The Cold War: A Historical Overview

Posted on Aug 12, 2024 in History

1. The Beginning of the Cold War.

Very soon, the political, economic, and ideological differences between the USA and the USSR became significant and a matter of time before relations broke down. While at the Yalta Conference (February 1945), Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill agreed on a way to solve problems to end World War II, during the Postdam Conference (July/August 1945), the suspicion and mutual mistrust between their leaders: Stalin, Truman, and Atlee, was evident.

The breakdown between former allies and the subsequent birth of the two blocs and the Cold War forged during 1945-47. The most remarkable events of this process were:

• The Iran Issue. Iran was occupied during World War II by the Soviet army and the British. Due to strategic interests (easy access to the Middle East) and economic interests (oil production), neither army withdrew after the war, pretending to keep Iran under their control. The USA’s intervention forced the Soviet withdrawal.
• Soviet Expansionism over Eastern Europe. Once the war ended, Stalin did not fulfill his promises to hold free elections in Eastern countries liberated as the Soviet army passed by. They spread their sphere of influence by force and established communist regimes over: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Albania, and the Eastern part of Germany (GDR).
• The Greece Issue. In 1946, a civil war broke out in Greece between communist guerrillas with Soviet support and the democratic government supported by the British. The UK requested help from US President Truman, who, alarmed by the Soviet Union’s influence over popular democracies, granted the request and prevented Greece from falling under communism.
• The Truman Doctrine. On March 12, 1947, Harry S. Truman, President of the USA, explained in a speech a series of principles that can be considered the basis of the Bipolarization and the Cold War. Truman renounced an isolationist policy and assumed leadership in the defense of democracy and the containment of communism worldwide.
• The Marshall Plan. After World War II, Europe was destroyed and wanted to recover from the ashes. In June 1947, US Secretary George Marshall suggested an economic aid program for the reconstruction of the destroyed countries, which had profound effects on both the USA and European economies. Stalin refused it for Eastern Europe, considering it an instrument of North American imperialism.
• This program and its effects can be considered an initiative of the American policy of containment of communism and also provided the opportunity to intervene in Europe in case of conflicts. It was the very beginning of the Cold War.
• The Soviet answer was the Zhdanov Doctrine, which accused the USA of being anti-democratic and imperialist powers. The Soviet intelligence agency (Kominform) encouraged communist parties in Europe to confront the democratic system to achieve revolution.
• Zhdanov’s Two Camps Speech

The Arms Race

The Cold War meant the production and accumulation of weapons by each bloc, especially nuclear ones, which represented a very serious threat to the entire world. Later, the two superpowers agreed to stop their proliferation due to the immense danger.

Military Organizations:

Each bloc defended its sphere of influence through military organizations, such as:

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was made up of: USA, Canada, UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. Its goal was to safeguard security on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Greece and Turkey joined in 1952, and Spain after a referendum in 1982.

The integration of the GFR (German Federal Republic) in 1955 prompted the Soviet Union to establish its own military organization with its “satellite countries”: b) The Warsaw Pact, in 1955, which included the popular democracies: GDR (German Democratic Republic), Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.

The USA built a defense network worldwide through other military alliances:

-OAS (Organization of American States), in 1948.

-SEATO (Southeast Asian Treaty Organization), in 1955 and dissolved in 1977, after the end of the Vietnam War.

-Middle East + Turkey + Iran + Pakistan, which ended in 1979.

-ANZUS, in 1951 to defend the Southeast Pacific area + Indian Ocean area.

The Development of the Cold War

If we can consider 1947 the year of the breakdown between former World War II allies, 1948 is considered the year of the beginning of the Cold War, lasting until the collapse of the communist bloc (1989) and the total dissolution of the Warsaw Pact (1991).

For these long forty years, international relations between the two blocs were not the same but underwent changes. Therefore, we can distinguish several stages or phases depending on the degree of tension or stress between the two blocs:

-An initial phase from 1948 to 1953, which can be defined as maximum tension and rivalry.

-An intermediate phase from 1953 to 1975, in which a dialogue between the blocs began, or détente. It was known as “peaceful coexistence”. (Khrushchev, Eisenhower, and Kennedy’s times)

-A final phase, from 1975 to 1991, featured by an alternation between détente and increased tension. It ends with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the new world order of today.

The Warsaw Pact was superior in terms of the number of soldiers or weaponry. However, its weapons were quite outdated compared to those of NATO, which had higher technology.

Initial Phase (1948-1953).

The main focuses of tension were:

-Czechoslovakia. The communists won elections in Bohemia and Moravia but not in the rest of Slovakia. Once the communists had reached power, they removed all political parties and forced the resignation of the former president, bringing the country under Soviet control. Czechoslovakia was the most developed country in Eastern Europe at the time.

-Berlin. Like the rest of Germany, Berlin was divided into four zones by the allies. The Soviet Union, as a protest against the reunification of the three allied zones, decreed the blockade of Berlin, which was under their control, on June 24, 1948. The USA and the British responded with a constant airlift of 1,400 daily flights to meet the needs of the Eastern population in Berlin (food, energy). Truman threatened Stalin with war if aid were interrupted. Both armies mobilized and were on the verge of war. Stalin ended the blockade in 1949. In 1949, the GFR (German Federal Republic) was created, and the same year, the Communists did the same with the Eastern part (GDR) (German Democratic Republic).

The Korean War (1950-1953).

At the end of World War II, after liberating the territory Japan had invaded, Korea was divided into two zones by the 38th parallel. A communist regime was established in North Korea, and in South Korea, an anti-communist American government ruled.

The invasion of South Korea by the North Korean army in 1950, with the goal of uniting both Koreas, caused Truman’s intervention. He did not want a new communist regime in Asia (China had been one since 1949) and sent an army under MacArthur’s command.

After China intervened to help the North Korean army, the danger of spreading war and communism in the area and the fear of provoking a new world war ended with open peace negotiations. The armistice was signed at Panmunjom in 1953, where both sides agreed to maintain the 38th parallel as the border between the two countries.

Intermediate Phase (1953-1975).

After the Korean War, stress decreased, and the intermediate phase known as “thaw,” “détente,” or “peaceful coexistence” between the two blocs began. International relations relaxed despite the fact that some major conflicts arose. The change in trend was due to:

-The replacement of major superpower leaders: Nikita Khrushchev replaced Stalin, and Eisenhower and later John Fitzgerald Kennedy got along with each other and avoided a direct confrontation between them.

-The balance of power. The Soviet Union produced the atomic bomb in 1949 and the hydrogen bomb in 1953. This significant nuclear advance ended the USA’s hegemony in these terms and prevented a war of catastrophic consequences for the entire world. Therefore, fear of a nuclear escalation was the backdrop for an acceleration of the arms race.

-The establishment of dialogue channels and negotiation. Meetings, summits, and visits by the main leaders of the superpowers were frequent. A new “red telephone” between Moscow and Washington was connected in 1963, and conferences were held to limit strategic weapons, such as SALT I in 1972.

-The emergence of a 3rd bloc. The decolonized countries tried to break up bipolarization by creating the Non-Aligned Countries Bloc, made up of newly formed countries that sought to play a role in international affairs as emerging nations. However, many of these countries were drawn into the orbit of one of the two blocs.

The Suez Canal Crisis (1956)

France and Britain, concerned about its exploitation, sent troops to the area. Israel took advantage of the situation and annexed the Sinai territory. The Soviet Union threatened nuclear intervention if European troops did not withdraw. The USA pressured its allies to abandon the area, and the UN sent blue helmets to prevent a world conflict.

The Hungarian Crisis (1956)

Hungary took advantage of Khrushchev’s open policy and declared itself neutral, abandoning the Warsaw Pact and asking Soviet troops to leave the country. The response was the invasion of Hungary, the execution of its president (Imre Nagy), and the disappearance of the main rebels, with more than 3,000 deaths and 200,000 exiled. Hungary remained under Soviet control. The UN condemned the invasion but did not intervene.

The Second Berlin Crisis.

Berlin was a “hot spot” of the confrontation between capitalism and communism, and in 13 years, 3.5 million people fled to the West seeking job opportunities or simply freedom. In 1961, the Eastern Berlin authorities, to prevent this constant and massive flight, built a concrete, brick, and wire fence wall of 160 km, which divided the city into two parts. This wall was a symbol of communism oppressing people against their will and also a symbol of the world’s division. It was torn down in 1989.

The Cuban Missile Crisis.

After the success of Fidel Castro’s revolution against Batista in 1959, he moved closer to the Soviet Union. In 1961, a Marxist socialist republic was established, which caused tension between Cuba and the USA. President Kennedy authorized CIA operations to invade the island.

In August 1962, a US plane discovered the installation of Soviet rocket ramps capable of carrying nuclear warheads that could threaten US security. Tension escalated, and Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of the island, stopping the arrival of Soviet ships. He advised Khrushchev that he must order his ships to return home if he did not want to see a nuclear war because nuclear weapons were targeting the USSR from Turkey. The world was on the verge of starting a nuclear war, but in the end, Khrushchev withdrew his boats, and the launch bases were dismantled.

The Vietnam War.

Once the Japanese were out of Vietnam, France tried to keep Vietnam despite its population wanting to be independent. Therefore, the Vietnamese, under Vo Nguyen Giap’s command, defeated French troops at Dien Bien Phu (1954).

The Geneva Conference in 1954 ended the conflict and agreed to Vietnam’s independence, but the country was divided by the 17th parallel: North Vietnam, with a communist regime under Chinese and Soviet rule and support, and South Vietnam, with an authoritarian regime backed by France and the USA.

The “Prague Spring”.

Alexander Dubček, Czechoslovakian Prime Minister in 1968, tried to combine communism and freedom by removing the harsher elements of socialism. His intention was to build “a socialism of a human face” by allowing political parties and unions; freedom of opinion, press, and demonstration; the recognition of the right to strike, etc. This liberation process ended in the spring of that year with the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. (These events can be traced in depth in Milan Kundera’s novels)

The Middle East Conflict.

When the UN paved the way for the creation of the state of Israel in 1947 on Palestinian territory, a new state of tension began between the two communities (Jewish and Arab Palestinians). This event has provoked four wars until today:

-Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon did not accept the creation of Israel by Ben Gurion. The Israeli victory meant the effective military occupation of Palestinian territory (except Gaza and the West Bank). It was from then on that the Palestinian exodus began, and the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) was founded.

-In 1956, the Suez Canal crisis took place when Israel attacked Egypt because of the closure of the Suez Canal by Nasser.

-The Six-Day War in 1967, because it lasted for six days. Israel advanced very quickly under Moshe Dayan’s command, occupying the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights, and West Jerusalem. As a result, many Arab countries asked the Soviet Union for help to balance the USA’s support of Israel. Massive migrations of Palestinians and terrorist attacks began.

-The Yom Kippur War in 1973 happened during this Jewish festivity. Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel. Oil was also used as a means of pressure: raising prices, which provoked a deep crisis in 1973.

Peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel ended at Camp David (1979), with an agreement for Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai and the opening of the Suez Canal. Egypt broke off relations with the Soviet Union.

This also caused the radicalization of the Lebanon crisis among Christian and Muslim communities, which developed into a civil war ending with the occupation of the northern part by Syria and the southern part by Israel.

Another relevant event was the Peace Conference held in Madrid (1991), with Yasser Arafat, PLO president, who renounced terrorism as a way of fighting for his free state and the recognition of Palestine.

The Final Phase (1975-1991)

The Soviet Union suffered a deep economic crisis and could hardly afford the Budget needed for a “Galaxies War”, as USA was maintaining. Since then, the initiative of a nuclear disarmament starts from Soviet side. Peaks between Reagan and Gorbachev at Geneva and Washington were key meetings for stopping nuclear weapons scalade, even tried to stop it totally.

The most important conflicto during this final phase was the Afghanistan’s war.  The pro-communist government of this country saw an increasing guerrilla growing up from muslim, nationalsit and integrist groups. The Soviet Union invaded the country in 1979, which provoked  also the USA’s intervention helping the guerrilla with weapons and money. The Soviet Union failed after ten years of war (1979-1989) with enourmous human and economic losses.

This conflicto was the last of the two blocs.The Berlin’s Wall fall (1989), the democratization of the Eastern European countries (1990) and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact (1991) marked the end of the Cold War and the world’s división into two blocs.The new world’s order began since but the powers of today will they be the” emerging countries”, such as India and China