who won the cold war essay

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Origins of the Cold War

The struggle between superpowers.

• Toward a new world order

What was the Cold War?

How did the cold war end, why was the cuban missile crisis such an important event in the cold war.

• What was Harry S. Truman's reaction to communist North Korea's attempt to seize noncommunist South Korea in 1950?
• Should the United States maintain the embargo enforced by John F. Kennedy against Cuba?

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The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II . This hostility between the two superpowers was first given its name by George Orwell in an article published in 1945. Orwell understood it as a nuclear stalemate between “super-states”: each possessed weapons of mass destruction and was capable of annihilating the other.

The Cold War began after the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, when the uneasy alliance between the United States and Great Britain on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other started to fall apart. The Soviet Union began to establish left-wing governments in the countries of eastern Europe, determined to safeguard against a possible renewed threat from Germany. The Americans and the British worried that Soviet domination in eastern Europe might be permanent. The Cold War was solidified by 1947–48, when U.S. aid had brought certain Western countries under American influence and the Soviets had established openly communist regimes. Nevertheless, there was very little use of weapons on battlefields during the Cold War. It was waged mainly on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and lasted until 1991.

The Cold War came to a close gradually. The unity in the communist bloc was unraveling throughout the 1960s and ’70s as a split occurred between China and the Soviet Union . Meanwhile, Japan and certain Western countries were becoming more economically independent. Increasingly complex international relationships developed as a result, and smaller countries became more resistant to superpower cajoling.

The Cold War truly began to break down during the administration of Mikhail Gorbachev , who changed the more totalitarian aspects of the Soviet government and tried to democratize its political system. Communist regimes began to collapse in eastern Europe, and democratic governments rose in East Germany , Poland , Hungary , and Czechoslovakia , followed by the reunification of West and East Germany under NATO auspices. Gorbachev’s reforms meanwhile weakened his own communist party and allowed power to shift to the constituent governments of the Soviet bloc. The Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, giving rise to 15 newly independent nations, including a Russia with an anticommunist leader.

In the late 1950s, both the United States and the Soviet Union were developing intercontinental ballistic missiles . In 1962 the Soviet Union began to secretly install missiles in Cuba to launch attacks on U.S. cities. The confrontation that followed, known as the Cuban missile crisis , brought the two superpowers to the brink of war before an agreement was reached to withdraw the missiles.

The conflict showed that both superpowers were wary of using their nuclear weapons against each other for fear of mutual atomic annihilation. The signing of the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty followed in 1963, which banned aboveground nuclear weapons testing. Still, after the crisis, the Soviets were determined not to be humiliated by their military inferiority again, and they began a buildup of conventional and strategic forces that the United States was forced to match for the next 25 years.

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Cold War , the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. The term was first used by the English writer George Orwell in an article published in 1945 to refer to what he predicted would be a nuclear stalemate between “two or three monstrous super-states, each possessed of a weapon by which millions of people can be wiped out in a few seconds.” It was first used in the United States by the American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch in a speech at the State House in Columbia, South Carolina , in 1947.

A brief treatment of the Cold War follows. For full treatment, see international relations .

Following the surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945 near the close of World War II , the uneasy wartime alliance between the United States and Great Britain on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other began to unravel. By 1948 the Soviets had installed left-wing governments in the countries of eastern Europe that had been liberated by the Red Army . The Americans and the British feared the permanent Soviet domination of eastern Europe and the threat of Soviet-influenced communist parties coming to power in the democracies of western Europe. The Soviets, on the other hand, were determined to maintain control of eastern Europe in order to safeguard against any possible renewed threat from Germany, and they were intent on spreading communism worldwide, largely for ideological reasons. The Cold War had solidified by 1947–48, when U.S. aid provided under the Marshall Plan to western Europe had brought those countries under American influence and the Soviets had installed openly communist regimes in eastern Europe.

The Cold War reached its peak in 1948–53. In this period the Soviets unsuccessfully blockaded the Western-held sectors of West Berlin (1948–49); the United States and its European allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a unified military command to resist the Soviet presence in Europe (1949); the Soviets exploded their first atomic warhead (1949), thus ending the American monopoly on the atomic bomb; the Chinese communists came to power in mainland China (1949); and the Soviet-supported communist government of North Korea invaded U.S.-supported South Korea in 1950, setting off an indecisive Korean War that lasted until 1953.

From 1953 to 1957 Cold War tensions relaxed somewhat, largely owing to the death of the longtime Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953; nevertheless, the standoff remained. A unified military organization among the Soviet-bloc countries, the Warsaw Pact , was formed in 1955; and West Germany was admitted into NATO that same year. Another intense stage of the Cold War was in 1958–62. The United States and the Soviet Union began developing intercontinental ballistic missiles , and in 1962 the Soviets began secretly installing missiles in Cuba that could be used to launch nuclear attacks on U.S. cities. This sparked the Cuban missile crisis (1962), a confrontation that brought the two superpowers to the brink of war before an agreement was reached to withdraw the missiles.

The Cuban missile crisis showed that neither the United States nor the Soviet Union were ready to use nuclear weapons for fear of the other’s retaliation (and thus of mutual atomic annihilation). The two superpowers soon signed the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty of 1963 , which banned aboveground nuclear weapons testing. But the crisis also hardened the Soviets’ determination never again to be humiliated by their military inferiority, and they began a buildup of both conventional and strategic forces that the United States was forced to match for the next 25 years.

Throughout the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union avoided direct military confrontation in Europe and engaged in actual combat operations only to keep allies from defecting to the other side or to overthrow them after they had done so. Thus, the Soviet Union sent troops to preserve communist rule in East Germany (1953), Hungary (1956) , Czechoslovakia (1968) , and Afghanistan (1979) . For its part, the United States helped overthrow a left-wing government in Guatemala (1954) , supported an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba (1961), invaded the Dominican Republic (1965) and Grenada (1983) , and undertook a long (1954–75) and unsuccessful effort to prevent communist North Vietnam from bringing South Vietnam under its rule ( see Vietnam War ).

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Who Won the Cold War?

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There's an African proverb that says: "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." For more than 45 years , the elephantine superpowers of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the United States fought the Cold War — and some might argue the grass was, in this case, the rest of the world.

While the Cold War was largely a war of threats, there was plenty of real violence, too. The aggression between the U.S. and USSR spilled over into places like Angola and Nicaragua . The two nations fought proxy wars , conflicts between warring parties of a third nation that were supported by the U.S. and USSR. The soil of European nations served as nuclear missile sites for both sides.

In addition to the 15 member states of the USSR, there were seven Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe where populations were repressed and subjugated by communist rule. Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet condoned kidnapping and murder of the leftist population under an American-backed regime. And the global psyche was plagued by anxiety over possible nuclear war.

The tense standoff that characterized the Cold War ended when the USSR collapsed completely in 1991 , becoming a number of independent countries and the Russian Federation. This collapse was preceded by revolutions in the satellite states of Poland and Czechoslovakia, as well as the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany. When the USSR fell, the Soviet states dissolved.

The end of the Cold War came so abruptly that even years later, disbelief gripped the West. A 1998 episode of the American TV show " The Simpsons " depicts a Russian delegate at the United Nations referring to his country as the Soviet Union. "Soviet Union?" asks the American delegate. "I thought you guys broke up." "Nyet! That's what we wanted you to think!" the Soviet delegate replies and laughs ominously [source: IMDB ].

This scene underscores a hallmark of the Cold War's conclusion: uncertainty. What exactly led to the downfall of the Soviet Union? Was the collapse of the USSR inevitable, or did America hasten its disintegration?

Did the U.S. Beat the Soviet Union?

Did the ussr die of natural causes.

Historians who believe that the U.S. won the Cold War largely agree that American victory was guaranteed through finances. The United States bled Soviets coffers dry through proxy wars and the nuclear arms race . But this financial drain may not have been possible without the unprecedented stockpiling of nuclear weapons.

The world came as close as it ever has to the brink of nuclear war between Oct. 18 and 29, 1962, during the Cuban missile crisis . The showdown over the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles south of the tip of Florida in the U.S., culminated in the USSR's withdrawal. In a flurry of communications, Russia agreed to remove the missiles in Cuba if the U.S. agreed not to invade the island. The U.S. also agreed to withdraw its missiles from Turkey. The situation was tense enough to inspire the creation of the hotline between Washington and Moscow to head off any future nuclear tensions.

But the USSR still resolved to outpace the U.S. in nuclear capabilities. This intense nuclear research and development didn't come cheap, as the U.S. matched the Soviets' nuclear strides. In 1963, the United States spent 9 percent of the nation's gross domestic product on defense — nearly $53.5 billion (that's around $458 billion in 2022 dollars) [source: UPI ].

Throughout the 1960s, the U.S. continued to bolster its nuclear arsenal. However, during the '70s, the Ford and Carter administrations favored sharp criticism of Soviet policies over stockpiling nuclear arms. When President Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, he reinvigorated defense spending, increasing the defense budget by 35 percent .

Many historians credit Reagan with dealing the death blows that ultimately brought down the Soviet Union. Perhaps the one that signaled the end for the USSR was Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative ( SDI ). This uncompleted project, popularly called Star Wars , would have cost hundreds of billions of dollars. It called for the weaponization of outer space — a shield comprised of a network of nuclear missiles and lasers that would intercept a Soviet nuclear first strike. The SDI initiative was the pinnacle of both the space race and the arms race between the U.S. and the USSR.

Star Wars was criticized as fantasy by defense observers on both sides of the Iron Curtain (the term coined by Winston Churchill that describes the boundary in Europe between communism and the rest of the world). But Reagan was committed to the project, and the Soviet's flagging, state-owned economy simply couldn't match this escalation in defense spending.

Part of the USSR's monetary woes came from pouring funds into Afghanistan. In 1979, the Soviets invaded and occupied the country. The Truman Doctrine had clearly stipulated that American policy was to contain the spread of communism throughout the world, so the U.S. responded by secretly supporting and training the Mujahedeen (Arabic for "strugglers"), insurgent rebels who rallied against Soviets in Afghanistan. The U.S. overwhelmingly showed support for the Mujahedeen, and the Soviet invasion grew protracted and expensive. Ultimately, the Afghanis defeated the USSR, and the Soviets withdrew in 1989.

But not everyone agrees the end of communism was the result of the United States' deep pockets. Some historians assert that the USSR had lived its natural life span and the U.S. was merely a witness to its death.

Some schools of thought insist that communism is simply unsupportable on a large scale . Therefore, the decline of the USSR was inevitable. So can anyone be declared a winner in a war if one of the opponents ends itself as a political entity? That depends on how you look at it. The U.S. was left as the last man standing in the Cold War. And any boxing fan can tell you that the last man standing is the one who wins.

Moves were being made inside the USSR that would hasten its end. Former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, who served as Reagan's Cold War counterpart, introduced sweeping reforms that fundamentally altered the social, political and economic fabric of the USSR. Gorbachev's perestroika ("restructuring") plan opened up the state-owned economy to some private ownership, creating the transition to a free-market economy. But the economic backlash against this radical and rapid transition was unable to sustain the Soviet Union. Widespread problems like poverty and food shortages plagued the country.

These problems may have had less of an effect on the disintegration of the USSR had it not been for Gorbachev's other major reform. Glasnost ("openness") essentially reversed the USSR's policies of brutal totalitarianism and suppression of government criticism and free speech.

Under glasnost, workers could strike, journalists could publish editorials in opposition to the Kremlin and protestors could assemble. The combination of the political and economic reforms of perestroika and the social freedom given by glasnost helped contribute to a grassroots revolution in the USSR that led to the replacement of a single-party communist system with a multi-party democratic system.

So if the USSR died of natural causes or essentially dissolved itself, who deserves the title of Cold War victor? There was actually more than one winner. Certainly, democracy won as it replaced the one-party communist system in not only the USSR member states, but also in Soviet satellite states. The free market won, too, as did transnational corporations that suddenly had billions more customers after the fall of the USSR. And really, the entire world won, having emerged from the Cold War without suffering complete nuclear annihilation.

Cold War FAQ

What was the cold war, how did the cold war end, which country won the cold war, why was the term “cold” used to describe the cold war, why did the cold war start, lots more information, related articles.

• How Vladimir Lenin Took Russia From Romanov Rule to Communist USSR
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• BBC. "The Cold War." March 3, 2022. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwp86fr/revision/1
• Blakemore, Erin. "What was the Cold War?" National Geographic, March 22, 2019. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/cold-war
• Brittanica.com. "Cold War." March 1, 2022. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/event/Cold-War
• History.com. "Cold War History." Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history
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• History.com. "Fall of the Soviet Union." Sept. 11, 2020. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/fall-of-soviet-union
• History on the Net. "What was the Iron Curtain?" Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.historyonthenet.com/what-was-the-iron-curtain
• Hess, Pamela. "Defense spending approaching Cold War high." SpaceDaily.com. Feb. 8, 2006. http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Defense_Spending_approaching_Cold_War_high.html
• Jogalekar, Ashutosh. "JFK, nuclear weapons and the 1963 Peace Speech: How far have we come?" Scientific American. June 10, 2013. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/jfk-nuclear-weapons-and-the-1963-peace-speech-how-far-have-we-come/
• Kaplan, Fred. "Ron and Mikhail's excellent adventure." Slate. June 9, 2004. http://www.slate.com/id/2102081
• Kennedy, John F. "Annual Budget Message to the Congress, Fiscal Year 1963." The American Presidency Project, University of California – Santa Barbara. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/annual-budget-message-the-congress-fiscal-year-1963
• Kissinger, Henry A. "Diplomacy." New York: Simon and Schuster. 1994.
• Macrotrends. "US Military Spending/Defense Budget 1960-2022." Accessed March 3. 2022. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/military-spending-defense-budget
• Reference.com. "What Are the Soviet Satellite Nations?" March 30, 2020. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.reference.com/geography/soviet-satellite-nations-d442e61974d6ec61
• Reference.com. "How Long Did the Cold War Last?" April 30, 2020. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.reference.com/history/long-did-cold-war-last-c8080743063e489f
• Schwartz, Stephen I. "The Hidden Costs of Our Nuclear Arsenal: Overview of Project Findings." Brookings Institute. August 1998. Accessed March 3, 2022. https://www.brookings.edu/the-hidden-costs-of-our-nuclear-arsenal-overview-of-project-findings/
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Who Won the Cold War?

Liberal academic opinion has created the fiction that nobody won the cold war.

George Orwell wrote, "He who controls the past controls the future." Some of the most distinguished American historians are working hard to "control" the past by proving, to state it simply, that the United States did not win the cold war. Why? So that when our children and their children read their history textbooks they will never know that the democracies, led by the United States and a popular two-term president, Ronald Reagan, triumphed over Soviet totalitarianism.

Liberal academic opinion has created the fiction that nobody won the cold war. But there is no more Soviet Union, no Berlin Wall, no Gulag. Never mind. The United States did not "win" the cold war, period.

Weird. Everybody agrees that the Allies beat Germany in two world wars and that the United States lost in Vietnam. But when it comes to the question of who triumphed in the cold war, a great smog immediately blankets the question. George Kennan, for example, writes: "Nobody 'won' the cold war." Thirty years ago, however, he wrote, "The retraction of Soviet power from its present bloated and unhealthy limits is essential to the stability of world relationships."

Here it is thirty years later. There is no Soviet power; its "bloated and unhealthy limits" have been retracted without bloodshed. There isn't even a Soviet Union. So didn't the democracies win the cold war? The problem with Kennan and his revisionist followers is that they never tell you how they define victory.

Professor Ronald Steel has written this grudging verdict on the end of Soviet totalitarianism: "We have won a victory, of sorts." Of sorts! Would Professor Steel describe our triumph over fascism as "a victory, of sorts"?

Professor Steel seems to regret the end of the cold war; he writes, "In its perverted way, the cold war was a force for stability." Yes indeed—Afghanistan, Cuban missile crisis, uprisings in East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia—some force for stability. On the other hand, the cold war was, he says, "dangerous, wasteful, obsessive, and at times irrational." So take your pick.

Ask Russians who won the cold war and their replies are unequivocal. Vladimir Lukin, onetime Boris Yeltsin foreign policy adviser; Aleksandr Bessmertnykh, former Russian foreign minister; Sergio Khrushchev, son of Nikita S. Khrushchev who recently became a U.S. citizen, all agree that the United States won the cold war.

Operation Rewrite about the cold war, in full swing for a decade, has produced books like Losing Our Souls: The American Experience in the Cold War , by Professor Edward Pessen, or an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education , by a Whitman College academic, titled "The United States Was the Loser in the Cold War" containing this hallucinatory sentence: "Considering what might have been, the United States was the loser in the cold war, not the winner."

All these exhibits reminded me of Jonathan Swift's observation in Gulliver's Travels : "there is nothing so extravagant and irrational which some philosophers have not maintained for truth." Ditto some historians.

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Red Century

The Cold War and America’s Delusion of Victory

By Odd Arne Westad

• Aug. 28, 2017

The Cold War as a system of states ended on a cold and gray December day in Moscow in 1991, when Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Soviet Union out of existence. Communism itself, in its Marxist-Leninist form, had ceased to exist as a practical ideal for how to organize society.

“If I had to do it over again, I would not even be a Communist,” Bulgaria’s deposed Communist leader, Todor Zhivkov, had said the year before. “And if Lenin were alive today, he would say the same thing. I must now admit that we started from the wrong basis, from the wrong premise. The foundation of socialism was wrong. I believe that at its very conception the idea of socialism was stillborn.”

But the Cold War as an ideological struggle disappeared only in part, despite Communism’s implosion. On the American side, not so much changed on that day. The Cold War was over, and the United States had won it. But most Americans still believed that they could only be safe if the world looked more like their own country and if the world’s governments abided by the will of the United States.

Ideas and assumptions that had built up over generations persisted, despite the disappearance of the Soviet threat. Instead of a more limited and achievable American foreign policy, most policy makers from both parties believed that the United States could then, at minimal cost or risk, act on its own imperatives.

America’s post-Cold War triumphalism came in two versions. First was the Clinton version, which promoted a prosperity agenda of market values on a global scale. Its lack of purpose in international affairs was striking, but its domestic political instincts were probably right: Americans were tired of foreign entanglements and wanted to enjoy “the peace dividend.”

As a result, the 1990s was a lost opportunity for international cooperation, particularly to combat disease, poverty and inequality. The most glaring examples of these omissions were former Cold War battlefields like Afghanistan, Congo and Nicaragua, where the United States could not have cared less about what happened — once the Cold War was over.

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The Cold War (1945-1989) essay

The Cold War is considered to be a significant event in Modern World History. The Cold War dominated a rather long time period: between 1945, or the end of the World War II, and 1990, the collapse of the USSR. This period involved the relationships between two superpowers: the United States and the USSR. The Cold War began in Eastern Europe and Germany, according to the researchers of the Institute of Contemporary British History (Warner 15).  Researchers state that “the USSR and the United States of America held the trump cards, nuclear bombs and missiles” (Daniel 489). In other words, during the Cold War, two nations took the fate of the world under their control. The progression of the Cold War influenced the development of society, which became aware of the threat of nuclear war. After the World War II, the world experienced technological progress, which provided “the Space Race, computer development, superhighway construction, jet airliner development, the creation of international phone system, the advent of television, enormous progress in medicine, and the creation of mass consumerism, and many other achievements” (Daniel 489). Although the larger part of the world lived in poverty and lacked technological progress, the United States and other countries of Western world succeeded in economic development. The Cold War, which began in 1945, reflected the increased role of technological progress in the establishment of economic relationships between two superpowers.   The Cold War involved internal and external conflicts between two superpowers, the United States and the USSR, leading to eventual breakdown of the USSR.

• The Cold War: background information

The Cold War consisted of several confrontations between the United States and the USSR, supported by their allies. According to researchers, the Cold War was marked by a number of events, including “the escalating arms race, a competition to conquer space, a dangerously belligerent for of diplomacy known as brinkmanship, and a series of small wars, sometimes called “police actions” by the United States and sometimes excused as defense measures by the Soviets” (Gottfried 9). The Cold War had different influences on the United States and the USSR. For the USSR, the Cold War provided massive opportunities for the spread of communism across the world, Moscow’s control over the development of other nations and the increased role of the Soviet Communist party.

In fact, the Cold War could split the wartime alliance formed to oppose the plans of Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and the United States as two superpowers with considerable economic and political differences. The USSR was based on a single-party Marxist–Leninist system, while the United States was a capitalist state with democratic governance based on free elections.

The key figure in the Cold War was the Soviet leader Gorbachev, who was elected in 1985. He managed to change the direction of the USSR, making the economies of communist ruled states independent. The major reasons for changing in the course were poor technological development of the USSR (Gottfried 115). Gorbachev believed that radical changes in political power could improve the Communist system. At the same time, he wanted to stop the Cold War and tensions with the United States. The cost of nuclear arms race had negative impact on the economy of the USSR. The leaders of the United States accepted the proposed relationships, based on cooperation and mutual trust. The end of the Cold War was marked by signing the INF treaty in 1987 (Gottfried 115).

• The origins of the Cold War

Many American historians state that the Cold War began in 1945. However, according to Russian researchers, historians and analysts “the Cold War began with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, for this was when the capitalist world began its systematic opposition to and effort to undermine the world’s first socialist state and society” (Warner13). For Russians, the Cold War was hot in 1918-1922, when the Allied Intervention policy implemented in Russia during the Russian Civil War. According to John W. Long, “the U.S. intervention in North Russia was a policy formulated by President Wilson during the first half of 1918 at the urgent insistence of Britain, France and Italy, the chief World War I allies” (380).

Nevertheless, there are some other opinions regarding the origins of the Cold War. For example, Geoffrey Barraclough, an outstanding English historian, states that the events in the Far East at the end of the century contributed to the origins of the Cold War. He argues that “during the previous hundred years, Russia and the United States has tended to support each other against England; but now, as England’s power passed its zenith, they came face to face across the Pacific” (Warner 13). According to Barraclough, the Cold War is associated with the conflict of interests, which involved European countries, the Middle East and South East Asia. Finally, this conflict divided the world into two camps. Thus, the Cold War origins are connected with the spread of ideological conflict caused by the emergence of the new power in the early 20-th century (Warner 14). The Cold War outbreak was associated with the spread of propaganda on the United States by the USSR. The propagandistic attacks involved the criticism of the U.S. leaders and their policies. These attacked were harmful to the interests of American nation (Whitton 151).

• The major causes of the Cold War

The United States and the USSR were regarded as two superpowers during the Cold War, each having its own sphere of influence, its power and forces. The Cold War had been the continuing conflict, caused by tensions, misunderstandings and competitions that existed between the United States and the USSR, as well as their allies from 1945 to the early 1990s (Gottfried 10). Throughout this long period, there was the so-called rivalry between the United States and the USSR, which was expressed through various transformations, including military buildup, the spread of propaganda, the growth of espionage, weapons development, considerable industrial advances, and competitive technological developments in different spheres of human activity, such as medicine, education, space exploration, etc.

There four major causes of the Cold War, which include:

• Ideological differences (communism v. capitalism);
• Mutual distrust and misperception;
• The fear of the United State regarding the spread of communism;
• The nuclear arms race (Gottfried 10).

The major causes of the Cold War point out to the fact that the USSR was focused on the spread of communist ideas worldwide. The United States followed democratic ideas and opposed the spread of communism. At the same time, the acquisition of atomic weapons by the United States caused fear in the USSR. The use of atomic weapons could become the major reason of fear of both the United States and the USSR. In other words, both countries were anxious about possible attacks from each other; therefore, they were following the production of mass destruction weapons. In addition, the USSR was focused on taking control over Eastern Europe and Central Asia. According to researchers, the USSR used various strategies to gain control over Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the years 1945-1980. Some of these strategies included “encouraging the communist takeover of governments in Eastern Europe, the setting up of Comecon, the Warsaw Pact, the presence of the Red Army in Eastern Europe, and the Brezhnev Doctrine” (Phillips 118). These actions were the major factors for the suspicions and concerns of the United States. In addition, the U.S. President had a personal dislike of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his policies. In general, the United States was concerned by the Soviet Union’s actions regarding the occupied territory of Germany, while the USSR feared that the United States would use Western Europe as the major tool for attack.

• The consequences of the Cold War

The consequences of the Cold War include both positive and negative effects for both the United States and the USSR.

• Both the United States and the USSR managed to build up huge arsenals of atomic weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.
• The Cold War provided opportunities for the establishment of the military blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
• The Cold War led to the emergence of the destructive military conflicts, like the Vietnam War and the Korean War, which took the lives of millions of people (Gottfried13).
• The USSR collapsed because of considerable economic, political and social challenges.
• The Cold War led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the unification of the two German nations.
• The Cold War led to the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact (Gottfried 136).
• The Cold war provided the opportunities for achieving independence of the Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics.
• The Cold War made the United States the sole superpower of the world because of the collapse of the USSR in 1990.
• The Cold War led to the collapse of Communism and the rise of globalization worldwide (Phillips 119).

The impact of the Cold War on the development of many countries was enormous. The consequences of the Cold War were derived from numerous internal problems of the countries, which were connected with the USSR, especially developing countries (India, Africa, etc.). This fact means that foreign policies of many states were transformed (Gottfried 115).

The Cold War (1945-1989) essay part 2

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Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World

George Orwell and the origin of the term ‘cold war’

Oxford Dictionaries

• By Katherine Connor Martin
• October 24 th 2015

On 19 October 1945, George Orwell used the term cold war in his essay “ You and the Atom Bomb ,” speculating on the repercussions of the atomic age which had begun two months before when the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. In this article, Orwell considered the social and political implications of “a state which was at once unconquerable and in a permanent state of ‘cold war’ with its neighbors.”

This wasn’t the first time the phrase cold war was used in English (it had been used to describe certain policies of Hitler in 1938), but it seems to have been the first time it was applied to the conditions that arose in the aftermath of World War II. Orwell’s essay speculates on the geopolitical impact of the advent of a powerful weapon so expensive and difficult to produce that it was attainable by only a handful of nations, anticipating “the prospect of two or three monstrous super-states, each possessed of a weapon by which millions of people can be wiped out in a few seconds, dividing the world between them,” and concluding that such a situation is likely “to put an end to large-scale wars at the cost of prolonging indefinitely a ‘ peace that is no peac e’.”

Within years, some of the developments anticipated by Orwell had emerged. The Cold War (often with capital initials) came to refer specifically to the prolonged state of hostility, short of direct armed conflict, which existed between the Soviet bloc and Western powers after the Second World War. The term was popularized by the American journalist Walter Lippman, who made it the title of a series of essays he published in 1947 in response to U.S. diplomat George Kennan’s ‘Mr. X’ article, which had advocated the policy of “ containment .” To judge by debate in the House of Commons the following year (as cited by the Oxford English Dictionary ), this use of the term Cold War was initially regarded as an Americanism: ‘The British Government … should recognize that the ‘cold war’, as the Americans call it, is on in earnest, that the third world war has, in fact, begun.” Soon, though, the term was in general use.

The end of the Cold War was prematurely declared from time to time in the following decades—after the death of Stalin, and then again during the détente of the 1970s—but by the time the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the Cold War era was clearly over. American political scientist Francis Fukuyama famously posited that “what we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such,” with the global ascendancy of Western liberal democracy become an inevitability.

A quarter of a century later, tensions between Russia and NATO have now ratcheted up again, particularly in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis of 2014; commentators have begun to speak of a “ New Cold War .” The ideological context has changed, but once again a few great powers with overwhelming military might jockey for global influence while avoiding direct confrontation. Seventy years after the publication of his essay, the dynamics George Orwell discussed in it are still recognizable in international relations today.

A version of this article first appeared on the OxfordWords blog. 

Image Credit: “General Douglas MacArthur, UN Command CiC (seated), observes the naval shelling of Incheon from the USS Mt. McKinley, September 15, 1950.” Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons .

Katherine Connor Martin is Head of US Dictionaries at Oxford University Press.

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Orwell always surprises us. He was and still is a genius.

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Essay: Who won the Cold War?

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The Cold War Who wON The Cold War? Introduction/Thesis “The Cold War began with the fall of Europe. It can only end when Europe is whole.” (Bush, 2009). The year was 1947. World War II had brought upon the fall of Europe through its economic loss and massive casualties. However, another war had just begun. The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. Although there were never any armed conflicts between the two superpowers, their hostility towards each other manifested itself in other countries. In the end, history never made it clear who the true winner of this 44 year standoff was. Nonetheless, it can be argued that the United States was the true victor of the conflict because of the USSR’s financial decline, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the dwindling influence of communism in Eastern Europe. Background World War II, a global war that was fought from 1939 to 1945 impacted the United States greatly. The United States was still recovering from the effects of the Great Depression, which started in 1929. The unemployment rate during 1941 hovered around 25% (Iowa Pathways, 2016). However, America’s involvement in the war completely diminished that rate. American factories were repurposed in order to produce goods to support war efforts. This strategy was known as total war. Men were sent away to fight so more jobs opened up, allowing women to rise into the workforce. The war allowed women more independence and allowed them to break traditional gender stereotypes by doing work that was traditionally considered a “man’s job”. Almost overnight, the unemployment rate had dropped down to 10% (Iowa Pathways, 2016). American employment was on the rise during World War II. In regards to international relations however, there were tensions between many countries. The US had created an unreliable wartime alliance with Great Britain, which always seemed on the verge of breaking. Also during this time, the Soviet Union and the spread of communism were steadily rising. By 1948, the USSR had taken over and claimed several countries of Eastern Europe to continue the spread of communism (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018). The United States and Britain felt extremely uncomfortable with the amount of Soviet domination that was occurring in the Eastern European states due to the fact that Soviet influenced communist parties, if left to become strong enough, could potentially influence western democratic ideas. Thus, the Marshall plan had come into existence. A US sponsored program to help Western and Southern European economies rehabilitate so they wouldn’t be exposed to the threat of communism was one of the true beginnings of the long stand-off between the US and the USSR. Throughout the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union always managed to avoid direct military confrontation in Europe. Instead, they relied on combat operations to stop the spread of the other’s influence. For example, the Soviet Union sent out troops to preserve communist influence in several Eastern European states, including East Germany and Hungary. The US, instead of focusing on protecting democracies, attempted to help less protected communist states become democratic. In 1954, the US helped overthrow a left-wing government in Guatemala, and also undertook a long effort to protect South Vietnam against North Vietnam’s communist rule, only to eventually fail (Deudney, 1992). Both sides did their best to truly protect their beliefs, but in 1990, the USSR’s influential communist power had come to an end at the close of the Cold War. Arguments The United States had bled the Soviet economy dry through proxy wars and the nuclear arms race. In the Korean War, Korea was divided along a line known as the 38th parallel, which divided the North and South of Korea. The communist north, which had fallen under the influence of the USSR, fought against the democratic south, backed by the US. Using what was known as trench warfare, they pushed back and forth along this line for about two years with little to no progress. Eventually, in 1953, an armistice was signed claiming Korea would remain a divided country (McDonough, 2018). Because the Soviets had provided material and medical services to North Korea, as well as Soviet pilots and aircrafts, this was one of the first of many events that left a dent in Soviet economy. One of the major events of the nuclear arms race was known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. This was a 13 day standoff between the Soviets and the US where the US administered a blockade around Cuba after discovering that Russia had stationed missiles in the territory right below the United States (Palmer, 2014). This brought them to the brink of nuclear war. At the end of 1956, the United States had 2,123 strategic warheads and the Soviet Union had 84. Those numbers increased rapidly over the subsequent 30 years. The U.S. arsenal peaked in 1987 at 13,002 warheads, the Soviet Union two years later at 11,320 (Freeman, 2018). The high number of nuclear arms shows how much the Soviet resources had been depleted. The reason the US was not affected as much as Russia with their economy was due to capitalism. With communism, it was hard for incentives to work to be introduced because everyone would be treated equal regardless of how hard they worked. This led to little innovation, creativity, and motivation in an era of stagnation. Internally, stagnation of the Soviet economy had thrived under Brezhnev, the Russian leader from 1964-1982. With high military spending due to the nuclear arms race, proxy wars, and stagnation, the economy of the Soviet Union suffered. The Soviet Union collapsed because of the loss of their economy, national sentiment against foreign policy, and the failed reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev. As mentioned earlier, in a country with deep rooted communism, a negative effect of having everybody equal is an idea known as stagnation. Having little incentive to work led to a stagnation in economic growth. However, as military spending went up and the economic output remained the same, it lead to an overall growth decline of 3.7% in the years of 1971-1975 (Palmer, 2014). By the 1970s, low morale of the Soviet Union’s workforce was hurting its economy. Workers were given goals that seemed abstract or remote from tangible benefits. Common people were criticizing people in power for not responding to their needs. Common people were still living in cramped housing and were seeing little material progress for themselves. Among Soviet workers alcoholism was prevalent, and people were taking little pride in their work. Skilled workers were also demoralized. The massive effort in the Soviet Union in education to create a skilled workforce could not compensate for an economy that functioned poorly. Instead, education was producing talent that was being poorly employed. Mikhail Gorbachev tried to alleviate this suffering with his reforms of Perestroika and Glasnost (Payne, 2009). Perestroika was introduced to restructure the centrally planned economy, and introduce capitalism but production could never meet demand. Foreign businesses could establish themselves in the USSR with Perestroika. Small businesses that were established could regulate their own prices and collect their own profits. But, the reforms did not go that far, as price control remained in many businesses and control over production was still maintained (Directorate of Intelligence, 1989). Perestroika would overhaul the top members of the Communist party and would replace the centralized government and the accompanying policy of Glasnost would reduce the strict controls the government had placed on all aspects of life as well as allowing greater and wider discussion for the mistakes of the past, for example, the crimes of Stalin. The Communist party was full of self-serving and corrupt politicians, so Glasnost, a policy of openness, was introduced (Palmer, 2014). This encouraged open discussion and democratization by addressing the many wrongdoings of the Soviet Union. This resulted in a wave of criticism toward the party and streamlining of the party occurred along with a crackdown on corruption. Glasnost also gave people the right to protest through free speech and allowed them to criticize the rule of the Soviet Union. Criticisms allowed people to rally against the government and further implemented the collapse of the USSR. These western ideals were introduced to the USSR through the influence of democracy in the United States. Because the USSR collapsed due to its economic loss and America did not, it is clear to see that the US was the true victor of this war. By the close of the Cold War, the Soviet Union no longer wielded the same power it once did over Eastern Europe. Not only was the country itself collapsing, but the influence of communism that the USSR held diminished along with it. In the revolutions of 1989, many countries under the influence of communism revolted and gained their independence from the superpower. In Poland, a movement known as Solidarity was created. Solidarity was a national symbol of protest and called for free elections and a position in government. The socialist regime in Poland was thus threatened and the outcome resulted in free market lines and a reconstructing of the economy. In Hungary, a new leader was wanted in order to kick the socialist leader out of power. In 1988, the new leadership that had taken form allowed multi-party elections and dissolved the communist party. In many other countries, similar revolutions occurred and resulted in freedom due to Gorbachev’s leniency (Directorate of Intelligence, 1989). Gorbachev did not offer military backing or support to Communist leaders that were trying to assert their rule. Without the backing of the Soviet government, communist leaders of countries were not powerful enough to suppress the revolutions in their countries. As a result, they fell to revolutionary demands and their governments were overthrown. At the 19th All-Union Conference in 1988, Gorbachev introduced the principle of multi-candidate elections and Article 6 was later removed, ending the Communist party’s monopoly of power (Palmer, 2014). Communist candidates lost elections. Independence movements grew with Lithuania being the first to declare independence from the Soviet Union. Free elections were held and Communism collapsed and no military intervention was done to stop it. The U.S. had entered the Cold War with the intent to stop the spread of communism through their Marshall plan. Because the Soviet Union lost all of their power in Eastern Europe and their control of communism, it was clear to see that the United States completed their original purpose of entering the war. Therefore, the fall of communism supports the claim that the United States won the Cold War. Opposing Arguments It can be argued that the US did not win the Cold War because some historians believe the Soviet Union did not collapse due to external pressures. One claim that has been made is that communist rule ended because Mikhaïl Gorbachev alone took communism out of power as he believed it would be in the Soviets best interest. The Soviet Union collapsed because of Gorbachev’s policies internally, not because the US willed them to collapse (Kingsbury, 2010). While the claim that Mikhaïl Gorbachev ended the Communist monopoly of power is true, the reason communism collapsed was due to the introduction of western ideals that were influenced by democracy. One of the main reasons communism collapsed was because of economic stagnation, which prevented growth of the economy. In that sense, the US drove that economic decline as it forced the USSR to use up its resources. As a result, Mikhaïl Gorbachev was forced to introduce Perestroika as mentioned earlier in this essay, an economic ideal that resembled capitalism. Therefore, the USSR did not only collapse due to internal pressures of Mikhaïl Gorbachev, but also external pressures driven by the US’s nuclear force and economic strength. Conclusion It has been made clear that the United States was the true victor of the Cold War against the Soviet Union because they forced an economic decline upon the Soviets, the USSR collapsed as a nation, and because they helped diminish the influence of communism through the Marshall Plan. The USSR faced a huge economic decline due to the nuclear arms race and the proxy wars they fought with the US. The US’s Marshall Plan helped impose democracy and the influence of free speech allowed the collapse of communism in many Eastern European countries. Lastly, the Soviet Union itself collapsed because of the introduction of western ideals that overwhelmed the communist government, rendering it unable to function. Therefore, the US was able to help the spread of democracy and weakened the power communism held over Eurasia. It is vital to involve the Cold War in a topic of study in United States history because it was a war that involved a clash of ideals over the fight for democracy or communism. In communism, the ideals involved the government consuming every aspect of a person’s life. In democracy, a person’s free speech and their control over government reigned. Because of this clash of ideals, the threat of nuclear war seemed to loom over the world’s shoulders. Without discussion and the understanding of this part of history, the hazard of nuclear war could once again be foreshadowed in the future.

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Russia's former president said the US thinks it won the Cold War but is now on the verge of losing it

• Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev said that the US erroneously believes it won the Cold War.
• "What's more, it is now just one step away from losing it completely," Medvedev added.
• The Putin loyalist has routinely threatened nuclear attacks on the West. 

Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev said the US had erroneously "decided that it had won the Cold War."

At the 12th International Legal Forum in St Petersburg on June 27 , Medvedev, now the deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said: "It was a very serious misconception. The US did not win it."

He added: "What's more, it is now just one step away from losing it completely."

Related stories

At the XII St. Petersburg International Legal Forum pic.twitter.com/fcNWSJhuCX — Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) June 27, 2024

Medvedev's comments during the forum are in line with his anti-West stance.

When the former president was elected in 2008, he was seen as more liberal and pro-West than his predecessor, Vladimir Putin.

However, since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he has stood against the West in what many consider to be efforts to win Putin's favor. He's now known for routinely making bombastic threats against Western countries.

For one, Medvedev threatened nuclear war in an X post on May 6 , when he said that Russia would launch nuke attacks on Western capitals if NATO were to send troops to support Ukraine.

"In that case, none of them will be able to hide either on Capitol Hill, or in the Elysee Palace, or in Downing Street, 10. It will be a global catastrophe," he wrote.

The choir of irresponsible bastards from among Western elites calling for sending their troops to the nonexistent country is expanding. Now it includes members of US Congress, French and British administration, and some madmen from the Baltic States and Poland. They are also… — Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) May 6, 2024

Medvedev also suggested that Russia fire a hypersonic missile at The Hague after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin.

Medvedev has also repeatedly made wild predictions of wars in the West and the collapse of Western countries. He said a war would one day erupt between France and Germany . He also predicted in December 2022 that Elon Musk might one day be elected US president — a suggestion that even Musk said he thought was "absurd."

Medvedev's representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Watch: When Vladimir Putin's gone, who comes next?

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By: History.com Editors

Updated: March 16, 2023 | Original: October 14, 2009

An arms race occurs when two or more countries increase the size and quality of military resources to gain military and political superiority over one another. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is perhaps the largest and most expensive arms race in history; however, others have occurred, often with dire consequences. Whether an arms race increases or decreases the risk of war remains debatable: some analysts agree with Sir Edward Grey , Britain's foreign secretary at the start of World War I , who stated "The moral is obvious; it is that great armaments lead inevitably to war."

Dreadnought Arms Race

With the Industrial Revolution came new weaponry, including vastly improved warships. In the late nineteenth century, France and Russia built powerful armies and challenged the spread of British colonialism. In response, Great Britain shored up its Royal Navy to control the seas.

Britain managed to work out its arms race with France and Russia with two separate treaties. But Germany had also drastically increased its military budget and might, building a large navy to contest Britain’s naval dominance in hopes of becoming a world power.

In turn, Britain further expanded the Royal Navy and built more advanced and powerful battlecruisers, including the 1906 HMS Dreadnought , a technically advanced type of warship that set the standard for naval architecture.

Not to be outdone, Germany produced its own fleet of dreadnought-class warships, and the standoff continued with both sides fearing a naval attack from the other and building bigger and better ships.

Germany couldn’t keep up, however, and Britain won the so-called Anglo-German Arms Race . The conflict didn’t cause World War I, but it did help to increase distrust and tensions between Germany, Britain and other European powers.

Arms Control Efforts Fail

After World War I, many countries showed an interest in arms control. President Woodrow Wilson led the way by making it a key point in his famous 1918 Fourteen Points speech, wherein he laid out his vision for postwar peace.

At the Washington Naval Conference (1921-1922), the United States, Britain and Japan signed a treaty to restrict arms, but in the mid-1930s Japan chose not to renew the agreement. Moreover, Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles and began to rearm.

This started a new arms race in Europe between Germany, France and Britain—and in the Pacific between Japan and the United States—which continued into World War II .

Nuclear Arms Race

Though the United States and the Soviet Union were tentative allies during World War II, their alliance soured after Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945.

The United States cast a wary eye over the Soviet Union’s quest for world dominance as they expanded their power and influence over Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union resented the United States’ geopolitical interference and America’s own arms buildup.

Further fueling the flame of distrust, the United States didn’t tell the Soviet Union they planned to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, although the United States informed them they had created such a bomb.

To help discourage Soviet communist expansion, the United States built more atomic weaponry. But in 1949, the Soviets tested their own atomic bomb, and the Cold War nuclear arms race was on.

The United States responded in 1952 by testing the highly destructive hydrogen “superbomb,” and the Soviet Union followed suit in 1953. Four years later, both countries tested their first intercontinental ballistic missiles and the arms race rose to a terrifying new level.

Cold War Arms Race Heads to Space

The Soviet’s launch of the first Sputnik satellite on October 4, 1957, stunned and concerned the United States and the rest of the world, as it took the Cold War arms race soon became the Space Race .

President Dwight D. Eisenhower tried to tone down the rhetoric over the success of the launch, while he streamed federal funds into the U.S. space program to prevent being left behind.

After a series of mishaps and failures, the United States successfully launched its first satellite into space on January 31, 1958, and the Space Race continued as both countries researched new technology to create more powerful weapons and surveillance technologies.

Missile Gap

Throughout the 1950s, the United States became convinced that the Soviet Union had better missile capability that, if launched, could not be defended against. This theory, known as the Missile Gap, was eventually disproved by the CIA but not before causing grave concern to U.S. officials.

Many politicians used the Missile Gap as a talking point in the 1960 presidential election. Yet, in fact, U.S. missile power was superior to that of the Soviet Union at the time. Over the next three decades, however, both countries grew their arsenals to well over 10,000 warheads.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cold War arms race came to a tipping point in 1962 after the John F. Kennedy administration’s failed attempt to overthrow Cuba’s premier Fidel Castro , and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev implemented a secret agreement to place Soviet warheads in Cuba to deter future coup attempts.

After U.S. intelligence observed missile bases under construction in Cuba, they enforced a blockade on the country and demanded the Soviet Union demolish the bases and remove any nuclear weapons. The tense Cuban Missile Crisis standoff ensued and came to a head as Kennedy and Khrushchev exchanged letters and made demands.

The crisis ended peacefully; however, both sides and the American public had fearfully braced for nuclear war and began to question the need for weapons that guaranteed “mutually assured destruction.”

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Arms Races Continue

The Cold War ended in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall . But years earlier, in 1987, the United States and the Soviet Union had signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) to limit the scope and reach of all types of missiles.

Other treaties such as the START 1 treaty in 1991 and the New START treaty in 2011 aimed to further reduce both nations’ ballistic weapons capabilities.

The United States withdrew from the INF treaty in 2019, however, believing that Russia was non-compliant. Though the Cold War between the United States and Russia is over, many argue the arms race is not.

Other countries have beefed up their military might and are in a modern-day arms race or poised to enter one, including India and Pakistan, North Korea and South Korea , and Iran and China .

Herman, Steve. US Leaves INF Treaty, Says Russia ‘Solely Responsible.’ VOA. Hundley, Tom. Pakistan and India: The Real Nuclear Challenge. Pulitzer Center. Sputnik, 1957. U.S. Department of State: Office of the Historian. The Reader’s Companion to American History. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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Essay on the Cold War: it’s Origin, Causes and Phases

After the Second World War, the USA and USSR became two Super Powers. One nation tried to reduce the power of other. Indirectly the competition between the Super Powers led to the Cold War.

Then America took the leadership of all the Capitalist Countries.

Soviet Russia took the leadership of all the Communist Countries. As a result of which both stood as rivals to each other.

Definition of the Cold War:

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In the graphic language of Hartman, “Cold War is a state of tension between countries in which each side adopts policies designed to strengthen it and weaken the other by falling short by actual war”.

Image Source: i.ytimg.com/vi/y9HjvHZfCUI/maxresdefault.jpg

Infact, Cold War is a kind of verbal war which is fought through newspapers, magazines, radio and other propaganda methods. It is a propaganda to which a great power resorts against the other power. It is a sort of diplomatic war.

Origin of Cold War:

There is no unanimity amongst scholars regarding the origin of the Cold War In 1941 when Hitler invaded Russia, Roosevelt the President of USA sent armaments to Russia. It is only because the relationship between Roosevelt and Stalin was very good. But after the defeat of Germany, when Stalin wanted to implement Communist ideology in Poland, Hungery, Bulgaria and Rumania, at that time England and America suspected Stalin.

Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England in his ‘Fulton Speech’ on 5 March 1946 said that Soviet Russia was covered by an Iron Curtain. It led Stalin to think deeply. As a result of which suspicion became wider between Soviet Russia and western countries and thus the Cold War took birth.

Causes of the Cold War:

Various causes are responsible for the outbreak of the Cold War. At first, the difference between Soviet Russia and USA led to the Cold War. The United States of America could not tolerate the Communist ideology of Soviet Russia. On the other hand, Russia could not accept the dominance of United States of America upon the other European Countries.

Secondly, the Race of Armament between the two super powers served another cause for the Cold War. After the Second World War, Soviet Russia had increased its military strength which was a threat to the Western Countries. So America started to manufacture the Atom bomb, Hydrogen bomb and other deadly weapons. The other European Countries also participated in this race. So, the whole world was divided into two power blocs and paved the way for the Cold War.

Thirdly, the Ideological Difference was another cause for the Cold War. When Soviet Russia spread Communism, at that time America propagated Capitalism. This propaganda ultimately accelerated the Cold War.

Fourthly, Russian Declaration made another cause for the Cold War. Soviet Russia highlighted Communism in mass-media and encouraged the labour revolution. On the other hand, America helped the Capitalists against the Communism. So it helped to the growth of Cold War.

Fifthly, the Nuclear Programme of America was responsible for another cause for the Cold War. After the bombardment of America on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Soviet Russia got afraid for her existence. So, it also followed the same path to combat America. This led to the growth of Cold War.

Lastly, the Enforcement of Veto by Soviet Russia against the western countries made them to hate Russia. When the western countries put forth any view in the Security Council of the UNO, Soviet Russia immediately opposed it through veto. So western countries became annoyed in Soviet Russia which gave birth to the Cold War.

Various Phases of the Cold War:

The Cold War did not occur in a day. It passed through several phases.

First Phase (1946-1949 ):

In this phase America and Soviet Russia disbelieved each other. America always tried to control the Red Regime in Russia. Without any hesitation Soviet Russia established Communism by destroying democracy in the Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungery, Yugoslavia and other Eastern European Countries.

In order to reduce Russia’s hegemony, America helped Greece and Turkey by following Truman Doctrine which came into force on 12 March 1947. According to Marshall Plan which was declared on 5 June, 1947 America gave financial assistance to Western European Countries.

In this phase, non withdrawal of army from Iran by Soviet Russia, Berlin blaockade etc. made the cold was more furious. After the formation of NATO in 1949, the Cold War took a halt.

Second Phase (1949-1953 ):

In this phase a treaty was signed between Australia, New Zeland and America in September, 1957 which was known as ANZUS. America also signed a treaty with Japan on 8 September, 1951. At that time by taking armaments from Russia and army from China, North Korea declared war against South Korea.

Then with the help of UNO, America sent military aid to South Korea. However, both North Korea and South Korea signed peace treaty in 1953 and ended the war. In order to reduce the impact of Soviet Communism, America spent a huge amount of dollar in propaganda against Communism. On the other hand, Soviet Russia tried to be equal with America by testing atom bomb.

Third Phase (1953-1957):

Now United States of America formed SEATO in 1954 in order to reduce Soviet Russia’s influence. In 1955 America formed MEDO in Middle East. Within a short span of time, America gave military assistance to 43 countries and formed 3300 military bases around Soviet Russia. At that time, the Vietnamese War started on 1955.

To reduce the American Power, Russia signed WARSAW PACT in 1955. Russia also signed a defence pact with 12 Countries. Germany was divided into Federal Republic of Germany which was under the American control where as German Democratic Republic was under Soviet Russia. In 1957 Soviet Russia included Sphutnick in her defence programme.

In 1953 Stalin died and Khrushchev became the President of Russia. In 1956 an agreement was signed between America and Russia regarding the Suez Crisis. America agreed not to help her allies like England and France. In fact West Asia was saved from a great danger.

Fourth Phase (1957-1962):

In 1959 the Russian President Khrushchev went on a historical tour to America. Both the countries were annoyed for U-2 accident and for Berlin Crisis. In 13 August 1961, Soviet Russia made a Berlin Wall of 25 Kilometres in order to check the immigration from eastern Berlin to Western Berlin. In 1962, Cuba’s Missile Crisis contributed a lot to the cold war.

This incident created an atmosphere of conversation between American President Kenedy and Russian President Khrushchev. America assured Russia that she would not attack Cuba and Russia also withdrew missile station from Cuba.

Fifth Phase (1962-1969 ):

The Fifth Phase which began from 1962 also marked a mutual suspicion between USA and USSR. There was a worldwide concern demanding ban on nuclear weapons. In this period Hot Line was established between the White House and Kremlin. This compelled both the parties to refrain from nuclear war. Inspite of that the Vietnam problem and the Problem in Germany kept Cold War between USA and USSR in fact.

Sixth Phase (1969-1978 ):

This phase commencing from 1969 was marked by DETENTE between USA and USSR- the American President Nixon and Russian President Brezhnev played a vital role for putting an end to the Cold War. The SALT of 1972, the summit Conference on Security’ of 1975 in Helsinki and Belgrade Conference of 1978 brought America and Russia closer.

In 1971, American Foreign Secretary Henry Kissinger paid a secret visit to China to explore the possibilities of reapproachment with China. The American move to convert Diego Garcia into a military base was primarily designed to check the Soviet presence in the Indian Ocean. During the Bangladesh crisis of 1971 and the Egypt-Israel War of 1973 the two super powers extended support to the opposite sides.

Last Phase (1979-1987 ):

In this phase certain changes were noticed in the Cold War. That is why historians call this phase as New Cold War. In 1979, the American President Carter and Russian President Brezhnev signed SALT II. But in 1979 the prospects of mitigating Cold War were marred by sudden development in Afghanistan.

Vietnam (1975), Angola (1976), Ethiopia (1972) and Afghanistan (1979) issues brought success to Russia which was unbearable for America. American President Carter’s Human Rights and Open Diplomacy were criticised by Russia. The SALT II was not ratified by the US Senate. In 1980 America boycotted the Olympic held at Moscow.

In 1983, Russia withdrew from a talk on missile with America. In 1984 Russia boycotted the Olympic game held at Los-Angeles. The Star War of the American President Ronald Regan annoyed Russia. In this way the ‘New Cold War’ between America and Russia continued till 1987.

Result of the Cold War:

The Cold War had far-reaching implications in the international affairs. At first, it gave rise to a fear psychosis which resulted in a mad race for the manufacture of more sophisticated armaments. Various alliances like NATO, SEATO, WARSAW PACT, CENTO, ANZUS etc. were formed only to increase world tension.

Secondly, Cold War rendered the UNO ineffective because both super powers tried to oppose the actions proposed by the opponent. The Korean Crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War etc. were the bright examples in this direction.

Thirdly, due to the Cold War, a Third World was created. A large number of nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America decided to keep away from the military alliances of the two super powers. They liked to remain neutral. So, Non-Alignments Movement became the direct outcome of the Cold War.

Fourthly, Cold War was designed against mankind. The unnecessary expenditure in the armament production created a barrier against the progress of the world and adversely affected a country and prevented improvement in the living standards of the people.

Fifthly, the principle ‘Whole World as a Family’, was shattered on the rock of frustration due to the Cold War. It divided the world into two groups which was not a healthy sign for mankind.

Sixthly, The Cold War created an atmosphere of disbelief among the countries. They questioned among themselves how unsafe were they under Russia or America.

Finally, The Cold War disturbed the World Peace. The alliances and counter-alliances created a disturbing atmosphere. It was a curse for the world. Though Russia and America, being super powers, came forward to solve the international crisis, yet they could not be able to establish a perpetual peace in the world.

Related Articles:

• Essay on the Cold War, 1945
• Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO): Structure, Principles and Other Details
• History of The Cold War: Origin, Reasons and Other Details
• Truman Doctrine: A Policy Statement Made by US during the Cold War