Cold War;

Rise of United States and Soviet Union,

Era of Tight Bipolarity, Détente and
Loose Bipolarity, Revival of Cold War.
 Concepts
Communism
 A system in which the government controls production and owns
the nation’s natural and capital resources. Stateless + classless
Socialism
 A social and economic system characterized by social owner ship
and democratic control of the means of production, as well as a
political theory and movement that aims to establish such system.
Capitalism
 A system in which ordinary people and businesses control the
production of goods and services.
 Outcomes of WWII
 Emergence of Two Superpowers – USA & USSR

 Recognition of fundamental incompatibilities

National Interest and Ideology.

 Marshall Plan (5 $Bil. 16 European countries)– first

move towards NATO

 Containment policy of USA Vs. USSR

 Cold War
 Capitalism VS Communism

 Pluralism VS Totalitarianism

 Ideas Vs. Ideas

Politics, Society, Economy, and Culture.

Tussle Between Ways of Life

 Cold War
 Term coined by a H. B. Swope and popularized by Walter
Lippmann.
 To describe – neither war nor peace between western capitalist
and eastern communist bloc after WWII.
 Traditional great power rivalry stopped short of war – though
both blocs came close to the acute crises number of times –
Cuban missile crisis 1962, in 1973 Arab Israel violence.
 Cold war practices - Arms race, ally-seeking, brinkmanship,
ideological antagonism, interventionism etc.
 Cold War
 But, it does not mean that cold war was a
relationship of unrelieved hostility;
four time frames that saw a thaw;
 1- Period after the death of Stalin in1953
 2- Period after Cuban missile Crises 1962.
 3- Period around Nixon’s visit of Moscow in
May 1972.
 4- The period of Gorbachev 1985 -1991.
 Roots of Cold War
 Communist Revolution of November 1917 was viewed
as challenge to American Exceptionalism.
 Thus two system with different concepts about society
were likely to cause a conflict.
 USA intervened in former parts of the Russian empire
against communists.
 Accompanied by the first ‘red-scare’ 1919-1920 in
USA.
 Roots of Cold War
 In 1919 Lenin viewed that new Soviet states would not
co-exist with “capitalist” states for a long time – it was
the beginning of the rivalry.
 WWII served propel USSR and USA to the highest Int.
ranks that ‘super power’ term was coined to identify the
status.
 Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill were engaged in a
series of summit meetings to reach an understanding
about the Post war global system.
 Roots of Cold War
 

After WWII, Germany was to be divided into four zones &

Berlin into four sectors – USA, France, UK and USSR.
Germany was also to be de-militarized & denazify.

Churchill wanted to maintain its colonies with all their

economic output.
FDR was more inclined towards economic supremacy –
Bretton Wood System and victory in Asia.
Stalin’s War aims were more geostrategic, confined to East
Europe and German dismemberment.
 Roots of Cold War
 These Soviet goals constituted mutual suspicions.
 Moreover, earlier ideological antagonism (1917-
1920) began to resurface.
 This thinking resulted in ‘Iron Curtain’.
 Overall world was undergoing societal, cultural,
political transformation in Asia (China
awakening, Indo-Pak, decolonization).
 Who Started the Cold War – interpretations?
 For forty-five years the Cold War was the centre point of world
politics.
 It dominated the FPs of USA and USSR – and deeply affected their
societies and their political, economic, and military institutions.
 The Cold War also shaped the FP and domestic politics of most
other nations around the globe. (communist, Socialist parties,
literature, etc.)
Traditional view:
 In the West, historians have debated vigorously - who was
responsible for the collapse of the wartime (friendly) relationship
between Moscow and Washington?
 Who Started the Cold War – interpretations?

 In 1945, the USA and USSR were allies, victorious in

WWII, over Adolf Hitler’s Nazi empire in Europe.
 Within just a few months, however, wartime allies
became mortal enemies, locked in a global struggle —
military, political, economic, and ideological.
 Was it the Soviets, who backed off from their agreements
to allow the people of Eastern Europe to determine their
own fates by imposing totalitarian rule on territories
under Soviet control?
 Who Started the Cold War – interpretations?
 In the early days of the Cold War, American historians would
have answered, nearly unanimously, that the “Soviets started
the Cold War”
 Josef Stalin was an evil dictator, propelled by an evil
Communist ideology to attempt world domination.
 Appeasement had not worked against Hitler, and appeasement
wouldn't work against Stalin either.
 An innocent America had only reluctantly joined the Cold War
to defend the Free World from otherwise inevitable totalitarian
conquest.
 Who Started the Cold War – interpretations?

Revisionists’ View:
 In the 1960s, a new generation of revisionist historians —
disillusioned by the Vietnam War and horrified by
government dishonesty — offered a different
interpretation;
 In this revisionist view,
 “Stalin may have been a power hungry despot, but, he was
more interested in protecting the Soviet Union than in
dominating the world.”
 Who Started the Cold War – interpretations?

 Americans erroneously interpreted Stalin's legitimate concerns

upon a security buffer in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and
Romania to indicate a desire for global conquest.

 Americas' subsequent aggressive efforts to contain Soviet

influence, to intimidate the Soviets with the atomic bomb, and
to pursue American economic interests around the globe were
primarily responsible for starting the Cold War.
 Stages of the Cold War

Tight confrontational Bipolarity (1947-1969) 

 During this era the war time relationship ended even as soon as
in 1946 because of clash of interests.
Iron Curtain (1946)
 A phrase often associated with Churchill but actually used by
Goebbels 1945 to describe the division of Eastern Europe
from Western Europe by SU.
 Popularized by Churchill in his March 1946 speech, “from
Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain
has descended upon the continent”.
 Tight confrontational Bipolarity (1947-1969) 
 The cold war in Europe reflected the failure to implement the
principles agreed at the wartime conferences of Yalta &
Potsdam of 1945.
 The future of Germany and Poland were issues of growing
tension between the former wartime allies.
 In the West & US, there was growing feeling that Soviet policy
towards Eastern Europe was guided not by historic concern with
security but by ideological expansion.
 “To give a defensive self-image, US administration introduced a
doctrine.”
 Truman Doctrine 1947 and Containment Policy of US
 “to support the free people who are resisting subjection by
armed minorities or outside pressures.”
 It’s a speech to a joint session of the congress on 12
march 1947 in which Truman requested 400 million US$
for Turkey and Greece.
 Truman got the largest US bilateral government aid
program in peace time history.
 It marked a clear break with the long standing isolationist
tradition.  
 Although USSR was not clearly mentioned but it was widely and
correctly assumed the “free people” and “anti-communists”
synonymous.
 Under this doctrine, US was committed to oppose the spread of
communism and to intervene, by force of arms if necessary.
 The economic aspect of that strategy of worldwide containment
of communism was provided by Marshall Plan. “Two halves of
the same walnut,” said Truman.
 Truman Doctrine and Containment Policy of US
 US elite had divided the world into “good” and “bad” states –
based on human rights record….

 So, tragedy of Vietnam can be attributed to ‘Truman

doctrine’.

 According to a commentator, it was an American way of

declaring Cold War, a self - fulfilling prophecy.
 Tight confrontational Bipolarity (1947-1969) 

 In Eastern Europe, democratic socialist and other anti-

communist forces were undermined and eliminated as
Marxist-Leninist regimes, loyal to Moscow. e.g. ZA. Bhutto
 Only exception was Yugoslavia where Marxist leader,
Marshal Tito was ruling.
 First confrontation between US and USSR came when in
June 1948 Stalin cut road and rail communications.
 West Berlin’s population and political activities were kept
alive by a massive airlift.
 Stalin ended the blockade in May 1949.
 Tight confrontational Bipolarity (1947-1969) 
 The crisis prompted the deployment of US long-range
bombers in Britain, officially described as ‘atomic-
capable’, though not.
 US consolidated its military commitment by forming
NATO in April 1949.
 Based on the principle of collective self-defence enshrined
in Article 51 of the UN Charter.
 USA took the responsibility of the protection of the
Europe.
 Tight confrontational Bipolarity (1947-1962)
 In 1949, thirty-year-long Chinese civil war ended with
victory for the communists under Mao Zedong.
 USSR also broke the nuclear monopoly of USA in
1949.
 1950 North Korea attacked SK, it was a test of UNO
and US resolve, USA intervened so did China.
 3 million people died in three year war.
 NATO & The rearmament of the west Germany in
1954 resulted in Warsaw Pact in 1955.
 The military build-up continued apace, with
unprecedented concentrations of conventional and
nuclear forces.
 By the 1960s, there were some 7,000 nuclear
weapons in Western Europe alone.
 NATO deployed nuclear weapons to offset Soviet
conventional superiority, Soviet deployed ‘theatre
nuclear’ forces to counter US nuclear superiority.
 In Hungary, Nikita Khrushchev’s reforms brought unrest
and the intervention of the Red Army brought bloodshed
to the streets – attracted int. condemnation.
 Soviet intervention coincided with an attack on Egypt by
Britain, France, and Israel, precipitated by Jamal Abdul
Nasser’s seizure of the Suez Canal.
 The British government’s actions provoked fierce
domestic and international criticism, and the most serious
rift in the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the
US.
 Impact of the cold war on the Middle East is more difficult.
 Israel came into being in 1948, as the British colonial
policy failed – and Nazi genocide.
 Both the USSR and USA helped the creation of a Jewish
state on Arab lands, though in the 1950s, Soviet foreign
policy supported Arab nationalism Vs. Israel.
 Gamal Abdel Nasser, embraced a form of socialism, but
was far away from Marxism.
 Israel developed relations with the British and the
French, culminating in their secret agreement to
attack Egypt in 1956.

 Though aligned with Israel UK and France

managed to have relations with Arabs as well.
 Eisenhower strongly opposed and forced UK abandon
the operation and support of French and Israel.
 Soviet support for movements of national liberation
aroused fears in the West of a global communist
challenge.
 In those days, American commitment to liberal
democracy and national self-determination was often
subordinated to cold war perspectives.
 The cold war saw the growth of large permanent intelligence
Organization.
 In October 1962 the world was closer to witness Armageddon,
nuclear war was feared on Cuban Missile Crisis.
 Nuclear arsenals, nevertheless, continued to grow and during
these circumstances Britain in 1952, France in 1960, and China
in 1964 became nuclear powers.
 Growing concern at the spread or proliferation of nuclear weapons
led to the negotiation of the NPT in 1968.
 Détente Loose Bipolarity. 1969 - 1979

 Easing of relations between US and USSR, tentatively

started from Nixon/Kissinger initiative in 1972/1973.
 It is sometimes referred an antithesis of cold war.
 A shift from confrontational policies to a flexible
diplomacy.
 It was structural change in post war super power
relations – e.g. China, Helsinki Accords 1975 (to keep
the status quo in Europe), and SALT talks.
 Détente Loose Bipolarity. 1969 - 1979

 America was stuck in Vietnam, China-Soviet relations

were deteriorating and they fought a minor border war in
1969 over territory.
 Détente was laid down between USSR and USA
tentatively in 1969, and later on it helped reconciliation
between China & US.
 Both Washington and Moscow also looked towards
Beijing when making their bilateral calculations.
 The question of how far the superpowers could control
their friends.
 Détente Loose Bipolarity. 1969 - 1979

 After 1973 Arab-Israel war both USA and USSR helped create
Egyptian-Israeli rapprochement.
 Diplomatic and strategic relations were transformed as Egypt
switched its allegiance from Moscow to Washington.
 In the short term, Egypt was isolated in the Arab world.
 For Israel, fear of a war of annihilation fought on two fronts
was lifted… Arabs + USSR
 In Washington, Soviet support for revolutionary movements in
the ‘Third World’ was seen as evidence of duplicity.
 Détente Loose Bipolarity. 1969 - 1979
 Few Americans claimed that Moscow’s support for
revolutionary forces in Ethiopia in 1975 and in Angola
in 1978 killed détente.
 In the cover of SALT process USSR acquired weapon
superiority with multi target ICBMs.
 The overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979 resulted in
the loss of an important Western ally in the region.
 In December 1979, Soviet intervened in Afghanistan to
support their revolutionary allies.
 Revival of the Cold War 1980 - 1988
Carter Doctrine
 “Any attempt by outside force to gain control of the
Persian Gulf will be regarded as an assault on vital US
interests and such an assault will be repelled any means
necessary, including military force” (Jan 1980).
 Doctrine was a response to Iranian Revolution and
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
 It was a mini Monroe Doctrine in its essence.
 After 1980

 NATO’s decision to deploy land-based missiles capable of

striking Soviet territory caused a period of great tension in
relations between NATO and the USSR, and friction
within NATO.
 On arms control, Reagan was disinterested in agreements
that would freeze the status quo for the sake of getting
agreement.
 Reagan administration used military strikes in Lebanon in
1983 but suffered humiliating failure.
 After 1980
 

 He initiated ‘Star Wars’, a research programme for space-

based defence against ballistic missiles.
 Reagan claimed to regain the nuclear monopoly of the 1950s.
 In Western Europe and the Soviet Union, there was real fear of
nuclear war.
 American statements on nuclear weapons and military
intervention in Grenada in 1983, and against Libya in 1986,
were seen as evidence of new hostilities.
 After 1980

 In 1983, Soviet air defences shot down a South Korean airliner in

Soviet airspace.
 The American reaction, and the deployment of US nuclear
missiles in Europe, created a climate of great tension in East-
West relations.
 And in November 1983 Soviet intelligence misinterpreted a
NATO training exercise (Able Archer) and led the Soviet
leadership to believe that NATO was preparing to attack them.
 In 1986, CIA’s covert attacks on Nicaraguan harbours was
declared illegal by ICJ - Cocaine money
 After 1980
 Gorbachev paved the way for agreements on nuclear and
conventional forces that helped ease the tensions in1980s.

 In 1987, he visited US to sign the Intermediate Nuclear Forces

Treaty (INF), banning intermediate-range nuclear missiles,
including Cruise and Pershing missiles.

 That Resulted the conclusion of a Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty

START I agreement in 1991.
 Reagan Doctrine 1980-1988

 Popularized by Right wing Heritage Foundation writer

Charles Krauthammer.
 Reagan viewed Détente as little short of appeasement, that
strengthened East at the expense of West.
 The essence of the doctrine is – the active destabilization of
selected target states following pro-soviet ideologies of
Marxism and Leninism.
 Reagan called Détente period as “decade of neglect”.
 Reagan Doctrine

 Latent purpose was to confront this expansion with

greater intensity.
 This was reflected in rearmament program and selective
intervention in the third world. Afghanistan Nicaragua
to suck SU military machine in Vietnam style.
 Reaganite policy lost its relevance as in last years both
superpowers moved towards détente relationship.
 Conclusion
 There are disagreements about when and why the cold
war began, and who was responsible.
 Distinct phases can be seen in East-West relations, during
which tension and the risk of direct confrontation grew
and receded.
 Some civil and regional wars were intensified and
prolonged by superpower involvement; others may have
been prevented or shortened.
 The end of the cold war has not resulted in the abolition
of nuclear weapons.
 Conclusion

 Nuclear weapons were an important factor in the cold war. How

far the arms race had a momentum of its own is a matter of
debate.
 Agreements on limiting and controlling the growth of nuclear
arsenals played an important role in Soviet-American (and East-
West) relations.
 Various international crises occurred in which there was the risk
of nuclear war.
 Judging how close world came to nuclear war at these times
remains open to speculation.