Cold War: A Historical Analysis of the Global Conflict
Cold War
At the end of World War II, territories were divided between the victorious powers at the meetings in Yalta and Potsdam. Under these agreements, since 1945, the world was divided into two areas led by the U.S. and the USSR. Stalin refused to withdraw the Red Army troops. The Soviet Union annexed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and parts of Poland and Romania. In the years following, the eastern half of Europe adopted Soviet policies. The western part retained the parliamentary system of liberal democracy, with political parties and a capitalist economy. The two global superpowers (USA and USSR) developed new nuclear weapons; this system was called the balance of terror. In 1963, after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviets began to speak of peaceful coexistence between the two powers; a hotline was established for communication between the presidents of both countries in case of crisis. In 1949, the U.S. created a mutual defense alliance, the NATO Treaty Organization (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). In 1955, the USSR established the Warsaw Pact, which involved the USSR and Eastern European countries. The UN was founded in 1945 by 51 countries, with its headquarters in New York. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, proclaiming the equality of all people regardless of race, color, sex, language, etc. The Iron Curtain divided Germany into two zones: a western (U.S., British, and French) and an eastern (Soviet Union). In 1949, two separate states were created: the Federal Republic of Germany, with a pro-Western economic policy, and the German Democratic Republic, with a communist political and economic system. Korea was also divided into two regions: a capitalist South and a communist North. The boundary was established at the 38th parallel. In 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea. The United States intervened, following the Truman Doctrine. In 1956, Egyptian President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Britain and France intervened militarily, while Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula; the USSR threatened to launch an atomic bomb. In 1959, a revolution in Cuba against the Batista dictatorship led to the establishment of a communist regime under Fidel Castro. In 1962, U.S. planes discovered Soviet missile bases, and President Kennedy imposed a sea and air blockade of the island. A movement led by Ho Chi Minh defeated the French in 1953. The French left the country divided in two: North Vietnam, with a communist regime, and South Vietnam, which was pro-Western. A war against the United States began in 1964 and ended in 1973 with the defeat and withdrawal of the United States, leading to the unification of Vietnam in 1975.
The Evolution of the Communist Bloc
In China, there was a civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists led by Mao Zedong. After the defeat of the Nationalists in 1949, the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed. The Nationalists took refuge on the island of Formosa and founded Taiwan. Eastern European countries had three types of departures from the line set by Moscow:
- Countries that opted for models other than the Soviet Communists: Albania and Romania applied the Chinese Communist model; Yugoslavia chose its own model.
- Other USSR-supported governments faced popular movements (Hungary and Czechoslovakia).
- In Poland, there was radical opposition to the Communist system; workers, intellectuals, and the Church supported the opposition.
Crisis of the Soviet Model
During the Cold War, there were few policy changes. After Stalin’s death, Khrushchev succeeded him, followed by Brezhnev. Khrushchev attempted a degree of openness, but the crisis made it impossible. Brezhnev reaffirmed the orthodox Stalinist Soviet line. Brezhnev was succeeded by Andropov and then Chernenko. The Soviet economic model introduced spectacular technological advances. But in the 1960s, industrial growth began to stagnate, the standard of living was low, and agriculture deteriorated. With this crisis, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. He introduced two famous words: Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (reform). Glasnost related to the need for transparency with greater freedom of speech and press, and Perestroika resulted in radical political decisions: unilateral arms reduction and reduced military spending, democratization of the CPSU, and the withdrawal of aid from socialist countries. With the collapse of the USSR, Gorbachev tried to create a federal state structure but failed, leading to the coup of August 1991. Gorbachev resigned in late 1991, and Yeltsin dissolved the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War period.