IES JOSÉ JIMÉNEZ LOZANO.
VALLADOLID
BILINGUAL PROGRAMME
HISTORY. ESO YEAR 4.
Jorge Cordero Pérez
THE COLD WAR
1. THE TWO ANTAGONISTIC BLOCS
The Cold War was a confrontation between two antagonistic blocs: the Western bloc, led by the USA, and the
Eastern bloc, led by the USSR. For the first time in History, the contending powers had not only commercial or territorial
disputes, but they were confronted at all levels. They had opposite political, economic, and social systems.
It is commonly assumed that the term ‘Cold War’ was first used by the US journalist Herbert Swope in an article
published in the Washington Post. It later became popular among historians and politicians.
THE WESTERN BLOC THE EASTERN BLOC
LEADING SUPERPOWER THE USA THE USSR
POLITICAL SYSTEM DEMOCRACY TOTALITARIANISM
ECONOMIC SYSTEM CAPITALISM PLANNED ECONOMY
FREE MARKET ECONOMY STATE-OWNED MEANS OF PRODUCTION
SOCIAL STRUCTURE CLASS SOCIETY SUPPOSEDLY CLASSLESS SOCIETY
MILITARY ALLIANCE NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organisation] THE WARSAW PACT
From the end of WW2 to the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991). Nevertheless,
PERIOD the highest tension period extended from 1953 to 1962, when the Cuban
Missile Crisis occurred.
The existence of NUCLEAR WEAPONS; this fact implied MUTUAL ASSURED
DESTRUCTION (MAD) in case of a war between the two superpowers.
The consequence was that the two blocs never confronted each other directly;
instead, they tried to gain or extend their sphere of influence over several
NEW FEATURES OF THE
regions of the world, particularly in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America.
CONFRONTATION Political interference or military intervention in these areas was frequent. It has
often been compared with a deadly chess game in which the world was the
game board.
2. THE IRON CURTAIN AND THE CONTAINMENT POLICY
The term Iron Curtain was first used on 26 March 1946, by Winston
Churchill in a speech at Westminster College (Missouri, USA). He referred to the
Soviet-dominated and occupied Europe. It was a political boundary that divided
Europe into two areas from 1945 to 1991, when de Soviet Union collapsed, and
the Cold War ended. This line was not only an ideological and political division
of the continent, but it was later physically reinforced by fences, walls,
minefields, barbed wire, etc. It is translated into Spanish as ‘Telón de Acero’.
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President Harry Truman promised that the US would do everything possible to contain the spread of
communism and to prevent the expansion of totalitarian regimes. This was known as the Containment Policy. He
proposed a plan to help European countries to recover economically from WW2 to prevent Western Europe
democracies to fall under the control of USSR. This vast economic help was called Marshall Plan.
At the same time, people suspected of being communist sympathisers in the US were persecuted in a practise
known as McCarthyism during the 1950’s.
3. THE MAIN CONFLICTS DURING THE COLD WAR
3.1. The Berlin Blockade and the Berlin Wall
After the end of WW2, Germany was divided into four
occupation zones: the USA, the British, the French and the Soviet
zones. So was divided Berlin behind the Iron Curtain. In 1947 The
United States and Britain merged their occupation zones, and a year
later France joined them. They introduced a single currency and
announced the creation of a federal and democratic state in West
Germany. The Soviets reacted with the Berlin blockade, which cut off
communications between West Berlin and West Germany. They
wanted to force West Berlin to capitulate and fall under communist
control. The blockade failed because the USA organised an airlift,
which supplied the city with one plane landing in Berlin every three
minutes for 11 months.
In August 1961 the Soviets built a wall to isolate West Berlin
and to stop East German escaping to the West. Many families
were divided overnight. During the following years around 600
people were killed by eastern guards when they were trying to
cross to West Berlin. The Wall was later reinforced with
minefields, observation towers, snipers, etc. It stood still for
almost three decades, until 1989.
3.2. The Korean War
It lasted from 1950 to 1953. The triumph of the Chinese
communist Revolution in 1949 encouraged the North Korean leader,
Kim Il Sung, to invade South Korea. The US Government took the
case to the United Nations, which agreed to send international
troops to reinforce South Korea. Most of the troops were from the
United States and were led by General MacArthur. The South Korean
and the US troops together recovered all the lost territories at the
beginning of the war and even took the fight to North Korean
territory. Then China intervened in support of North Korea. The war
lasted three years and it ended when an armistice was signed in
Panmunjom. It established a line along the 38th parallel dividing both
Koreas, that lasts until present day.
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3.3. The Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1959 a communist revolution overthrew the dictator Fulgencio Batista from power in Cuba. The
revolution was led by Fidel Castro. The US feared the spread of communism in Central America and imposed
an economic blockade against Cuba, cut diplomatic relations and participated in a failed invasion of the island
in 1961, known as the Bahía of Cochino’s Landing. Cuba established cooperation agreements with the USSR,
which installed missiles facilities, aircraft and 42,000 men on the island. The aim of the USSR was to instal
nuclear missiles in Cuba, which President Kennedy could not allow to happen under any circumstance, because
they would have in close range of attack most of the US territory.
In 1962, by order of President Kennedy, the US Navy
established a blockade on the island to prevent Soviet
ships to reach Cuba carrying nuclear missiles.
Meanwhile, the USSR leader Khrushchev warned the US
Navy not to engage any of the Soviet ships, under the
threat of a nuclear response.
For a few days an atomic conflict seemed imminent.
Finally, Washington and Moscow reached a secret
agreement: the USSR would not instal nuclear weapons
in Cuba, and in exchange the USA would withdraw its
nuclear missiles from Turkey.
3.4. The Vietnam War
After WW2 a communist revolution started in the French colony of Vietnam. One of the aims of the
revolution was to gain independence from France. The war ended with the defeat of France in 1954. Vietnam
was divided in two different parts: the North, with a communist regime led by Ho Chi Minh; the South had a
democratic pro-western regime. A conflict between the two countries started and the United States decided
to send troops to support South Vietnam. China and the USSR supported North Vietnam, and the war escalated
to a never imagined level. The USA used chemical weapons, and highly destructive bombs on villages and
civilians.
The impact in the Western bloc of the photographs sent
by journalists increased the American public’s opposition to
the war. A broad anti-war movement started in the USA and
many other western countries. The United States’ military
superiority was not enough to prevent defeat, and US troops
began withdrawing in 1973. In 1975 South Vietnam was
occupied by North Vietnam and a communist regime was
established in the reunited country.
3.5. The Arab Israeli conflict
This conflict started during the Cold War and still
lasts in present day. In 1948 the State of Israel was
founded in Palestine with the proposal of United Nations
and under the rule of Great Britain. Around 300,000
Palestinians were forced to migrate and relocated as
refugees. The British rule came to an end, and the Arab
neighbouring countries did not recognise the new State
of Israel.
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Since the 1950’s the State of Israel has been enlarged deporting more Palestinians from these territories.
Palestinians organised with the support of Arab nations and counterattacked, frequently using terrorism for their
purpose. Irael has always counted on a strong support from the USA while the Palestinians have been supported
by Arab countries and by Iran. Several wars have broken up between Israel and the Arab neighbour nations in the
last decades, for instance, the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The Oslo Accords of 1993
established the Palestinian National Authority, whose aim was to create a Palestinian State in Gaza and the West
Bank. Only a few nations have recognised the Palestinian State to date.
4. THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION AND THE EASTERN BLOC
The USSR faced a very deep crisis at the end of the 1980’s because of the following reasons: the communist
regime could not cope with the arms race against the Western bloc; they intervened in Afghanistan to support a
communist regime, but they suffered heavy losses during the ten years that the war lasted; the Soviet Union failed
to modernise its production infrastructure and the living conditions of the population deteriorated quickly. The
consequence was public discontent, and people started demanding political and economic liberalisation.
In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR. He began a profound technological, industrial and
agricultural modernisation and he proposed perestroika, which meant:
• Reconstruction of the economy by giving companies greater autonomy to raise production rates.
• Democratisation of the political system allowing people to get involved in politics, while maintaining
the socialist principles.
• Disarmament and dialogue with the Western bloc, which in practice implied that he ended the war in
Afghanistan and permitted the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Popular movements raised in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc. and the communist regimes were
overthrown. Free elections were held, and liberal democratic constitutions were drafted. Within only two years,
the communist regimes in Eastern Europe had disappeared.
Democratic elections were also held in
the USSR republics. Nationalist forces won in
Lithuania, and they declared independence
from the USSR. Other soviet republics
followed the example of Lithuania.
Gorbachev proposed a new treaty on
relations between the Soviet republics to
save the USSR, but Boris Yeltsin won the
1991 elections and started radical reforms to
dismantle communism. By December 1991,
the USSR had completely collapsed and
disintegrated in 15 independent republics,
being Russia the largest and most powerful
of them. The Cold War was over.
5. THE DECOLONISATION PROCESS
It took place after WW2, during the Cold War period. Most of the colonial territories gained independence
from their former metropoles (Britain, France, The Netherlands, etc.). As the decolonisation process progressed,
the two confronted blocs tried to gain control and influence over the newly created countries. This led to dozens
of civil wars and conflicts, especially in Asia and Africa.
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The first wave affected the Middle East. For instance, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan gained independence from
Britain. Indonesia was recognised independent from the Netherlands in 1949. Then, during the 1950’s many
African colonies were granted their sovereignty, like Morocco, Libya and Algeria.
But perhaps the most important movement of independence in the
world took place in British India, that by the end of WW2 had 400 million
inhabitants. Mahatma Gandhi led a movement of peaceful resistance
against British rule. It was based on disobedience to monopolies
imposed by the British. For instance, he promoted the massive use of the
spinning wheel to fight the British monopoly over textiles production.
India gained its independence in 1947, and Mahatma Gandhi was
assassinated the following year. To stop violent confrontation
between the Muslim and the Hinduist communities, India was
partitioned into three different countries: Pakistan and Bangla Desh
for Muslim population, and India was left with most of the Hinduist
population. Historians estimate that the partition of British India
implied the resettlement of 20 to 30 million people, that had to
abandon their land.
