Cold War: global confrontation between the USSR and the USA. Cold War

We don’t want a single inch of someone else’s land. But we will not give up our land, not a single inch of our land, to anyone.

Joseph Stalin

The Cold War is a state of contradiction between the two dominant world systems: capitalism and socialism. Socialism was represented by the USSR, and capitalism, in this way, by the USA and Great Britain. Today it is popular to say that the Cold War is a confrontation at the USSR-USA level, but they forget to say that the speech of British Prime Minister Churchill led to the formal declaration of war.

Causes of the war

In 1945, contradictions began to appear between the USSR and other participants in the anti-Hitler coalition. It was clear that Germany had lost the war, and now the main question was the post-war structure of the world. Here everyone tried to pull the blanket in their direction, to take a leading position relative to other countries. The main contradictions lay in European countries: Stalin wanted to subordinate them to the Soviet system, and the capitalists sought to prevent the Soviet state from entering Europe.

The causes of the Cold War are as follows:

  • Social. Uniting the country in the face of a new enemy.
  • Economic. The struggle for markets and resources. The desire to weaken the economic power of the enemy.
  • Military. An arms race in case of a new open war.
  • Ideological. The enemy society is presented exclusively in negative connotations. The struggle of two ideologies.

The active stage of the confrontation between the two systems begins with the US atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If we consider this bombing in isolation, it is illogical - the war has been won, Japan is not a competitor. Why bomb cities, and even with such weapons? But if we consider the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War, then the goal of bombing is to show a potential enemy one’s strength, and to show who should be in charge in the world. And the factor of nuclear weapons was very important in the future. After all, the USSR only had an atomic bomb in 1949...

Start of the war

If we briefly consider the Cold War, its beginning today is associated exclusively with Churchill’s speech. That is why they say that the beginning of the Cold War is March 5, 1946.

Churchill's speech March 5, 1946

In fact, Truman (US President) gave a more specific speech, from which it became clear to everyone that the Cold War had begun. And Churchill’s speech (it’s not difficult to find and read on the Internet today) was superficial. It talked a lot about the Iron Curtain, but not a word about the Cold War.

Interview with Stalin from February 10, 1946

On February 10, 1946, the Pravda newspaper published an interview with Stalin. Today this newspaper is very difficult to find, but this interview was very interesting. In it, Stalin said the following: “Capitalism always gives rise to crises and conflicts. This always creates a threat of war, which is a threat to the USSR. Therefore, we must restore the Soviet economy at an accelerated pace. We must give priority to heavy industry over consumer goods."

This speech of Stalin turned around and it was on it that all Western leaders relied on the desire of the USSR to start a war. But, as you can see, in this speech by Stalin there was not even a hint of the militaristic expansion of the Soviet state.

The real start of the war

To say that the beginning of the Cold War is connected with Churchill's speech is a little illogical. The fact is that at the time of 1946 it was simply the former Prime Minister of Great Britain. It turns out to be a kind of theater of the absurd - the war between the USSR and the USA is officially started by the former Prime Minister of England. In reality, everything was different, and Churchill’s speech was just a convenient excuse, which was later advantageous to write off everything on.

The real beginning of the Cold War should be dated back to at least 1944, when it was already clear that Germany was doomed to defeat, and all the allies pulled the blanket over themselves, realizing that it was very important to gain dominance over the post-war world. If we try to draw a more precise line for the beginning of the war, then the first serious disagreements on the topic of “how to live further” between the allies occurred at the Tehran Conference.

Specifics of war

To properly understand the processes that took place during the Cold War, you need to understand what this war was like in history. Today they are increasingly saying that it was actually the Third World War. And this is a huge mistake. The fact is that all the wars of mankind that happened before, including the Napoleonic Wars and World Wars 2, were warriors of the capitalist world for the rights to dominate a certain region. The Cold War was the first global war in which there was a confrontation between two systems: capitalist and socialist. Here it may be objected to me that in the history of mankind there have been wars where the cornerstone was not capital, but religion: Christianity against Islam and Islam against Christianity. This objection is partly true, but only out of happiness. The fact is that any religious conflicts cover only part of the population and part of the world, while the global cold war has covered the whole world. All countries of the world could be clearly divided into 2 main groups:

  1. Socialist. They recognized the dominance of the USSR and received funding from Moscow.
  2. Capitalist. They recognized US dominance and received funding from Washington.

There were also “uncertain” ones. There were few such countries, but they existed. Their main specificity was that outwardly they could not decide which camp to join, so they received funding from two sources: from Moscow and Washington.

Who started the war

One of the problems of the Cold War is the question of who started it. Indeed, there is no army here that crosses the border of another state and thereby declares war. Today you can blame everything on the USSR and say that it was Stalin who started the war. But there is a problem with the evidence base for this hypothesis. I will not help our “partners” and look for what motives the USSR might have had for the war, but I will give facts why Stalin did not need the aggravation of relations (at least not directly in 1946):

  • Nuclear weapon. The USA introduced it in 1945, and the USSR in 1949. You can imagine that the overly calculating Stalin wanted to worsen relations with the United States when the enemy had a trump card up his sleeve - nuclear weapons. At the same time, let me remind you, there was also a plan for the atomic bombing of the largest cities of the USSR.
  • Economy. The USA and Great Britain, by and large, made money from the Second World War, so they did not have economic problems. The USSR is a different matter. The country needed to restore its economy. By the way, the USA had 50% of the world GNP in 1945.

The facts show that in 1944-1946 the USSR was not ready to start a war. And Churchill’s speech, which formally began the Cold War, was not delivered in Moscow, and not at its suggestion. But on the other hand, both opposing camps were extremely interested in such a war.

Back on September 4, 1945, the United States adopted “Memorandum 329,” which developed a plan for the atomic bombing of Moscow and Leningrad. In my opinion, this is the best proof of who wanted war and aggravation of relations.

Goals

Any war has goals, and it is surprising that most of our historians do not even try to determine the goals of the Cold War. On the one hand, this is justified by the fact that the USSR had only one goal - the expansion and strengthening of socialism by any means. But Western countries were more inventive. They sought not only to spread their global influence, but also to deal spiritual blows to the USSR. And this continues to this day. The following US goals in the war can be identified in terms of historical and psychological impact:

  1. Substitute concepts at the historical level. Note that under the influence of these ideas, today all historical figures of Russia who bowed to Western countries are presented as ideal rulers. At the same time, everyone who advocated the rise of Russia is presented as tyrants, despots and fanatics.
  2. Development of an inferiority complex among Soviet people. They were always trying to prove to us that we were somehow different, that we were to blame for all the problems of humanity, and so on. Largely because of this, people so easily accepted the collapse of the USSR and the problems of the 90s - it was “payback” for our inferiority, but in fact, the enemy simply achieved the goal in the war.
  3. Denigration of history. This stage continues to this day. If you study Western materials, then our entire history (literally all of it) is presented as one continuous violence.

There are, of course, pages of history with which our country can be reproached, but most of the stories are just made up. Moreover, liberals and Western historians for some reason forget that it was not Russia that colonized the whole world, it was not Russia that destroyed the indigenous population of America, it was not Russia that shot Indians from cannons, tying 20 people in a row to save cannonballs, it was not Russia that exploited Africa. There are thousands of such examples, because every country in history has unpleasant stories. Therefore, if you really want to delve into the bad events of our history, please do not forget that Western countries have no less such stories.

Stages of the war

The stages of the Cold War are one of the most controversial issues, since it is very difficult to gradate them. However, I can suggest dividing this war into 8 key stages:

  • Preparatory (193-1945). The world war was still going on and formally the “allies” acted as a united front, but there were already differences and everyone began to fight for post-war world domination.
  • Beginning (1945-1949). The time of complete US hegemony, when the Americans managed to make the dollar the single world currency and the country’s position was strengthened in almost all regions except those in which the USSR army was located.
  • Rise (1949-1953). Key factors of 1949 that make it possible to single out this year as a key one: 1 - the creation of atomic weapons in the USSR, 2 - the economy of the USSR is reaching the levels of 1940. After this, active confrontation began, when the United States could no longer talk to the USSR from a position of strength.
  • First discharge (1953-1956). The key event was the death of Stalin, after which the beginning of a new course was announced - a policy of peaceful coexistence.
  • A new round of crisis (1956-1970). Events in Hungary led to a new round of tension that lasted almost 15 years, which included the Cuban missile crisis.
  • Second discharge (1971-1976). This stage of the Cold War, in short, is associated with the beginning of the work of the commission to relieve tension in Europe, and with the signing of the Final Act in Helsinki.
  • Third crisis (1977-1985). A new round when the Cold War between the USSR and the USA reached its climax. The main point of confrontation is Afghanistan. In terms of military development, the country staged a “wild” arms race.
  • End of the war (1985-1988). The end of the Cold War occurred in 1988, when it became clear that the “new political thinking” in the USSR was ending the war and so far only de facto recognized the American victory.

These are the main stages of the Cold War. As a result, socialism and communism lost to capitalism, since the moral and psychological influence of the United States, which was openly directed at the leadership of the CPSU, achieved its goal: the party leadership began to put its personal interests and benefits above socialist foundations.

Forms

The confrontation between the two ideologies began back in 1945. Gradually, this confrontation spread to all spheres of public life.

Military confrontation

The main military confrontation of the Cold War era is the struggle of two blocs. On April 4, 1949, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created. NATO includes the USA, Canada, England, France, Italy and a number of small countries. In response, on May 14, 1955, the Warsaw Pact Organization was created. Thus, a clear confrontation between the two systems emerged. But again it should be noted that the first step was taken by Western countries, which organized NATO 6 years earlier than the Warsaw Pact.

The main confrontation, which we have already partially discussed, is atomic weapons. In 1945, these weapons appeared in the United States. Moreover, America developed a plan to launch nuclear strikes on the 20 largest cities of the USSR, using 192 bombs. This forced the USSR to do even the impossible to create its own atomic bomb, the first successful tests of which took place in August 1949. Subsequently, all this resulted in an arms race on a huge scale.

Economic confrontation

In 1947, the United States developed the Marshall Plan. According to this plan, the United States provided financial assistance to all countries that suffered during the war. But in this regard there was one limitation - only those countries that shared the political interests and goals of the United States received assistance. In response to this, the USSR begins to provide assistance in reconstruction after the war to countries that have chosen the path of socialism. Based on these approaches, 2 economic blocks were created:

  • Western European Union (WEU) in 1948.
  • Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) in January 1949. In addition to the USSR, the organization included: Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Despite the formation of alliances, the essence did not change: ZEV helped with US money, and CMEA helped with USSR money. The rest of the countries only consumed.

In the economic confrontation with the USA, Stalin took two steps that had an extremely negative impact on the American economy: on March 1, 1950, the USSR moved away from calculating the ruble in dollars (as was the case throughout the world) to gold backing, and in April 1952, the USSR, China and Eastern European countries are creating a trade zone alternative to the dollar. This trade zone did not use the dollar at all, which means the capitalist world, which previously owned 100% of the world market, lost at least 1/3 of this market. All this happened against the backdrop of the “economic miracle of the USSR.” Western experts said that the USSR would be able to reach the 1940 level after the war only by 1971, but in reality this happened already in 1949.

Crises

Cold War crises
Event date
1948
Vietnam War 1946-1954
1950-1953
1946-1949
1948-1949
1956
Mid 50's - mid 60's
Mid 60's
War in Afghanistan

These are the main crises of the Cold War, but there were others, less significant. Next, we will briefly consider what the essence of these crises was and what consequences they led to the world.

Military conflicts

In our country, many people do not take the Cold War seriously. We have in our minds the understanding that war is “checkers drawn,” weapons in hand and in the trenches. But the Cold War was different, although even it was not without regional conflicts, some of which were extremely difficult. The main conflicts of those times:

  • The split of Germany. Education of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.
  • Vietnam War (1946-1954). Led to the division of the country.
  • Korean War (1950-1953). Led to the division of the country.

Berlin crisis of 1948

To properly understand the essence of the Berlin crisis of 1948, you should study the map.

Germany was divided into 2 parts: western and eastern. Berlin was also in the zone of influence, but the city itself was located deep in the eastern lands, that is, in the territory controlled by the USSR. In an effort to put pressure on West Berlin, the Soviet leadership organized its blockade. This was a response to the recognition of Taiwan and its acceptance into the UN.

England and France organized an air corridor, supplying the residents of West Berlin with everything they needed. Therefore, the blockade failed and the crisis itself began to slow down. Realizing that the blockade was leading nowhere, the Soviet leadership lifted it, normalizing life in Berlin.

The continuation of the crisis was the creation of two states in Germany. In 1949, the western states were transformed into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). In response, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was created in the eastern states. It is these events that should be considered the final split of Europe into 2 opposing camps - West and East.

Revolution in China

In 1946, civil war began in China. The communist bloc staged an armed coup in an effort to overthrow the government of Chiang Kai-shek of the Kuomintang party. The civil war and revolution became possible thanks to the events of 1945. After the victory over Japan, a base was created here for the rise of communism. Starting in 1946, the USSR began supplying weapons, food and everything necessary to support the Chinese communists who were fighting for the country.

The revolution ended in 1949 with the formation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), where all power was in the hands of the Communist Party. As for the Chiang Kai-shekites, they fled to Taiwan and formed their own state, which was very quickly recognized in the West, and even accepted it into the UN. In response to this, the USSR leaves the UN. This is an important point because it had a major impact on another Asian conflict, the Korean War.

Formation of the State of Israel

From the first meetings of the UN, one of the main issues was the fate of the state of Palestine. At that time, Palestine was actually a colony of Great Britain. The division of Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state was an attempt by the USA and the USSR to strike at Great Britain and its positions in Asia. Stalin approved the idea of ​​​​creating the state of Israel, because he believed in the strength of the “left” Jews, and hoped to gain control over this country, strengthening his position in the Middle East.


The Palestinian problem was resolved in November 1947 at the UN Assembly, where the position of the USSR played a key role. Therefore, we can say that Stalin played a key role in the creation of the state of Israel.

The UN Assembly decided to create 2 states: Jewish (Israel" and Arab (Palestine). In May 1948, the independence of Israel was declared and the Arab countries immediately declared war on this state. The Middle East crisis began. Great Britain supported Palestine, the USSR and the USA - Israel. In In 1949, Israel won the war and immediately a conflict arose between the Jewish state and the USSR, as a result of which Stalin broke off diplomatic relations with Israel.The battle in the Middle East was won by the United States.

Korean War

The Korean War is an undeservedly forgotten event that is little studied today, which is a mistake. After all, the Korean War is the third most fatal in history. During the war years, 14 million people died! Only two world wars had more casualties. The large number of casualties is due to the fact that this was the first major armed conflict of the Cold War.

After the victory over Japan in 1945, the USSR and the USA divided Korea (a former colony of Japan) into zones of influence: united Korea - under the influence of the USSR, South Korea - under the influence of the USA. In 1948, 2 states were officially formed:

  • Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Zone of influence of the USSR. Head: Kim Il Sung.
  • The Republic of Korea. US zone of influence. The director is Lee Seung Mann.

Having secured the support of the USSR and China, Kim Il Sung started the war on June 25, 1950. In fact, it was a war for the unification of Korea, which the DPRK planned to end quickly. The factor of a quick victory was important, since this was the only way to prevent the United States from intervening in the conflict. The beginning was promising; UN troops, which were 90% Americans, came to the aid of the Republic of Korea. After this, the DPRK army was retreating and was close to collapse. The situation was saved by Chinese volunteers who intervened in the war and restored the balance of power. After this, local battles began and the border between North and South Korea was established along the 38th parallel.

First détente of the war

The first détente in the Cold War occurred in 1953 after the death of Stalin. An active dialogue began between the warring countries. Already on July 15, 1953, the new government of the USSR, headed by Khrushchev, announced its desire to build new relations with Western countries based on a policy of peaceful coexistence. Similar statements were made from the opposite side.

A big factor in stabilizing the situation was the end of the Korean War and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Israel. Wanting to demonstrate to the panicked countries the desire for peaceful coexistence, Khrushchev withdrew Soviet troops from Austria, having obtained a promise from the Austrian side to maintain neutrality. Naturally, there was no neutrality, just as there were no concessions or gestures from the United States.

Détente lasted from 1953 to 1956. During this time, the USSR established relations with Yugoslavia and India, and began to develop relations with African and Asian countries that had only recently freed themselves from colonial dependence.

A new round of tension

Hungary

At the end of 1956, an uprising began in Hungary. Local residents, realizing that the position of the USSR after Stalin's death had become noticeably worse, rebelled against the current regime in the country. As a result, the Cold War came to its most important point. For the USSR there were 2 ways:

  1. Recognize the revolution's right to self-determination. This step would give all other countries dependent on the USSR the understanding that they could leave socialism at any moment.
  2. Suppress the rebellion. This approach was contrary to the principles of socialism, but this was the only way to maintain a leading position in the world.

Option 2 was chosen. The army suppressed the rebellion. To suppress in some places it was necessary to use weapons. As a result, the revolution was defeated, and it became clear that “détente” was over.


Caribbean crisis

Cuba is a small state near the United States, but it almost brought the world to nuclear war. At the end of the 50s, a revolution took place in Cuba and power was seized by Fidel Castro, who declared his desire to build socialism on the island. For America, this was a challenge - a state appeared near their border that acts as a geopolitical adversary. As a result, the United States planned to resolve the situation militarily, but was defeated.

The Krabi Crisis began in 1961 after the USSR secretly delivered missiles to Cuba. This soon became known, and the US President demanded that the missiles be withdrawn. The parties escalated the conflict until it became clear that the world was on the verge of a nuclear war. As a result, the USSR agreed to withdraw missiles from Cuba, and the United States agreed to withdraw its missiles from Turkey.

"Prague Vienna"

In the mid-60s, new tensions arose - this time in Czechoslovakia. The situation here was very reminiscent of the one that existed earlier in Hungary: democratic trends began in the country. Mostly young people opposed the current government, and the movement was led by A. Dubcek.

A situation arose, as in Hungary, - allowing for a democratic revolution meant giving an example to other countries that the socialist system could be overthrown at any time. Therefore, the Warsaw Pact countries sent their troops to Czechoslovakia. The rebellion was suppressed, but the suppression caused outrage throughout the world. But it was a cold war, and, of course, any active actions by one side were actively criticized by the other side.


Détente in war

The peak of the Cold War came in the 50s and 60s, when the deterioration of relations between the USSR and the United States was so great that war could break out at any moment. Starting in the 70s, the war began to detente and the subsequent defeat of the USSR. But in this case I want to dwell briefly on the USA. What happened in this country before “détente”? In fact, the country ceased to be a people's country and came under the control of capitalists, under which it remains to this day. One can say even more - the USSR won the Cold War against the USA in the late 60s, and the USA, as a state of the American people, ceased to exist. The capitalists seized power. The apogee of these events was the assassination of President Kennedy. But after the United States became a country representing capitalists and oligarchs, they already won the Cold War of the USSR.

But let's return to the Cold War and détente in it. These signs were identified in 1971 when the USSR, USA, England and France signed agreements to begin the work of a commission to resolve the Berlin problem, as a point of constant tension in Europe.

Final Act

In 1975, the most significant event of the Cold War détente occurred. During these years, a pan-European meeting on security was held, in which all European countries took part (of course, including the USSR, as well as the USA and Canada). The meeting took place in Helsinki (Finland), so it went down in history as the Helsinki Final Act.

As a result of the congress, an Act was signed, but before that there were difficult negotiations, primarily on 2 points:

  • Freedom of the media in the USSR.
  • Freedom to travel “from” and “to” the USSR.

A commission from the USSR agreed to both points, but in a special formulation that did little to oblige the country itself. The final signing of the Act became the first symbol that the West and East could come to an agreement among themselves.

New aggravation of relations

In the late 70s and early 80s, a new round of the Cold War began, when relations between the USSR and the USA became tense. There were 2 reasons for this:

The United States deployed medium-range missiles in Western European countries that were capable of reaching the territory of the USSR.

The beginning of the war in Afghanistan.

As a result, the Cold War reached a new level and the enemy took up the usual business - an arms race. It hit the budgets of both countries very hard and ultimately led the United States to the terrible economic crisis of 1987, and the USSR to defeat in the war and subsequent collapse.

Historical meaning

Surprisingly, in our country the Cold War is not taken seriously. The best fact demonstrating the attitude towards this historical event in our country and in the West is the spelling of the name. In all our textbooks, “Cold War” is written in quotation marks and with a capital letter, in the West – without quotation marks and with a small letter. This is the difference in attitude.


It really was a war. It’s just that in the understanding of people who have just defeated Germany, war is weapons, shots, attack, defense, and so on. But the world has changed and in the Cold War, contradictions and ways to resolve them came to the fore. Of course, this also resulted in real armed clashes.

In any case, the results of the Cold War are important, since as a result of its results the USSR ceased to exist. This ended the war itself, and Gorbachev received a medal in the United States “for victory in the Cold War.”

Becoming the largest and most brutal conflict in the entire history of mankind, a confrontation arose between the countries of the communist camp on the one hand and Western capitalist countries on the other, between the two superpowers of that time - the USSR and the USA. The Cold War can be briefly described as a competition for dominance in the new post-war world.

The main reason for the Cold War was the insoluble ideological contradictions between two models of society - socialist and capitalist. The West feared the strengthening of the USSR. The absence of a common enemy among the victorious countries, as well as the ambitions of political leaders, also played a role.

Historians identify the following stages of the Cold War:

  • March 5, 1946 - 1953: The Cold War began with Churchill's speech in Fulton in the spring of 1946, which proposed the idea of ​​creating an alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries to fight communism. The US goal was an economic victory over the USSR, as well as achieving military superiority. In fact, the Cold War began earlier, but it was by the spring of 1946 that, due to the USSR’s refusal to withdraw troops from Iran, the situation seriously worsened.

    • 1953-1962: During this period of the Cold War, the world was on the brink of nuclear conflict. Despite some improvement in relations between the Soviet Union and the United States during Khrushchev's Thaw, it was at this stage that events took place in the GDR and Poland, the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, as well as the Suez Crisis. International tensions increased following the Soviet development and successful testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in 1957.

    However, the threat of nuclear war receded as the Soviet Union was now able to retaliate against US cities. This period of relations between the superpowers ended with the Berlin and Caribbean crises of 1961 and 1962. respectively. The Cuban missile crisis was resolved only through personal negotiations between the heads of state - Khrushchev and Kennedy. As a result of the negotiations, agreements on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons were signed.

  • 1962-1979: The period was marked by an arms race that undermined the economies of rival countries. The development and production of new types of weapons required incredible resources. Despite the tensions between the USSR and the USA, strategic arms limitation agreements were signed. The development of the joint Soyuz-Apollo space program began. However, by the beginning of the 80s, the USSR began to lose in the arms race.
  • 1979-1987: Relations between the USSR and the USA deteriorated again after the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. In 1983, the United States deployed ballistic missiles at bases in Italy, Denmark, England, Germany, and Belgium. The development of an anti-space defense system was underway. The USSR responded to the actions of the West by withdrawing from the Geneva negotiations. During this period, the missile attack warning system was in constant combat readiness.
  • 1987-1991: the coming to power in the USSR in 1985 entailed not only global changes within the country, but also radical changes in foreign policy, called “new political thinking.” Ill-conceived reforms completely undermined the economy of the Soviet Union, which led to the country's virtual defeat in the Cold War.

The end of the Cold War was caused by the weakness of the Soviet economy, its inability to no longer support the arms race, as well as pro-Soviet communist regimes. Anti-war protests in different parts of the world also played a certain role. The results of the Cold War were dismal for the USSR. The symbol of the victory of the West was the reunification of Germany in 1990.

After the USSR was defeated in the Cold War, a unipolar world model emerged with the United States as the dominant superpower. However, these are not the only consequences of the Cold War. The rapid development of science and technology, primarily military, began. Thus, the Internet was originally created as a communications system for the American army.

Many documentaries and feature films have been made about the Cold War period. One of them, telling in detail about the events of those years, is “Heroes and Victims of the Cold War.”

Cold War

Cold War is a military, political, ideological and economic confrontation between the USSR and the USA and their supporters. It was a consequence of the contradictions between two state systems: capitalist and socialist.

The Cold War was accompanied by an intensification of the arms race and the presence of nuclear weapons, which could lead to a third world war.

The term was first used by the writer George Orwell October 19, 1945, in the article “You and the Atomic Bomb.”

Period:

1946-1989

Causes of the Cold War

Political

    An insoluble ideological contradiction between two systems and models of society.

    The West and the United States are afraid of the strengthening role of the USSR.

Economic

    The struggle for resources and markets for products

    Weakening the economic and military power of the enemy

Ideological

    Total, irreconcilable struggle of two ideologies

    The desire to shield the population of their countries from the way of life in enemy countries

Goals of the parties

    Consolidate the spheres of influence achieved during World War II.

    Put the enemy in unfavorable political, economic and ideological conditions

    USSR goal: complete and final victory of socialism on a global scale

    US goal: containment of socialism, opposition to the revolutionary movement, in the future - “throw socialism into the dustbin of history.” The USSR was seen as "evil empire"

Conclusion: Neither side was right, each sought world domination.

The forces of the parties were not equal. The USSR bore all the hardships of the war, and the United States received huge profits from it. Only by the mid-1970s was it achieved parity.

Cold War weapons:

    Arms race

    Bloc confrontation

    Destabilization of the enemy's military and economic situation

    Psychological warfare

    Ideological confrontation

    Interference in domestic politics

    Active intelligence activity

    Collection of incriminating evidence on political leaders, etc.

Main periods and events

    March 5, 1946- W. Churchill's speech in Fulton(USA) - the beginning of the Cold War, in which the idea of ​​​​creating an alliance to fight communism was proclaimed. Speech by the British Prime Minister in the presence of the new American President Truman G. two goals:

    Prepare the Western public for the subsequent gap between the winning countries.

    Literally erase from people’s consciousness the feeling of gratitude to the USSR that appeared after the victory over fascism.

    The United States has set a goal: to achieve economic and military superiority over the USSR

    1947 – "Truman Doctrine"" Its essence: containing the spread of the expansion of the USSR by creating regional military blocs dependent on the United States.

    1947 - Marshall Plan - aid program for Europe after World War II

    1948-1953 - Soviet-Yugoslav conflict over the question of ways to build socialism in Yugoslavia.

    The world is split into two camps: supporters of the USSR and supporters of the USA.

    1949 - the split of Germany into the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany, the capital is Bonn, and the Soviet GDR, the capital is Berlin. (Before this, the two zones were called Bisonia)

    1949 – creation NATO(North Atlantic Military-Political Alliance)

    1949 – creation Comecon(Council for Mutual Economic Assistance)

    1949 - successful atomic bomb testing in the USSR.

    1950 -1953 – Korean War. The USA participated in it directly, and the USSR participated in a veiled manner, sending military specialists to Korea.

US target: prevent Soviet influence in the Far East. Bottom line: division of the country into the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea (capital Pyongyang), established close contacts with the USSR, + into the South Korean state (Seoul) - a zone of American influence.

2nd period: 1955-1962 (cooling in relations between countries , growing contradictions in the world socialist system)

    At this time, the world was on the verge of a nuclear disaster.

    Anti-communist protests in Hungary, Poland, events in the GDR, Suez crisis

    1955 - creation OVD- Warsaw Pact organizations.

    1955 - Geneva Conference of Heads of Government of the Victorious Countries.

    1957 - development and successful testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the USSR, which increased tensions in the world.

    October 4, 1957 - opened space age. Launch of the first artificial earth satellite in the USSR.

    1959 - victory of the revolution in Cuba (Fidel Castro). Cuba became one of the most reliable partners of the USSR.

    1961 - worsening relations with China.

    1962 – Caribbean crisis. Settled by N.S. Khrushchev And D. Kennedy

    Signing of a number of agreements on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

    An arms race that significantly weakened the economies of countries.

    1962 - complication of relations with Albania

    1963-USSR, UK and USA signed first nuclear test ban treaty in three spheres: atmosphere, space and underwater.

    1968 - complications in relations with Czechoslovakia (“Prague Spring”).

    Dissatisfaction with Soviet policy in Hungary, Poland, and the GDR.

    1964-1973- US war in Vietnam. The USSR provided military and material assistance to Vietnam.

3rd period: 1970-1984- tension strip

    1970s - the USSR made a number of attempts to strengthen " détente" international tension, arms reduction.

    A number of agreements on the limitation of strategic weapons have been signed. So in 1970 there was an agreement between Germany (W. Brand) and the USSR (Brezhnev L.I.), according to which the parties pledged to resolve all their disputes exclusively peacefully.

    May 1972 - American President R. Nixon arrived in Moscow. Treaty limiting missile defense systems signed (PRO) And OSV-1- Interim Agreement on Certain Measures in the Field of Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.

    Convention on the prohibition of development, production and accumulation of reserves bacteriological(biological) and toxic weapons and their destruction.

    1975- the highest point of détente, signed in August in Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe And Declaration of Principles on Relationships Between states. 33 states signed it, including the USSR, USA, and Canada.

    Sovereign equality, respect

    Non-use of force and threats of force

    Inviolability of borders

    Territorial integrity

    Non-interference in internal affairs

    Peaceful settlement of disputes

    Respect for human rights and freedoms

    Equality, the right of peoples to control their own destinies

    Cooperation between states

    Conscientious fulfillment of obligations under international law

    1975 - joint space program Soyuz-Apollo.

    1979- Treaty on the Limitation of Offensive Arms – OSV-2(Brezhnev L.I. and Carter D.)

What are these principles?

4th period: 1979-1987 - complication of the international situation

    The USSR became a truly great power that had to be reckoned with. The detente of tension was mutually beneficial.

    The aggravation of relations with the United States in connection with the entry of USSR troops into Afghanistan in 1979 (the war lasted from December 1979 to February 1989). USSR goal- protect the borders in Central Asia against the penetration of Islamic fundamentalism. Eventually- The United States did not ratify SALT II.

    Since 1981, the new President Reagan R. launched programs SOI– Strategic defense initiatives.

    1983- US hosts ballistic missiles in Italy, England, Germany, Belgium, Denmark.

    Anti-space defense systems are being developed.

    The USSR withdraws from the Geneva negotiations.

5 period: 1985-1991 - the final stage, mitigation of tension.

    Having come to power in 1985, Gorbachev M.S. pursues a policy "new political thinking".

    Negotiations: 1985 - in Geneva, 1986 - in Reykjavik, 1987 - in Washington. Recognition of the existing world order, expansion of economic ties between countries, despite different ideologies.

    December 1989- Gorbachev M.S. and Bush at the summit on the island of Malta announced about the end of the Cold War. Its end was caused by the economic weakness of the USSR and its inability to further support the arms race. In addition, pro-Soviet regimes were established in Eastern European countries, and the USSR lost support from them as well.

    1990 - German reunification. It became a kind of victory for the West in the Cold War. A fall Berlin Wall(existed from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989)

    December 25, 1991 - President D. Bush announced the end of the Cold War and congratulated his compatriots on their victory.

Results

    The formation of a unipolar world, in which the United States, a superpower, began to occupy a leading position.

    The United States and its allies defeated the socialist camp.

    The beginning of the Westernization of Russia

    The collapse of the Soviet economy, the decline of its authority in the international market

    The emigration of Russian citizens to the West, his lifestyle seemed too attractive to them.

    The collapse of the USSR and the beginning of the formation of a new Russia.

Terms

Parity- the primacy of a party in something.

Confrontation– confrontation, collision of two social systems (people, groups, etc.).

Ratification– giving the document legal force, its acceptance.

Westernization– borrowing a Western European or American way of life.

Material prepared by: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna

COLD WAR COLD WAR

“COLD WAR”, a term denoting a state of military-political confrontation between states and groups of states, in which an arms race is waged, economic pressure measures are applied (embargo, economic blockade, etc.), and military-strategic bridgeheads and bases are organized. The Cold War began shortly after World War II (cm. THE SECOND WORLD WAR). Basically ended in the second half of the 1980s - early 1990s. mainly in connection with democratic transformations in many countries of the former socialist system.
Beginning of confrontation
After World War II, the unity of the victorious countries could not be maintained for long. The USSR, on the one hand, and the USA, Great Britain and France, on the other, represented different social systems. Both sides sought to expand the territories in which their social orders were widespread. The USSR sought to gain access to resources that were previously controlled by capitalist countries. Pro-communist and pro-Soviet partisan movements unfolded in Greece, Iran, China, Vietnam and other countries. The United States and its allies sought to maintain their dominance in Western Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
War-ravaged residents of Europe and Asia were very interested in the experience of rapid industrial construction in the USSR. Information about the Soviet Union was often idealized, and millions of people hoped that replacing the capitalist system, which had fallen on hard times, with a socialist one could quickly overcome the devastation.
The Cold War caused a split in the world into two camps, gravitating towards the USSR and the USA. The conflict between the USSR and former allies occurred gradually. March 5, 1946, speaking in the presence of US President Truman (cm. TRUMAN Harry) in Fulton, W. Churchill (cm. CHURCHILL Winston Leonard Spencer) accused the USSR of unleashing global expansion, of attacking the territory of the “free world,” that is, that part of the planet that was controlled by capitalist countries. Churchill called on the “Anglo-Saxon world,” that is, the USA, Great Britain and their allies to repel the USSR. His words about the division of Europe with the “Iron Curtain” became popular. The Fulton speech became a kind of declaration of the Cold War. However, in the United States there were many opponents of confrontation with the USSR.
But in 1946-1947. The USSR increased pressure on Greece and Turkey. There was a civil war in Greece, and the USSR demanded that Turkey provide territory for a military base in the Mediterranean, which could be a prelude to the seizure of the country. Under these conditions, Truman declared his readiness to “contain” the USSR throughout the world. This position was called the “Truman Doctrine” and meant the end of cooperation between the victors of fascism.
However, the front of the Cold War lay not between countries, but within them. About a third of the population of France and Italy supported the Communist parties. The poverty of war-ravaged Europeans was the breeding ground for communist success. In 1947, the US put forward the Marshall Plan (cm. MARSHALL PLAN) to provide European countries with material assistance for economic recovery. For this, the United States demanded political concessions: the Europeans had to maintain private property relations and remove the communists from their governments. This cemented the division of Europe into regimes that accepted American conditions and submitted to the USSR, which opposed such a plan. Under pressure from the USSR, by the end of the war in Eastern Europe, the positions of the communists and their allies sharply strengthened. In these countries, regimes of “people's democracy” emerged. The political division of Europe was complemented by a socio-economic one. The split line passed through the territory of Germany, from which the Federal Republic of Germany emerged in 1949 (cm. FEDERAL DISTRICT) and the German Democratic Republic (cm. GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC). But the blockade of West Berlin (cm. GERMANY), undertaken by the USSR in 1948-1949, failed.
The Cold War required the strengthening of the communist movement, into which new people, often democratically minded, came during the war. In 1947, the largest European communist parties created Cominform instead of the Comintern. (cm. COMINFORM), which was supposed to coordinate the activities of communists in different countries. However, the Cominform was used to condemn the attempts of Eastern European communists to seek their own options for moving towards socialism. This policy led to the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict and the deployment of mass repressions in Eastern Europe. In 1948, the USSR also launched repressive campaigns against anyone who might have cultural contacts with the outside world. Repressions directed against dissidents also began in Western countries, primarily in the United States. These events became known as the “witch hunts.” (cm. WITCH-HUNT)
In April 1949, the USA, Canada and most Western European countries created a military alliance - the North Atlantic bloc (cm. NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION)(NATO). The USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe responded to this in 1955 by creating their own military alliance - the Warsaw Pact Organization (cm. WARSAW TREATY 1955).
Immediately after the start of the Cold War, the countries of the Far East turned into an arena of fierce struggle between supporters of communist ideas and the pro-Western path of development. The significance of this struggle was very great, since the Pacific region contained enormous human and raw material resources. The stability of the capitalist system largely depended on control of this region. After the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War of 1946-1949. Communist expansion in the Far East intensified. The United States and other Western countries chose a tough military response to the communist challenge, which led to the National Liberation War in Vietnam from 1946-1954. and the Korean War (cm. KOREA (South Korea)). The involvement of Western countries in wars in Asia significantly weakened their strategic positions. At the same time, the collapse of the colonial system occurred.
The rivalry between the USSR and the USA inevitably led to a build-up of armaments by both blocs - socialist and capitalist. The goal of the opponents was to achieve superiority in the field of atomic and then nuclear weapons, as well as in the means of their delivery. Soon, in addition to bombers, missiles became such means. The nuclear missile arms race has begun. Initially, the United States was the leader in the race. They had atomic weapons, first tested back in August 1945. The plans of the American General Staff provided for the use of atomic weapons against the USSR and its allies in the event of a military conflict. The Soviet military-industrial complex made every effort to create its own atomic bomb. Soviet scientists and intelligence officers worked on this task. Some engineering solutions were obtained through intelligence channels from secret American agencies, but this data could not have been used if Soviet scientists had not come close to creating atomic weapons on their own. The creation of atomic weapons in the USSR was a matter of time, but this time did not exist, so intelligence data was of great importance. In 1949, the USSR tested its own atomic bomb. This news shocked the American leadership. The presence of the bomb in the USSR kept the United States from using atomic weapons in Korea, although this possibility was discussed by high-ranking American military officials.
In 1952, the United States tested a thermonuclear device (cm. THERMONUCLEAR WEAPONS). In 1953, the USSR tested a thermonuclear bomb. From this time the USA until the 1960s. they overtook the USSR only in the number of bombs and bombers, that is, quantitatively, but not qualitatively - the USSR had any weapon that the United States had. These two states were the most powerful in the world - superpowers.
In 1953 after Stalin's death (cm. STALIN Joseph Vissarionovich) the new Soviet leadership began to look for ways to improve relations with the West.
From confrontation to “détente”
In 1953-1954. The wars in Korea and Vietnam were ended. 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 the Suez crisis. (cm. SUEZ CRISIS) and the Hungarian events of 1956 (cm. HUNGARIAN EVENTS 1956). But this time the superpowers avoided confrontation. In 1958, the United States came up with the so-called “Eisenhower Doctrine”, (cm. EISENHOWER Dwight) which provided for the possibility of US military intervention in all cases where revolutionary movements threaten the stability of legitimate regimes. The United States has thus taken on the functions of the world's policeman. This soon led them to be drawn into a long war in Indochina.
Leader of the USSR, First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N. S. Khrushchev (cm. KHRUSHCHEV Nikita Sergeevich) during this period was not interested in intensifying confrontation. The USSR's position in the world was strong, the USSR was ahead of the United States in space exploration, which was a symbol of the success of the scientific and technological revolution in the Soviet Union. In 1959, Khrushchev visited the United States. This was the first ever visit of a Soviet leader to America. But in 1960, relations between the USSR and the USA deteriorated again due to an incident with an American U-2 aircraft that invaded the air limits of the USSR.
In 1960, J. Kennedy won the US presidential election (cm. KENNEDY John). He built his election campaign on the idea that America would fall behind the Soviet Union. Kennedy put forward the slogan of a “new frontier.” America and its allies had to reach new frontiers both technically and in military-political terms. The doctrine of containing communism was considered insufficient; a counter-offensive against communist expansion was necessary.
Immediately after coming to power, Kennedy attempted to overthrow the pro-communist regime of F. Castro (cm. CASTRO Fidel) in Cuba, operation on Playa Giron (cm. CARIBBEAN CRISIS) failed. Before Kennedy had time to recover from this defeat, a new crisis overtook him. At the first meeting with the new American president in April 1961, Khrushchev demanded to change the status of West Berlin - the center of Western civilization, surrounded on all sides by the territory of the socialist GDR. Kennedy opposed it, and the Berlin Crisis of 1961 unfolded. (cm. BERLIN (city)).
In 1962, nuclear missile rivalry reached its peak in the Cuban Missile Crisis. (cm. CARIBBEAN CRISIS). This 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. During the crisis, the USSR and the USA agreed for the first time to limit the arms race. Kennedy advocated a more realistic course towards the USSR, and for resolving controversial issues through negotiations. In case of emergency, a direct telephone connection (“hotline”) was established between the President of the United States and the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
Scientists around the world have pointed to such a dangerous consequence of the arms race as nuclear weapons testing. On August 15, 1963, the Three-Environment Test Ban Treaty was concluded.
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 in November 1963, 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 Vietnam War unfolded (cm. WAR IN VIETNAM).
In the mid-1960s. superpowers faced great difficulties (the Sino-Soviet conflict, the Indochina war), which forced them to move from the Cold War to establishing more peaceful relations, to politics "discharge" international tension.
Exacerbation of the Cold War in 1979-1985.
During detente, important documents on the Limitation of Strategic Arms were adopted. However, while limiting the overall volumes of nuclear weapons and missile technology, these agreements had little to do with the deployment of nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, the superpowers 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. This led to the missile crisis of 1979-1987.
The detente was finally buried by the invasion of Soviet troops into Afghanistan during the Afghan War. (cm. AFGHAN WAR) in December 1979. Relations between the blocs deteriorated even more after the suppression of the Solidarity trade union association (cm. SOLIDARITY) in Poland. In 1980-1982 The United States carried out a series of economic sanctions against the USSR. In 1983, US President R. Reagan (cm. REAGAN Ronald) called the USSR an “evil empire” and called for its elimination. The installation of new American missiles in Europe has begun. In response to this, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Yu. V. Andropov (cm. ANDROPOV Yuri Vladimirovich) stopped all negotiations with the United States. The world has come to the brink of World War III almost as close as it did during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 1983, Reagan came up with the idea of ​​the Strategic Defense Initiative. (cm. STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE)(SDI), the ideas of “star wars” - space systems that could protect the United States from a nuclear strike. This program was carried out in circumvention of the ABM Treaty (cm. MISSILE DEFENSE). The USSR did not have the technical capabilities to create the same system. Although the United States was also far from successful in this area, communist leaders realized that they could lose the Cold War.
Perestroika and “new thinking”
By the mid-1980s. The countries of “real socialism” entered a period of crisis. Bureaucratic economy (administrative command system (cm. ADMINISTRATIVE COMMAND SYSTEM)) could no longer meet the growing needs of the population and could hardly withstand the arms race. It became increasingly difficult for the USSR to bear the burden of the Cold War, to support allied regimes around the world, and to wage war in Afghanistan. The USSR's technical lag behind the capitalist countries was becoming increasingly noticeable and dangerous.
In March 1985, the new General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, M. S. Gorbachev, came to power in the USSR (cm. GORBACHEV Mikhail Sergeevich). In 1985-1986 he proclaimed a policy of sweeping changes known as perestroika (cm. PERESTROYKA). These transformations involved improving relations with capitalist countries on the basis of equality and openness (“new thinking”). Gorbachev tried to achieve improved relations with Western countries. In November 1985, he 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. But the two presidents got to know each other better, which helped them reach an agreement later. After an unsuccessful meeting in Reykjavik in 1986, the two presidents finally reached an agreement in Washington in December 1987: American and Soviet medium-range missiles would be withdrawn from Europe. In 1989, during the Eastern European revolutions of 1989, the Iron Curtain collapsed.
In February 1989, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan began. The problems that caused an aggravation of international tension not only in 1979-1980, but also in 1946-1947 were resolved. Therefore, we can state the actual end of the Cold War already in 1990. The level of relations between the USSR and Western countries returned to the state before the Cold War, and it was remembered only to proclaim its end, as President George W. Bush did ( cm.

The Cold War is a confrontation between the world systems of socialism (the socialist bloc of states led by the USSR) and capitalism (Western democracies - the USA), expressed in the arms race, fierce ideological struggle, peripheral armed conflicts mainly in countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, instigated and supported by opposing sides.

The term "Cold War" was first coined by US Representative to the UN Atomic Energy Committee Bernard Baruch in a speech in the South Carolina House of Representatives on April 16, 1947.

Cold War years 1946 - 1991

Formal start of the Cold War

The beginning of the Cold War is considered to be Winston Churchill’s speech in Fulton (Missouri, USA), in which he described the situation in the world after the end of World War II:

“From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. On the other side of the curtain are all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe - Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, Sofia. All of these famous cities and the populations in their areas found themselves within what I call the Soviet sphere, all of them in one form or another subject not only to Soviet influence, but also to the significant and increasing control of Moscow .... Communist parties, which were very small in number in all these states of Eastern Europe, have achieved exceptional strength, far superior to their numbers, and are everywhere striving to establish totalitarian control. Almost all of these countries are governed by police governments... With the exception of the British Commonwealth and the United States, where communism is in its infancy, the communist parties, or fifth columns, pose an ever-increasing challenge and danger to Christian civilization."

The end of the Cold War was the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent disappearance of the Socialist camp

Cold War conflicts

  • Korean War 1950-1953
  • Uprising in the GDR 1953
  • First Arab-Israeli War 1956
  • Hungarian uprising 1956
  • Vietnam War 1965-1974
  • Second Arab-Israeli War 1967
  • Uprising in Czechoslovakia 1968
  • Third Arab-Israeli War 1973
  • Military coup in Chile 1973
  • Angolan Civil War 1975-2002
  • Afghan War 1979-1989
  • Civil War in Nicaragua 1981-1990

Only once, in 1962, during the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis, the USSR and the USA almost came into personal confrontation

Stages of the Cold War

  • Churchill's speech
  • Creation of NATO bloc 1949
  • McCarthyism period in the USA 1950-1953
  • “The fight against cosmopolitanism” in the USSR 1948-1953
  • "Thaw" in the USSR 1953-1964
  • Creation of the Warsaw Pact organization 1955
  • Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow 1957
  • Construction of the Berlin Wall 1961
  • Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
  • Brezhnev Doctrine 1968
  • International détente 1972-1975
  • Boycott of the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games
  • Destruction of a South Korean Boeing 1983 passenger airliner by Soviet air defenses
  • Beginning of Perestroika in the USSR 1986
  • German reunification 1990
  • Charter of Paris November 21, 1990.