The Cold War

The short 20th century was a century that has forever marked the history of mankind. Several major events took place in this century events that have left their scar on the !uropean continent and the world as a whole. The first such major event was the "irst World War #WW$% which at the time was &elieved to &e the most destruction conflict in human history. $t also was &elieved that WW$ would &e the war to end all wars &ut this would not &e the case. The fra'ile and hectic peace that e(isted &etween )*)*+)*,- could &e seen as a period of truce &etween the world powers until they could reassume hostilities. The Second World War #WW$$% shocked everyone &y its &rutality and is now the &loodiest and most violent conflict in human history with tens of millions of dead all over the world with the world economic infrastructure si'nificantly weakened and a hu'e need for reconstruction all over the 'lo&e &ut especially in !urope where the war was at its peak. "ollowin' two very &loody conflicts the likes of which humanity has never encountered a new conflict will take the place of WW$$ a conflict that was very different in nature than WW$ and WW$$ &ut with the potential to &e far more destructive than the two World Wars com&ined. This conflict was the Cold War. The term Cold War 'enerally has two meanin's. "irstly it refers to the conflictual relations &etween the .S and the .SS/ and the allies within their sphere of influence. Secondly it is used to descri&e the nature of the conflict for it was not a hot war the .S and .SS/ did not 'o to war a'ainst one another and as such &lood was not shed. ) 0owever the Cold War had several key moments when it seemed that direct conflict was unavoida&le. 1espite the fact that the two super powers never really confronted one another directly fi'hts &etween the two major predominant and preeminent ideolo'ies were wa'ed in various parts of the planet &y means of pro(y wars.2 Thou'h it is said that the Cold War could have &een avoided that it was just a case of misinterpretin' the intentions of the Soviet .nion on the part of the West and a misinterpretation

Richard DEVETAK, Anthony BURKE, Jim George(editors), An introduction to international relations. Australian perspectives., Cam ridge Uni!ersity "ress, Cam ridge, #e$ %or&, '((), *+'', ' Andre$ -E%.//D, Global Politics, "a0gra!e 1acmi00an, China, '(11, *+23

of the West of the Soviet .nion which feared economic encirclement , $ &elieve that no totalitarian re'ime could possi&ly &e entrusted with 'uardin' and maintainin' world peace especially since WW$$ was the product of two totalitarian re'imes one of which was the Soviet .nion &y it si'nin' the /i&&entrop+2olotov pact with 3a4y 5ermany. Since we have esta&lished that the Cold War was inevita&le lets look as to its ori'ins. $t &e'an rou'h fully with the end of WW$$. 6round this period tensions &etween the .S and the .SS/ started to escalate escalation au'mented &y the fact that the .SS/ was rene'in' on commitments to self determination in !astern !urope as well as its failure to withdraw troops from $ran and its territorial demands from Turkey. 7 What made the Cold War inevita&le was that with 5ermany 8apan and $taly and thou'h the .9 and "rance were victorious it proved to have &een a very difficult war which let "rance and the .9 weakened which allowed the .S and the .SS/ to rise to power on the world political scene. 6s such the world now had only two polar of power the .S and the .SS/ the former preeminent world powers &ein' far too rava'ed &y WW$$ to &e a&le to oppose this situation. This &ipolarity means that each superpower was tryin' to e(pand its area of influence and to &rin' the other one down in the process if it was possi&le. 2oreover peace and cooperation in a world dominated &y two rival superpowers was impossi&le.: $n addition to this the ideolo'ical point of view should not &e overlooked since it was the key factor which 'enerated &ad &lood &etween the two superpowers. The 6mericans were on the side of capitalism and democracy whereas the .SS/ was on the side of communism and totalitarianism. With the defeat of the fascist ideolo'y in the world remained just two ideolo'ies the capitalist and the communist ideolo'y which fou'ht for supremacy the .S and .SS/ &ein' mere instruments which were used &y these ideolo'ies.;

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4 idem, *+,( Richard DEVETAK, Anthony BURKE, Jim George(editors), An introduction to international relations. Australian perspectives., Cam ridge Uni!ersity "ress, Cam ridge, #e$ %or&, '((), *+'',
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Andre$ -E%.//D, Global Politics, "a0gra!e 1acmi00an, China, '(11, *+,( 4 idem, *+,(

The Cold War had its moments when tensions were minor and when tensions were 'reater it had not &een a permanent states of hostility thou'h the peak of it certainly was the Cu&an missile crises which came an inch close to startin' a new world war. The threat of mutual destruction was very clear in the minds of the leaders at the White 0ouse and 9remlin and it eventually helped prevent a new war. The Cold War came to an a&rupt end in )*-* with the communist &lock crum&lin' all over !urope or as others tend to &elieve in )**) with the collapse of the .SS/ itself.