How many periods does the Cold War include? How did the Cold War begin?

The Cold War was a period of confrontation between the USSR and the USA. The peculiarity of this conflict is that it took place without a direct military clash between the opponents. The reasons for the Cold War lay in ideological and ideological differences.

She seemed to be “peaceful”. There were even diplomatic relations between the parties. But there was a quiet rivalry going on. It affected all areas - the presentation of films, literature, the creation of new weapons, and economics.

It is believed that the USSR and the USA were in a state of Cold War from 1946 to 1991. This means that the confrontation began immediately after the end of World War II and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. All these years, each country sought to defeat the other - this is what the presentation of both states looked like to the world.

Both the USSR and America sought to gain support from other states. The States enjoyed sympathy from the West European countries. The Soviet Union was popular among Latin American and Asian states.

The Cold War divided the world into two camps. Only a few remained neutral (possibly three countries, including Switzerland). However, some even identify three sides, meaning China.

Political map of the Cold War world
Political map of Europe during the Cold War

The most acute moments in this period were the Caribbean and Berlin crises. Since their beginning, political processes in the world have deteriorated significantly. The world was even threatened nuclear war, – it was difficult to avoid.

One of the features of the confrontation is the desire of the superpowers to surpass each other in various fields, including military technologies and weapons of mass destruction. This was called the “arms race.” There was also competition in the field of propaganda in the media, science, sports, and culture.

In addition, it is worth mentioning the total espionage of the two states against each other. In addition, many conflicts took place on the territories of other countries. For example, the United States installed missiles in Turkey and Western European countries, and the USSR installed missiles in Latin American countries.

Progress of the conflict

The competition between the USSR and America could escalate into the Third World War. Three world wars in one century are hard to imagine, but it could happen many times. Let's list the main stages and milestones of the rivalry - below is the table:

Stages of the Cold War

date	Event	Results
1949	The appearance of the atomic bomb in the Soviet Union	Achieving nuclear parity between opponents.
Formation of the military-political organization NATO (from Western countries).	Exists to this day
1950 – 1953	Korean War. This was the first “hot spot”. The USSR helped the Korean communists with specialists and military equipment.	As a result, Korea was divided into two different states - the pro-Soviet North and the pro-American South.
1955	Creation of the military-political Warsaw Pact Organization - an Eastern European bloc of socialist countries, headed by the Soviet Union	Balance in the military-political sphere, but these days there is no such bloc
1962	Caribbean crisis. The USSR installed its own missiles in Cuba, close to the United States. The Americans demanded that the missiles be dismantled, but they were refused. The missiles of both sides were put on alert	It was possible to avoid war thanks to a compromise when the Soviet state removed missiles from Cuba, and America from Turkey. Subsequently, the Soviet Union ideologically and materially supported poor countries and their national liberation movements. The Americans supported pro-Western regimes under the guise of democratization.
From 1964 to 1975	The war in Vietnam, started by the United States, continued.	Victory for Vietnam
Second half of the 1970s.	The tension eased. Negotiations began.	Establishing cultural and economic cooperation between the states of the eastern and western blocs.
Late 1970s	The period was marked by a new breakthrough in the arms race. Soviet troops entered Afghanistan.	New aggravation of relations.

In the 1980s, the Soviet Union began perestroika, and in 1991 it collapsed. As a result, the entire socialist system was defeated. This is what the end of a long-term confrontation that affected all countries of the world looked like.

Reasons for rivalry

When World War II ended, the USSR and America felt like winners. The question arose about a new world order. At the same time, the political and economic systems and ideologies of both states were opposite.

The US doctrine was to “save” the world from the Soviet Union and communism, and the Soviet side sought to build communism throughout the globe. These were the main preconditions for the conflict.

Many experts consider this conflict to be artificial. It’s just that every ideology needed an enemy – both America and the Soviet Union. It is interesting that both sides were afraid of the mythical “Russian/American enemies”, while seemingly having nothing against the population of the enemy country.

The culprits of the conflict can be called the ambitions of leaders and ideologies. It took place in the form of the emergence of local wars - “hot spots”. Let's list some of them.

Korean War (1950-1953)

The story began with the liberation of the Red Army and the American military of the Korean Peninsula from the Japanese armed forces. Korea has already been divided into two parts - this is how the preconditions for future events arose.

In the northern part of the country, power was in the hands of the communists, and in the southern part - in the hands of the military. The first were a pro-Soviet force, the second - pro-American. However, in fact there were three interested parties - China gradually intervened in the situation.

Damaged tank
Soldiers in the trenches
Evacuation of the squad

Shooting training
Korean boy on the “road of death”
City defense

Two republics were formed. The communist state became known as the DPRK (in full - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea), and the military founded the Republic of Korea. At the same time, there were thoughts about unifying the country.

The year 1950 was marked by the arrival of Kim Il Sung (leader of the DPRK) to Moscow, where he was promised support from the Soviet government. Chinese leader Mao Zedong also believed that South Korea should be annexed militarily.

Kim Il Sung - leader of North Korea

As a result, on June 25 of the same year, the DPRK army marched on South Korea. During three days she managed to take Seoul, the South Korean capital. After this, the offensive operation proceeded more slowly, although in September the North Koreans almost completely controlled the peninsula.

However, the final victory did not take place. The United Nations Security Council voted to send international troops to South Korea. The decision was implemented in September, when the Americans arrived on the Korean Peninsula.

It was they who launched the strongest offensive from the territories that were still controlled by the army of Syngman Rhee, the leader of South Korea. At the same time, troops landed on the West Coast. The American military took Seoul and even crossed the 38th parallel, advancing on the DPRK.

Syngman Rhee - leader of South Korea

North Korea was threatened with defeat, but China helped it. His government sent “people's volunteers,” i.e. soldiers, to help the DPRK. A million Chinese troops began to fight with the Americans - this led to the alignment of the front along the original borders (38 parallels).

The war lasted three years. In 1950, several Soviet air divisions came to the aid of the DPRK. It's worth saying that American technology was more powerful than the Chinese - the Chinese had heavy losses.

The truce came after three years of war - 07/27/1953. As a result, Kim Il Sung, the “great leader,” continued to lead North Korea. The plan for dividing the country after World War II still remains in force, and Korea is led by the grandson of the then leader, Kim Jong-un.

Berlin Wall (13 August 1961 - 9 November 1989)

A decade after the end of World War II, Europe was finally divided between West and East. But there was no clear line of conflict dividing Europe. Berlin was something of an open “window”.

The city was divided into two halves. East Berlin was part of the GDR, and West Berlin was part of the Federal Republic of Germany. Capitalism and socialism coexisted in the city.

Scheme of the division of Berlin by the Berlin Wall

To change the formation it was enough to move to the next street. Every day up to half a million people walked between West and East Berlin. It happened that East Germans preferred to move to the western part.

The East German authorities were concerned about the situation, and the “Iron Curtain” should have been closed due to the spirit of the era. The decision to close the borders was made in the summer of 1961 - the plan was drawn up by the Soviet Union and the GDR. Western states spoke out against such a measure.

The situation became particularly tense in October. US tanks appeared near the Brandenburg Gate, and Soviet military equipment approached from the opposite side. The tankers were ready to attack each other - combat readiness lasted more than a day.

However, then both sides took the equipment to distant parts of Berlin. Western countries had to recognize the division of the city - this happened a decade later. The appearance of the Berlin Wall became a symbol of the post-war division of the world and Europe.

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

• Start: October 14, 1962
• Ending: October 28, 1962

In January 1959, a revolution took place on the island, led by 32-year-old Fidel Castro, the leader of the partisans. His government decided to fight American influence in Cuba. Naturally, the Cuban government received support from the Soviet Union.

Young Fidel Castro

But in Havana there were fears about an invasion by American troops. And in the spring of 1962, N.S. Khrushchev had a plan to install USSR nuclear missiles in Cuba. He believed that this would scare the imperialists.

Cuba agreed with Khrushchev's idea. This led to the sending of forty-two missiles equipped with nuclear warheads, as well as bombers for nuclear bombs. The equipment was transferred secretly, although the Americans found out about it. As a result, US President John Kennedy protested, to which he received assurances from the Soviet side that there were no Soviet missiles in Cuba.

But in October, a US spy plane took photographs of missile launch pads, and the US government began to think about a response. On October 22, Kennedy made a televised address to the US population, where he spoke about Soviet missiles on Cuban territory and demanded their removal.

Then an announcement was made about a naval blockade of the island. On October 24, a meeting of the UN Security Council was held at the initiative of the Soviet Union. The situation in the Caribbean Sea has become tense.

About twenty ships of the Soviet Union sailed towards Cuba. The Americans were ordered to stop them even with fire. However, the battle did not take place: Khrushchev ordered the Soviet flotilla to stop.

From 23.10 Washington exchanged official messages with Moscow. In the first of them, Khrushchev said that the behavior of the United States was “the madness of degenerate imperialism,” as well as “pure banditry.”

After several days, it became clear: the Americans want to get rid of their opponent’s missiles by any means necessary. On October 26, N. S. Khrushchev wrote a conciliatory letter to the American president, acknowledging the presence of powerful Soviet weapons in Cuba. However, he assured Kennedy that he would not attack the United States.

Nikita Sergeevich said that this is the path to the destruction of the world. Therefore, he demanded that Kennedy promise not to commit aggression against Cuba in exchange for the removal of Soviet weapons from the island. The US President agreed to this proposal, so a plan for a peaceful resolution of the situation was already being created.

October 27th was the “Black Saturday” of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Then the Third World War could begin. US aircraft flew in squadrons twice a day in the air of Cuba, trying to intimidate the Cubans and the USSR. On October 27, the Soviet military shot down an American reconnaissance aircraft using an anti-aircraft missile.

Pilot Anderson, who was flying it, died. Kennedy decided to begin bombing Soviet missile bases and attacking the island within two days.

But the next day, the authorities of the Soviet Union decided to agree to the US conditions, that is, to remove the missiles. But this was not agreed upon with the Cuban leadership, and Fidel Castro did not welcome such a measure. However, after this the tension decreased and on November 20 the Americans ended the naval blockade of Cuba.

Vietnam War (1964-1975)

The conflict began in 1965 with an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin. Vietnamese coast guard ships fired on American destroyers that were supporting the anti-guerrilla warfare of South Vietnamese troops. This is how one of the superpowers openly entered into the conflict.

At the same time, the other, i.e. the Soviet Union, indirectly supported the Vietnamese. The war was difficult for the Americans and provoked massive anti-war demonstrations by young people. In 1975, the Americans withdrew their troops from Vietnam.

After this, America began internal reforms. The country remained in crisis for 10 years after this conflict.

Afghan conflict (1979-1989)

• Start: December 25, 1979
• Ending: February 15, 1989

In the spring of 1978, revolutionary events took place in Afghanistan that brought the communist movement, the People's Democratic Party, to power. The head of the government was Nur Mohamed Taraki, a writer.

The party soon became mired in internal contradictions, which in the summer of 1979 resulted in a confrontation between Taraki and another leader named Amin. In September, Taraki was removed from power, expelled from the party, after which he was arrested.

Afghan leaders of the 20th century

“Purges” began in the party, causing indignation in Moscow. The situation was reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution in China. The authorities of the Soviet Union began to fear a change in Afghanistan's course to a pro-Chinese one.

Amin voiced requests to send Soviet troops into Afghan territory. The USSR carried out this plan, at the same time deciding to eliminate Amin.

The West condemned these actions - this is how the Cold War escalated. In the winter of 1980, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Afghanistan by 104 votes.

At the same time, Afghan opponents of the communist revolutionary authorities began to fight against Soviet troops. The armed Afghans were supported by the United States. These were “Mujahideen” - supporters of “jihad”, radical Islamists.

The war lasted 9 years and claimed the lives of 14 thousand Soviet soldiers and more than 1 million Afghans. In the spring of 1988, the Soviet Union signed an agreement in Switzerland to withdraw troops. Gradually this plan began to be put into action. The process of military withdrawal lasted from February 15 to May 15, 1989, when the last soldier of the Soviet army left Afghanistan.

Consequences

The latest event in the confrontation is the destruction of the Berlin Wall. And if the causes and nature of the war are clear, the results are difficult to describe.

The Soviet Union had to reorient its economy to finance the military sphere due to rivalry with America. Perhaps this was the reason for the shortage of goods and the weakening of the economy and the subsequent collapse of the state.

Today's Russia lives in conditions where it is necessary to find the right approaches to other countries. Unfortunately, there is no sufficient counterbalance to the NATO bloc in the world. Although 3 countries are still influential in the world - the USA, Russia and China.

The United States, through its actions in Afghanistan - helping the Mujahideen - gave rise to international terrorists.

In addition, modern wars in the world are also fought locally (Libya, Yugoslavia, Syria, Iraq).

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Cold War - Briefly covers just a few global events that are actually worth knowing. Of course, there are also small events that should not be overlooked. Without knowing these events, it is extremely difficult to navigate tests and exam assignments. Everything must be systematized, because history is an exact science. So I recommend reading this short article to the end, in which we briefly and clearly outlined the key events.

Key events

Before reading this article, I strongly recommend that you read and. Otherwise, things won't work out! In addition to these events, which we discussed below, we must also keep in mind the arms race, the unification of Germany, and many more nuances that will really help you learn the material at the proper level. Where to find all this, I wrote at the end of the article.

The Cold War covers the following events:

Berlin crisis of 1948-49.

Causes: Berlin was for the most part in the Soviet zone of occupation, as a result people fled to the western zone of occupation. Plus the Western allies decided to carry out monetary reform, which brought chaos to the monetary system of the Eastern part of the city.

Course of events:

• On June 21, 1948, the USSR imposed a blockade of Berlin.
• Western countries are trying to organize an air bridge. Any plane crash could lead to a new world war.
• In May 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade of Berlin, and relations normalized.

Results: in 1949, Germany was split into two states, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, under Western and Soviet influence, respectively. For a very long time, these two states did not diplomatically recognize each other.

Korean War 1950 - 1953

Causes: After the unconditional surrender of Japan, on September 2, 1945, the USSR and the USA agreed that North Korea would fall under the protectorate of the USSR, and South Korea would fall under the protectorate of the US. What does Korea have to do with it if we are talking about the surrender of Japan? If you asked this question, then you are not at all aware of world history. The fact is that Korea, like the lion’s share of China, lived under Japan throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Accordingly, a communist government was formed in North Korea, controlled by the USSR, headed by Kim Il Sung, and South Korea followed the path of capitalist development. However, the USSR and the North wanted to expand their influence and, since 1948, had been preparing an attack on South Korea.

Course of events:

Results: As a result of the peace treaty, the border between the Koreas again passed along the 38th parallel.

Suez crisis of 1956

Berlin crisis of 1961

Cause: the USSR's desire for greater independence of the GDR, ideally to extend its influence to the Federal Republic of Germany. Tension was created by the fact that there was still no peace treaty between the GDR and the FRG.

Course of events: negotiations took place continuously from 1958 to 1961. And in principle, both sides were ready to compromise. Questions were raised by Khrushchev's aggressive rhetoric. As a result, Kennedy declared that if necessary, the United States would fight for West Germany and West Berlin.

Results: In 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected overnight, dividing West and East Berlin.

Cuban missile crisis of 1962

This event is considered the highest peak of the Cold War.

Causes: the emergence of the communist regime of F. Castro in Cuba in the late 1950s, right “under the nose” of the United States, as well as the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles there.

Course of events: deployment of US nuclear missiles in Turkey, which could reach the territory of the USSR.

Negotiations between the USA and the USSR lasted throughout September and October 1962. As a result, on October 28, the USSR accepted the US conditions: it removed missiles from Cuba in exchange for the US removing missiles from Turkey.

Consequences: this event showed that nuclear war was real and predetermined the period of détente.

• The Vietnam War 1964 - 1975.
• Final Act on Security and Cooperation in Europe 1975.
• War in Afghanistan 1979 - 1989
• Collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Other events will be added as I have free time. By the way, I analyzed all of them and many other nuances in.

In conclusion, I would like to clarify something. It seems that the events of the Cold War have sunk into history. However, one can look at the current international situation and say that nothing is over: the incomprehensible confrontation between states with imperial ambitions has not disappeared and continues to pose a threat to global security. And it is not a fact that a new crisis, like the Caribbean one, is already on the way. What do you think about this? Write in the comments!

Best regards, Andrey Puchkov

The article briefly talks about the Cold War - the confrontation between the USSR and the USA after World War II. The superpowers were in a state of confrontation. The Cold War found expression in a series of limited military conflicts in which the USSR and the USA took some part. For about half a century the world was waiting for the Third World War.

1. Introduction
2. Causes of the Cold War
3. Progress of the Cold War
4. Results of the Cold War

Causes of the Cold War

• After the end of World War II, two superpowers emerged in the world: the USSR and the USA. The Soviet Union made a decisive contribution to the victory over fascism and had, at that time, the most combat-ready army, armed with the latest technology. The movement in support of the Soviet Union intensified throughout the world due to the emergence of states with socialist regimes in Eastern Europe.
• Western countries, led by the United States, watched with alarm the growing popularity of the Soviet Union. The creation of the atomic bomb in the United States and its use against Japan allowed the American government to believe that it could dictate its will to the whole world. Plans for an atomic strike on the Soviet Union immediately began to be developed. The Soviet leadership realized the possibility of such actions and hastily carried out work to create such weapons in the USSR. During the period while the United States remained the sole owner of atomic weapons, the war did not begin only because the limited number of bombs would not allow for complete victory. In addition, the Americans were afraid of support from many states for the USSR.
• The ideological justification for the Cold War was W. Churchill’s speech in Fulton (1946). In it, he stated that the Soviet Union was a threat to the whole world. The socialist system strives to conquer the globe and establish its dominance. Churchill considered the English-speaking countries (primarily the USA and England) to be the main force capable of countering the global threat, which should declare a new crusade against the Soviet Union. The USSR took note of the threat. From this moment the Cold War begins.

Progress of the Cold War

• The Cold War did not develop into World War III, but situations arose when this could well have happened.
• In 1949, the Soviet Union invented the atomic bomb. The seemingly achieved parity between the superpowers turned into an arms race - a constant increase in military-technical potential and the invention of more powerful weapons.
• In 1949, NATO was formed - a military-political bloc of Western states, and in 1955 - the Warsaw Pact, which united the socialist states of Eastern Europe led by the USSR. The main warring parties have emerged.
• First " hot spot"The Cold War began with the Korean War (1950-1953). In South Korea there was a pro-American regime in power, in North Korea there was a pro-Soviet regime. NATO sent its armed forces, USSR assistance was expressed in the supply of military equipment and the sending of specialists. The war ended with recognition of the division of Korea into two states.
• The most dangerous moment of the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). The USSR stationed its nuclear missiles in Cuba, in close proximity to the United States. The Americans became aware of this. The Soviet Union was demanded to remove the missiles. After the refusal, the military forces of the superpowers were put on alert. However, common sense prevailed. The USSR agreed to the demand, and in return the Americans removed their missiles from Turkey.
• The further history of the Cold War was expressed in the material and ideological support by the Soviet Union for third world countries in their national liberation movement. The United States, under the pretext of the struggle for democracy, provided the same support to pro-Western regimes. The confrontation led to local military conflicts around the globe, the largest of which was the US war in Vietnam (1964-1975).
• Second half of the 70s. marked by a relaxation of tensions. A series of negotiations were held, and economic and cultural ties between the Western and Eastern blocs began to be established.
• However, in the late 70s, the superpowers made another breakthrough in the arms race. Moreover, in 1979, the USSR sent its troops into Afghanistan. Relations became strained again.
• Perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union led to the collapse of the entire socialist system. The Cold War ended due to the voluntary withdrawal of one of the superpowers from the confrontation. Americans rightfully consider themselves victors in the war.

Results of the Cold War

• The Cold War for a long time kept humanity in fear of the possibility of a Third World War, which could well be the last in human history. By the end of the confrontation, according to various estimates, the planet had accumulated such a quantity of nuclear weapons that would be enough to blow up the globe 40 times.
• The Cold War led to military clashes in which people were killed and states suffered enormous damage. The arms race itself was ruinous for both superpowers.
• The end of the Cold War should be recognized as an achievement for humanity. However, the conditions under which this became possible led to the collapse of the great state with all the ensuing consequences. There was a threat of the formation of a unipolar world led by the United States.

The Cold War is the name given to the historical period from 1946 to 1991, which took place under the sign of the confrontation between two major superpowers - the USSR and the USA, which took shape after the end of World War II in 1945. The beginning of the rivalry between the two strongest states on the planet at that time gradually acquired the nature of a fierce confrontation in all spheres - economic, social, political and ideological. Both states created military-political associations (NATO and Warsaw Warsaw), accelerated the creation of nuclear missile and conventional weapons, and also constantly took covert or overt participation in almost all local military conflicts on the planet.

Main reasons for confrontation

• The desire of the United States to consolidate its global leadership and create a world based on American values, taking advantage of the temporary weakness of potential opponents (European states, like the USSR, lay in ruins after the war, and other countries at that time could not even come close to competing with the strengthened overseas “empire” )
• Different ideological programs of the USA and the USSR (Capitalism and Socialism). The authority of the Soviet Union after its defeat of Nazi Germany was unusually high. Including in Western European countries. Fearing the spread of communist ideology and its mass support, the United States began to actively oppose the USSR.

Position of the parties at the beginning of the conflict

The USA initially had a colossal economic head start over its eastern adversary, thanks to which it largely gained the opportunity to become a superpower. The USSR defeated the strongest European army, but paid for it with millions of lives and thousands of destroyed cities and villages. No one knew how long it would take to restore the economy destroyed by the fascist invasion. The territory of the United States, unlike the USSR, did not suffer at all, and the losses against the background of the losses of the Soviet army looked insignificant, since it was the Soviet Union that took the strongest blow from the fascist core of all of Europe, single-handedly fighting Germany and its allies from 1941 to 1944.

The United States participated in the war in the European Theater of Operations for less than a year - from June 1944 to May 1945. After the war, the United States became a creditor to Western European states, effectively formalizing their economic dependence on America. The Yankees offered Western Europe The Marshall Plan is an economic assistance program that was signed by 16 countries by 1948. Over 4 years, the United States had to transfer 17 billion to Europe. dollars.

Less than a year after the victory over fascism, the British and Americans began to look anxiously at the East and look for some kind of threat there. Already in the spring of 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his famous Fullton speech, which is usually associated with the beginning of the Cold War. Active anti-communist rhetoric begins in the West. By the end of the 40s, all communists were removed from the governments of Western European states. This was one of the conditions under which the United States provided financial assistance to European countries.

The USSR was not included in the financial assistance program for obvious reasons - it was already considered an enemy. The countries of Eastern Europe that were under communist control, fearing the growth of US influence and economic dependence, also did not accept the Marshall Plan. Thus, the USSR and its allies were forced to restore the destroyed economy exclusively on their own, and this was done much faster than expected in the West. The USSR not only quickly restored infrastructure, industry and destroyed cities, but also short time eliminated the US nuclear monopoly by creating nuclear weapons, thereby depriving the Americans of the opportunity to strike with impunity.

Creation of the military-political blocs of NATO and the Warsaw Department

In the spring of 1949, the United States initiated the creation of the NATO military bloc (North Atlantic Alliance Organization), citing the need to “fight the Soviet threat.” The union initially included Holland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Iceland, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, as well as the USA and Canada. American military bases began to appear in Europe, the number of armed forces of European armies began to increase, and the amount of military equipment and combat aircraft increased.

The USSR responded in 1955 by creating the Warsaw Pact Organization, just as the West had done. The ATS included Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Romania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia. In response to the buildup of military forces by the Western military bloc, the armies of socialist states also began to strengthen.

NATO and ATS symbols

Local military conflicts

Two military-political blocs have launched a large-scale confrontation with each other across the planet. Direct military conflict was feared on both sides, since its outcome was unpredictable. However, there was a constant struggle at various points globe for spheres of influence and control over non-aligned countries. Here are just a few of the most striking examples of military conflicts in which the USSR and the USA participated indirectly or directly.

1.Korean War (1950-1953)
After World War II, Korea was divided into two states - in the Republic of Korea, pro-American forces were in power in the South, and in the north, the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) was formed, in which the communists were in power. In 1950, a war began between two Koreas – “socialist” and “capitalist”, in which, naturally, the USSR supported North Korea, and the USA supported South Korea. Soviet pilots and military specialists, as well as detachments of Chinese “volunteers,” fought unofficially on the side of the DPRK. The United States provided direct military assistance to South Korea, openly intervening in the conflict, which ended with peace and the status quo in 1953.

2. Vietnam War (1957-1975)
In essence, the scenario for the beginning of the confrontation was the same - Vietnam after 1954 was divided into two parts. In North Vietnam, communists were in power, and in South Vietnam, political forces oriented toward the United States. Each side sought to unite Vietnam. Since 1965, the United States has provided open military assistance to the South Vietnamese regime. Regular American troops Along with the army of South Vietnam, they took part in military operations against North Vietnamese troops. Hidden assistance to North Vietnam with weapons, equipment and military specialists was provided by the USSR and China. The war ended with a communist victory Northern Vietnam in 1975.

3. Arab-Israeli wars
In a series of wars in the Middle East between the Arab states and Israel, the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc supported the Arabs, and the US and NATO supported the Israelis. Soviet military specialists trained the troops of the Arab states, which were armed with tanks and aircraft supplied from the USSR, and the soldiers of the Arab armies used Soviet equipment and equipment. The Israelis used American military equipment and followed the instructions of US advisers.

4. Afghan war (1979-1989)
The USSR sent troops to Afghanistan in 1979 in order to support a political regime oriented towards Moscow. Large formations of Afghan Mujahideen fought against Soviet troops and the government army of Afghanistan, who enjoyed the support of the United States and NATO, and accordingly armed themselves with them. Soviet troops left Afghanistan in 1989, and the war continued after their departure.

All of the above is just a small part of the military conflicts in which the superpowers participated, covertly or almost openly fighting each other in local wars.

1 - American soldiers in positions during the Korean War
2-Soviet tank in the service of the Syrian army
3-American helicopter in the skies over Vietnam
4-Column of Soviet troops in Afghanistan

Why have the USSR and the USA never entered into direct military conflict?

As mentioned above, the outcome of the military conflict between the two large military blocs was completely unpredictable, but the main limiting factor was the presence of nuclear missile weapons in huge quantities both in the United States and in the Soviet Union. Over the years of confrontation, the parties have accumulated such a number of nuclear warheads that would be enough to repeatedly destroy all life on Earth.

Thus, a direct military conflict between the USSR and the USA inevitably meant an exchange nuclear missile strikes, during which there would be no winners - everyone would be losers, and the very possibility of life on the planet would be called into question. Nobody wanted such an outcome, so the parties did their best to avoid open military conflict with each other, but nevertheless periodically tested each other’s strength in local conflicts, helping a state covertly or directly participating in hostilities.

So, with the beginning of the nuclear era, local conflicts and information wars became almost the only ways to expand their influence and control over other states. This situation continues to this day. Possibilities of the collapse and liquidation of such major geopolitical players as modern China and Russia lie only in the sphere of attempts to undermine the state from the inside by means of information wars, the goal of which is a coup d'etat followed by destructive actions of puppet governments. There are constant attempts by the West to find the weak points of Russia and other uncontrolled states, to provoke ethnic, religious, political, etc. conflicts.

End of the Cold War

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. There was only one superpower left on planet Earth - the USA, which tried to rebuild the whole world on the basis of American liberal values. Within the framework of globalization, there is an attempt to impose on all humanity a certain universal model of social order, modeled on the USA and Western Europe. However, this has not yet been achieved. There is active resistance in all parts of the globe against the inculcation of American values, which are unacceptable to many peoples. History moves on, the struggle continues... Think about the future and the past, try to understand and comprehend the world around you, develop and do not stand still. Passively waiting and wasting your life is essentially a regression in your development. As the Russian philosopher V. Belinsky said - those who do not go forward go back, there is no standing position...

Best regards, administration mind-point

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….3

1. How the Cold War began. The reasons for its occurrence…………….4

2. The main stages of the development of the Cold War…………………………….12

3. Conflicts of the Cold War……………………………………………………….14

4. Results and consequences of the Cold War……………………………20

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………22

List of references…………………………………………………………….25

Introduction

The first and subsequent post-war decades went down in history as the period of the Cold War, a period of intense Soviet-American confrontation that more than once brought the world to the brink of a “hot” war. The Cold War was a complex process, part of which was psychology, a different perception of the world, a different mental paradigm. The Cold War situation cannot be considered an unnatural situation, beyond the normal historical development. The “Cold War” is a natural stage of Soviet-American relations, formed in the conditions of the post-war “carve-up” of the world, the desire to create “your own zone of influence” on as large a territory as possible, which is of economic and military interest. This stage cost the world enormous stress and costs of at least ten trillion dollars (over the period 1945 - 1991).

But it would be wrong to see in this confrontation only negative side. The Cold War was the main stimulus for a powerful and long-lasting technological breakthrough, the fruits of which were defense and attack systems, computer and other high-tech technologies, which previously only science fiction writers wrote about.

The clash of interests of the USA and the USSR predetermined international politics for many years to come. This is where its relevance lies today. After all, it is very easy to understand the modern multipolar world based on the lessons and results that the Cold War gave us.

My work is devoted to studying the origins of the Cold War, describing its major crises and the final analysis of its results. It tells about the main events of the confrontation between the two superpowers.

I want to fully and clearly outline all the main stages of the Cold War. The purpose of this work is to show the situation in the world after the Second World War, during the Cold War and the post-war situation on our planet. Try to study and analyze as deeply as possible what was happening in the arena international relations in the second half of the 20th century and show what this race, which took colossal resources over the course of all fifty years, led to. The United States seems to have passed the test, but Russia, as a result of a change in the political and economic system, found itself in a protracted crisis. Although it is worth recalling that the USSR began to choke in a difficult struggle with the West back in the 80s.

1. How the Cold War began. The reasons for its occurrence

When the shots of World War II died down, it seemed that the world had entered a new era of its development. The most difficult war has ended. After it, the very thought of a new war seemed blasphemous. More has been done than ever to prevent it from happening again. Germany was not only defeated, it was occupied by the victors, and the revival of German militarism now looked impossible. The degree of cooperation that was established between the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition also inspired optimism. Meetings of the Big Three at the highest level became regular. Coordination of military actions, harmonization of political approaches, and broad economic cooperation were carried out.

The symbol of these relations was the third meeting of the Big Three - the Berlin Conference. It took place from July 17 to August 2, 1954 in the Berlin suburb of Potsdam. The USA, instead of Franklin Roosevelt, who died in April, was represented by Harry Truman, and the UK by Winston Churchill. However, something unexpected happened during the conference. In the first post-war parliamentary elections, the Conservatives led by Churchill were defeated. For the first time, Labor won a majority of seats; their leader, Clement Attlee, headed the government and arrived in Potsdam. So the “Big Three” have been greatly updated compared to the Crimean Conference.

There was no Berlin conference peace conference like the Parisian one.

For the simple reason that there was no one to make peace with. Germany was occupied, and power on its territory was exercised in four occupation zones by Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the USA and France. The main task of the conference was to develop the policy of the Allied powers in Germany. It was decided to dissolve all National Socialist organizations; restore previously banned political parties and basic civil liberties; destroy the military industry; dissolve the cartels that served in Nazi Germany as a tool for the militarization of industry. It was decided to bring the senior Nazi leaders who fell into the hands of the Allies to trial at a special International Tribunal.

Atomic weapons

In 1945, there was a deep disparity in power and strength between the two main victor countries. Even before the war, imbalances were shifting in America's favor, especially in the economy. But hostilities drove the two countries even further in opposite directions. The war did not touch American soil: the fighting took place far from the shores of America. The US economy, which was the main supplier and financier of the entire victorious coalition, experienced an unprecedented leap between 1939 and 1945. The potential of US industrial capacity increased by 50%, production increased by 2.5 times. Issued 4 times more equipment, 7 times more vehicles. Agricultural production increased by 36%. Wages grew, as did all incomes of the population.

The contrast between American living conditions and the poverty in which the Soviet people lived was very sharp. There was an obvious gap between the countries' economies. The production of Soviet ferrous metallurgy was 16-18% of the American level. Chemical production in the USA was 10-20 times higher than in the USSR; textile industry production – 6-13 times. The situation was complemented by the US having a dominant position throughout the world. The atomic bomb was born at the very last moment, as if specifically in order to give the overwhelming American superiority over the USSR an undoubted and threatening character. American leaders hoped that thanks to their economic and scientific potential they would be able to maintain a monopoly on the possession of new apocalyptic weapons for a long time. With relations between Moscow and Washington rapidly deteriorating, the bomb would naturally have caused concern among Soviet leaders. The Americans were also the only owners of delivery vehicles - aircraft carriers and long-range bomber aircraft capable of delivering nuclear warheads to targets in any part of the world. The United States was at that time inaccessible and very secure; it was the only country in the post-war years capable of determining the course of world politics.

America refused to understand that changes were taking place in Eastern Europe, determined primarily by internal local reasons.

The inability of the United States to come to terms with the presence of new revolutionary movements in the world order model forced their participants, primarily communists, to turn their gaze to Moscow as the opposite pole of world politics, while the most reactionary forces saw Washington as a protector and leader. Under these conditions, the inevitable difficulties in realizing American claims gave rise to ever-increasing anti-Soviet anger in the United States. Thus arose the phenomenon that was later called the “Cold War,” the main reason for which was global inequality between the USSR and the USA.

Inequality also manifested itself in terms of possession nuclear weapons. As you know, until 1949, the only power with an atomic bomb was the United States. The Americans did not hide the fact that they perceived nuclear weapons as an attribute of the power of a great power, as a means of intimidating a potential enemy - the USSR and its allies, as a means of pressure.

Stalin faced a difficult dilemma: whether to resist the pressure that his former allies, now armed with the atomic bomb, were putting on the USSR in conditions when the country was exhausted. Stalin was convinced that the United States and England would not dare to start a war, and he decided to choose the path of confrontation with the power of the West. We are talking about a fundamental choice, since it predetermined the main features of the future.

The Soviet government decided to speed up work on producing its own atomic bomb. The work, carried out in strict secrecy, began in full from August-September 1945. After Potsdam and Hiroshima, Stalin formed, under the supreme control of Beria, a special committee headed by People's Commissar Vannikov, designed to supervise all activities to create new weapons.

Support for the position of the United States by the majority of countries in the world was combined with their exceptional position as holders of a monopoly on the atomic bomb: the Americans again demonstrated their power by conducting test explosions on Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946. Stalin made a number of statements during this period in order to downplay the importance of the new weapon. These statements set the tone for all Soviet propaganda. But the behavior of the representatives of the Soviet Union in private showed their great concern in reality. Modern historians recognize that due to inequality in the possession of atomic weapons, the Soviet Union itself global community We were then going through “a very dangerous and difficult period.”

As a result of contradictory trends, a project was born to establish international control over atomic energy, known as the Baruch Plan, named after the American figure who was tasked with presenting it to the UN. In accordance with this plan, everything related to nuclear research and production was to be forcibly concentrated in several states, so that the management of the entire nuclear complex would be carried out by some kind of world power, functioning as a supranational body in which no one country would have rights veto. Only after such a mechanism had been prepared, tested and put into operation would the United States, in the event of abandoning nuclear weapons, consider its security sufficiently guaranteed.

The American proposal was met with distrust in Moscow. From the point of view of the USSR, the “Baruch Plan” was tantamount to the transfer into the hands of the United States of everything related to atomic energy and, therefore, it was a form of legalization of the US nuclear monopoly, and possibly its establishment forever.

In all the activities carried out by the USSR for its security, two lines were observed.

The first, main one, was to concentrate efforts, regardless of any costs, on the creation of Soviet atomic weapons, to eliminate the US nuclear monopoly and thereby, if not eliminate, then significantly weaken the threat of an atomic attack on the USSR and its allies. Ultimately this problem was solved. In a TASS statement published on September 25, 1949, it was recalled that back in November 1947, USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov made a statement regarding the secret of the atomic bomb, saying that this secret had long ceased to exist. Subsequently, a quantitative increase and improvement of atomic weapons was carried out.

Another line of the party and state leadership of the USSR on the issue of nuclear weapons was of a propaganda nature. Without possessing an atomic bomb, the USSR began to conduct propaganda against the use of this terrible weapon, which aroused support from many political circles abroad.

From the above it follows that atomic weapons played a leading role in the emergence of the Cold War. The American monopoly on nuclear weapons was one of the reasons for the power of the United States. Possessing a nuclear monopoly, the United States tried to implement those plans and ideas that were directly beneficial to them. The USSR, which often saw these plans as an infringement of its interests, promoted the prohibition of atomic weapons, but at the same time, very quickly, spending enormous economic resources, it created its own atomic bomb, which was done in 1949. The elimination of the United States monopoly on nuclear weapons led both the USSR and the USA to a grueling arms race. But at the same time, the atomic bomb, as a weapon capable of destroying not only an opponent, but the entire world, was a deterrent to the outbreak of a hot war.

From Churchill's Fulton speech to the Marshall Plan

On March 5, 1946, W. Churchill gave a speech in the small American town of Fulton (Missouri), where he arrived with President Truman. He stated that capitalist countries are in danger of a new world war and that the cause of this threat is allegedly the Soviet Union and the international communist movement. He said that “communist totalitarianism” has now replaced the “fascist enemy” and intends to conquer Western countries. Churchill claimed that from Szczecin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, a kind of “iron curtain” ran across Europe. Churchill called for the toughest policy towards the USSR, threatened to use American atomic weapons, and insisted on creating a union of imperialist states to impose their will on the USSR, not excluding military means. For these purposes, the program of action proposed by Churchill provided for the creation of an “association of English-speaking peoples,” that is, maintaining good relations with Great Britain, and in the future the creation of aggressive alliances, blocs and a network of military bases along the perimeter of the socialist world.

In the Soviet Union, Churchill's speech was received with deep indignation and was regarded as a call for the creation of an Anglo-American military bloc directed against the USSR, other socialist countries and the national liberation movement of oppressed peoples.

In a speech delivered to both houses of the American Congress, President Truman announced that the United States intended to take the place of a weakened England in supporting the governments of Greece and Turkey. The situation in these countries developed differently: in Greece, Civil War, suppressed for a time by the British in 1944, while Turkey maintained internal peace, but was at odds with the USSR over the Straits. The American president went much further, defining his gesture as the implementation of a general political line: the concept of “doctrine” was introduced, Truman chose the position put forward by Churchill in Fulton as the ideological foundation of his policy. The world seemed to him to be a stage on which a conflict was unfolding between the forces of good and evil, that is, between “free societies” and “societies of oppression.” America must support “free societies” everywhere in the fight against “societies of oppression.”

At an information meeting of representatives of a number of communist parties in Warsaw at the end of September 1947, it was noted that the “Truman Doctrine” was openly aggressive character. It is designed to provide American assistance to reactionary regimes actively opposing the USSR and countries socialist camp. The Soviet Union condemned the aggressive nature of the Truman Doctrine. The US military intervention in Greece also caused condemnation from the world community.

In an effort to overcome the resistance of the people, extreme monopolistic circles in the United States decided to use more disguised forms of their actions. This is how it appeared new option their policies are the Marshall Plan.

A new plan originated in the depths of the military department. His ardent supporter was the former Chief of the US General Staff, General J. Marshall, who was appointed Secretary of State in January 1947. The main provisions of the plan were agreed upon with representatives of the largest monopolies and banks. Conversations on this issue were held with representatives of the governments of England, France and Italy. They took on the character of a secret conspiracy between American monopolies and Western European reaction, directed against the USSR, the communist movement and its development in European countries.

In May 1947, as a result, communists were removed from the governments of Italy and France. The “Marshall Plan” was camouflaged by talk about the need for the economic restoration of Europe, but American capital cared least about the economy of its competitors; it was interested in its military allies.

J. Marshall's speech on June 5, 1947 indicated the intention of the US leadership to expand the practice of intervention in European affairs. J. Marshall's speech marked an important milestone: the United States was moving to establish its positions in Europe on a long-term, orderly basis. If previously US economic intervention was carried out sporadically in individual countries of the continent, now the question was raised about a large-scale program of penetration into all states that needed economic assistance.

The Marshall Plan was intended to solve a number of interrelated problems: strengthening the shaky foundations of capitalism in Europe, ensuring America's dominant position in European affairs and preparing for the creation of a military-political bloc. At the same time, Germany, or more precisely its western part, was already considered the main ally of the United States in Europe and the main recipient of assistance under the Marshall Plan.

The Soviet Union agreed to accept the Marshall Plan, subject to the preservation of the sovereignty of European countries and the distinction between those countries that fought in the war as allies, neutral countries and former enemies, especially Germany. These demands were not accepted. The USSR had no choice but to choose between an agreement with the “Marshall Plan” and recognition of America’s leadership role, which Western Europe had already agreed to, and disagreement and the risk of opening a confrontation with it. Stalin definitely chose the second solution.

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1948 was passed by the United States Congress on April 3, 1948. The implementation of this plan marked a sharp turn in the policy of the victorious Western powers towards defeated Germany: West Germany became their ally, which the US ruling circles clearly preferred in comparison with other allied countries. This is evident from the distribution of appropriations under the Marshall Plan. During the first year of its implementation, West Germany received 2422 million dollars, England - 1324 million, France - 1130 million, Italy - 704 million dollars.

The military-strategic nature of the Marshall Plan was noted by many of its advocates in Western countries. The plan consolidated the two blocs and deepened the split between the communist world and the West. The Soviet Union was opposed by an organizational Western group, relying on the enormous resources of America and persistently setting as its goal the destruction of communism by conquering world domination.

To summarize, it should be noted that the “Marshall Plan” and the sharply negative reaction to this plan from the Soviet Union, as well as Churchill’s speech and the “Truman Doctrine” were a very important step in the split of Europe into opposing socio-political coalitions, and then this split of Europe was already formed into military-political blocs, and consequently the confrontation between the USSR and the USA increased.

2. The main stages of the development of the Cold War

Over the years, the tension in the confrontation between the blocs changed. Its most acute phase occurred during the Korean War, which was followed in 1956 by events in Poland, Hungary and the Suez crisis; with the onset of Khrushchev’s “thaw”, however, tension subsided - this was especially characteristic of the late 1950s, culminating in Khrushchev’s visit to the USA; the scandal with the American U-2 spy plane (1960) led to a new aggravation, the peak of which was the Berlin crisis of 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis (1962); under the impression of this crisis, detente sets in again, darkened, however, by the suppression of the “Prague Spring”

Brezhnev, unlike Khrushchev, had no inclination either for risky adventures outside the clearly defined Soviet sphere of influence, or for extravagant “peaceful” actions; The 1970s passed under the sign of the so-called “détente of international tension”, manifestations of which were the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki) and the joint Soviet-American space flight (the Soyuz-Apollo program); At the same time, agreements were signed to limit strategic weapons. This was largely determined by economic reasons, since the USSR already then began to experience an increasingly acute dependence on the purchase of consumer goods and food (for which foreign currency loans were required), while the West, during the years of the oil crisis caused by the Arab-Israeli confrontation, was extremely interested in the Soviet oil. In military terms, the basis for “detente” was the nuclear-missile parity of blocs that had developed by that time.

A new aggravation occurred in 1979 in connection with the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, which was perceived in the West as a violation of the geopolitical balance and the USSR’s transition to a policy of expansion. The aggravation reached its peak in the fall of 1983, when Soviet forces Air defense shot down a South Korean civilian airliner, which, according to media reports, had about 300 people on board. It was then that US President Ronald Reagan put into use in relation to the USSR popular expression"evil empire" During this period, the United States deployed its nuclear missiles in Western Europe and began developing a space missile defense program (the so-called " star wars"); Both of these large-scale programs extremely worried the Soviet leadership, especially since the USSR, which maintained nuclear missile parity with great difficulty and strain on the economy, did not have the means to adequately fight back in space.

With the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, who proclaimed “socialist pluralism” and “the priority of universal human values ​​over class values,” the ideological confrontation quickly lost its severity. In a military-political sense, Gorbachev initially tried to pursue a policy in the spirit of “detente” of the 1970s, proposing arms limitation programs, but negotiating rather harshly over the terms of the treaty (meeting in Reykjavik).

However, the growing crisis of the Soviet political system and the dependence of the USSR economy on Western technologies and loans due to the sharp drop in oil prices gave Gorbachev a reason to make concessions in the foreign policy sphere. In 1988, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan begins. The collapse of the communist system in Eastern Europe during the revolutions of 1989 led to the liquidation of the Soviet bloc, and with it the virtual end of the Cold War. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union itself was on the brink of disaster. The collapse of the world socialist system, along with the fall in oil prices, was accompanied by a colossal decline in the economy and industrial production. Interethnic conflicts broke out on the outskirts of the country. Moscow began to lose control over the union republics. From March 1990 to December 1991, thirteen of the fifteen republics left the Union. On December 26, 1991, the new leadership of independent Russia denounced Union Treaty, thereby putting an end to the history of the Cold War.

3. Cold War conflicts

The Cold War was characterized by the frequent appearance of conflict zones. Each local conflict was brought to the world stage, thanks to the fact that Cold War opponents supported the opposing sides. Due to the fact that a direct conflict between the two superpowers would inevitably escalate into a nuclear one with the guaranteed destruction of all life on the planet, the parties sought to gain the upper hand by other methods, incl. and weakening the enemy in a particular region and strengthening its positions there, if necessary, through military action. Here are some of them.

Korean War

In 1945, Soviet and American troops liberated Korea from the Japanese army. US troops are located south of the 38th parallel, and the Red Army is located to the north. Thus, the Korean Peninsula was divided into two parts. In the North, the communists came to power, in the South - the military, relying on the help of the United States. Two states were formed on the peninsula - the northern Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the southern Republic of Korea. The North Korean leadership dreamed of uniting the country, even if only by force of arms.

In 1950, North Korean leader Kim Il Sung visited Moscow and enlisted the support of the Soviet Union. Plans for the "military liberation" of South Korea were also approved by Chinese leader Mao Zedong. At dawn on June 25, 1950, the North Korean army moved to the south of the country. Her offensive was so powerful that within three days she occupied the capital of the South, Seoul. Then the advance of the northerners slowed down, but by mid-September almost the entire peninsula was in their hands. It seemed that only one decisive effort separated the army of the north from final victory. However, on July 7, the UN Security Council voted to send international troops to help South Korea.

And in September, UN troops (mostly American) came to the aid of the southerners. They launched a powerful attack on the North from the area that was still held by the South Korean army. At the same time, troops were landed on the west coast, cutting the peninsula in half. Events began to develop with the same speed in the opposite direction. The Americans occupied Seoul, crossed the 38th parallel and continued their offensive against the DPRK. North Korea was on the brink of complete disaster when China suddenly intervened. The Chinese leadership proposed, without declaring war on the United States, to send troops to help North Korea. In October, about a million Chinese soldiers crossed the border Yalu River and engaged the Americans in battle. Soon the front lined up along the 38th parallel.

The war continued for another three years. During the American offensive in 1950, the Soviet Union sent several air divisions to help North Korea. The Americans were significantly superior to the Chinese in technology. China carried heavy losses. On July 27, 1953, the war ended with a truce. In North Korea, the government of Kim Il Sung, friendly to the USSR and China, remained in power, accepting the honorary title of “great leader.”

Construction of the Berlin Wall

In 1955, the division of Europe between East and West finally took shape. However, a clear line of confrontation has not yet completely divided Europe. There was only one open “window” left in it – Berlin. The city was divided in half, with East Berlin being the capital of the GDR, and West Berlin being considered part of the Federal Republic of Germany. Two opposite social order coexisted within the same city, while every Berliner could easily get “from socialism to capitalism” and back, moving from one street to another. Every day up to 500 thousand people crossed this invisible border in both directions. Many East Germans, taking advantage of the open border, left for the West permanently. And in general, the wide-open window in the “Iron Curtain” did not at all correspond to the general spirit of the era.

In August 1961, Soviet and East German authorities decided to close the border between the two parts of Berlin. Tension in the city grew. Western countries protested the division of the city. Finally in October the confrontation reached highest point. At the Brandenburg Gate and on Friedrichstrasse, near the main checkpoints, they lined up American tanks. The Soviets came out to meet them combat vehicles. For more than a day, the tanks of the USSR and the USA stood with their guns aimed at each other. Periodically, the tankers turned on their engines, as if preparing for an attack. The tension was somewhat relieved only after the Soviet, and after them, American tanks retreated to other streets. However, Western countries finally recognized the division of the city only ten years later. It was formalized by an agreement between four powers (USSR, USA, England and France), signed in 1971. Throughout the world, the construction of the Berlin Wall was perceived as a symbolic completion of the post-war division of Europe.

Cuban Missile Crisis

On January 1, 1959, the revolution, led by 32-year-old guerrilla leader Fidel Castro, won in Cuba. The new government began a decisive struggle against American influence on the island. Needless to say, the Soviet Union fully supported the Cuban Revolution. However, the Havana authorities seriously feared a US military invasion. In May 1962, Nikita Khrushchev put forward an unexpected idea - to place Soviet nuclear missiles on the island. He jokingly explained this step by saying that the imperialists “need to put a hedgehog in their pants.” After some deliberation, Cuba agreed to the Soviet proposal, and in the summer of 1962, 42 nuclear-tipped missiles and bombers capable of carrying nuclear bombs were sent to the island. The transfer of missiles was carried out in the strictest secrecy, but already in September the US leadership suspected something was wrong. On September 4, President John Kennedy said that the United States would under no circumstances tolerate Soviet nuclear missiles 150 km from its coast. In response, Khrushchev assured Kennedy that there were and would not be any Soviet missiles or nuclear weapons in Cuba.

On October 14, an American reconnaissance aircraft photographed missile launch sites from the air. In an atmosphere of strict secrecy, the US leadership began to discuss retaliatory measures. On October 22, President Kennedy addressed the American people on radio and television. He reported that Soviet missiles had been discovered in Cuba and demanded that the USSR immediately remove them. Kennedy announced that the United States was beginning a naval blockade of Cuba. On October 24, at the request of the USSR, the UN Security Council urgently met. The Soviet Union continued to stubbornly deny the presence of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The situation in the Caribbean Sea became increasingly tense. Two dozen Soviet ships were heading towards Cuba. The American ships were ordered to stop them, if necessary by fire. True, it didn’t come to sea battles. Khrushchev ordered several Soviet ships stop at the blockade line.

On October 23, an exchange of official letters began between Moscow and Washington. In his first messages, N. Khrushchev indignantly called the actions of the United States “pure banditry” and “the madness of degenerate imperialism.”

Within days, it became clear that the United States was determined to remove the missiles at any cost. On October 26, Khrushchev sent a more conciliatory message to Kennedy. He recognized that Cuba had powerful Soviet weapons. At the same time, Nikita Sergeevich convinced the president that the USSR was not going to attack America. As he put it, “Only crazy people can do this or suicides who want to die themselves and destroy the whole world before that.” Khrushchev offered John Kennedy a commitment not to attack Cuba; then the Soviet Union will be able to remove its weapons from the island. The President of the United States responded that the United States was willing to make a gentleman's commitment not to invade Cuba if the USSR withdrew its offensive weapons. Thus, the first steps towards peace were taken.

But on October 27, the “Black Saturday” of the Cuban crisis came, when only a miracle did not break out a new World War. In those days, squadrons flew over Cuba twice a day to intimidate American aircraft. And on October 27, Soviet troops in Cuba shot down one of the US reconnaissance aircraft with an anti-aircraft missile. Its pilot, Anderson, was killed. The situation escalated to the limit, the US President decided two days later to begin bombing Soviet missile bases and a military attack on the island.

However, on Sunday, October 28, the Soviet leadership decided to accept the American conditions. The decision to remove the missiles from Cuba was made without the consent of the Cuban leadership. Perhaps this was done deliberately, since Fidel Castro categorically objected to the removal of the missiles.

International tensions began to subside quickly after October 28. The Soviet Union removed its missiles and bombers from Cuba. On November 20, the United States lifted the naval blockade of the island. The Cuban (or Caribbean) crisis ended peacefully.

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War began with an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, during which DRV coast guard ships fired on American destroyers that were providing fire support to South Vietnamese government forces in their fight against guerrillas. After this, everything secret became clear, and the conflict developed according to the already familiar pattern. One of the superpowers entered the war openly, and the second did everything in its power to make the war “not boring.” The war, which the United States imagined as a cakewalk, turned out to be America's nightmare. Anti-war demonstrations rocked the country. Young people rebelled against the senseless slaughter. In 1975, the United States thought it best to announce that it had “completed its mission” and begin evacuating its military contingent. This war greatly shocked the entire American society and led to major reforms. The post-war crisis lasted more than 10 years. It’s hard to say how it would have ended if the Afghan crisis had not come along.

Afghan war

In April 1978, a coup took place in Afghanistan, later called the April Revolution. Afghan communists came to power - the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). The government was headed by writer Noor Mohammed Taraki. However, within a few months, a fierce struggle broke out within the ruling party. In August 1979, a confrontation broke out between the two leaders of the party - Taraki and Amin. On September 16, Taraki was removed from his post, expelled from the party and taken into custody. He soon died - according to the official report, “from anxiety.” These events caused discontent in Moscow, although outwardly everything remained as before. The mass “cleansings” and executions that began in Afghanistan among the party were condemned. And since they reminded the Soviet leaders of the Chinese “cultural revolution,” fears arose that Amin might break with the USSR and move closer to China. Amin repeatedly asked for the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan to strengthen revolutionary power. Finally, on December 12, 1979, the Soviet leadership decided to fulfill his request, but at the same time remove Amin himself. Soviet troops were sent into Afghanistan, Amin was killed by a grenade explosion during the storming of the presidential palace. Now Soviet newspapers called him a “CIA agent” and wrote about the “bloody clique of Amin and his minions.”

In the West, the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan caused violent protests. The Cold War flared up with renewed vigor. On January 14, 1980, the UN General Assembly demanded the withdrawal of “foreign troops” from Afghanistan. 104 states voted for this decision.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan itself, armed resistance to Soviet troops began to intensify. It was, of course, not Amin’s supporters who fought against them, but opponents of the revolutionary government in general. At first, the Soviet press claimed that there were no battles in Afghanistan, that peace and tranquility reigned there. However, the war did not subside, and when this became clear, the USSR admitted that “bandits were rampaging” in the republic. They were called “dushmans,” that is, enemies. Secretly, through Pakistan, they were supported by the United States, helping with weapons and money. The United States knew well what war against an armed people was. Experience Vietnam War was used 100%, with only one small difference, the roles were reversed. Now the USSR was at war with an underdeveloped country, and the United States helped it feel what a difficult thing it was. The rebels controlled large parts of Afghanistan. They were all united by the slogan jihad- Islamic holy war. They called themselves “Mujahideen” - fighters for the faith. Otherwise, the rebel groups' programs varied widely.

The war in Afghanistan has not stopped for more than nine years. More than a million Afghans died during the fighting. Soviet troops, according to official data, lost 14,453 people killed.

In June 1987, the first, so far symbolic, steps towards establishing peace were taken. The new Kabul government offered "national reconciliation" to the rebels. In April 1988, the Soviet Union signed an agreement in Geneva on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. On May 15, the troops began to leave. Nine months later, on February 15, 1989, the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan. For the Soviet Union, the Afghan war ended on this day.

Thus, the world was divided into two camps: capitalist and socialist. In both, so-called systems were created collective security- military blocs. In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created, which included the United States, Canada and Western European countries. In May 1955, the Warsaw Pact was signed. It included (at the time of signing) Albania (later (in 1968) it denounced the Treaty), Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, USSR, Czechoslovakia. The polarization of the world ended, and the created coalitions, led by their leaders, began to fight for influence in third world countries.

Almost 40 years have passed from the first armed conflict in Korea (1950-1953) to the last on the Laotian-Thai border (1988). During this time, the fiery arc of Soviet-American confrontation encircled almost all continents of the planet from East Asia to Latin America, from South Africa to Central Europe. During this time, millions of people died in numerous wars; dozens of states were drawn into them, some of which have not yet been resolved. Afghanistan, Korea, Indochina, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Cuba, the countries of the Horn of Africa, etc. - in all these conflicts we one way or another find both “the bony hand of American imperialism” and “aggressive impulses of the evil empire” - in the form of weapons and money , advisers and instructors, “volunteers” and military contingents.

4. Results and consequences of the Cold War

The Cold War, being primarily a phenomenon of world politics, nevertheless seriously influenced domestic life. The black and white vision of the world gave rise to a feeling of wariness in relation to the outside world and created a craving for artificial internal cohesion in the face of an external enemy. Dissent came to be seen as subversive. In the USA, this ultimately gave rise to massive violations of civil rights and freedoms, and in the USSR, it contributed to the strengthening of the totalitarian features of the regime. At the same time, in Western countries, the Cold War became an incentive to complete social reforms with the goal of creating a “welfare state” - it was seen as a barrier to the penetration of the ideas of communism.

The Cold War forced colossal funds to be spent on weapons; the best engineers and workers worked on more and more new weapon systems, each of which devalued the previous one. But this race also gave birth to unprecedented scientific discoveries. She stimulated the development of nuclear physics and space research, created the conditions for the powerful growth of electronics and the creation of unique materials. The arms race ultimately bled the Soviet economy dry and reduced the competitiveness of the American economy. At the same time, Soviet-American rivalry had a beneficial effect on the restoration of economic and political positions West Germany and Japan, which became the front line of the fight against communism for the United States. The rivalry between the USSR and the USA made it easier for the peoples of colonial and dependent countries to fight for independence, but also turned this emerging “third world” into an arena of endless regional and local conflicts for spheres of influence.

In other words, the Cold War had a profound and multifaceted impact on the post-war world history. This impact is difficult to overestimate. But could the Cold War have been avoided?

Its emergence is largely due to the peculiarities of the results of the Second World War. It led to the fact that there were only two powers left in the world, whose power turned out to be sufficient for the beginning and long-term conduct of global rivalry. The remaining great powers are in force various reasons turned out to be unable to do this. The USSR and the USA in this sense became not just great powers, but superpowers. This bipolarity, the bipolarity of the world, thus became the result of the war, and it could not but give rise to rivalry. The participation in this rivalry is not just of different states according to their historical experience, geographical location, economic, social and political system, but also different worldviews could not help but give it particularly acute forms, forms of ideological conflict reminiscent religious wars in the Middle Ages.

So it is difficult to imagine a situation where the Cold War could be avoided.

Conclusion

Having examined the causes of the Cold War, the course of its events and its results, I achieved my goals and objectives.

Analyzing the events that served as the prologue to the Cold War, I found out for myself the reasons for biopolarity and the growing confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States.

The diplomatic history of the creation and use of atomic weapons, if taken in the context of inter-allied relations, was a prelude to a long confrontation between two powers that found themselves at the mercy of countries facing mutual extermination and discovered the means of combating it in the accumulation of stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction beyond all reasonable limits.

The atomic bomb gave confidence to the United States. Until 1949, the USSR carried out political activities in which two lines were observed:

1) efforts were concentrated on creating Soviet atomic weapons and eliminating the US monopoly.

2) another line of the USSR party-state apparatus on the issue of nuclear weapons was of a propaganda nature. Without possessing nuclear weapons, the USSR began to conduct propaganda against the use of these deadly weapons. But after 1949 the situation changed, Stalin began to consider the atomic bomb as the main weapon in a possible third world war.

W. Churchill's speech in Fulton, the “Truman Doctrine”, and subsequently the “Marshall Plan”, indicate that Western policy was aimed at confrontation with the USSR. Churchill announced the creation of an Anglo-American military alliance that would claim world domination.

The main goal of the Marshall Plan was to stabilize the socio-political situation in Western Europe, involve West Germany in the Western bloc and reduce Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. The “Marshall Plan” itself and the sharply negative reaction to this plan on the part of the USSR were an important step towards the split of Europe, into confrontation between socio-political coalitions, and then this split was already formalized into the military-political bloc, thus, more and more Bipolarity was clearly taking shape.

The psychological atmosphere created as a result of the Berlin crisis served to create a Western alliance directed against the USSR. In May 1949, the constitution of a separate West German state, the Federal Republic of Germany, was adopted. In response, the USSR in October 1949 created a second state in its zone - the German Democratic Republic. Two hostile blocs confronted each other on the same continent; each of these two forces now owned one of the parts of defeated Germany.

The Berlin crisis was an overall unsuccessful policy of the USSR to prevent the implementation of separate actions by the Western powers in the German question. Of course, the measures that were taken by the USSR in the summer of 1948 created a very dangerous situation in the center of Europe. But the then leadership of the USSR considered these measures as defensive.

In the course of this work, I realized that the Cold War at that time was inevitable not only due to geopolitical and ideological factors, but also due to the fact that the mentality of the leaders of that time in the USA and the USSR was not ready to accept those realities post-war world which the two powers faced. And it was precisely this unwillingness to accept the realities of the post-war period and adapt to them that determined the form of acute and harsh military-political confrontation that the Cold War took.

So, I found out that the causes of the Cold War were:

1) the existence of two superpowers;

2) the struggle for the division of the world between them;

3) the presence of atomic weapons.

The existence of two centers of power simultaneously initiated two global processes: the struggle of the superpowers to divide the world into spheres of influence and the desire of all other countries, with rare exceptions, to join one of the superpowers themselves and use its economic and political power to ensure their own interests.

The result of this was the inevitable formation of a bipolar geopolitical system, based on insurmountable antagonism between the superpowers. Such antagonism involves the use of force, including military force. But in the event of a Soviet-American confrontation, atomic weapons became a powerful deterrent from the very beginning.

The more I think about the Cold War, the more pointless it seems to me to try to assess the degree of culpability of the parties. The Second World War brought the international community into terrible chaos. With countries defeated, European allies exhausted, colonial empires in turmoil and disintegration, gaping holes appeared in the global power structure. The war left only two states - America and Soviet Russia– in a state of political, ideological and military dynamism, making them capable of filling this vacuum. Moreover, both of these states were founded on opposing, antagonistic ideas. Neither of them knew exactly what the other was going to do. That is why Truman was not going to share the secrets of creating an atomic bomb, but rather wanted to use the atomic monopoly to influence the USSR. The Soviet Union, led by Stalin, having emerged victorious from the war, did not want to put up with the role of a minor power; Stalin wanted to force the United States to reckon with whom, for this purpose the Berlin crisis was started. And all subsequent events that served as the prologue to the Cold War, on both sides, arose as a reaction of self-defense. Given the current situation, none of us should be surprised by the results obtained. What would be truly surprising for me would be if no Cold War arose.

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