Rethinking Cold War History

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Near the end of the World War II, upon the surrender of the Nazi, there emerged strong alliances among nations that had participated in the world war. On one hand were the US and the Great Britain and on the other were the Soviet Union and their allies. Immediately after the end of the World War II, there emerged a silent rivalry among these two blocs which was merely economical, political and was waged on propaganda on superiority of weaponry among the blocs.

term ‘cold war’ was used for the first time by an English writer by the name George Orwell. This appeared in an article by George which predicted about the nuclear weaponry advancements in the Great Britain, The Soviet Union and the US^[1].

Close to the end of the World War II, there was a partial division of Europe in wartime-alliance manner. The Soviet Union installed government systems in countries that she considered her liberals and had been salvaged by the Red Army. This was threatening to the United States who feared Domination of Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union. By 1948, The US started showing interest to Western Europe through availing of aid as provided in the Marshall Plan^[2].

Cold war strongly took shape between 1949 -1953. During this period, the Soviet was unable to secure her influence in West Berlin. The US and its allied nations formed a military command, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), whose aim was to barricade the presence of the Soviet’s forces in Europe.

During this period the soviet tested their first atomic bomb a phenomenon which was aimed at putting the US influence at check^[3]. Around the same period, North Korea’s communist powers attacked the South Korea which was greatly supported by the US. This war lasted for four years ending in 1953.

After the end of the longtime Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s reign, the tension between these two political blocs somehow eased. The Warsaw Pact was signed by nations allied to the Soviet Union and around this time also West Germany entered into NATO.

In 1962, the Soviet Union began installation of missile launchers in Cuba. The US and allied nations felt threatened by this move and went into confrontations which almost triggered war between them. However, before war could spark, an agreement was signed which saw the Soviet agree to withdraw its missile installations from Cuba.

This incidence made it clear that none of these blocs was ready to put into use their nuclear weaponry. In 1963, the Nuclear Test-ban Treaty was signed. This treaty banned testing of nuclear weapons on above the ground. During this whole period, there was no practical warfare confrontation between these blocs.

They however engaged military operations to maintain their influence in Europe and to protect their allies. There were troops in communist nations sent by the Soviet Union. Presence of such troops was rampant in countries like East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Guatemala and Hungary. In similar circumstances, the US troops were involved in Cuba, Grenada, Dominican Republic and North Vietnam^[4].

There was an unpredicted change in course of the pattern through which the world had been split. At around 1970, the world was not divided into two opposing blocs. Divisions had occurred in the Soviet Union where China detached itself from this relationship. The division had spread to other parts of the world a phenomenon which shuttered the unity and organization of the communist bloc.

This disparity was also experienced in the other bloc where Japan and Western Europe become independent as they experienced a dynamic growth in their economies. These differences among the communist bloc nations and consequent differences in nations allied to the US somehow eased the tensions which held cold war intact. Sign of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks I and II greatly influenced the ending of the cold war.

In the 1980s, the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev began democratizing the Soviet Union. This led to the rise in power of East Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. This was followed by the unification of the two blocs of Germany. Weakening of the Soviet Union led to the shift of power to Russia and in 1991, it was marked the collapse of the Soviet Union where 15 nations were born. This marked the end of the cold war^[5].

The effects of the cold war were far reaching than could be assumed. It greatly influenced the socio-political and economic aspects of the two blocs. There were scientific inventions in military weaponry in the two blocs that occurred during this time. The internet for instance was invented during this time and was to be used by the military. Later, an agreement was signed that allowed civilians access to the internet.

Social integration among the people allowed for ideological relationships and agreements were made which finally saw the end of the cold war. Economic powers also emerged in some nations in Europe which reduced the dependency of such nations upon assistance from the super nations.

In conclusion, the emergence and subsequent appropriation of the cold war taught the world peace lessons that have kept it intact and war free up to today^[6].

References

Gaddis L. John. We Know Now: Rethinking Cold War History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Hanhimaki, Jussi and Odd Arne Westad. The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Henretta, James A. and David Brody. America: A Concise History, Volume 2: Since 1877. 4th ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Publishers, 2010.

Lendvai, Paul. One day that shook the Communist world: the 1956 Hungarian uprising and its legacy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008.

Towle, Philip. “Cold War”. In Charles Townshend. The Oxford History of Modern War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Turner, Henry Ashby. The Two Germanies since 1945: East and West. London: Yale University Press, 1987.

Footnotes

Jussi Hanhimaki and Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 29.
James A. Henretta and David Brody, America: A Concise History, Volume 2: Since 1877. 4th ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Publishers, 2010), 67.
Henrreta., 69
Paul Lendvai, One day that shook the Communist world: the 1956 Hungarian uprising and its legacy (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008), 121.
Philip Towle, “Cold War”. In Charles Townshend. The Oxford History of Modern War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 78.
John Lewis Gaddis, We Know Now: Rethinking Cold War History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 46.

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Rethinking Cold War History

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