Background of the Cold War

The term “Cold War” denotes the absence of large-scale military operations fighting between
the two opponents despite major regional wars, termed proxy wars, supported by both sides.
The USSR and the USA were left as two superpowers with political and economic
differences as a result of the Cold War that split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi
Germany

The seeds of future hostility were sown towards the closing years of World War 2. After the
crossing of the Rhine in March 1945, the fall of Nazi Germany was inevitable. As such the
Allies began drawing up the map of post-war Europe. The problem was each faction had their
own idea about post-war Europe.

Each side held dissimilar ideas regarding the establishment and maintenance of post-war
security. Foreign policy experts believed that while the Western Allies, who would go to
form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), favoured a democratic system of
governments with fair elections as a measure to resolve any issues that might arise in the
future, the Soviet Union was insistent on installing communist governments in countries
under its influence. Even the Allies were divided on the issue of how best to deal with the
now-belligerent Soviet Union. The Americans were more than happy to let the Soviet Union
do as it pleased as their goal mainly to achieve American economic supremacy that would
undo the legacy of old colonial entities like the British Empire, while the French and the
British favoured complete independence of Eastern European countries, especially Poland,
over whose independence both nations had declared the war over Nazi Germany in the first
place. Additional and independent and strong Central Europe would act as a buffer between
the Soviets and Western Europe.

In April 1945, President Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Harry S. Truman. This caused
a remarkable change in US-Soviet relations. Truman distrusted Stalin and opposed many of
the changes that Stalin brought to the geopolitical landscape of Central and Eastern Europe,
especially with regards to the “Polish Question”. The Soviets had installed the communist
government based out of Lublin, who were rivals to the Polish government-in-exile in
London, whose relations with the Soviets had been severed following the discovery of the
Katyn Massacre in 1943.

The 1945 Allied conference in San Francisco established the multi-national United Nations
(UN) for the maintenance of world peace, but the enforcement capacity of its security wing
the United Nations Security Council was effectively paralyzed by the ability of individual
members to exercise veto power. Accordingly, the UN was essentially converted into an
inactive forum for exchanging polemical rhetoric, and the Soviets regarded it almost
exclusively as a propaganda tribune. Thus the stage was set for the longest period of
geopolitical tensions of the 20th century, whose effects last to this day.

Causes of the Cold War

  During World War 2 the United Kingdom, France and the United States aligned
another in order to defeat Nazi Germany. The USSR would join this alliance
following Operation Barbarossa – the invasion of Russia by Nazi Germany. There
were promises that the alliance would continue well after the war.
 After the war, however, tensions started rising up. The USA was the strongest power
that emerged after the war. It was a superpower in economic and military strengths.
 The USSR was the second most powerful country and it had played a key role in
Germany’s defeat in the war. This increased its prestige in the world.
 After the war, in eastern Europe, many countries had communist governments. These
nations saw the USSR with favourable eyes. Those that did not, were replaced by
governments that looked at the USSR in a similar way
 The USA, as also the western European countries saw communism as a threat to its
way of life and towards freedom also.
 The world was polarised into two blocs – the communist powers led by the USSR and
the powers opposed to communism led by the USA. The former group comprised
mostly eastern European nations while the latter by the western European countries.
 The USA began to view every development in the world as either supportive of or
against the rise of communism. It even went to the extent of supporting colonial
powers in their subjugation of the people if it meant curbing communism. This was
their reasoning behind supporting the colonial domination of France in Indo-China.
 The arms race by the two powers also was a factor in rising tensions between them. It
even extended beyond the far reaches of the Earth itself, when both the superpowers
developed technology that would put their respective nations on higher technological
footing than its rivals.

Military Blocs

During the height of the Cold War, the world was divided into the major military blocs
created by the warring superpowers they are as follows:

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – led by the USA

Canada

Denmark

Norway

Portugal

Iceland

Britain

France
Belgium

Luxembourg

Holland

Greece

Turkey

Spain

Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)

Member States of NATO in Europe

2. South-East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) – led by the USA

Britain

France

Australia

New Zealand

Thailand

The Philippines

Pakistan

Member States of SEATO

3. Baghdad Pact – led by USA (name changed to Central Treaty Organization

(CENTO) in 1958)

Britain

Turkey

Iraq (withdrew after a revolution in Iraq in 1958)

Pakistan

Iran

Member States of CENTO

4. Warsaw Pact – led by the Soviet Union

Poland

Czechoslovakia

Hungary

Romania

Bulgaria

German Democratic Republic (East Germany)

Members of Warsaw Pact

Important Events of the Cold War

Some of the important developments in the cold war period are given below:

Korean War

In the first major conflict since the end of World War 2, a crisis occurred in the Korean
peninsula when Communist North Korea invaded democratic South Korea. This was the first
test for the newly-formed United Nations to stop escalation between the two superpowers
who were using their proxies to fight for them. A United Nations Army under the command
of American General Douglas Mac Arthur pushed back North Koreans following the decisive
battle of Inchon. However, the push into North Korea and China threatened to escalate
matters when the Soviet Union pledged to support its allies for what they saw as a fight
“against capitalist tyranny”. The war began on 25th June 1950 and ended on 27th July 1953
with the establishment of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Tensions between North and South
Korea persists to this day despite decades after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The USSR deployed nuclear missiles in Cuba which were ready to be launched onto the cities
of the USA. The USA responded with a naval blockade of Cuba and both superpowers are on
the verge of war. The standoff ended after 13 days when the USSR withdrew the missiles.

Vietnam War

The US intervened in the Vietnam crisis in 1965 by sending troops to aid South Vietnam in
its fight against communist North Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the USSR and
China. The Vietnam war (Which ended on April 30, 1975)proved very costly for the US
where they lost about 58000 men. The losses and anti-war sentiment by its own people forced
the US to withdraw its troops from Vietnam. In 1975, the Vietnam war ended with the fall of
Saigon, the capital of the South Vietnamese government, with a decisive victory for
communists.
Prague Spring

This occurred in 1968. The communist government of Czechoslovakia tried to bring in

reforms such as multiparty democracy and more freedom for the media. This alarmed the
powers that be in Moscow. They feared this would cause a domino effect in Eastern Europe
with every other nation asking for more concessions if the Czechoslovak government was
allowed to continue its present course. The USSR sent in troops on the pretext of restoring
order, leading to the collapse of the Prague spring was thwarted by the USSR which
intervened with troops.

Afghan Invasion

Tensions between the US and the Soviet Union were abating in the seventies. But the
situation in Afghanistan reversed this trend. The Afghanistan crisis further escalated when the
Soviet army invaded Afghanistan to help the communist government there fight the
insurgents called Mujahideen. The United States responded by supporting the Mujahideen
elements in a war that lasted ten years there. The Taliban emerged directly as a result of this
war. The US-funded the Mujahideen through Pakistan’s ISI. The Afghan war ended in 1989
when Soviet troops withdrew from there. This had long-lasting consequences for South Asia
itself. The fighters from the Afghan-Soviet war were funnelled into Kashmir, leading to a rise
in the insurgency in the state.

Mikhail Gorbachev

In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev rose to become the leader of the USSR. He initiates capitalist
reforms known as perestroika and glasnost. He also let the Berlin Wall crumbled on October
30, 1989. Finally, in 1991, the Soviet Union was disbanded and new countries Russia and
others emerged as independent nations. Most of the eastern European countries have popular
uprisings against communist governments.

Non-Aligned Movement

Another outcome of the cold war is the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). When the cold war
emerged, there were many newly independent countries in the continents of Asia and Africa.
Most of them including India did not want to be aligned with either the USA or the USSR.
This led to the development of the NAM which played a huge role in curbing the spread of
the cold war to cover the entire globe. NAM was opposed to military blocs like NATO. The
major leaders of the NAM countries who played a significant role in it were India’s
Jawaharlal Nehru, Indonesia’s Sukarno, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Yugoslavia’s
President Tito.