cold war

cold war- this is a military, political, ideological and economic confrontation between the USSR and the USA and their supporters. It was the result of conflict between the two government systems: capitalist and socialist.

The Cold War was accompanied by an intensification of the arms race, the presence of nuclear weapons, which could lead to a third world war.

The term was first used by the writer George Orwell October 19, 1945 in You and the Atomic Bomb

Period:

1946-1989

Causes of the Cold War

Political

    An insoluble ideological contradiction between the two systems, models of society.

    Fear of the West and the United States of strengthening the role of the USSR.

Economic

    The struggle for resources and markets for products

    The weakening of the economic and military power enemy

Ideological

    Total, irreconcilable struggle of two ideologies

    The desire to fence the population of their countries with the way of life in enemy countries

Objectives of the parties

    To consolidate the spheres of influence achieved during the Second World War.

    Put the enemy in unfavorable political, economic and ideological conditions

    The goal of the USSR: the complete and final victory of socialism on a world scale

    US goal: containment of socialism, opposition to the revolutionary movement, in the future - "throw socialism into the dustbin of history." The USSR was seen as "evil empire"

Conclusion: neither side was right, each aspired to world domination.

The forces of the parties were not equal. The USSR bore all the hardships of the war on its shoulders, and the United States received huge profits from it. It was not until the mid-1970s that parity.

Cold War Means:

    Arms race

    Block confrontation

    Destabilization of the military and economic situation of the enemy

    psychological warfare

    Ideological confrontation

    Intervention in domestic politics

    Active intelligence activity

    Collection of compromising materials on political leaders, etc.

Major periods and events

    March 5, 1946- W. Churchill's speech in Fulton(USA) - the beginning of the Cold War, in which the idea of ​​​​creating an alliance to fight communism was proclaimed. The speech of the Prime Minister of Great Britain in the presence of the new American President Truman G. had two goals:

    Prepare the Western public for the subsequent rupture between the victorious countries.

    Literally eradicate from the consciousness of people the feeling of gratitude to the USSR, which appeared after the victory over fascism.

    The United States set a goal: to achieve economic and military superiority over the USSR

    1947 – The Truman Doctrine". Its essence: containment of the spread of the expansion of the USSR by creating regional military blocs dependent on the United States.

    1947 - Marshall Plan - a program to help Europe after World War II

    1948-1953 - Soviet-Yugoslav conflict over the ways of building socialism in Yugoslavia.

    Split the world into two camps: supporters of the USSR and supporters of the USA.

    1949 - the split of Germany into the capitalist FRG, the capital is Bonn and the Soviet GDR, the capital is Berlin. (Before that, two zones were called Bizonia)

    1949 - creation NATO(North Atlantic military-political alliance)

    1949 - creation CMEA(Council for Mutual Economic Assistance)

    1949 - successful atomic bomb test in the USSR.

    1950 -1953 – war in korea. The United States participated directly in it, while the USSR veiled it by sending military specialists to Korea.

US target: to prevent Soviet influence on Far East. Outcome: the division of the country into the DPRK (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (the capital of Pyongyang), established close contacts with the USSR, + into the South Korean state (Seoul) - the zone of American influence.

2nd period: 1955-1962 (cooling in relations between countries , growing contradictions in the world socialist system)

    IN given period The world was on the brink of a nuclear catastrophe.

    Anti-communist speeches in Hungary, Poland, events in the GDR, Suez Crisis

    1955 - creation ATS- Organizations of the Warsaw Pact.

    1955 - Geneva Conference of Heads of Government of the Victorious Countries.

    1957 - development and successful testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the USSR, which increased tension in the world.

    October 4, 1957 - opened space age . Launch of the first artificial earth satellite in the USSR.

    1959 - the victory of the revolution in Cuba (Fidel Castro). Cuba became one of the most reliable partners of the USSR.

    1961 - aggravation of relations with China.

    1962 – Caribbean crisis . Settled by Khrushchev N.S. and D. Kennedy

    The signing of a number of agreements on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

    The arms race, which significantly weakened the economies of countries.

    1962 - complication of relations with Albania

    1963 - USSR, UK and USA signed first prohibition treaty nuclear testing in three spheres: atmosphere, space and under water.

    1968 - complication of relations with Czechoslovakia ("Prague Spring").

    Dissatisfaction with Soviet policy in Hungary, Poland, the GDR.

    1964-1973- US war in Vietnam. The USSR provided military and material assistance to Vietnam.

3rd period: 1970-1984- tension strip

    1970s - the USSR made a number of attempts to strengthen " detente" international tension, arms reduction.

    A number of strategic arms limitation agreements have been signed. So in 1970, an agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany (V. Brand) and the USSR (Brezhnev L.I.), according to which the parties pledged to resolve all their disputes exclusively by peaceful means.

    May 1972 - arrival in Moscow of US President Richard Nixon. Systems limitation treaty signed missile defense (PRO) And OSV-1- Interim Agreement on Certain Measures in the Sphere of Strategic Offensive Arms Limitation.

    Convention on the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling bacteriological(biological) and toxic weapons and their destruction.

    1975- high point of détente, signed in August in Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe And Declaration of Principles on Relations between states. Signed by 33 states, including the USSR, USA, Canada.

    sovereign equality, respect

    Non-use of force and threats of force

    Inviolability of borders

    Territorial integrity

    Non-intervention in internal affairs

    Peace settlement disputes

    Respect for human rights and freedoms

    Equality, the right of peoples to control their own destiny

    Cooperation between states

    Fulfillment in good faith of obligations under international law

    1975 - joint space program Soyuz-Apollo.

    1979- Treaty on the Limitation of Offensive Arms - OSV-2(Brezhnev L.I. and Carter D.)

What are these principles?

4 period: 1979-1987 - complication of the international situation

    The USSR became a truly great power that had to be reckoned with. The détente was mutually beneficial.

    The aggravation of relations with the United States in connection with the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in 1979 (the war lasted from December 1979 to February 1989). The goal of the USSR- protect the borders Central Asia against the penetration of Islamic fundamentalism. Eventually- The US has not ratified SALT-2.

    Since 1981 new president Reagan R. deployed programs SOI– Strategic defense initiatives.

    1983- USA host ballistic missiles in Italy, England, Germany, Belgium, Denmark.

    Anti-space defense systems are being developed.

    The USSR withdraws from the Geneva talks.

5 period: 1985-1991 - the final stage, mitigation of tension.

    Having come to power in 1985, Gorbachev M.S. pursues a policy "new political thinking".

    Negotiations: 1985 - in Geneva, 1986 - in Reykjavik, 1987 - in Washington. Recognition of the existing world order, expansion economic ties countries, despite their different ideologies.

    December 1989 - Gorbachev M.S. and Bush at the summit on the island of Malta announced about the end of the Cold War. Its end was caused by the economic weakness of the USSR, its inability to support the arms race anymore. In addition, pro-Soviet regimes were established in the countries of Eastern Europe, the USSR lost support in their person.

    1990 - German reunification. It became a kind of victory for the West in the Cold War. A fall berlin wall(existed from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989)

    December 25, 1991 - President D. Bush announced the end of the Cold War and congratulated his compatriots on the victory in it.

Results

    The formation of a unipolar world, in which the United States, a superpower, began to occupy a leading position.

    The United States and its allies defeated the socialist camp.

    Beginning of Westernization of Russia

    The collapse of the Soviet economy, the fall of its authority in the international market

    Emigration to the West of citizens of Russia, the way of his life seemed too attractive to them.

    The collapse of the USSR and the beginning of the formation of a new Russia.

Terms

Parity- the primacy of the side in something.

Confrontation- confrontation, clash of two social systems (people, groups, etc.).

Ratification- giving a document legal effect accepting it.

Westernization- borrowing Western European or American image life.

Material prepared: Melnikova Vera Alexandrovna

The text of the work is placed without images and formulas.
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Introduction

The Cold War, which began after the Second World War, has been of the deepest interest of many historians, scientists and ordinary history buffs for many years. Information open for thought makes one think about many questions: who started this war and why, what were the goals, and in general, was it worth it? This is relevance this topic. Over the years, the debate about the Cold War does not subside, but only flares up with renewed vigor.

When working on this research project, the following target- consider local conflicts that took place between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War.

Tasks of this work are the following:

The consequences of the largest local conflicts for the Soviet Union and the United States

Determine if the Cold War is really over

I Beginning of the Cold War

Fulton speech.

After the end of World War II, a confrontation arose between the two "superpowers", the USSR and the USA. As everyone knows Soviet Union led the communist ideology and promoted it to all close countries. The United States crowned democracy, and naturally did not want the power in most countries to be in the hands of the communists. It should be noted an important moment that occurred a year after the end of the Great Patriotic War.

Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946, ex-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a very aggressive and anti-communist speech.

He acted as a private person, as a result of which, this gave him a certain expansion in words and expressions.

One of the reasons for writing this speech by Churchill was Iranian oil, or rather the question of its division. After all, back in 1944, the Soviet Union demanded that the oil fields in the North of Iran be only in the hands of the USSR, and if the United States or England make attempts to develop oil fields near the border of the Soviet Union, then the second will consider this a threat state security and take measures to neutralize this threat.

The expression "Iron Curtain" was first uttered by Winston Churchill at the same Fulton speech. These words mean a certain removal of the Soviet Union and other countries of the socialist system from the capitalist countries of the West. The most interesting thing is that this 1 phrase was uttered before Churchill, namely by the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau in 1919, and by the German politician Joseph Goebbels in 1945. They used the expression "Iron Curtain" in a propaganda vein. And this phrase appeared when the Russian philosopher Vasily Rozanov compared the October Revolution with a theatrical performance, after which the curtain was solemnly lowered, even though it was heavy iron, which fell in memory of Russian history. As a result, this concept began to disappear in the late 1980s, due to the policy of glasnost and openness.

It is worth recalling one interesting moment, after which Joseph Stalin called Winston Churchill a Nazi. This was done due to the fact that at this "conference" Churchill too often used these phrases in his speech: "Empire", " British Commonwealth”, “English-speaking peoples” and the adjective “kindred”. Stalin believed that Churchill adhered to the views of Adolf Hitler, that is, those nations that speak English language, as the only true and complete ones, should prevail over other nations of the world.

The Fulton speech did not cause any surprise to the Soviet Union, since Soviet intelligence worked well enough, and the next day the full translated speech was placed on the table to Stalin and Molotov. Two days later, the Izvestia newspaper published an article about "Churchill, who saber-rattling." On the same day, Radio Moscow reported on Churchill's "extremely aggressive speech." Later, on March 10, an interview with Joseph Stalin was published in the Pravda newspaper.

The end of the Fulton speech was ended by Churchill's phrase: "I hope that I have given start to reflections that will influence the course of history." And, of course, that's what happened.

First provocations

Six months after the Fulton speech, serious provocations began directed towards the Soviet Union. Namely, after the United States and Great Britain learned about the "meager" position of the USSR.

They moved on to fighting the Soviet Union, adding that the United States had atomic weapon. 2

In the same month, September, Special Assistant to the President of the United States C. Clifford, on the orders of Harry Truman, held a meeting with top US government leaders, and on the basis of it, on September 24, presented a report entitled: "American Policy towards the Soviet Union", 3 in which said: “We must indicate to the Soviet government that we have sufficient power not only to repel an attack, but also to quickly crush the USSR in a war”, “In order to keep our power at a level that is effective for deterring the Soviet Union, the United States must be ready to conduct nuclear and bacteriological warfare. In mid-1948, the US Chiefs of Staff Committee prepared the Chariotir plan, 4 providing for the use of 133 atomic bombs against 70 Soviet cities in the first 30 days of the war. 8 bombs were supposed to be dropped on Moscow, and 7 on Leningrad. It was planned to drop another 200 atomic bombs and 250,000 tons of conventional bombs on the Soviet Union in the next two years of the war.

Threats of atomic attack against the USSR, sounded in the US Congress and the British House of Commons, as well as on the pages of the press Western countries, were reinforced by hostile actions in the international arena.

In 1947, the United States government unilaterally terminated the 1945 Soviet-American agreement on the supply of American goods on credit.

In March 1948, export licenses were introduced in the United States, prohibiting the import of most goods into the USSR. Soviet-American trade virtually ceased. But anti-Soviet propaganda began to expand. The report of K. Clifford dated September 24, 1946 emphasized: “In the most on a large scale, which the Soviet government will tolerate, we must deliver books, magazines, newspapers and films to the country, conduct radio broadcasts to the USSR. This is how the Cold War program outlined by Winston Churchill on March 5, 1946, began to be implemented.

II Local conflicts

The division of Germany, the emergence of military blocs

In 1949, a military alliance of a number of Western countries was created - NATO 5 (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Which included 12 countries: the USA, Canada, Iceland, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Norway, Denmark, Italy and Portugal. In response to this, 6 years later, in 1955, ATS 6 (Warsaw Pact Organization) was created. Which included 8 countries: USSR, SRR (Socialist Republic of Romania), NRB ( People's Republic Bulgaria), Poland (Polish People's Republic), East Germany, Czechoslovakia (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic), Hungary (Hungarian People's Republic), NSRA (People's Socialist Republic of Albania).

Also in 1949, Germany split into two independent republics. 7 FRG (Federal Republic of Germany), which was under the control of the West. And the GDR (German Democratic Republic), which was under the control of the Soviet Union.

For the "separation" of these republics, on the territory of the GDR, on August 13, 1961, the "Berlin Wall" was erected, which had a height of 3.6 meters, and was around West Berlin.

Civil War in China.

In 1946-1949 the Chinese Civil War 8 took place. We can confidently say that the reason was in the struggle of 2 systems. After the end of World War II, China, like Germany, was divided into two parts. The northeast was in the hands of the People's Liberation Army (communists), and the rest belonged to the leader of the Kuomintang party, Chiang Kai-shek (anti-communist).

At the beginning, there were seemingly peaceful elections, but after a certain period of time they failed and a war began for the reunification of China. As a result, the People's Liberation Army turned out to be the winner, naturally, the victory was not without the support of the Soviet Union.

Korean War.

In 1950-1953, the war broke out in Korea for, again, reunification 9 . Korea was divided into two camps, under the control of the USSR and the USA. North Korea (USSR) and South Korea (USA). The rulers of the camps were supported by the authorities of the Soviet Union and the United States. Kim Il Sung was supported in the north, and Lee Syngman in the south.

It was a very cruel war, which, apart from the death of a huge number of people, did not lead to anything. As a result, the borders of North and South Korea practically did not move.

Berlin Crisis.

By right, the most difficult years of the Cold War are the first years of the 60s. 10 It was at that time that the world was already on the brink of nuclear war.

In 1961, the General Secretary of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev demanded that the American President John F. Kennedy massively change the status of West Berlin, as the Soviet Union was alarmed by the activity of Western intelligence services, as well as the "brain drain" (immigration of talented individuals, scientists) to other countries, in particular to West. The nuclear apocalypse did not happen, but, as I wrote above, the "Berlin Wall" was built, which is the main symbol of the Cold War.

Caribbean crisis.

In 1962, the most intense conflict of the Cold War, the crisis in Cuba, took place. It all started with the US placing its missiles in Turkey, one might say right under the noses of the Soviet Union. Naturally, Moscow did not like this trick very much. Something had to be done. By this time, a revolution had begun in Cuba, led by Fidel Castro. In response to the request of the leaders of the Cuban revolution, the USSR agreed to deploy "Freedom" on the island, nuclear missiles medium range.

As a result, any city in the US can be wiped off the ground in 3-4 seconds. The United States did not like such a “neighbor”, and even this “neighborhood” almost brought everything to the “red button”, but even here everything worked out and the parties decided to make peace. As a result, the Soviet Union refrained from deploying nuclear missiles, and the United States promised not to interfere in the affairs of Cuba. Also, the States removed their missiles from Turkey.

Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War began in 1964. The essence was again in the unification of the country. Vietnam was divided into North and South. The northern one was supported by the USSR, the PRC, and the ATS countries. Accordingly, the South was supported by the United States and NATO countries.

The Vietnamese fought guerrilla battles on the territory of South Vietnam, and the Americans in response burned them with "napalm". But this did not help the Americans much, as they suffered heavy losses. During the years of the war, the Americans lost 58,000 people in the jungle killed, 2,300 missing and over 150,000 wounded.

As a result, the US withdrew troops from Vietnam, and the war ended with the victory of North Vietnam, which united Vietnam under the rule of the CPV (Communist Party of Vietnam).

"Discharge"

The Cold War was not always aggressive. Sometimes aggression was replaced by "detente". 13 During such periods, the Soviet Union and the United States entered into major treaties to limit strategic nuclear weapons and ABM (Missile Defense).

In 1975, the "Helsinki Meeting" 14 was held, in which 33 European country, including NATO and Warsaw Pact countries. Questions raised at the Meeting were: ensuring security in Europe; cooperation in the field of economy, science, technology and environment; cooperation in the humanitarian and other fields; next steps after the Meeting.

As a result of this Helsinki Conference”, 10 principles were identified that should determine the rules and norms of relations between the states that participated in the Conference.

Principles:

1) Sovereign equality, respect for the rights inherent in sovereignty;

2) Non-use of force or threat of force;

3) Inviolability of borders;

4) Territorial integrity of states;

5) Peaceful settlement of disputes;

6) Non-interference in internal affairs;

7) Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom, thought, conscience, religion and belief;

8) Equality and the right of peoples to control their own destiny;

9) Conscientious fulfillment of obligations under international law;

10) Cooperation between states.

In 1975, on July 15, with the launch of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft in the USSR and the Apollo in the USA, the first joint space flight in the history of mankind began. different countries. The Soyuz-Apollo program was created. The main goals of which were:

1) Testing elements of a compatible rendezvous system in orbit;

2) Testing of the active-passive docking unit;

3) Checking the machinery and equipment to ensure the transition of astronauts from ship to ship;

4) Accumulation of experience in conducting joint flights spaceships USSR and USA.

Afghanistan and new spirals of tension

In 1979, the Soviet Union sent troops to Afghanistan. Despite the fact that at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Leonid Brezhnev said: “The question was raised about the direct participation of our troops in the conflict that arose in Afghanistan. It seems to me that ... we should not be drawn into this war now. It is necessary to explain ... to the Afghan comrades that we can help them with everything they need ... The participation of our troops in Afghanistan can harm not only us, but above all them. 15

Due to the introduction of troops, the United States in 1980-1982 waged a complex of political and economic sanctions against the USSR, the installation of the next American missiles in European countries. 16

After the death of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, General Secretary Yury Vladimirovich Andropov became the Central Committee of the CPSU. Under him, the Soviet Union and the United States stopped any negotiations altogether.

Samantha Smith

In 1982, Samantha Smith 17 , an American schoolgirl from Maine, at the height of the Cold War, wrote a letter to Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Due to the fact that in the American magazine "Time", Samantha saw an article that Yuri Andropov is a dangerous person, and that under his leadership the Soviet Union is very dangerous, and poses a huge threat to the United States. In the letter, she wrote that she was very afraid that a nuclear war would start, and asked Andropov if he was going to start a war.

In early 1983, part of Samantha's letter was published in the Pravda newspaper, and on April 26, she received a letter from Yuri Andropov.

In which it was written that the Soviet Union does not want war, because the citizens of the USSR want peace for themselves, and for all the peoples of the planet. At the end of the letter was an invitation to the pioneer camp "Artek" for Samantha and her family.

Samantha and her parents left for the USSR on July 7, 1983. As a goodwill ambassador, she visited Moscow, Leningrad, and the Crimea. She saw the Kremlin, visited Lenin's mausoleum, laid flowers at the burial place of Yuri Gagarin and at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I saw Peterhof, and the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers.

The media of the USSR, the USA and the whole world followed her every step, every phrase. Samantha was annoyed by such attention from journalists, but she understood that this was their job, and did not particularly complain. Before flying home on July 22, Samantha smiled at the cameras and shouted in Russian with a smile: “We will live!”.

III Perestroika. End of the Cold War

Mid 1980s 18 . Many socialist countries found themselves on the verge of a crisis. Every year less and less aid came from the USSR.

The needs of people grew, there was a great desire to go to the West, where they discovered a lot of new things for themselves. People's consciousness was changing, they wanted change, life in a more open and new society. Technical condition The Soviet Union from the West increasingly intensified.

General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev understood this, and he tried to revive the economy through "perestroika", give the people more "freedom", and move on to a "new life".

The communist parties of the Socialist camp tried to change, and so to speak "modernize" the ideology, to move on to a new economic policy.

The Berlin Wall, which was rightfully a symbol of the Cold War, collapsed, and the unification of Germany took place.

The Soviet Union withdrew its troops from Afghanistan and from Europe.

In 1991, the Warsaw Treaty Organization (OVD) was dissolved.

the USSR, which did not survive economic crisis, also collapsed, forming the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).

Conclusion

Indisputable fact - the Cold War played key role in the events of the 20th century. The consequences of the largest local conflicts for the Soviet Union and the United States are as follows: the Soviet Union collapsed, the only superpower of the United States remained on earth, which established a unipolar model of the world, allowing the States to use the necessary resources for their own benefit 19 . However, after a while it turned out that during the confrontation between the two superpowers and the subsequent celebration of the victory of the United States, a potential new superpower, China, appeared in the world.

In addition, after the Cold War, the funds that were spent on the arms race began to be used in everyday life, some funds went into investments.

Poor countries have become puppets of more progressive countries, and so on.

The West believes that the Cold War ended and ended with the victory of the West, because the Soviet Union collapsed, the CMEA and the Warsaw Pact no longer exist. The West behaves like a winner, wondering why to reckon with Russia.

Our country really wanted to become part of the West, but it became clear that we are not the West, we are different. The confrontation between the two superpowers is still there, it's just different. I would like to believe that, remembering the lessons of the 40s, 50s and 90s, the leaders of the countries will not make mistakes and will no longer bring them to a critical point.

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After graduation Second World War, which became the largest and most violent conflict in the history of mankind, a confrontation arose between the countries of the communist camp on the one hand and the Western capitalist countries on the other, between the two superpowers of that time, the USSR and the USA. The Cold War can be briefly described as a rivalry for dominance in the new post-war world.

The main cause of the Cold War was the insoluble ideological contradictions between the two models of society, socialist and capitalist. The West feared the strengthening of the USSR. The absence of a common enemy among the victorious countries, as well as the ambitions of political leaders, played their role.

Historians distinguish the following stages of the Cold War:

    March 5, 1946 - 1953 Started the Cold War Churchill's speech, delivered in the spring of 1946 in Fulton, in which the idea of ​​​​creating an alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries to fight communism was proposed. The goal of the United States was an economic victory over the USSR, as well as the achievement of military superiority. In fact, the Cold War began earlier, but by the spring of 1946, due to the USSR's refusal to withdraw troops from Iran, the situation seriously escalated.

    1953 - 1962 During this period of the Cold War, the world was on the brink of nuclear conflict. Despite some improvement in relations between the Soviet Union and the United States during the "thaw" Khrushchev, it was at this stage that the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, the events in the GDR and, earlier, in Poland, as well as the Suez crisis took place. International tension increased after the development and successful testing of the USSR in 1957 of an intercontinental ballistic missile. But, the threat of nuclear war receded, as the Soviet Union now had the opportunity to retaliate against US cities. This period of relations between the superpowers ended with the Berlin and Caribbean crises of 1961 and 1962, respectively. It was possible to resolve the Caribbean crisis only during personal negotiations between the heads of state Khrushchev and Kennedy. Also, as a result of the negotiations, a number of agreements on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons were signed.

    1962 - 1979 The period was marked by an arms race that undermined the economies of rival countries. The development and production of new types of weapons required incredible resources. Despite the presence of tension in relations between the USSR and the USA, agreements on the limitation of strategic weapons are signed. A joint space program "Soyuz-Apollo" is being developed. However, by the beginning of the 80s, the USSR began to lose in the arms race.

    1979 - 1987 Relations between the USSR and the USA are again aggravated after the introduction of Soviet troops to Afghanistan. In 1983 the United States deployed ballistic missiles at bases in Italy, Denmark, England, the FRG, and Belgium. An anti-space defense system is being developed. The USSR reacts to the actions of the West by withdrawing from the Geneva talks. During this period, the missile attack warning system is in constant combat readiness.

    1987 - 1991 The coming to power in the USSR of M. Gorbachev in 1985 led not only to global changes within the country, but also to radical changes in foreign policy called "new political thinking". Ill-conceived reforms finally undermined the economy of the Soviet Union, which led to the country's virtual defeat in the Cold War.

The end of the Cold War was caused by the weakness of the Soviet economy, its inability to support the arms race any longer, as well as the pro-Soviet communist regimes. Anti-war speeches in various parts of the world also played a certain role. The results of the Cold War were depressing for the USSR. The reunification of Germany in 1990 became a symbol of the West's victory.

As a result, after the USSR was defeated in the Cold War, a unipolar model of the world was formed with the US as the dominant superpower. However, there are other consequences of the Cold War. This fast development science and technology, primarily military. So, the Internet was originally created as a communication system for the American army.

The Cold War, which lasted from 1946 to 1989, was not an ordinary military confrontation. It was a struggle of ideologies, different social systems. The very term "cold war" appeared among journalists, but quickly became popular.

Causes

It seems that the end of the terrible and bloody World War II should have led to world peace, friendship and unity of all peoples. But the contradictions among the allies and the victors only intensified.

The struggle for spheres of influence began. Both the USSR and the Western countries (led by the USA) sought to expand "their territories".

  • Westerners were frightened by communist ideology. They could not even imagine that private property would suddenly become state property.
  • The United States and the USSR did their best to increase their influence by supporting various regimes (which sometimes led to local wars Worldwide).

There was no direct confrontation. Everyone was afraid to press the "red button" and launch nuclear warheads.

Main events

Speech in Fulton as the first "swallow" of the war

In March 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill blamed the Soviet Union. Churchill said that he was engaged in active world expansion, violating rights and freedoms. At the same time, the British Prime Minister called on Western countries to repulse the USSR. It is from this moment that historians count the beginning of the Cold War.

The Truman Doctrine and "Containment" Attempts

The United States decided to start "containment" of the Soviet Union after the events in Greece and Turkey. The USSR demanded territories from the Turkish authorities for the subsequent deployment of a military base in the Mediterranean. This immediately alerted the West. The doctrine of the American President Truman marked the complete cessation of cooperation between the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.

Creation of military blocs and division of Germany

In 1949, a military alliance of a number of Western countries, NATO, was created. After 6 years (in 1955) the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe united in the Warsaw Treaty Organization.

Also in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany appeared on the site of the western zone of occupation of Germany, and the German Democratic Republic appeared on the site of the eastern one.

Chinese Civil War

The civil war in China in 1946–1949 was also a consequence of the ideological struggle between the 2 systems. China after the end of World War II was also divided into 2 parts. The northeast was under the control of the People's Liberation Army of China. The rest were subordinate to Chiang Kai-shek (leader of the Kuomintang party). When peaceful elections failed, war broke out. The Chinese Communist Party won.

Korean War

Korea also at that time was split into 2 zones of occupation under the control of the USSR and the USA. Their henchmen are Kim Il Sung in the north and Lee Syngman in the south of Korea. Each of them wanted to take over the whole country. A war broke out (1950-1953), which, apart from huge human losses, did not lead to anything. The borders of North and South Korea have not changed much.

Berlin Crisis

The most difficult years of the Cold War - the beginning of the 60s. It was then that the whole world was on the brink of nuclear war. In 1961, Soviet Secretary General Khrushchev demanded that US President Kennedy radically change the status of West Berlin. The Soviet Union was alarmed by the activity of Western intelligence there, as well as the "brain drain" to the West. There was no military clash, but West Berlin was surrounded by a wall - the main symbol of the Cold War. Many German families found themselves on opposite sides of the barricades.

Cuban Crisis

The most intense conflict of the Cold War was the crisis in Cuba in 1962. The USSR, in response to the request of the leaders of the Cuban revolution, agreed to deploy medium-range nuclear missiles on Liberty Island.

As a result, any town in the US could be wiped off the face of the earth in 2-3 seconds. The United States did not like this "neighborhood". I almost got to the “red nuclear button”. But even here the parties managed to agree peacefully. The Soviet Union did not deploy missiles, and the United States guaranteed Cuba not to interfere in their affairs. American missiles were also withdrawn from Turkey.

The policy of "détente"

The Cold War did not always proceed in an acute phase. Sometimes tension was replaced by "detente". During such periods, the US and the USSR entered into important agreements to limit strategic nuclear weapons and missile defense. In 1975, the Helsinki Conference of 2 countries was held, and the Soyuz-Apollo program was launched in space.

A new round of tension

The entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in 1979 led to a new round of tension. The United States in 1980-1982 waged a complex against the Soviet Union economic sanctions. The installation of regular American missiles in European countries has begun. Under Andropov, all negotiations with the United States ceased.

Crisis of the socialist countries. perestroika

By the mid-1980s, many socialist countries were on the verge of a crisis. Less and less aid came from the USSR. The needs of the population grew, people sought to travel to the West, where they discovered a lot of new things for themselves. The consciousness of people has changed. They wanted change, a life in a more open and free society. The technical lag of the USSR from the countries of the West was intensifying.

  • Realizing this general secretary In the USSR, Gorbachev tried to revive the economy through “perestroika”, give the people more “glasnost” and move on to “new thinking”.
  • The communist parties of the socialist camp tried to modernize their ideology and move on to a new economic policy.
  • The Berlin Wall, which was the symbol of the Cold War, has fallen. The unification of Germany took place.
  • The USSR began to withdraw its troops from European countries.
  • In 1991, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved.
  • The USSR, which did not survive the deep economic crisis, also collapsed.

Results

Historians argue about whether to link the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR. Nevertheless, the end of this confrontation occurred as early as 1989, when many authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe ceased to exist. Contradictions on the ideological front were completely removed. Many countries of the former socialist bloc became part of the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance

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

Main causes of confrontation

  • The desire of the United States to secure world 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 the defeat of Nazi Germany was unusually tall. Including in the states of Western Europe. Fearing the spread of communist ideology and mass support for it, the United States began to actively oppose the USSR.

The position of the parties at the beginning of the conflict

The United States initially had a colossal economic head start over its eastern adversary, thanks to which, in many respects, they got 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, fighting alone against Germany and its allies from 1941 to 1944.

The United States, on the other hand, 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 the Western European states, effectively formalizing their economic dependence on America. The Yankees proposed the Marshall Plan to Western Europe, an economic aid program that 16 states had signed by 1948. For 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 delivers 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 1940s, 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 program financial assistance for obvious reasons - he was already considered an enemy. The countries of Eastern Europe, which were under the control of the communists, 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 solely 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 quickly eliminated the US nuclear monopoly, creating nuclear weapon, thereby depriving the Americans of the opportunity to strike with impunity.

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

In the spring of 1949, the United States initiated the creation of a NATO military bloc (Organization of the North Atlantic Alliance), citing the need to "fight the Soviet threat." The union initially included the Netherlands, 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 number of military equipment and combat aircraft increased.

The USSR reacted in 1955 with the creation of the Warsaw Treaty Organization (OVD), in the same way creating the unified armed forces of the Eastern European states, as they did in the West. 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 strengthening of the armies of the socialist states also began.

Symbols of NATO and the Warsaw Pact

Local military conflicts

Two military-political bloc launched a large-scale confrontation with each other across the planet. A direct military clash was feared on both sides, since its outcome was unpredictable. However, there was a constant struggle in various parts of the 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 indirectly or directly participated.

1. Korean War (1950-1953)
After World War II, Korea was divided into two states - in the South, pro-American forces were in power, and in the north, the DPRK (People's Democratic Republic of Korea) was formed, in which the Communists were in power. In 1950, a war broke out between the two Koreas - “socialist” and “capitalist”, in which, of course, the USSR supported North Korea and the US to South Korea. Unofficially fought on the side of the DPRK Soviet pilots and military experts, as well as detachments of Chinese "volunteers". the United States provided direct military aid South Korea, openly intervening in the conflict, which ended with the signing of peace and the preservation of the status quo in 1953.

2. Vietnam War (1957-1975)
In fact, the scenario of the beginning of the confrontation was the same - Vietnam after 1954 was divided into two parts. The Communists were in power in North Vietnam, and the Communists were in power in South Vietnam. political forces US oriented. Each side sought to unify Vietnam. Since 1965, the United States has provided open military assistance to the South Vietnamese regime. Regular American troops along with the army South Vietnam participated in hostilities against the North Vietnamese troops. Covert assistance to North Vietnam with weapons, equipment and military specialists was provided by the USSR and China. The war ended with the victory of the North Vietnamese communists in 1975.

3. Arab-Israeli wars
In a whole 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 troops Arab States, which were armed with tanks and aircraft that came 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 to support a political regime that was oriented toward Moscow. Large formations of the Afghan Mujahideen fought against the 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, the war continued after their departure.

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

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

Why did the USSR and the USA never enter into a direct military conflict?

As mentioned above, the outcome of the military conflict between the two large military blocs was completely unpredictable, but the main deterrent 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 charges that would be enough to repeatedly destroy all life on Earth.

Thus, a direct military conflict between the USSR and the USA would inevitably mean an exchange of 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 an open military clash with each other, but nevertheless periodically tried each other's strength in local conflicts, helping any state covertly or directly participating in hostilities.

So, with the beginning of the nuclear age, local conflicts and information wars have become almost the only ways expanding its influence and control over other states. This situation persists to this day. The 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 within by means of information wars, the purpose of which is a coup d'etat with subsequent destructive actions of puppet governments. There are constant attempts from the West to grope weak spots Russia and other uncontrolled states, provoke ethnic, religious, political conflicts, etc.

End of the Cold War

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. There was only one superpower left on planet Earth - the United States, which tried to rebuild the whole world on the basis of American liberal values. Within the framework of globalization, an attempt is being made to impose on all mankind a certain universal model of social structure along the lines of the United States and Western Europe. However, this has not yet been possible. There is active resistance in all parts of the globe against the imposition of American values, which are unacceptable to many peoples. The story goes on, the struggle continues ... Think about the future and the past, try to understand and comprehend the world around, develop and do not stand still. Passive waiting and burning through life is essentially a regression in your development. As the Russian philosopher V. Belinsky said - who does not go forward, he goes back, there is no standing position ...

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