The history of the beginning of the Cold War is one of the most relevant and important topics for the study of modern history. This period, which began at the end of the Second World War and lasted until the late 1990s, had a significant impact on the political, economic and social environment throughout the world.
It is generally accepted that the beginning of the Cold War was the breakdown of friendly relations between the United States and the Soviet Union after the end of World War II. The outbreak of an arms race, ideological contradictions and the struggle for geopolitical supremacy led to the world facing the threat of nuclear war.
So, the history of the beginning of the Cold War reminds us of the importance of maintaining peace and security at the international level. It also provides lessons on what mistakes and problems can arise in case of misunderstanding and conflict between states. This topic continues to remain relevant in our time, when the world faces new challenges and threats.
The Cold War is a term used to describe the military, economic and political confrontation between two military-political blocs led by the USSR and the USA in the second half of the 20th century. In the literal sense, this cannot be called a war, since there was no direct military clash between the participants in the confrontation, which did not prevent them from supporting the warring parties in a series of conflicts around the globe. The rivalry between the two superpowers was accompanied by an arms race—both conventional and nuclear—that periodically brought the world to the brink of World War III. Also in the confrontation, great importance was attached to ideology - communism and capitalism collided in the struggle for hegemony in the world.
Only one Western power emerged from this war stronger than it entered the conflict.
The United States of America did not conduct military operations on its territory, and therefore its cities remained unharmed. Even the loss of life was small compared to the losses of other countries. But the war led to the flourishing of the American military industry and made other countries of the world dependent on exports from the United States.
In 1945, the U.S. share of Western industrial output was almost two-thirds—about a third of global merchandise exports. American banks have concentrated more than half of the gold reserves of the Western world.
The second post-war superpower was the Soviet Union. The enormous contribution of the USSR to the victory over Nazi Germany aroused sympathy for it in the West and support of communists in different countries.
Thus, after the war, the Soviet Union gained dominant military-political and economic influence in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania. And with the liberation of China and North Korea by the Soviet army from fascism and Japanese militarism, the USSR had influence in these countries.
- 1FearThe victorious superpowers - the USA and the USSR - after World War II were justifiably afraid of each other's increased influence on other states. Mutual fears soon turned into a struggle for spheres of influence and a frantic rivalry for the status of the only superpower.
- 2ResourcesEconomic growth requires the exchange of raw materials and final products of all forms of consumption. Therefore, both the USSR and the USA fought for markets for the circulation of their own and other people's resources. By having control over the territory of other countries, they could control other people's resources, including such important ones as oil, gas and minerals. Even if the superpower could not dispose of all the benefits of its “partners,” it kept them outside the influence of its competitor.
- 3Ideological conflictThe antagonism between capitalist America and the socialist Soviet Union made them temporary allies at best. The ideological contradictions between the two models of society - socialist and capitalist - were insurmountable.
It is traditional to divide the Cold War into five key stages. They were mainly characterized by the activities of politicians at the head of the USSR and the USA. As they changed, so did the mood of war. Also, the general background of the war was influenced by activities within other states, especially where there was a struggle between adherents of capitalism and socialism.
Churchill's unofficial statement about the Cold War would later be cemented in a document known as the Truman Doctrine. This is a foreign policy program announced on March 12, 1947 by US President Harry Truman. The main thesis of the program is humanitarian and financial support for countries with non-communist regimes in exchange for the placement of American military bases there. They were placed there, of course, to expand the combat potential of the United States, as well as to contain the forces of the Soviet Union.
In April 1948, the Marshall Plan was announced. In essence, it was a large-scale assistance program for European countries that suffered during the Second World War. It was nominated by US Secretary of State George Marshall due to fear of communist expansion in Europe. Support was provided to almost all non-communist states of Western Europe, the Scandinavian countries, as well as Turkey and Greece. A separate point was the provision of assistance to West Germany, since this territory was economically dependent on the USSR. In response to US actions, the Soviet Union banned land communications with West Berlin. As a result of such actions, in 1949, Germany officially split into two states with different regimes and allies - the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). This event went down in history as the Berlin Crisis. Later, on the initiative of the GDR authorities, the Berlin Wall was built on the border of the states.
North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) One of the prerequisites for the creation of the alliance was the doctrine of “containing the USSR”, proclaimed in March 1947 by US President Harry Truman. The beginning of its formalization is considered to be the Brussels Pact of 1948 between Belgium, Great Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France, which provided for collective defense. At the same time, negotiations were held with the United States and Canada on the creation of a single union. On April 4, 1949, the foreign ministers of 12 states - Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the USA and France - signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington (unofficially - the Washington Treaty), which became the basis of the military-political union - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Its goal was declared to be “strengthening stability and increasing prosperity in the North Atlantic region.” According to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, an attack on one of the parties to the agreement is considered an aggression against all countries that signed it. The treaty entered into force on August 24 (the day of delivery of the instruments of ratification), the depositary is the United States. |
Scientific and technical competition between the USSR and the rest of the world
The United States, with the support of Great Britain and a number of other countries, began a cold war against the former ally that saved the world from the fascist plague. The Soviet people had to not only quickly restore the destroyed national economy, but also create a military-industrial complex, and join in scientific and technological competition with virtually the rest of the world. In 1949, the NATO bloc was formed. In the economic (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, since 1949) and military-political (Warsaw Pact Organization, since 1955) associations of socialist countries, the main burden fell on the Soviet Union.
In the USSR, research into the atomic nucleus began in the second half of the 1930s.
In 1941-1942. The Soviet leadership learned about the American atomic project.
In September 1942, a decree was adopted to create a uranium bomb.
Since 1943, the Soviet atomic project was headed by Academician I.V. Kurchatov. The project was supervised by the all-powerful head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs L.P. Beria. A powerful infrastructure was created, which included factories, laboratories, design bureaus, and research institutes, the activities of which were carried out through various ministries. Arzamas-16, Krasnoyarsk-45, Chelyabinsk-40 and other closed nuclear cities (10 in total) grew up in remote, remote places. Tens and hundreds of thousands of scientists, engineers, military personnel, workers, office workers and prisoners worked selflessly. Legend has it that after the successful test of the atomic bomb on August 29, 1949, L. Beria distributed the awards as follows: those who were to be shot if the test failed received the title of Hero of Socialist Labor; those who would receive maximum prison terms were awarded the Order of Lenin, etc. Outstanding scientists took part in the implementation of the atomic project, later three times Heroes of Socialist Labor I. V. Kurchatov, A. D. Sakharov, Yu. B. Khariton and etc. In total, more than a hundred nuclear scientists received the gold stars of Heroes in the USSR.
History of science and technology in achievements Artificial Earth satellite
At the end of 1956, Academician M. N. Tikhonravov proposed a satellite project that weighed just over 80 kg. On October 4, 1957, the world's first artificial Earth satellite was successfully launched. In November 1957, the second Soviet satellite was launched with the dog Laika on board. This device made 2370 revolutions around the Earth and burned up in the dense layers of the atmosphere on April 14, 1958. In May 1958, the USSR launched the third satellite, which was a real automatic scientific station. The first serial Soviet satellite, Cosmos, was launched on March 16, 1962.
The Americans' first version of the satellite was unsuccessful. The American Explorer satellite, weighing 8.21 kg, was launched into orbit on January 31, 1958.
On April 12, 1961, Yu. A. Gagarin made his first flight into space. The breakthrough into space was the result of the efforts of hundreds of enterprises, research institutes, design bureaus, tens of thousands of people working in various regions of the country, for example in Leningrad.
In the 1950s military aviation mastered supersonic speeds, and in the 1970s. The first passenger aircraft flying at supersonic speeds appeared: the Soviet Tu-144 and the Anglo-French Concorde.
The first flight of the Tu-144 supersonic passenger aircraft took place on December 31, 1968, two months earlier than Concorde. The aircraft combined many advanced developments and design solutions. For example, the front horizontal tail was retracted during flight. The Tu-144 could land and take off at 18 airports in the USSR. In 1970, the Tu-144 flew at an altitude of 16,300 m at a speed of 2,150 km/h. In 1973, the Tu-144 crashed during a demonstration flight at the Le Bourget air show (Paris, France). The disaster did not stop the start of regular operating flights from the end of 1975. But operation turned out to be unprofitable, since ticket prices were too high. In 1978, Aeroflot permanently stopped supersonic passenger flights because another disaster had occurred the day before. Tu-144 made 102 flights, of which 55 were passenger flights (3,194 passengers were transported). 16 aircraft were built, which subsequently conducted test flights, set world records, and were used by NASA as a “flying laboratory.”
Western countries also attached great importance to the development of air transport. In 1973, as a result of joint Anglo-French efforts, the Concorde supersonic passenger aircraft appeared. A total of 20 airliners were manufactured, which were operated for 27 years, carrying over 3 million passengers. Concorde reached speeds of up to 2350 km/h and had a flight range of 6.5 thousand km. The Concorde, like the TU-144, turned out to be very uneconomical, noisy and expensive to operate. After the Concorde crash at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport in July 2000, flights on these aircraft were stopped.
Heavy-duty cargo aircraft An-124, created by OKB OK. Antonov in Ukraine in 1982, was intended for the delivery of troops, military equipment and weapons from deep behind the lines to theaters of military operations, transportation of large cargo to anywhere in the world. Composite materials were widely used in the aircraft. The floor was made of titanium alloy. The An-124 returned the USSR's leadership in heavy transport aviation, depriving the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy of the title of the largest aircraft in the world. In 1985, the An-124 Ruslan aircraft set 21 world records, including those for payload capacity (171,219 kg at a height of 10,750 m), and on May 6, 1987, a world record for flight range along a closed route was set ( 20,150.92 km).
The second stage of the Cold War, which lasted just over seven years, from 1955 to 1962, could be the last period of this confrontation. This was due to the serious threat of the outbreak of the third world war.
The parties pledged to help each other in the event of a military threat, as well as to station units of the Soviet army on their territories. This emphasized Moscow's dominant role in the new alliance. The Warsaw Pact was valid for 20 years, with an automatic extension of ten years for those states that did not submit statements of denunciation to the Polish government one year before the expiration of the term.
Оne of the largest armed conflicts of the 20th century was the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War of 1964-1975 was one of the most important events of the Cold War. Its course and results largely predetermined the further development of events throughout Southeast Asia.
The armed struggle in Indochina lasted more than 14 years, from the end of 1960 to April 30, 1975. Direct US military intervention in the affairs of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam continued for more than eight years. Military operations also took place in a number of areas of Laos and Cambodia.
The USSR and the USA also continued their confrontation there. The American government supported South Vietnam, where the uprising began. In total, over half a million Americans were sent to the front. The Soviet Union also took part in the war. Of course, on the opposite side, on the side of North Vietnam. Basically, Soviet soldiers fired from anti-aircraft guns and from the air.
Caribbean crisis In 1961, the US authorities made a radical decision to deploy medium-range missiles on the territory of NATO member Turkey. The distance was enough for them to fly to Moscow and a number of other large cities of the Soviet Union. In response to this, the USSR secretly transports its missiles to the territory of friendly Cuba, which is located on the same continent as the United States. The latter are imposing a naval blockade around Cuban territory. At this time, the Soviet submarine was just supposed to transport ballistic missiles into the country. The world was one step away from nuclear war, but it was avoided through diplomacy. On October 28, at a meeting between US Secretary of Justice Robert Kennedy and USSR Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, a decision was made to withdraw Soviet missiles from Cuba and American missiles from Turkey. The further period of the Cold War will go down in history as the “thaw”. |
In August 1975, the Helsinki Agreements on Security and Cooperation in Europe were signed in Finland. 35 states have established legal, military, economic and humanitarian agreements among themselves. Among the signatories were the USSR and the USA.
The Soviet government sent troops to Afghanistan to support the pro-communist regime. Assessments of this war vary, but most historians, political scientists and even Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the USSR made irreparable political mistakes at that time.
Soviet-American relations reached an extremely dangerous point in 1983, when US President Ronald Reagan declared the USSR an “evil empire.” He did this to justify to the American public the escalation of the arms race, and adopted the Strategic Defense Initiative program.
All efforts to defuse the situation went down the drain in an instant. Both the USA and the USSR deployed their latest missiles in Europe, pointing them at each other. The world has again approached the threshold of the third world war. The tension reached such a peak that even a failure in the warning system could lead to a “hot” war.
The General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Mikhail Gorbachev, voiced the opinion in April 1985 that this arms spiral must be slowed down. He came up with the concept of “new thinking” and proposed to put “socialist pluralism” and “the priority of universal values over class ones.”
On Gorbachev's initiative, in 1985 the first steps were taken towards normalizing relations. Since 1987, the ideological and military-political confrontation between the USA and the USSR initially lost its urgency, and over the next 2-3 years the confrontation almost disappeared.
The final stage of the war is characterized by the total collapse of communist regimes in many countries of the world, as well as the establishment of diplomatic and even friendly relations between yesterday's opponents.
In October 1986, the presidents of the USSR and the USA, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, raised the issue of complete nuclear disarmament at a meeting in Reykjavik. A year later, they signed an agreement on the destruction of short- and medium-range missiles.
In 1989, Gorbachev met with the new President of America, George Bush Sr. The USSR delegation declared its readiness to conduct bilateral cooperation.
That same year, a series of velvet (non-violent) revolutions took place in the Warsaw Pact countries. As a result of the events, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania and the GDR were completely decommunized. The latter initiated the demolition of the Berlin Wall, as it once did the construction. For some, this event will be remembered as the end of the Cold War.
On December 26, 1991, during the revolution, the Soviet Union collapsed. It was caused by many factors, such as: perestroika, mass strikes, a split in the Communist Party, the State Emergency Committee putsch, etc. As a result of the collapse, the state was divided into many independent republics.
However, the official date of the end of the Cold War is considered to be February 1, 1992. On this day, the newly elected president of the RSFSR and the head of the United States, George W. Bush, signed the Camp David Declaration, which explicitly states that Russia and America do not consider each other as potential adversaries.
The Cold War with its global confrontation destroyed the hopes of millions for peaceful cooperation between countries. According to historians, the military-political confrontation of the blocs was a gigantic mistake that cost the world enormous tension and enormous material and human losses.
- Disarmament of nuclear powers.
- Overthrow of the socialist regime in the countries participating in the Warsaw Pact.
- The collapse of the USSR into a number of independent states.
- Establishment of the status of a leading power by the United States of America.
- Nabieva K.A.
- Poroshina V.A.
- Antoshechkina O.A.
- Dankova M.V.
- Dzheresheva A.R.
- Andreeva V.M.
- Ilzhasov R.N.
