What was the Cold War?

The tension and rivalry between the USA and the USSR was described as the Cold War
(1945-1990). There was never a real war between the two sides during 1945 and 1990, but
they were often very close to war (Hotspots).
Both sides got involved in other conflicts in the world to either stop the spread of
communism (USA) or help the spread (USSR).

What caused the Cold War?

-Differences of the principle:
The differences of principle between the communist states and the capitalist or liberal
democratic states was one of the main reasons for the Cold War.
The governments of most capitalist states viewed it with mistrust and were afraid of
communism spreading to their countries.

-Stalin’s foreign policies contributed to the tensions:

His aim was to take advantage of the military situation to strengthen Russian influence in
Europe. He was committed to spreading communism over as much of the globe as
possible.

-US and British politicians were hostile to the Soviet government:

During the second world war, President Roosevelt (USA)sent war materials to Russia
because he was inclined to trust Stalin, president of the USSR. After president Roosevelt
died in 1945, his successor Harry Truman was suspicious towards the communists.
It is said that Truman’s main motive for dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was not
simply to defeat Japan but to show Stalin what might happen to Russia if they went too
far. Stalin believed that the USA and Britain were disposed to destroy communism.

WHICH SIDE WAS TO BLAME?

Some historians blamed Stalin, that Stalin's motives were sinister, and that he intended to
spread communism as widely as possible through Europe and Asia, thus destroying
capitalism.
Soviet historians and some Americans argued that Russia had suffered enormous losses
during the war and that Russia was expected to make as many friends as possible,
because of their weakness in 1945. They believe there was no real threat to the West from
the USSR. The actions of American politicians, especially Truman, provoked Russian
hostility unnecessarily.
And the third view is that both sides should take blame for the Cold War. They believe
that American economic policies such as Marshall Aid (see Section 7.2(e)) were
deliberately designed to increase US political influence in Europe. However, they also
believe that although Stalin had no long-term plans to spread communism, he was an
opportunist who would take advantage of any weakness in the West to expand Soviet
influence.

How the Cold War develop between 1945 and 1953?

The Yalta Conference: february 1945
The Yalta Conference was held in Russia by the three Allied leaders, Churchill (the Prime
Minister of the UK), Roosevelt (president of the USA), and Stalin (The Premier of the Soviet
Union). In that conference they would plan what was to happen when the war ended.
They agreed on several points,
● a new organization to be called the United Nations will replace the failed League of
nations.
● (IMPORTANT) Germany was divided into zones Russian, American, British and a
French zone was added later, and Berlin, which was in the middle of the Russian
zone, would also be split into 2 corresponding zones.
● Free elections would be allowed in the states of eastern Europe.

The potsdam conference july 1945

There was another conference 5 months later where the three leaders were Stalin (USSR),
Harry Truman replacing Roosevelt who died in April, (USA) and Churchill who was
replaced by Clement Attle the prime minister UK. The war with Germany was over, but
there were no agreements. They questioned whether the four zones would be allowed to
join together and form a united country.
It was agreed that the Germans should pay something towards repairing the damage they
had caused during the war. Most of these payments were to go to the USSR which would
be allowed to take non-food goods from their own zone and from other zones as well,
provided the Russians sent food supplies to the western zones of Germany in return.
Truman and Churchill were annoyed because Germany east was occupied by Russian
troops and was being run by the pro-communist Polish government and this has not been
discussed before, at the yalta conference. A few days after the conference closed, two
atomic bombs were dropped on Japan and the war ended on the 10 of August. Truman
didn’t tell Stalin anything about the atomic bomb.

Communism established in the eastern of Europe:

The Russians systematically interfered in the countries of eastern Europe to set up
pro-communist governments. This happened in Poland, Hungary, Albania and Romania.
In some cases their opponents were imprisoned or murdered.
The Russians continued to tighten their grip on eastern Europe.
By the end of 1947 every state in that area with the exception of Czechoslovakia had a fully
communist government. Elections were manipulated, any government member who was
not communist was expelled, arrested and executed. Besides, Stalin treated the Russian
zone of Germany as if it was Russian territory allowing only the Communist party and
draining it of vital resources.
The west was irritated by Russia’s treatment of eastern Europe because there weren't any
free elections as discussed before.

The Iron Curtain:

Iron Curtain, the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union
after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies
from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas.

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

-The truman doctrine

In Greece the communists were trying to overthrow the monarchy. British troops which
helped Greece liberate from the Germans during WW2, had restored the monarchy. but
they were now feeling the strain of supporting it against the communists, who were
receiving help from Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. The British Foreign Minister,
appealed to the USA and Truman announced (March 1947) that the USA 'would support
Greece if they resisted the communists. Then Greece received massive amounts of arms
and supplies and communism was defeated. Turkey was also under threat and received
$60 million. The Truman doctrine made it clear that they were not returning to isolation
and the USA was committed to containing communism not just in Europe but also
throughout the world.

-The Marshall Plan

It was an economic extension to the Truman Doctrine, American Secretary of State
George Marshall produced his European Recovery Programme (ERP), which offered
economic and financial help wherever it was needed. Europe was suffering from poverty,
hunger, desperation and chaos. The aim of the ERP was to promote the economic recovery
of Europe. Europe would provide markets for American exports and because of that
communism was less likely to gain control over Europe. During 4 years over $13 billion of
Marshall aid was for western europe.
The Cominform

This - the Communist Information Bureau -was the soviet response to the Marshall Plan.
It was set up by Stalin in September 1947, it was an organization to draw together the
various European comminst parties. Stalin's aim was to control the satellites, with Russian
style communism.

The communist takeover of Czechoslovakia (February 1948)

Czechoslovakia was the only remaining democratic state in eastern Europe. The
communist party and other left-wing parties had been freely elected in 1946. But there
was a crisis in 1948 and the elections were supposed to be in May and the communist were
going to lose. They were blamed for the rejection of the Marshall Aid which might have
helped them with food supplies. The communists decided to act before the elections when
they took power in an armed coup (golpe de estado). The elections were held in May but
there was only a single list of candidates - all communists. The western powers and the
UN (onu) protested but felt unable to take any action.

Berlin Blockade
The Soviet Union blockaded railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under
Western control.
This happened because the Western Allies announced that there would be a monetary
reform of the Reichsmark (the devalued currency of German), and the new currency
would be the Deutsche Mark, this to stabilize the economy of Germany.
The Soviet refused this reform, because it was a violation of agreements with the Allies.
The Western Allies organised the Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to the people of West
Berlin. United States and Britain began to supply the city with food and other vital
supplies by air.
Having initially concluded there was no way the airlift could work, its continued success
became an increasing embarrassment for the Soviets. On 12 May 1949, the USSR lifted the
blockade of West Berlin, due to economic issues in East Berlin.

The Formation of NATO

The formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization took place in April 1949, Britain,
France, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg signed the Brussels Defence Treaty promising
military collaboration in case of war. And then the USA, Canada, Portugal, Denmark,
Iceland, Italy, and Norway joined and all signed NATO. They agreed that if they were
attacked or any of them were under attack, they would defend themselves under this
organization. The USA for the first time pledged themselves to military action.
The two Germanies
Since there was no prospect of the Russians allowing a united Germany, the western
powers went ahead alone and set up the German Federal Republic, known as West
Germany. The Russians replied by setting up their zone as the German Democratic
Republic, or East Germany.

More nuclear weapons.

When it became known that the USSR had successfully exploded an atomic bomb, an arms
race began to develop. Truman responded by giving the go-ahead for the USA to produce a
hydrogen bomb many times more powerful than the atomic bomb.

To what extent was there a thaw after 1953?

The Thaw in the Cold War.

The death of Stalin was probably the starting point of the thaw because it brought to the front new
Russian leaders, who wanted to improve relations with the USA. One of the reasons might be
because both the USA and USSR had developed a hydrogen bomb, the relations needed to be
relaxed if a nuclear war was wanted to be avoided.
In the West, Khrushchev's Thaw is known as a temporary thaw in the icy tension between the
United States and the USSR during the Cold War. The tensions were able to thaw because of
Khrushchev's de-Stalinization of the USSR and peaceful coexistence theory and also because of US
President Eisenhower's cautious attitude and peace attempts.
Khrushchev's Thaw developed largely as a result of Khrushchev's theory of peaceful co-existence
which believed the two superpowers (USA and USSR) and their ideologies could co-exist together,
without war (peacefully). Khrushchev had created the theory of peaceful existence in an attempt to
reduce hostility between the two superpowers. He tried to prove peaceful coexistence by
attending international peace conferences, such as the Geneva Summit, and by traveling
internationally, such as his trip to USA's Camp David in 1959.

The situation in Berlin

The western powers were still refusing to give official recognition to East Germany, which the
Russians had set up in response to the creation of West Germany in 1949. In 1958, Khrushchev
announced that the USSR no longer recognized the rights of the western powers in West Berlin. In
1960 it was Khrushchev's turn to feel aggrieved when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down
over a thousand miles inside Russia. President Eisenhower declined to apologize, defending
America's right to make reconnaissance flights. Khruschev stormed out of the summit conference
which was just beginning in Paris, and it seemed that the thaw might be over.
In 1961 Khrushchev again suggested, this time to the new American president, John F. Kennedy,
that the West should withdraw from Berlin. When Kennedy refused, the Berlin Wall was erected, a
28-mile-long monstrosity across the entire city, effectively blocking the escape route.
The nuclear arms race
The Americans already had a big lead in atomic bombs, but the Russians were determined to catch
up. Russia had produced their own atomic bomb at the end of 1949. When the Americans made the
much more powerful hydrogen bomb towards the end of 1952, the Russians did the same the
following year, and had soon developed a bomber with a range long enough to reach the USA. This
began a nuclear arms race, with both sides racing to develop more and bigger bombs.
The Russians took the lead in 1957 when they produced a new type of weapon, the intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICBM). This was a nuclear warhead carried by a rocket so powerful that it could
reach the USA even when fired from inside the USSR.
The Americans soon produced their version of an ICBM (known as Atlas), they also began to build
nuclear missiles with a shorter range: these were known as Jupiters and Thors, and they could
reach the USSR from launching sites in Europe and Turkey.

This nuclear arms race was matched by similar competition over space and the race to the moon.

The Cuban missiles crisis (1962)

Cuba became involved in the Cold War in 1959 when Fidel Castro took the place of the
corrupt American-backed dictator Batista, and outraged the USA, nationalizing USA’s
estates and factories. As Cuba's relationship with the USA got worse, they got better with
the USSR. In January 1961 the USA broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba, and the
Russians increased their economic aid.
The new president of the USA, John F Kenndy, approved a plan by a group of Batista
supporters to invade Cuba from American bases in Guatemala. 1400 landed in Bay of Pigs
and April 1961 but the operation was so badly planned and carried out that Castro's forces
and his two jet planes had no difficulty crushing it. Later the same year, Castro
announced that he was now a Marxist and that Cuba was a socialist country. Kennedy
continued his campaign to destroy Castro, Cuban merchant ships were sunk, installations
on the island were sabotaged and American troops carried out invasion exercises. So
Castro asked for USSR military help.
Khrushchev decided to set up nuclear missile launchers in Cuba pointing at the USA,
whose nearest point was less than a hundred miles from Cuba. All the major cities of the
central and eastern USA such as New York, Washington, Chicago and Boston would be
under threat. Why did Khrushchev take such a risky decision?
● The Russians had lost the lead in ICBM, so this was one way of trying to get back
the US initiative.
● In 1959 the Americans had signed an agreement with Turkey allowing them to
place Jupiter nuclear missiles from bases in Turkey.
● In November 1961 Kennedy gave the go-ahead for a secret CIA operation known as
Operation Mongoose which aimed to 'help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime'.
● Perhaps Khrushchev intended to use the missiles for negotiating with the West
over removal of American missiles from Europe.

Kennedy was about to launch air strikes against the bases. He demanded the dismantling
of the missile sites and the removal of those missiles already in Cuba. The situation was
tense, and the world seemed to be on the verge of nuclear war. The Secretary-General of
the UN, U Thant, appealed to both sides for restraint.
Khrushchev made the first move: he ordered the Russian ships to turn back, and
eventually a compromise solution was reached. Khrushchev promised to remove the
missiles and dismantle the sites; in return Kennedy promised that the USA would not
invade Cuba again, and undertook to disarm the Jupiter missiles in Turkey. Castro was
furious with Khrushchev for 'deserting' and Cuban-Soviet relations were extremely cool
for several years.
The crisis had only lasted a few days, but it was extremely tense but most important was
that both sides realized how easily a nuclear war could have started and how terrible the
results would have been. A telephone link (the 'hotline') was introduced between Moscow
and Washington to allow swift consultations, and in July 1963, the USSR, the USA and
Britain signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, agreeing to carry out nuclear tests only
underground to avoid polluting the atmosphere any further.

The race continues into the 1970s

Although in public the Russians claimed the missile crisis a victory, in private they admitted that
their main aim - to establish missile bases near the USA - had failed. The USA now had another
threat - ballistic missiles (known as Polaris, later Poseidon) which could be launched from
submarines (SLBMs) in the eastern Mediterranean. The Russians decided to catch up with the
USA's missiles. As the Americans became more deeply involved in the war in Vietnam (1961-75),
they had less to spend on nuclear weapons, and slowly but surely the Russians began to catch up.
By 1970 they had overtaken the USA and they had brought out a new weapon, the anti-ballistic
missile (ABM), which could destroy incoming enemy missiles before they reached their targets.
And so it went on; by this time both sides had enough of this horrifying weaponry to destroy the
world many times over.
Protests against nuclear weapons
Movements were set up to try to persuade governments to abolish nuclear weapons. In Britain
the Campaign/or Nuclear Disarmament (CND), which was started in 1958, put pressure on the
government to take the lead, so that Britain would be the first nation to abandon nuclear
weapons; this was known as unilateral disarmament (disarmament by one state only). No British
government dared take the risk, however. They believed that unilateral disarmament would leave
Britain vulnerable to a nuclear attack from the USSR, and would only consider abandoning their
weapons as part of a general agreement by all the major powers. During the 1980s there were
protest demonstrations in many European countries, including West Germany and Holland, and
also in the USA. In Britain many women protested by camping around the American base at
Greenham Common (Berkshire), where the Cruise missiles were positioned. And so the world
moved into the next phase of the Cold War - detente.

Videos sobre la guerra fría que lo explican bien

https://youtu.be/EXijvhBQ-u8
https://youtu.be/Pt8_vXC9DEM