against the DPRK. North Korea was on the brink of complete disaster when China suddenly intervened. The Chinese leadership proposed, without declaring war on the United States, to send troops to help North Korea. In China they were officially called "people's volunteers." In October, about a million Chinese soldiers crossed the border Yalu River and engaged the Americans in battle. Soon the front lined up along the 38th parallel.

The war continued for another three years. During the American offensive in 1950, the Soviet Union sent several air divisions to help North Korea. The Americans were significantly superior to the Chinese in technology. China suffered heavy losses. On July 27, 1953, the war ended with a truce. In North Korea, the government of Kim Il Sung, friendly to the USSR and China, remained in power, accepting the honorary title of “great leader.”


3.2 Construction of the Berlin Wall


In 1955, the division of Europe between East and West finally took shape. However, a clear line of confrontation has not yet completely divided Europe. There was only one open “window” left in it - Berlin. The city was divided in half, with East Berlin being the capital of the GDR, and West Berlin being considered part of the Federal Republic of Germany. Two opposing social systems coexisted within the same city, while every Berliner could easily get “from socialism to capitalism” and back, moving from one street to another. Every day up to 500 thousand people crossed this invisible border in both directions. Many East Germans, taking advantage of the open border, left for the West permanently. Thousands of people were resettled in this way every year, which greatly worried the East German authorities. And in general, the wide-open window in the “Iron Curtain” did not at all correspond to the general spirit of the era.

In August 1961, Soviet and East German authorities decided to close the border between the two parts of Berlin. Tension in the city grew. Western countries protested the division of the city. Finally, in October, the confrontation reached its climax. American tanks lined up at the Brandenburg Gate and on Friedrichstrasse, near the main checkpoints. Soviet combat vehicles came out to meet them. For more than a day, the tanks of the USSR and the USA stood with their guns aimed at each other. Periodically, the tankers turned on their engines, as if preparing for an attack. The tension was somewhat relieved only after the Soviet, and after them, American tanks retreated to other streets. However, Western countries finally recognized the division of the city only ten years later. It was formalized by an agreement between four powers (USSR, USA, England and France), signed in 1971. Throughout the world, the construction of the Berlin Wall was perceived as a symbolic completion of the post-war division of Europe.

cold war revolution crisis

3.3 Cuban Missile Crisis


On January 1959, a revolution led by 32-year-old guerrilla leader Fidel Castro won in Cuba. The new government began a decisive struggle against American influence on the island. Needless to say, the Soviet Union fully supported the Cuban Revolution. However, the Havana authorities seriously feared a US military invasion. In May 1962, Nikita Khrushchev put forward an unexpected idea - to place Soviet nuclear missiles on the island. He jokingly explained this step by saying that the imperialists “need to put a hedgehog in their pants.” After some deliberation, Cuba agreed to the Soviet proposal, and in the summer of 1962, 42 nuclear-tipped missiles and bombers capable of carrying nuclear bombs were sent to the island. The transfer of missiles was carried out in the strictest secrecy, but already in September the US leadership suspected something was wrong. On September 4, President John Kennedy said that the United States would under no circumstances tolerate Soviet nuclear missiles 150 km from its coast. In response, Khrushchev assured Kennedy that there were and would not be any Soviet missiles or nuclear weapons in Cuba.

October, an American reconnaissance plane photographed missile launch sites from the air. In an atmosphere of strict secrecy, the US leadership began to discuss retaliatory measures. On October 22, President Kennedy addressed the American people on radio and television. He reported that Soviet missiles had been discovered in Cuba and demanded that the USSR immediately remove them. Kennedy announced that the United States was beginning a naval blockade of Cuba. On October 24, at the request of the USSR, the UN Security Council urgently met. The Soviet Union continued to stubbornly deny the presence of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The situation in the Caribbean Sea became increasingly tense. Two dozen Soviet ships were heading towards Cuba. The American ships were ordered to stop them, if necessary by fire. True, it didn’t come to sea battles. Khrushchev ordered several Soviet ships to stop at the blockade line.

On October 23, an exchange of official letters began between Moscow and Washington. In his first messages, N. Khrushchev indignantly called the actions of the United States “pure banditry” and “the madness of degenerate imperialism.”

Within days, it became clear that the United States was determined to remove the missiles at any cost. On October 26, Khrushchev sent a more conciliatory message to Kennedy. He recognized that Cuba had powerful Soviet weapons. At the same time, Nikita Sergeevich convinced the president that the USSR was not going to attack America. As he put it, “Only crazy people can do this or suicides who want to die themselves and destroy the whole world before that.” Khrushchev offered John Kennedy a commitment not to attack Cuba; then the Soviet Union will be able to remove its weapons from the island. The President of the United States responded that the United States was willing to make a gentleman's commitment not to invade Cuba if the USSR withdrew its offensive weapons. Thus the first steps towards peace were taken.

But on October 27 came the “Black Saturday” of the Cuban crisis, when only a miracle did not break out a new world war. In those days, squadrons of American aircraft flew over Cuba twice a day for the purpose of intimidation. And on October 27, Soviet troops in Cuba shot down one of the US reconnaissance aircraft with an anti-aircraft missile. Its pilot, Anderson, was killed. The situation escalated to the limit, the US President decided two days later to begin bombing Soviet missile bases and a military attack on the island.

However, on Sunday, October 28, the Soviet leadership decided to accept the American conditions. The decision to remove the missiles from Cuba was made without the consent of the Cuban leadership. Perhaps this was done deliberately, since Fidel Castro categorically objected to the removal of the missiles. International tensions began to subside quickly after October 28. The Soviet Union removed its missiles and bombers from Cuba. On November 20, the United States lifted the naval blockade of the island. The Cuban (or Caribbean) crisis ended peacefully.


3.4 Vietnam War


The Vietnam War began with an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, during which DRV coast guard ships fired on American destroyers providing fire support to South Vietnamese government forces in their fight against guerrillas. After this, everything secret became clear and the conflict developed according to the already familiar pattern. One of the superpowers entered the war openly, and the second did everything in its power to make the war “not boring.” The war that the United States thought would be a cakewalk turned out to be America's nightmare. Anti-war demonstrations rocked the country. Young people rebelled against the senseless slaughter. In 1975, the United States thought it best to announce that it had “completed its mission” and begin evacuating its military contingent. This war greatly shocked the entire American society and led to major reforms. The post-war crisis lasted more than 10 years. It’s hard to say how it would have ended if the Afghan crisis had not come along.


3.5 Afghan War


In April 1978, a coup took place in Afghanistan, later called the April Revolution. Afghan communists came to power - the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). The government was headed by writer Noor Mohammed Taraki. However, within a few months, a sharp struggle broke out within the ruling party. In August 1979, a confrontation broke out between the two leaders of the party - Taraki and Amin. On September 16, Taraki was removed from his post, expelled from the party and taken into custody. He died soon after. These events caused discontent in Moscow, although outwardly everything remained as before. The mass “cleansings” and executions that began in Afghanistan among the party were condemned. And since they reminded the Soviet leaders of the Chinese “cultural revolution,” fears arose that Amin might break with the USSR and move closer to China. Amin repeatedly asked for the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan to strengthen revolutionary power. Finally, on December 12, 1979, the Soviet leadership decided to fulfill his request, but at the same time remove Amin himself. Soviet troops were sent into Afghanistan, Amin was killed by a grenade explosion during the storming of the presidential palace. Now Soviet newspapers called him a “CIA agent” and wrote about the “bloody clique of Amin and his minions.”

In the West, the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan caused violent protests. The Cold War flared up with renewed vigor. On January 14, 1980, the UN General Assembly demanded the withdrawal of “foreign troops” from Afghanistan. 104 states voted for this decision.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan itself, armed resistance to Soviet troops began to intensify. It was, of course, not Amin’s supporters who fought against them, but opponents of the revolutionary government in general. At first, the Soviet press claimed that there were no battles in Afghanistan, that peace and tranquility reigned there. However, the war did not subside, and when this became clear, the USSR admitted that “bandits were rampaging” in the republic. They were called "dushmans", that is, enemies. Secretly, through Pakistan, they were supported by the United States, helping with weapons and money. The United States knew well what war against an armed people was. The experience of the Vietnam War was used 100%, with only one small difference, the roles changed. Now the USSR was at war with an underdeveloped country, and the United States helped it feel what a difficult thing it was. The rebels controlled large parts of Afghanistan. All of them were united by the slogan of jihad - the holy Islamic war. They called themselves "Mujahideen" - fighters for the faith. Otherwise, the rebel groups' programs varied widely.

The war in Afghanistan has not stopped for more than nine years... More than a million Afghans died during the fighting. Soviet troops, according to official data, lost 14,453 people killed.

In June 1987, the first, so far symbolic, steps towards establishing peace were taken. The new Kabul government offered "national reconciliation" to the rebels. In April 1988, the Soviet Union signed an agreement in Geneva on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. On May 15, the troops began to leave. Nine months later, on February 15, 1989, the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan. For the Soviet Union, the Afghan war ended on this day.


4. CONSEQUENCES


The dismantling of the Berlin Wall is considered the last milestone of the Cold War. That is, we can talk about its results. But this is perhaps the most difficult thing. Because for everyone the consequences are twofold.

What are they like for the USSR and present-day Russia? After the Second World War, the USSR restructured its economy in such a way that the overwhelming majority of funds went to the military-industrial complex, since the USSR could not afford to be weaker than the United States. This turned the USSR into a country of general shortages and a weak economy, and destroyed the once mighty power. However, on the other hand, thanks to this, another state appeared on the political map - the Russian Federation, the state in which we now live, which is developing and building exclusively friendly and partnership relations with other countries.

What about the USA? First of all, they lost a dangerous rival in the person of the USSR, and gained a partner in the person of the Russian Federation. And secondly, by helping the “dushmans” in Afghanistan, they gave birth to a worldwide evil - international terrorism.

And finally, the Cold War emphasized that the main component that determined the victory of one of the sides was universal human values, which neither the fantastic development of technology nor sophisticated ideological influence could outweigh.


CONCLUSION


A slight detente in the confrontation occurred in the 70s. Its crowning achievement was the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The participating countries deliberated for two years, and in 1975 in Helsinki, these countries signed the Final Act of the meeting. On the USSR side, it was sealed by Leonid Brezhnev. This document legitimized the post-war division of Europe, which is what the USSR sought. In exchange for this Western concession, the Soviet Union pledged to respect human rights.

Shortly before this, in July 1975, the famous Soviet-American joint flight on the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft took place. The USSR stopped jamming Western radio broadcasts. It seemed that the Cold War era was forever a thing of the past. However, in December 1979, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan - another period of the Cold War began. Relations between the West and the East reached a freezing point when, by decision of the Soviet leadership, a South Korean plane with civilian passengers on board was shot down, which ended up in Soviet airspace. After this event, US President Ronald Reagan called the USSR “an evil empire and the center of evil.” It was only by 1987 that relations between East and West began to gradually improve again. In 1988-89, with the beginning of perestroika, dramatic changes occurred in Soviet politics. In November 1989, the Berlin Wall came down. On July 1, 1991, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. The socialist camp collapsed. In a number of countries - its former members - democratic revolutions took place, which were not only not condemned, but were supported by the USSR. The Soviet Union also refused to expand its influence in third world countries. Such a sharp turn in Soviet foreign policy in the West is associated with the name of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev.


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Encyclopedia for children. T.5, part 3. Moscow "Avanta+". 1998.

History of Russia: Educational minimum for applicants. "Graduate School". Moscow. 2001.

N.N.Yakovlev. "CIA against the USSR." "Young guard". Moscow.1983.

Stephen Ambrose. "Eisenhower - soldier and president." "LTD Book." 1993.

Winston Churchill. "The Second World War".T3. "Military Publishing House". 1991.


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