THE COLD WAR ERA

1945 – 1991
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF COLD WAR?

WHY COLD WAR BEGAN?

The answer lies in the events which happened towards the end of the Second World War. It was the
race for being the hegemon of the world.
The second World war was fought between the Allied powers & the Axis powers.
Allied powers
• USSR
• USA
• UK
• FRANCE
Axis powers
• GERMANY
• JAPAN
• ITALY
How was the Cold War fought?
Experts have termed cold war as “A Race” between two blocs ie USSR & USA. It was clear that there
was no direct confrontation between the two. However a situation in 1962, which was called as the
Cuban Missile crisis is termed as the closest the cold war came to escalating into a full scale war.
The race can be viewed from two aspects:
1. The race for extending their respective sphere of influence wrt their respective ideologies
(Capitalism & Socialism) to other nations.
2. The Arms race. (especially nuclear arms). It was believed that arms acted as a deterrent.
THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
• Cuba got involved in the Cold War when US broke off its diplomatic relations with Cuba in
1961, and Soviet Union increased their economic aid to Cuba.
• In 1961, the USA planned Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, intending to overthrow the head of
Cuban state (Fidel Castro), who was backed by the Soviet Union. However, the operation
failed.
• Fidel Castro then appealed to the Soviet Union for military help, to which Soviet Union decided
to set up a nuclear missile launchers in Cuba aimed at the USA.
• Cuban Missile Crisis, brought two superpowers on the brink of a nuclear war. However, the crisis
was averted diplomatically.
Why & How did the two power blocs emerge?
Both the power blocs ie USSR & USA wanted to increase their respective sphere of influence by
extending their respective ideologies. The geopolitical situation was also conducive for this race.
WHY WAS THE GEOPOLITICAL CONDITION CONDUCIVE?
• Small Countries (who were recently decolonised) wanted to be tied to one superpower in
order to avoid influence of other superpower.
• The smaller nations, on the other hand, were given the promise of protection, weapons &
economic aid against their local rivals.
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION (NATO) & WARSAW PACT
WHAT IS NATO?
Formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty, NATO is a security/military alliance of
31 countries from North America and Europe.
NATO’s fundamental goal is to safeguard the Allies’ freedom and security by political and
military means.
It is a system of collective defence where independent member states agree for mutual defence in
case of any attack by external party.
Article 5 of the Washington Treaty states that an attack against one Ally is an attack against all.
Headquarter - Brussels, Belgium.
NATO +
NATO + is a term used to refer to a coalition consisting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) and five countries:
• Australia.
• New Zealand.
• Japan.
• Israel, and
• South Korea.
The primary objective of this group is to enhance global defense cooperation. Membership in
NATO + would offer several advantages to the members, such as seamless intelligence sharing,
access to cutting-edge military technology, and a strengthened defense partnership with the
United States.
WARSAW PACT
• The Warsaw Treaty Organization, officially the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and
Mutual Assistance, commonly known as the Warsaw Pact (WP),
• It is was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland between the Soviet Union and
seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republics of Central and Eastern Europe in May 1955,
during the Cold War.
• Dominated by the Soviet Union, the Warsaw Pact was established as a balance of power to
NATO. There was no direct military confrontation between the two organizations; instead,
the conflict was fought on an ideological basis and in proxy wars. Both NATO and the Warsaw
Pact led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs.
CHALLENGE TO BIPOLARITY:

What was NAM all about?

• NAM was less homogenous. Therefore it is difficult to define NAM in precise terms.
• It was NOT about being a member of an alliance.
• It was NOT about isolationism.
• It was NOT about neutrality. Neutrality meant staying out of the war. (NAM countries played a
crucial role in mediating between rivals for peace and stability.)
• It was about ENGAGING WITH BOTH THE BLOCS/POLES EQUALLY and not being part of
any one of them.
India & the cold war
India preferred Non Alignment and also raised its voice if any newly decolonised country became part
of these blocs.
India’s response was neither negative nor passive.
Negative: India did not take advantage of the rivalry.
Passive: India actively intervened in world affairs to soften cold war rivalries.
End of Cold War
The cold war ended with the disintegration of USSR in 1990-91. This event clearly marked the victory
for The Capitalist bloc led by USA.
It was the ideology of socialism which lost to the ideology of capitalism.
State of Affairs in USSR?
The Soviet government:
• Ensured minimum standard of living to all citizens.
 • Government subsidised basic necessities like food, health, education, etc.
• There was NO unemployment.
• Land & other productive assets were owned & controlled by Soviet state.
Drawbacks of the Soviet System:
• Bureaucratic & Authoritarian.
• Lack of democracy & Freedom of Speech.
• Unaccountable Communist Party.
• Domination of Russia among other republics. (There were 15 republics in USSR)

Reasons for Disintegration:

• Economic stagnation since 1970s.
o Resources were diverted towards nuclear arms and developing satellite states.
o Wages grew but productivity and Technology did not. This caused inflation.
• Awareness among the citizens and their comparison with the development in the west.
• Lethargic administration, rampant corruption, inability of the system to correct mistakes, lack of
transparency and concentration of power.
• Rise of nationalism & desire for sovereignty within various republics including Russia.
Consequences of Disintegration:
• End of Cold War confrontation.
• Power relations in world politics changed.
• The world transformed into a unipolar world with USA as the hegemon.
• Russia and other republics adopted capitalism. (Russia was helped by World Bank, IMF & USA
to adopt capitalism. This phenomenon was termed as Shock Therapy.)
Capitalism was the clear winner and the world turned into a unipolar world from a bipolar world.
USA’s hegemony sustained post the cold war era. But gradually, the world witnessed rise of another
country ie China. USA was envious to this fact and thus the Barack Obama administration rolled out
Pivot to Asia policy to counter the rise of China. India was centric in this policy of USA.
The condition in today’s world is that there are again more than one poles, and this time, the world
is not bipolar but multipolar.
India is considered one of the poles, a rather important one.