The Cold War, spanning from 1945 to 1991, was a prolonged period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, primarily driven by their conflicting ideologies: capitalism and communism.
Containment- A military strategy to stop the expansion of an enemy. It is best known as the Cold War policy of the United States and its allies to prevent the spread of communism abroad.
Spheres of Influence-a country or area in which another country has power to affect developments although it has no formal authority.
MAD(MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION)- National security policy in which a full-scale use of high-yield weapons of mass destruction by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.
Brinkmanship-is the practice of pushing dangerous events to the brink of disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome. This was practiced by both powers during the Cold War. A prime example would include the Cuban Missile Crisis, the world was inches away from a nuclear war. Both sides pushed the other as far as possible without destroying each other entirely.
Lasting consequences of the Cold War
The United States- The United States won the Cold War but the legacy of that battle still effects the US until this day. They have a military industrial complex that is almost impossible to deny in political and in social terms. It is rooted right into the political system and would need a major political shift to lessen its influence. Some of the old grudges still exist. EX: Cuba The US ideology has turned very far to the right of where they existed during the Cold War.
Demise of the Soviet Union-The World was left with one superpower, the United States. The Soviet Union in pursuing the Cold War used up so much of its resources that its economy was basically an empty shell. The attempt to improve the economy by drastic means lead to its demise. The rump of this union, basically Russia, went through a cataclysmic economic decline that they have still yet to recover from. The modern Russian nationalist movements are mostly based on the reaction of the soviet loss to the west, and are now trying to regain some of those losses.
Mikhail Gorbachev-Former Chairman of the Communist party, and President of the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Gorbachev brought about the end of the Cold War by initiating the Perestroika (meaning restructuring) and Glasnost meaning openness.
When one reporter asked him what was the difference between his policies and the Prague Spring, Gorbachev replied, "Nineteen years"
"Socialism with a human face."
Glasnost- Means openness, was an attempt by the Soviet leadership to increase the freedoms of the Soviet people. He gave them freedom they never previously knew before. This included releasing of many political prisoners and opening up soviet media.
Perestroika-Means restructuring, it was an attempt by the Soviet leadership to counter the chronic stagnation that existed in the Soviet Union for many years by opening the economic system from the tightly controlled five year plans to a more informal system.
Mikhail Gorbachev was born before the Cold War but his formative adult life was all during the Cold War. He was a committed Communist and an able apparatchik who rose through the ranks of the Communist Party to become leader. His main focus was to maintain the ability of the Soviet Union to compete with the western alliance.
EVENTS OF THE COLD WAR
SALT Treaty-Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty- Was an attempt by both the United States & the Soviet Union to control the number of strategic nuclear forces that each side had. Both sides had expended enormous sums of money and resources on developing and building up their ballistic missile forces. At the time it was felt that the existing forces that they had were sufficient enough to totally destroy the other though MAD. The development of anti ballistic missile systems were both being pursued by both sides and it was felt this could lead to a miscalculation by one side or the other to believe they could survive a nuclear attack.
The Vietnam War (1965-1973)-Northern Vietnam was communist and supported by both China and the USSR. Southern Vietnam was more democratic and was supported by the USA. The conflict became an issue when South Vietnamese communists (Vietcong VC) began a guerrilla war against the South's Government. The Vietnam war was started by the Northern Vietnam desire to unify Vietnam. At first they fought the french which they were successful in removing the French forces. There continued success against the southern forces brought in the United States at first to advise the southern forces and then to engage the northern forces with U.S troops. The U.S believed that if the North were to succeed a domino effect would take place and thus communism would spread throughout southeast Asia.
The war in North Korea (1950-1953)-After the second world war ended, Korea which was controlled by japan, was split by the two remaining powers. The Country was cut in half along the 38th parallel with the north being influenced by the Communists, and the south being influenced by the west. The Korean war was started by an act of aggression by the North to takeover the rest of the country. After the north attacked the international world became involved, lead by the United States. It was felt that failure to stop the North from taking over the South would jeopardize the U.S policy of containment regarding Communism, and that such military actions by the communists would be tried elsewhere. The U.S was initially successful in pushing back the northern forces to the point where the western military was going to completely occupy the north. The Chinese were alarmed by this and sent troops into the Korean peninsula which almost pushed Western forces off the peninsula.After the U.S recovered, the battle remained a stalemate along the 38th parallel. Which was ended by treaty in 1953.
THE ARMS RACE-Each side was convince that the other side couldn't dominate the other with strategic and non strategic military systems. The United States Nuclear missile forces were at the time perceived to be lacking effectiveness compared to the soviet missile force. The United States believed that any military improvements achieved by the Soviet Union had to be matched and exceeded. No side wanted to be perceived as weak. On the U.S side it created a situation where the political and economic priorities changed to create the military industrial complex. Proxy wars were fought in numerous locations where both superpowers supplied the weaponry. Each would support a side.
The Berlin Blockade was an attempt in 1948 by the Soviet Union to limit the ability of France, Great Britain and the United States to travel to their sectors of Berlin, which lay within Russian- Occupied East Germany. Eventually, the western powers instituted an airlift that lasted nearly a year and delivered much-needed supplies and relief to West Berlin. This wall Separated Russia's communist ways from West Berlins capitalistic ways. The wall was a political, economic, and cultural curtain between communist East and the democratic West. From the perspective of the United States the Berlin Blockade was perceived as an attempt by the Soviets to end its sphere of influence in Berlin. It was believed by the United States that a failure to supply West Berlin could escalate to the lowering of its influence in West Germany to the Soviets. United States was instituting the marshal plan which was designed to jump start the West German Economy and was apposed by the Soviets.
The Cold war was the relationship given to Russia and U.S during 1945-1991. It stated mainly because of there clash of beliefs, economic systems, and ideologies-Communism VS. Capitalism
The U.S.S.R had different views than the U.S. Both countries raced to be better than the other. The Cold war was started because after the second world war there was only two nations that were left that had the military and industrial strength to dominate the rest of the world. The U.S.S.R hoped to spread communism across the world, and the U.S's main goal was to stop the spread of communism.
The Cold War took place in a number of places globally. It was fought under water, on land, in space and on every continent on the world. The whole world was the battleground. The Cold War was a military, economic, and ideological conflict that was fought globally. Propaganda acted in a way which increased tensions between the two sides.
