causes and effects of the cold war essay

• History & Society
• Science & Tech
• Biographies
• Animals & Nature
• Geography & Travel
• Arts & Culture
• Games & Quizzes
• On This Day
• One Good Fact
• New Articles
• Lifestyles & Social Issues
• Philosophy & Religion
• Politics, Law & Government
• World History
• Health & Medicine
• Browse Biographies
• Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
• Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
• Environment
• Fossils & Geologic Time
• Entertainment & Pop Culture
• Sports & Recreation
• Visual Arts
• Demystified
• Image Galleries
• Infographics
• Top Questions
• Britannica Kids
• Saving Earth
• Space Next 50
• Student Center

Cold War summary

Learn about the cause of the cold war between the u.s. and the soviet union and its impact.

Cold War , Open yet restricted rivalry and hostility that developed after World War II between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The U.S. and Britain, alarmed by the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, feared the expansion of Soviet power and communism in Western Europe and elsewhere. The Soviets were determined to maintain control of Eastern Europe, in part to safeguard against a possible renewed threat from Germany. The Cold War (the term was first used by Bernard Baruch during a congressional debate in 1947) was waged mainly on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. It was at its peak in 1948–53 with the Berlin blockade and airlift, the formation of NATO , the victory of the communists in the Chinese civil war, and the Korean War . Another intense stage occurred in 1958–62 with the Cuban missile crisis, which resulted in a weapons buildup by both sides. A period of détente in the 1970s was followed by renewed hostility. The Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Essay on the Cold War: it’s Origin, Causes and Phases

After the Second World War, the USA and USSR became two Super Powers. One nation tried to reduce the power of other. Indirectly the competition between the Super Powers led to the Cold War.

Then America took the leadership of all the Capitalist Countries.

Soviet Russia took the leadership of all the Communist Countries. As a result of which both stood as rivals to each other.

Definition of the Cold War:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

In the graphic language of Hartman, “Cold War is a state of tension between countries in which each side adopts policies designed to strengthen it and weaken the other by falling short by actual war”.

Image Source: i.ytimg.com/vi/y9HjvHZfCUI/maxresdefault.jpg

Infact, Cold War is a kind of verbal war which is fought through newspapers, magazines, radio and other propaganda methods. It is a propaganda to which a great power resorts against the other power. It is a sort of diplomatic war.

Origin of Cold War:

There is no unanimity amongst scholars regarding the origin of the Cold War In 1941 when Hitler invaded Russia, Roosevelt the President of USA sent armaments to Russia. It is only because the relationship between Roosevelt and Stalin was very good. But after the defeat of Germany, when Stalin wanted to implement Communist ideology in Poland, Hungery, Bulgaria and Rumania, at that time England and America suspected Stalin.

Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England in his ‘Fulton Speech’ on 5 March 1946 said that Soviet Russia was covered by an Iron Curtain. It led Stalin to think deeply. As a result of which suspicion became wider between Soviet Russia and western countries and thus the Cold War took birth.

Causes of the Cold War:

Various causes are responsible for the outbreak of the Cold War. At first, the difference between Soviet Russia and USA led to the Cold War. The United States of America could not tolerate the Communist ideology of Soviet Russia. On the other hand, Russia could not accept the dominance of United States of America upon the other European Countries.

Secondly, the Race of Armament between the two super powers served another cause for the Cold War. After the Second World War, Soviet Russia had increased its military strength which was a threat to the Western Countries. So America started to manufacture the Atom bomb, Hydrogen bomb and other deadly weapons. The other European Countries also participated in this race. So, the whole world was divided into two power blocs and paved the way for the Cold War.

Thirdly, the Ideological Difference was another cause for the Cold War. When Soviet Russia spread Communism, at that time America propagated Capitalism. This propaganda ultimately accelerated the Cold War.

Fourthly, Russian Declaration made another cause for the Cold War. Soviet Russia highlighted Communism in mass-media and encouraged the labour revolution. On the other hand, America helped the Capitalists against the Communism. So it helped to the growth of Cold War.

Fifthly, the Nuclear Programme of America was responsible for another cause for the Cold War. After the bombardment of America on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Soviet Russia got afraid for her existence. So, it also followed the same path to combat America. This led to the growth of Cold War.

Lastly, the Enforcement of Veto by Soviet Russia against the western countries made them to hate Russia. When the western countries put forth any view in the Security Council of the UNO, Soviet Russia immediately opposed it through veto. So western countries became annoyed in Soviet Russia which gave birth to the Cold War.

Various Phases of the Cold War:

The Cold War did not occur in a day. It passed through several phases.

First Phase (1946-1949 ):

In this phase America and Soviet Russia disbelieved each other. America always tried to control the Red Regime in Russia. Without any hesitation Soviet Russia established Communism by destroying democracy in the Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungery, Yugoslavia and other Eastern European Countries.

In order to reduce Russia’s hegemony, America helped Greece and Turkey by following Truman Doctrine which came into force on 12 March 1947. According to Marshall Plan which was declared on 5 June, 1947 America gave financial assistance to Western European Countries.

In this phase, non withdrawal of army from Iran by Soviet Russia, Berlin blaockade etc. made the cold was more furious. After the formation of NATO in 1949, the Cold War took a halt.

Second Phase (1949-1953 ):

In this phase a treaty was signed between Australia, New Zeland and America in September, 1957 which was known as ANZUS. America also signed a treaty with Japan on 8 September, 1951. At that time by taking armaments from Russia and army from China, North Korea declared war against South Korea.

Then with the help of UNO, America sent military aid to South Korea. However, both North Korea and South Korea signed peace treaty in 1953 and ended the war. In order to reduce the impact of Soviet Communism, America spent a huge amount of dollar in propaganda against Communism. On the other hand, Soviet Russia tried to be equal with America by testing atom bomb.

Third Phase (1953-1957):

Now United States of America formed SEATO in 1954 in order to reduce Soviet Russia’s influence. In 1955 America formed MEDO in Middle East. Within a short span of time, America gave military assistance to 43 countries and formed 3300 military bases around Soviet Russia. At that time, the Vietnamese War started on 1955.

To reduce the American Power, Russia signed WARSAW PACT in 1955. Russia also signed a defence pact with 12 Countries. Germany was divided into Federal Republic of Germany which was under the American control where as German Democratic Republic was under Soviet Russia. In 1957 Soviet Russia included Sphutnick in her defence programme.

In 1953 Stalin died and Khrushchev became the President of Russia. In 1956 an agreement was signed between America and Russia regarding the Suez Crisis. America agreed not to help her allies like England and France. In fact West Asia was saved from a great danger.

Fourth Phase (1957-1962):

In 1959 the Russian President Khrushchev went on a historical tour to America. Both the countries were annoyed for U-2 accident and for Berlin Crisis. In 13 August 1961, Soviet Russia made a Berlin Wall of 25 Kilometres in order to check the immigration from eastern Berlin to Western Berlin. In 1962, Cuba’s Missile Crisis contributed a lot to the cold war.

This incident created an atmosphere of conversation between American President Kenedy and Russian President Khrushchev. America assured Russia that she would not attack Cuba and Russia also withdrew missile station from Cuba.

Fifth Phase (1962-1969 ):

The Fifth Phase which began from 1962 also marked a mutual suspicion between USA and USSR. There was a worldwide concern demanding ban on nuclear weapons. In this period Hot Line was established between the White House and Kremlin. This compelled both the parties to refrain from nuclear war. Inspite of that the Vietnam problem and the Problem in Germany kept Cold War between USA and USSR in fact.

Sixth Phase (1969-1978 ):

This phase commencing from 1969 was marked by DETENTE between USA and USSR- the American President Nixon and Russian President Brezhnev played a vital role for putting an end to the Cold War. The SALT of 1972, the summit Conference on Security’ of 1975 in Helsinki and Belgrade Conference of 1978 brought America and Russia closer.

In 1971, American Foreign Secretary Henry Kissinger paid a secret visit to China to explore the possibilities of reapproachment with China. The American move to convert Diego Garcia into a military base was primarily designed to check the Soviet presence in the Indian Ocean. During the Bangladesh crisis of 1971 and the Egypt-Israel War of 1973 the two super powers extended support to the opposite sides.

Last Phase (1979-1987 ):

In this phase certain changes were noticed in the Cold War. That is why historians call this phase as New Cold War. In 1979, the American President Carter and Russian President Brezhnev signed SALT II. But in 1979 the prospects of mitigating Cold War were marred by sudden development in Afghanistan.

Vietnam (1975), Angola (1976), Ethiopia (1972) and Afghanistan (1979) issues brought success to Russia which was unbearable for America. American President Carter’s Human Rights and Open Diplomacy were criticised by Russia. The SALT II was not ratified by the US Senate. In 1980 America boycotted the Olympic held at Moscow.

In 1983, Russia withdrew from a talk on missile with America. In 1984 Russia boycotted the Olympic game held at Los-Angeles. The Star War of the American President Ronald Regan annoyed Russia. In this way the ‘New Cold War’ between America and Russia continued till 1987.

Result of the Cold War:

The Cold War had far-reaching implications in the international affairs. At first, it gave rise to a fear psychosis which resulted in a mad race for the manufacture of more sophisticated armaments. Various alliances like NATO, SEATO, WARSAW PACT, CENTO, ANZUS etc. were formed only to increase world tension.

Secondly, Cold War rendered the UNO ineffective because both super powers tried to oppose the actions proposed by the opponent. The Korean Crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War etc. were the bright examples in this direction.

Thirdly, due to the Cold War, a Third World was created. A large number of nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America decided to keep away from the military alliances of the two super powers. They liked to remain neutral. So, Non-Alignments Movement became the direct outcome of the Cold War.

Fourthly, Cold War was designed against mankind. The unnecessary expenditure in the armament production created a barrier against the progress of the world and adversely affected a country and prevented improvement in the living standards of the people.

Fifthly, the principle ‘Whole World as a Family’, was shattered on the rock of frustration due to the Cold War. It divided the world into two groups which was not a healthy sign for mankind.

Sixthly, The Cold War created an atmosphere of disbelief among the countries. They questioned among themselves how unsafe were they under Russia or America.

Finally, The Cold War disturbed the World Peace. The alliances and counter-alliances created a disturbing atmosphere. It was a curse for the world. Though Russia and America, being super powers, came forward to solve the international crisis, yet they could not be able to establish a perpetual peace in the world.

Related Articles:

• Essay on the Cold War, 1945
• Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO): Structure, Principles and Other Details
• History of The Cold War: Origin, Reasons and Other Details
• Truman Doctrine: A Policy Statement Made by US during the Cold War

The Cold War (1945-1989) essay

The Cold War is considered to be a significant event in Modern World History. The Cold War dominated a rather long time period: between 1945, or the end of the World War II, and 1990, the collapse of the USSR. This period involved the relationships between two superpowers: the United States and the USSR. The Cold War began in Eastern Europe and Germany, according to the researchers of the Institute of Contemporary British History (Warner 15).  Researchers state that “the USSR and the United States of America held the trump cards, nuclear bombs and missiles” (Daniel 489). In other words, during the Cold War, two nations took the fate of the world under their control. The progression of the Cold War influenced the development of society, which became aware of the threat of nuclear war. After the World War II, the world experienced technological progress, which provided “the Space Race, computer development, superhighway construction, jet airliner development, the creation of international phone system, the advent of television, enormous progress in medicine, and the creation of mass consumerism, and many other achievements” (Daniel 489). Although the larger part of the world lived in poverty and lacked technological progress, the United States and other countries of Western world succeeded in economic development. The Cold War, which began in 1945, reflected the increased role of technological progress in the establishment of economic relationships between two superpowers.   The Cold War involved internal and external conflicts between two superpowers, the United States and the USSR, leading to eventual breakdown of the USSR.

• The Cold War: background information

The Cold War consisted of several confrontations between the United States and the USSR, supported by their allies. According to researchers, the Cold War was marked by a number of events, including “the escalating arms race, a competition to conquer space, a dangerously belligerent for of diplomacy known as brinkmanship, and a series of small wars, sometimes called “police actions” by the United States and sometimes excused as defense measures by the Soviets” (Gottfried 9). The Cold War had different influences on the United States and the USSR. For the USSR, the Cold War provided massive opportunities for the spread of communism across the world, Moscow’s control over the development of other nations and the increased role of the Soviet Communist party.

In fact, the Cold War could split the wartime alliance formed to oppose the plans of Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and the United States as two superpowers with considerable economic and political differences. The USSR was based on a single-party Marxist–Leninist system, while the United States was a capitalist state with democratic governance based on free elections.

The key figure in the Cold War was the Soviet leader Gorbachev, who was elected in 1985. He managed to change the direction of the USSR, making the economies of communist ruled states independent. The major reasons for changing in the course were poor technological development of the USSR (Gottfried 115). Gorbachev believed that radical changes in political power could improve the Communist system. At the same time, he wanted to stop the Cold War and tensions with the United States. The cost of nuclear arms race had negative impact on the economy of the USSR. The leaders of the United States accepted the proposed relationships, based on cooperation and mutual trust. The end of the Cold War was marked by signing the INF treaty in 1987 (Gottfried 115).

• The origins of the Cold War

Many American historians state that the Cold War began in 1945. However, according to Russian researchers, historians and analysts “the Cold War began with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, for this was when the capitalist world began its systematic opposition to and effort to undermine the world’s first socialist state and society” (Warner13). For Russians, the Cold War was hot in 1918-1922, when the Allied Intervention policy implemented in Russia during the Russian Civil War. According to John W. Long, “the U.S. intervention in North Russia was a policy formulated by President Wilson during the first half of 1918 at the urgent insistence of Britain, France and Italy, the chief World War I allies” (380).

Nevertheless, there are some other opinions regarding the origins of the Cold War. For example, Geoffrey Barraclough, an outstanding English historian, states that the events in the Far East at the end of the century contributed to the origins of the Cold War. He argues that “during the previous hundred years, Russia and the United States has tended to support each other against England; but now, as England’s power passed its zenith, they came face to face across the Pacific” (Warner 13). According to Barraclough, the Cold War is associated with the conflict of interests, which involved European countries, the Middle East and South East Asia. Finally, this conflict divided the world into two camps. Thus, the Cold War origins are connected with the spread of ideological conflict caused by the emergence of the new power in the early 20-th century (Warner 14). The Cold War outbreak was associated with the spread of propaganda on the United States by the USSR. The propagandistic attacks involved the criticism of the U.S. leaders and their policies. These attacked were harmful to the interests of American nation (Whitton 151).

• The major causes of the Cold War

The United States and the USSR were regarded as two superpowers during the Cold War, each having its own sphere of influence, its power and forces. The Cold War had been the continuing conflict, caused by tensions, misunderstandings and competitions that existed between the United States and the USSR, as well as their allies from 1945 to the early 1990s (Gottfried 10). Throughout this long period, there was the so-called rivalry between the United States and the USSR, which was expressed through various transformations, including military buildup, the spread of propaganda, the growth of espionage, weapons development, considerable industrial advances, and competitive technological developments in different spheres of human activity, such as medicine, education, space exploration, etc.

There four major causes of the Cold War, which include:

• Ideological differences (communism v. capitalism);
• Mutual distrust and misperception;
• The fear of the United State regarding the spread of communism;
• The nuclear arms race (Gottfried 10).

The major causes of the Cold War point out to the fact that the USSR was focused on the spread of communist ideas worldwide. The United States followed democratic ideas and opposed the spread of communism. At the same time, the acquisition of atomic weapons by the United States caused fear in the USSR. The use of atomic weapons could become the major reason of fear of both the United States and the USSR. In other words, both countries were anxious about possible attacks from each other; therefore, they were following the production of mass destruction weapons. In addition, the USSR was focused on taking control over Eastern Europe and Central Asia. According to researchers, the USSR used various strategies to gain control over Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the years 1945-1980. Some of these strategies included “encouraging the communist takeover of governments in Eastern Europe, the setting up of Comecon, the Warsaw Pact, the presence of the Red Army in Eastern Europe, and the Brezhnev Doctrine” (Phillips 118). These actions were the major factors for the suspicions and concerns of the United States. In addition, the U.S. President had a personal dislike of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and his policies. In general, the United States was concerned by the Soviet Union’s actions regarding the occupied territory of Germany, while the USSR feared that the United States would use Western Europe as the major tool for attack.

• The consequences of the Cold War

The consequences of the Cold War include both positive and negative effects for both the United States and the USSR.

• Both the United States and the USSR managed to build up huge arsenals of atomic weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.
• The Cold War provided opportunities for the establishment of the military blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
• The Cold War led to the emergence of the destructive military conflicts, like the Vietnam War and the Korean War, which took the lives of millions of people (Gottfried13).
• The USSR collapsed because of considerable economic, political and social challenges.
• The Cold War led to the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the unification of the two German nations.
• The Cold War led to the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact (Gottfried 136).
• The Cold war provided the opportunities for achieving independence of the Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics.
• The Cold War made the United States the sole superpower of the world because of the collapse of the USSR in 1990.
• The Cold War led to the collapse of Communism and the rise of globalization worldwide (Phillips 119).

The impact of the Cold War on the development of many countries was enormous. The consequences of the Cold War were derived from numerous internal problems of the countries, which were connected with the USSR, especially developing countries (India, Africa, etc.). This fact means that foreign policies of many states were transformed (Gottfried 115).

The Cold War (1945-1989) essay part 2

Do you like this essay?

Our writers can write a paper like this for you!

Order your paper here .

• History Classics
• Your Profile
• Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window)
• Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window)
• This Day In History
• History Podcasts
• History Vault

Cold War History

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 26, 2023 | Original: October 27, 2009

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension marked by competition and confrontation between communist nations led by the Soviet Union and Western democracies including the United States. During World War II , the United States and the Soviets fought together as allies against Nazi Germany . However, U.S./Soviet relations were never truly friendly: Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and Russian leader Joseph Stalin ’s tyrannical rule. The Soviets resented Americans’ refusal to give them a leading role in the international community, as well as America’s delayed entry into World War II, in which millions of Russians died.

These grievances ripened into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity that never developed into open warfare (thus the term “cold war”). Soviet expansionism into Eastern Europe fueled many Americans’ fears of a Russian plan to control the world. Meanwhile, the USSR came to resent what they perceived as U.S. officials’ bellicose rhetoric, arms buildup and strident approach to international relations. In such a hostile atmosphere, no single party was entirely to blame for the Cold War; in fact, some historians believe it was inevitable.

Containment

By the time World War II ended, most American officials agreed that the best defense against the Soviet threat was a strategy called “containment.” In his famous “Long Telegram,” the diplomat George Kennan (1904-2005) explained the policy: The Soviet Union, he wrote, was “a political force committed fanatically to the belief that with the U.S. there can be no permanent modus vivendi [agreement between parties that disagree].” As a result, America’s only choice was the “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.”

“It must be the policy of the United States,” he declared before Congress in 1947, “to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation…by outside pressures.” This way of thinking would shape American foreign policy for the next four decades.

Did you know? The term 'cold war' first appeared in a 1945 essay by the English writer George Orwell called 'You and the Atomic Bomb.'

The Cold War: The Atomic Age

The containment strategy also provided the rationale for an unprecedented arms buildup in the United States. In 1950, a National Security Council Report known as NSC–68 had echoed Truman’s recommendation that the country use military force to contain communist expansionism anywhere it seemed to be occurring. To that end, the report called for a four-fold increase in defense spending.

In particular, American officials encouraged the development of atomic weapons like the ones that had ended World War II. Thus began a deadly “ arms race .” In 1949, the Soviets tested an atom bomb of their own. In response, President Truman announced that the United States would build an even more destructive atomic weapon: the hydrogen bomb, or “superbomb.” Stalin followed suit.

As a result, the stakes of the Cold War were perilously high. The first H-bomb test, in the Eniwetok atoll in the Marshall Islands, showed just how fearsome the nuclear age could be. It created a 25-square-mile fireball that vaporized an island, blew a huge hole in the ocean floor and had the power to destroy half of Manhattan. Subsequent American and Soviet tests spewed radioactive waste into the atmosphere.

The ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation had a great impact on American domestic life as well. People built bomb shelters in their backyards. They practiced attack drills in schools and other public places. The 1950s and 1960s saw an epidemic of popular films that horrified moviegoers with depictions of nuclear devastation and mutant creatures. In these and other ways, the Cold War was a constant presence in Americans’ everyday lives.

HISTORY Vault: Nuclear Terror

Now more than ever, terrorist groups are obtaining nuclear weapons. With increasing cases of theft and re-sale at dozens of Russian sites, it's becoming more and more likely for terrorists to succeed.

The Cold War and the Space Race

Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for “traveling companion”), the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit. Sputnik’s launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most Americans.

In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missile–seemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. air space–made gathering intelligence about Soviet military activities particularly urgent.

In 1958, the U.S. launched its own satellite, Explorer I, designed by the U.S. Army under the direction of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, and what came to be known as the Space Race was underway. That same year, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a public order creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency dedicated to space exploration, as well as several programs seeking to exploit the military potential of space. Still, the Soviets were one step ahead, launching the first man into space in April 1961.

That May, after Alan Shepard become the first American man in space, President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) made the bold public claim that the U.S. would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. His prediction came true on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission , became the first man to set foot on the moon, effectively winning the Space Race for the Americans. 

U.S. astronauts came to be seen as the ultimate American heroes. Soviets, in turn, were pictured as the ultimate villains, with their massive, relentless efforts to surpass America and prove the power of the communist system.

The Cold War and the Red Scare

Meanwhile, beginning in 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee ( HUAC ) brought the Cold War home in another way. The committee began a series of hearings designed to show that communist subversion in the United States was alive and well.

In Hollywood , HUAC forced hundreds of people who worked in the movie industry to renounce left-wing political beliefs and testify against one another. More than 500 people lost their jobs. Many of these “blacklisted” writers, directors, actors and others were unable to work again for more than a decade. HUAC also accused State Department workers of engaging in subversive activities. Soon, other anticommunist politicians, most notably Senator Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957), expanded this probe to include anyone who worked in the federal government. 

Thousands of federal employees were investigated, fired and even prosecuted. As this anticommunist hysteria spread throughout the 1950s, liberal college professors lost their jobs, people were asked to testify against colleagues and “loyalty oaths” became commonplace.

The Cold War Abroad

The fight against subversion at home mirrored a growing concern with the Soviet threat abroad. In June 1950, the first military action of the Cold War began when the Soviet-backed North Korean People’s Army invaded its pro-Western neighbor to the south. Many American officials feared this was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world and deemed that nonintervention was not an option. Truman sent the American military into Korea, but the Korean War dragged to a stalemate and ended in 1953.

In 1955, the United States and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) made West Germany a member of NATO and permitted it to remilitarize. The Soviets responded with the Warsaw Pact , a mutual defense organization between the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria that set up a unified military command under Marshal Ivan S. Konev of the Soviet Union.

Other international disputes followed. In the early 1960s, President Kennedy faced a number of troubling situations in his own hemisphere. The Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis the following year seemed to prove that the real communist threat now lay in the unstable, postcolonial “Third World.” 

Nowhere was this more apparent than in Vietnam , where the collapse of the French colonial regime had led to a struggle between the American-backed nationalist Ngo Dinh Diem in the south and the communist nationalist Ho Chi Minh in the north. Since the 1950s, the United States had been committed to the survival of an anticommunist government in the region, and by the early 1960s it seemed clear to American leaders that if they were to successfully “contain” communist expansionism there, they would have to intervene more actively on Diem’s behalf. However, what was intended to be a brief military action spiraled into a 10-year conflict .

The End of the Cold War and Effects

Almost as soon as he took office, President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) began to implement a new approach to international relations. Instead of viewing the world as a hostile, “bi-polar” place, he suggested, why not use diplomacy instead of military action to create more poles? To that end, he encouraged the United Nations to recognize the communist Chinese government and, after a trip there in 1972, began to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing.

At the same time, he adopted a policy of “détente”—”relaxation”—toward the Soviet Union. In 1972, he and Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), which prohibited the manufacture of nuclear missiles by both sides and took a step toward reducing the decades-old threat of nuclear war.

Despite Nixon’s efforts, the Cold War heated up again under President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). Like many leaders of his generation, Reagan believed that the spread of communism anywhere threatened freedom everywhere. As a result, he worked to provide financial and military aid to anticommunist governments and insurgencies around the world. This policy, particularly as it was applied in the developing world in places like Grenada and El Salvador, was known as the Reagan Doctrine .

Even as Reagan fought communism in Central America, however, the Soviet Union was disintegrating. In response to severe economic problems and growing political ferment in the USSR, Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022) took office in 1985 and introduced two policies that redefined Russia’s relationship to the rest of the world: “glasnost,” or political openness, and “ perestroika ,” or economic reform. 

Soviet influence in Eastern Europe waned. In 1989, every other communist state in the region replaced its government with a noncommunist one. In November of that year, the Berlin Wall –the most visible symbol of the decades-long Cold War–was finally destroyed, just over two years after Reagan had challenged the Soviet premier in a speech at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” By 1991, the Soviet Union itself had fallen apart. The Cold War was over.

‘Blood in the Water’: The Cold War Olympic Showdown Between Hungary and the USSR

Just weeks before the match, Soviet tanks and troops brutally crushed the short‑lived Hungarian Revolution.

How the Cold War Space Race Led to US Students Doing Tons of Homework

In the first half of the 20th century, U.S. educators shunned homework. The Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik 1 changed that.

Why the Berlin Airlift Was the First Major Battle of the Cold War

American and British pilots ferried some 2.3 million tons of supplies into West Berlin on a total of 277,500 flights, in what would be the largest air relief operation in history.

Sign up for Inside History

Get HISTORY’s most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week.

By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time. You must be 16 years or older and a resident of the United States.

More details : Privacy Notice | Terms of Use | Contact Us

Cold War: Summary, Causes, History, & Facts Research Paper

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Key countries, effects of the cold war, the collapse of communism/conclusion, reference list.

The end of World War II did not necessarily imply the beginning of peace but in reality, the dawn of other more complicated conflicts. The term Cold War appeared for the first time in an essay by George Orwell, a famous journalist and English author, entitled You and the Atomic Bomb, released on October 15 of 1945, immediately after World War II. The term defined the conflicts of the world as they unfolded after World War II. Despite its end, economic competitions, proxy wars, military as well as political conflicts, took the stage.

These disputes involved both the Communist world, consisting of Russia and its satellite states and the Western world, consisting of the US, among others. Worth noting is that these clashes were not direct as it was for World War II. On the contrary, they entered in form of technological contentions, military coalitions, propaganda, proxy wars, and sports competitions, quoting a few. Who were the main participants?

The key countries participating in the war were Russia, France, Germany, the US, Hungary, and Belgium, Italy, among others, For instance, although USSR and the US were both friends and anti-axis powers, they could not agree on “…political philosophy and the configuration of the post-war world while occupying most of Europe” (Kort, 2001, p.3). During this period, there was a pronounced calmness coupled with international tensions. The two opposing sides sought possible ways out of the then tensions and conflicts.

However, among the suggested ways like discouraging direct armed forces attacks aroused the possibility of giving way to nuclear weapons, a case that attracted immediate reforms, which later saw the end of the Cold War in 1991. The collapse of the Soviet Union that brought the end of the war gave way to the US as the major military power. The debate about what fuelled the war still rages. While some argue that, it began soon after World War II, others trace its roots towards the period immediately before World War I. The issue of communism serves as the root cause of the Cold War.

The plot of the Soviet Union to spread the issue of communism to all parts of the world stands out as the major cause of the Cold War. The Soviet Union, a ‘socialist island’ was planning to replace the prevailing capitalism with communism. Turker (1992) observed the efforts of the Soviet Union of ensuring that “…the present capitalist encirclement is replaced by a socialist encirclement” (p.3).

If this were given the chance to happen, then the Soviet Union would have drawn many countries, and possibly the world, into communism at a time when the capitalist countries wanted capitalism to spread, rather than communism. However, following the then “temporary stabilization of capitalism” (Turker, 1992, p.45), collapsing of the world was the obvious outcome, hence the war. The possession of atomic weapons by America was yet another cause.

The fact that the Americans owned nuclear weapons posed aroused a lot of fear in the Soviets. Following the harm and power that is associated with nuclear or rather atomic bombs, the Soviets could not tolerate the situation, that the Americans, their worst enemies, had the weapons when they (Soviets) did not have. Therefore, they felt so insecure that they knew they could be outwitted, should the Americans declare war against them. In addition, both the Soviets and the Americans feared one another, as is expected of two enemies. They thought that each could decide to attack the other because they were both able and willing to do so and hence the cold war.

The 1917 actions taken against Russia too explain the cause of the Cold war. Charles (2002) observes that “As a result of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (followed by its withdrawal from World War I), Soviet Russia found itself isolated in international diplomacy” (p.6). With the Soviet Union unsatisfied with this, other countries suspected that the Soviets could decide to attack them any time when they were unaware. The issue of the partitioning of Europe was also a cause of the Cold war.

There was a disagreement concerning the shape that Europe was to assume after the proposed issue of its division. However, following the prevailing records of frequent attacks of the Russians, there was a feeling of insecurity by the affected Russians. For instance, the attack that they experienced that saw the death of millions of its people as well as the destruction it encountered during World War II, they resolved into nurturing their security by dominating most of Eastern Europe, a factor that contributed to a large extent the then US suspicions.

Moreover, the attitude of the then US president towards Josef Stalin, the then Soviet Union leader contributed significantly towards the cause of the Cold war. Stalin was comfortable with the Soviet Union as a ‘Socialist country’, a stand that did not please the US president because he was a capitalist country. As a result, he (US president) developed a personal attitude against Stalin, hence the Cold war. Soviet Union’s activities in the regions dominated by the Americans were also fuel to the Cold war.

The Soviet Union had a share in most of the regions that America had taken control. The Americans wanted to establish their activities in their ways, which they thought were right, even as per the judgment of the capitalist countries. Therefore, following the entry of Soviets in the regions, they were not comfortable especially when the Soviets began their projects in the same regions. The Soviet kingdom was treated as evil and whose activities were unfit in any capitalist regions.

Revealing this observation, Pillai (1998) exposits “In the ’80s President Ronald Reagan of the US dubbed the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” and predicted that it would be consigned to the ash heap of history” (p.13). In addition, there was a notable fear by the Soviets following the strong base that America had established in Western Europe. As the two were enemies, the Soviets feared that this could serve as a base for its attack by the Americans hence contributing to the Cold war. However, the Cold war not only had causes but also effects, which range from economic to political, as they unfold in both Eastern and Western Europe. The war led to the division of Germany.

Among the numerous outcomes of the Cold war was the division of Germany. Since the Cold war only meant the exclusion of weapons in the various conflicts, it led to other issues, which passed for conflicts though weaponless. One of the major causes was the plan of Germany to resist the divisions, proposed for it by other countries. However, since it refused the proposition, by the end of the war, it had assumed several occupational divisions, each of which was under the control of Britain, the US, France, and the Soviet Union.

In addition, the Cold war brought significant technological progress in Europe. For instance, “Germany had new technologies that people these days would not be able to live without” (Charles, 2002, p.34). Only the armed forces could access internet services meant to facilitate the war. However, it is surprising to realize that most of the technological advancements evident today have their roots in the military officers, to whom the then inventions were restricted. This drives home the point that the Cold war was no more than a way of creating rooms for better things, technologically, economically, as well as politically. The war too affected society.

The war did not spare the society as well as the social attitudes of most of the European countries, which actively participated in the war. With France serving as the best illustration, its 4-trillion dollar debt traces its roots into the Cold war. “The Cold War changed how people thought” (Baker, 1998, p.45). Initially, people had learned from the war that they could kill themselves. However, this was the tip of the iceberg. From the unfolding of the war, they realized that they could, not only destroy themselves but also the entire planet. They also learned that, just as people die, so can the world.

Despite the technological and industrial developments that came from the war, tensions and heightened competition came as a result. The proxy wars, evident today arose from the cold war, following the invention of nuclear gadgets. This explains the reason why many European countries have nuclear weapons, which otherwise pose a danger, not only to people but also to the world itself. The issue of communism was no more than the epicenter of the Cold war. It was the major enemy under attack by all, who were against the war. Fortunately, the enemy was defeated. In conclusion, one can ask, ‘What brought the collapse of communism?’

What brought about the collapse of communism is a question, frequently asked, but rarely answered right. Worth noting is that most of the events that unfolded, communism included, because of the war were unexpected. However, there exist some insinuated and complicated reasons explaining the fall of communism. As Robinson (2003) puts it, “The fall of communism was the result of the complex interaction of all these causes on various levels, between different states, but also between states and societies” (p.32). The level of interaction, as highlighted seems to have played a major role in firing communism.

However, in other countries like Russia, communism is thought to have arisen from within owing to its stand as a communist country. In addition, inadequate funds and support explain the cause as well. Eastern Europe suffered from both financial and political crises. Russia received a lot of support from the European countries during WWI, all of which is used for its defense.

Unfortunately, this was the time it stood strong as a communist country. However, following the European states’ inability to fund it further, it experienced a rapid downfall not sparing its stand as a communist state and hence the fall. More reasons continue to arise including the issue of solidarity whose failure to end in Poland saw its end as a communist government, hence contributing towards the end of communism in general.

Baker, P. (1998). Britain and the Economic Problem of the Cold War . Poland: Ashgate Publishers. p. 45. Print.

Charles, H. (2002). The Two Germanies since 1945: East and West . Connecticut: Yale University Press. Print.

Kort, M. (2001). The Columbia Guide to the Cold War . Columbia: The University Press. p. 3. Print.

Pillai, G. (1998). Reagan, Bush, and Gorbachev: Revisiting the End of the Cold War . Westport: Greenwood Press. Print.

Robinson, C. (2003). Aid to Russia, 1941–1946: Strategy, Diplomacy, the Origins of the Cold War . Columbia: The University Press. Print.

Turker, J. (1992). The Cold War 1945-1991 . Oxford: Blackwell. Print.

• "Why the West Rules - For Now" by Ian Morris
• The Meanings of Home in Postwar Britain: A Home-Centered Society
• Cold War Politics, Culture and Wars
• Misperceptions and the Cold War
• The Cold War and the Fifties
• Public Schooling in 19th Century Canada
• Destiny of the Post-Communist Countries
• The Rise and Fall of Tammany Hall
• Yanomamo: From the Deep Amazon Jungles
• Spreading the Message of Islam Beyond Arabia: The Goal of the Prophet Muhammad
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, January 7). Cold War: Summary, Causes, History, & Facts. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cold-war-summary-causes-history-amp-facts/

"Cold War: Summary, Causes, History, & Facts." IvyPanda , 7 Jan. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/cold-war-summary-causes-history-amp-facts/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Cold War: Summary, Causes, History, & Facts'. 7 January.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Cold War: Summary, Causes, History, & Facts." January 7, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cold-war-summary-causes-history-amp-facts/.

1. IvyPanda . "Cold War: Summary, Causes, History, & Facts." January 7, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cold-war-summary-causes-history-amp-facts/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Cold War: Summary, Causes, History, & Facts." January 7, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/cold-war-summary-causes-history-amp-facts/.

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

• Basic site functions
• Ensuring secure, safe transactions
• Secure account login
• Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
• Remembering privacy and security settings
• Analyzing site traffic and usage
• Personalized search, content, and recommendations
• Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

• Remembering general and regional preferences
• Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy .

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy .

Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more: https://www.cambridge.org/universitypress/about-us/news-and-blogs/cambridge-university-press-publishing-update-following-technical-disruption

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings .

Login Alert

• > Journals
• > Journal of Global History
• > Volume 6 Issue 3
• > The Cold War as a historical period: an interpretive...

Article contents

The cold war as a historical period: an interpretive essay *.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2011

As a historical period, the Cold War may be seen as a rivalry between two nuclear superpowers that threatened global destruction. The rivalry took place within a common frame of reference, in which a new historical relationship between imperialism and nationalism worked in remarkably parallel ways across the superpower divide. The new imperial–national relationship between superpowers and the client states also accommodated developments such as decolonization, multiculturalism, and new ideologies, thus producing a hegemonic configuration characterizing the period. The models of development, structures of clientage, unprecedented militarization of societies, designs of imperial enlightenment, and even many gender and racial/cultural relationships followed similar tracks within, and often between, the two camps. Finally, counter-hegemonic forces emerged in regions of the non-Western world, namely China and some Islamic societies. Did this portend the beginning of the end of a long period of Western hegemony?

Access options

1 Paul Ricoeur, Time and narrative , 3 vols, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1984–88. See also his ‘Narrative time’, Critical Inquiry 7, 1, 1980, pp. 169–90. For my arguments, see Prasenjit Duara, ‘Transnationalism and the challenge to national histories’, in Bender , Thomas , ed. Rethinking American history in a global age , Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA : University of California Press , 2002 , pp. 25–46 CrossRef Google Scholar . See also Duara , Prasenjit , Rescuing history from the nation: questioning narratives of modern China , Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press , 1995 . CrossRef Google Scholar

2 Michel Foucault, ‘Nietzsche, genealogy, history’, in Bouchard , Donald F. , ed. Language, counter-memory, practice , trans. Donald F. Bouchard and Sherry Simon, Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press , 1977 , pp. 139–64 Google Scholar . Latour , Bruno , We have never been modern , trans. Catherine Porter, Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press , 1993 . Google Scholar

3 Hobsbawm , Eric , Nations and nationalism since 1780 , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 1990 Google Scholar ; Hannah Arendt, The origins of totalitarianism , New York and London: Harcourt Brace, 1973 (first published 1951).

4 William Roger Louis and Ronald Robinson, ‘Empire preserv’d: how the Americans put anti-communism before anti-imperialism’, in Duara , Prasenjit , ed. Decolonization: perspectives from now and then , London : Routledge , 2004 , pp. 155–7. Google Scholar

5 Arendt, Origins of totalitarianism , pp. 152–3.

6 As quoted in Marshall , D. Bruce , The French colonial myth and constitution-making in the Fourth Republic , New Haven, CT : Yale University Press , 1973 , p. 44 Google Scholar . See also Prasenjit Duara, ‘The imperialism of “free nations”: Japan, Manchukuo, and the history of the present’, in Stoler , Ann , McGranahan , Carole , and Perdue , Peter , eds. Imperial formations and their discontents , Santa Fe, NM : School of American Research Press , 2007 . Google Scholar

7 The Oxford English Dictionary, http://dictionary.oed.com (consulted 19 July 2011), defines the Roman client as ‘A plebeian under the patronage of a patrician, in this relation called a patron ( patronus ), who was bound, in return for certain services, to protect his client’s life and interests.’ See also Duara , Prasenjit , Sovereignty and authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian modern , Boulder, CO : Rowman and Littlefield , 2003 . Google Scholar

8 Doyle , Michael W. , Empires , Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press , 1986 , pp. 129–30 Google Scholar ; Johnson , Chalmers , The sorrows of empire: militarism, secrecy, and the end of the republic , New York : Henry Holt , 2004 , 29 Google Scholar . For Heinrich Triepel and a summary of the debate, see Münkler , Herfried , The logic of world domination from Ancient Rome to the United States , trans. Patrick Camiller, Cambridge : Polity Press , 2007 , pp. 43–4 Google Scholar .

9 Tsang , Steve , The Cold War’s odd couple: the unintended partnership between the ROC and the UK, 1950–1958 , London : I.B. Tauris , 2006 , pp. 10, 194 Google Scholar .

10 See Paul Marer and Kazimierz Z. Poznanski, ‘Costs of domination, benefits of subordination’, in Triska , Jan F. , ed. Dominant powers and subordinate states: the United States in Latin America and the Soviet Union in eastern Europe , Durham, NC : Duke University Press , 1986 , pp. 371–99. Google Scholar

11 Robert Freeman Smith, ‘Republican policy and the Pax Americana , 1921–1932’, in Williams , William Appleman , ed. From colony to empire: essays in the history of American foreign relations , New York : John Wiley , 1972 , pp. 273–5. Google Scholar

12 Bacevich , Andrew J. , American empire: the realities and consequences of U.S. diplomacy , Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press , 2002 , pp. 115–16. Google Scholar

13 Quoted in Smith, ‘Republican policy’, p. 271.

14 Carl Parrini, ‘The age of ultraimperialism’, Radical History Review , 57, 1993, pp. 7–9.

15 Giovanni Arrighi, Po-keung Hui, Ho-fung Hung, and Mark Selden, ‘Historical capitalism, East and West’, in Arrighi , G. , Hamashita , T. , and Selden , M. , eds. The resurgence of East Asia: 500, 150 and 50 year perspectives , London : Routledge , 2003 , pp. 259–333 Google Scholar ; quotation on p. 301. See also Münkler, Logic of world domination , pp. 149–50.

16 Hinds , Allister , Britain’s sterling colonial policy and decolonization, 1939–1958 , Westport, CT : Greenwood Press , 2001 , pp. 11, 29–30, 196–7 Google Scholar ; Louis and Robinson, ‘Empire preserv’d’, pp. 152–61.

17 Louis and Robinson, ‘Empire preserv’d’, esp. p. 157 for the nuclear sabre-rattling exchange.

18 Johnson Sorrows of empire , pp. 23–37.

19 Linda Carty, ‘Imperialism: historical periodization or present-day phenomenon?’ Radical History Review , 57, 1993, p. 43; Moon , Katherine H. S. , Sex among allies: military prostitution in U.S.–Korea relations , New York : Columbia University Press , 1997 , pp. 17–18. Google Scholar

20 Hanhimäki , Jussi M. and Westad , Odd Arne , The Cold War: a history in documents and eyewitness accounts , Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2003 , pp. 245–7 Google Scholar ; Ferenc Cseresnyés, ‘The ’56 exodus to Austria’, Hungarian Quarterly 40, 154, 1999, pp. 86–101, http://www.hungarianquarterly.com/no154/086.html (consulted 20 July 2011); Williams , Kieran , The Prague Spring and its aftermath: Czechoslovak politics, 1968–1970 , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 1997 , esp. pp. 3–28 CrossRef Google Scholar .

21 For the Soviet Union, see Ronald Grigor Suny, ‘Nationality policies’, in Action , Edward , Cherniaev , Vladimir I. , and Rosenberg , William G. , eds. Critical companion to the Russian Revolution, 1914–1915 , Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN : Indiana University Press , 1997 , pp. 659–66 Google Scholar . For China, see Rhoads , Edward J. M. , Manchus and Han: ethnic relations and political power in late Qing and early republican China, 1861–1928 , Seattle, WA : University of Washington Press , 2000 , pp. 226–7. Google Scholar

22 J.V. Stalin, ‘Marxism and the national question’, Prosveshcheniye , 3–5, March–May 1913, transcribed by Carl Kavanagh.

23 Hirsch , Francine , Empire of nations: ethnographic knowledge and the making of the Soviet Union , Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press , 2005 , pp. 6–8 Google Scholar .

24 Tominaga Tadashi, Manshūkoku no minzoku mondai (The nationality problem of Manchukuo) , Shinkyō, 1943, pp. 43–5.

25 Hirsch, Empire of nations , pp. 316–18.

26 Brubaker , Rogers , Nationalism reframed: nationhood and the national question in the new Europe , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 1996 , pp. 18–24 CrossRef Google Scholar .

27 Hirsch, Empire of nations , p. 318.

28 Northrop , Douglas , Veiled empire: gender and power in Stalinist Central Asia , Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press , 2004 . Google Scholar

29 Katherine Verdery, ‘Nationalism and national sentiment in post-socialist Romania’, Slavic Review , 52, 1993, pp. 179–203.

30 See for instance Nkrumah , Kwame , Neo-colonialism: the last stage of imperialism , London : Thomas Nelson & Sons, Ltd. , 1965 . Google Scholar

31 Klein , Christina , Cold War orientalism: Asia in the middlebrow imagination, 1945–1961 , Berkeley, CA : University of California Press , 2003 , pp. 7–16. Google Scholar

32 Yuko Kikuchi, ‘Russel Wright and Japan: bridging Japonisme and good design through craft design’, Journal of Modern Craft , 1, 3, 2008, p. 372.

33 Klein, Cold War orientalism , pp. 253–63.

34 Oppenheim , L. , International Law , vol. 1, London : Longmans, Green, and Co. , 1905 Google Scholar , cited in Nele Matz, ‘Civilization and the mandate system under the League of Nations as origin of trusteeship’, in von Bogdandy , A. and Wolfrum , R. , eds. Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law , vol. 9, Leiden : Koninklijke Brill NV , 2005 , p. 61. Google Scholar

35 Tilly , Charles , Coercion, capital and European states, ad 990–1992 , Cambridge, MA, and Oxford : Blackwell , 1992 , pp. 209, 221 Google Scholar . For some examples from Southeast Asia, see Reid , Anthony , Imperial alchemy: nationalism and political identity in Southeast Asia , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2009 . CrossRef Google Scholar

36 Stephen Daggett, ‘Costs of major U.S. wars’, CRS Report for Congress, Order Code RS22926, 24 July 2008, http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/108054.pdf (consulted 21 July 2011), p. CRS-2.

37 Jian , Chen , Mao’s China and the Cold War , Chapel Hill, NC : University of North Carolina Press , 2001 , p. 229. Google Scholar

38 Szonyi , Michael , Cold War island: Quemoy on the front line , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2008 . Google Scholar

39 Rouquié , Alain , The military and the state in Latin America , trans. Paul E. Sigmund, Berkeley, CA : University of California Press , 1987 , pp. 2, 131 (Rockefeller Report cited on p. 138) Google Scholar .

40 Greg Grandin, ‘Off the beach: the United States, Latin America, and the Cold War’, in Agnew , Jean-Christophe and Rosenzweig , Roy , eds. A companion to post-1945 America , Oxford : Blackwell Publishing , 2002 , pp. 431–3 Google Scholar . See also Hanhimäki and Westad, The Cold War , pp. 379–80.

41 Rabe , Stephen G. , Eisenhower and Latin America: the foreign policy of anti-communism , Chapel Hill, NC : University of North Carolina Press , 1988 , 45 Google Scholar .

42 Ibid ., p. 58.

43 Grandin, ‘Off the beach’, pp. 434, 441.

44 Hamza Alavi, ‘The origins and significance of the Pakistan–US military alliance’, http://hamzaalavi.com/?p=102 (consulted 21 July 2011).

45 Hanhimäki and Westad, The Cold War , p. 167.

46 Westad , Odd Arne , The global Cold War: Third World interventions and the making of our times , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2007 , chs. 7 and 8 Google Scholar .

47 Nils Gilman, ‘Modernization theory, the highest stage of American intellectual history’, in Engerman , David C. , Gilman , Nils , Haefele , Mark , and Latham , Michael E. , eds. Staging growth: modernization, development, and the global Cold War , Amherst, MA : University of Massachusetts Press , 2003 , pp. 48–51, 60 Google Scholar ; Rostow , W. W. , The stages of economic growth: a non-communist manifesto , Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 1960 . Google Scholar

48 Scott , James C. , Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed , New Haven, CT : Yale University Press , 1998 Google Scholar . See also Szonyi, Cold War island .

49 Richard Madsen, ‘Secularism, religious renaissance, and social conflict in Asia’, Martin Marty Center Web Forum, September 2008, http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/webforum/092008/index.shtml (consulted 21 July 2011).

50 For the development state, see Ziya Oni, ‘The logic of the development state’, Comparative Politics , 24, 1, 1991, pp. 109–26. For its historical legacy, see Duara, ‘Imperialism of “free nations”’.

51 Berger , Mark , The battle for Asia: from decolonization to globalization , London : Routledge , 2004 , pp. 225–9 CrossRef Google Scholar .

52 T. Y. Kwak, ‘The legacies of Korean participation in the Vietnam War: the rise of formal dictatorship’, unpublished paper for annual meeting of the American Studies Association, 24 May 2009, http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p113675_index.html (consulted 21 July 2011).

53 Cited in Tilly, Coercion, capital and European states , 213.

54 Curtis Anderson Gayle, ‘Progressive representations of the nation: early post-war Japan and beyond’, Social Science Japan Journal , 4, 1, 2001, p. 9.

55 Victor Koschman, ‘Modernization and democratic values: the “Japanese model” in the 1960s’, in Engerman et al., Staging growth , p. 242.

56 Quoted in Gilman, ‘Modernization theory’, p. 64.

57 Chen Jian, Mao’s China , p. 6; Yang Kuisong, ‘The Sino-Soviet alliance and nationalism: a contradiction’, in Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact, The Cold War History of Sino-Soviet Relations , June 2005, http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch/publications/areastudies/documents/sinosov/Kuisong.pdf (consulted 21 July 2011); Shen Zhihua, ‘Guanyu Zhong-Su tiaoyue tanpan yanjiuzhongde jige zhengyi wenti … (Several controversial questions in the study of the Sino-Soviet treaty negotiations …)’, Shixue yuekan , 8, 2004, pp. 64–6. See also Heinzig , Dieter , The Soviet Union and communist China 1945–1950: the arduous road to the alliance , Armonk, NY : M.E. Sharpe , 2004 . Google Scholar

58 Ross , Robert S. and Changbin , Jiang , eds. Re-examining the Cold War: U.S.–China diplomacy, 1953–1973 , Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press , 2002 , pp. 300–1 Google Scholar .

59 This was the view in the CIA and State Department in 1969: see Komine , Yukinori , Secrecy in US foreign policy: Nixon, Kissinger and the rapprochement with China , Aldershot : Ashgate , 2008 , pp. 118, 130 Google Scholar . See also Ross and Jiang, Re-examining the Cold War , pp. 16, 67–9.

60 Ross and Jiang, Re-examining the Cold War , pp. 70, 67–9.

61 Shirley Kan, U.S.–China military contacts: issues for Congress , CRS Report for Congress, Order Code RL32496, updated 10 May 2005, http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/48835.pdf (consulted 21 July 2011). For the effects of the arms race and SDI on the Soviet Union, see Eric Ringmar, ‘The recognition game: Soviet Russia against the West’, Cooperation and Conflict , 37, 2, 2002, p. 130; also Hanhimäki and Westad, The Cold War , pp. 274–5.

62 Coll , Steve , Ghost wars: the secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet invasion to September 10, 2001 , New York : Penguin Press , 2004 . Google Scholar

63 Jalal Al-i Ahmad, ‘Diagnosing an illness’, in Duara, Decolonization , pp. 56–63, quotation on p. 62.

This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref .

• Google Scholar

View all Google Scholar citations for this article.

Save article to Kindle

To save this article to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle .

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

• Volume 6, Issue 3
• Prasenjit Duara (a1)
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1740022811000416

Save article to Dropbox

To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox .

Save article to Google Drive

To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive .

Reply to: Submit a response

- No HTML tags allowed - Web page URLs will display as text only - Lines and paragraphs break automatically - Attachments, images or tables are not permitted

Your details

Your email address will be used in order to notify you when your comment has been reviewed by the moderator and in case the author(s) of the article or the moderator need to contact you directly.

You have entered the maximum number of contributors

Conflicting interests.

Please list any fees and grants from, employment by, consultancy for, shared ownership in or any close relationship with, at any time over the preceding 36 months, any organisation whose interests may be affected by the publication of the response. Please also list any non-financial associations or interests (personal, professional, political, institutional, religious or other) that a reasonable reader would want to know about in relation to the submitted work. This pertains to all the authors of the piece, their spouses or partners.

• The Cold War

The aim of a Cold War lesson is to familiarize students with its causes, the importance of nuclear weapons to its duration, and the political and diplomatic implications for the United States, Europe, and the U.S.S.R. of a prolonged period of "cold war." Students should examine the conflicting strategic and political ideas behind the conflict of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. and consider the effects of that conflict on Europe and the rest of the world. You might also want to include its social effects on American and/or European societies.

Students will be able to define a "cold war" and understand the circumstances of its formation and early development as a conflict driven by competing interests and goals for the postwar world.

Students will understand how the Cold War endured until 1991 by examining issues such as the proliferation of nuclear armaments, mutually assured destruction (MAD), the balance of power, and the role of alliance systems such as NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Students will study particular Cold War events to apply general ideas and observe the Cold War's effects on Russian, European, and American society.

Note: If the pressure of time is great, concentrating on the origins of the Cold War is an effective strategy for engaging students with the creation of a pattern of mistrust and strategic competition between the two superpowers.

I. The Early Cold War, 1945-53

The purpose of this section is to familiarize students with the major events at the end of World War II that mark the origins of the Cold War.

The early years of the Cold War can be divided chronologically into three distinct periods. Groups of students can explore these periods in more detail by creating timelines, examining biographies of the major leaders, or discussing main events in class:

1945: The Yalta and Potsdam conferences, the division of Europe into East and West, the detonation of the first atomic bomb at Hiroshima, the death of President Roosevelt, the division of Germany.

1946-47: The "Iron Curtain" speech, the overthrow of East European governments, the fall of China, the development of the Marshall Plan for Western Europe.

1948-52: The Berlin Crisis, the formation of NATO, the detonation of the first Soviet atomic bomb, the Korean War, the "Red Scare" in the U.S., and Stalin's purges in the U.S.S.R.

Students might write brief reports or presentations on major historical figures, concentrating on their aims for the postwar world and their views on the other superpower as the wartime alliances faded. There is a wealth of material on Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, Josef Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. There is also considerable material on figures like General George Marshall, Konrad Adenauer (first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany), Dean Acheson, or British Prime Minister Clement Attlee.

You can also divide students into small groups to outline or prepare timelines of the major events for discussion in class. The Yalta and Potsdam conferences, at which the division of Europe was formulated by the victorious Allies, are a particularly good topic, as is the Marshall Plan or the formation of East and West Germany.  

In-Class Essay

Alternatively, or in addition, to the above exercises, students might prepare a short (one-page) written essay on how they define a "cold war" or a "balance of power." Encourage them to be as specific and detailed as possible, using either real events or hypothetical circumstances as examples. Class discussion on the basis of student ideas may be profitable. Group student observations and comments into broad categories, including such examples as "peaceful competition," "alliance building," "preparations for eventual war," and so forth. Or, you can encourage students to think thematically by grouping their observations under such categories as "political aspects," "economic aspects," or "military aspects."

II. The Middle Cold War, 1953-74

Students should begin to grapple with the Cold War as it stabilized, with the aim of analyzing its events and general meanings.

A. Crisis and Competition

Continue a discussion of the later period of the Cold War, possibly periodizing it as follows:

1950-61: Stabilization of the Cold War: the Suez Crisis, Hungarian Revolt of 1956, and nuclear buildups; development of the hydrogen bomb; Sputnik.

1961-74: Repeated crises and competition: Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Six-Day War, Vietnam, Berlin Wall crisis, the "space race."

B. Why Did the Cold War Continue?

One of the most difficult things for students to grasp about the Cold War is the intractable ideological conflict and the differing interests of the United States and the Soviet Union.

Document Analysis

Have students divide into small groups and examine selected documents that reveal some of the central ideas of the early or later Cold War—the Iron Curtain speech, Stalin's response, debates during Yalta or Potsdam, or Castro's statements during the Cuban Missile Crisis are excellent source material, as are the speeches of Nikita Khrushchev and John Kennedy.  

Statistical Analysis

Have students utilize a world map or available statistical information to illustrate the preponderance of the United States after World War II and the strategic dilemma of the Soviet Union. Students might particularly discuss where the U.S. and U.S.S.R. deployed nuclear weapons.  

Oral Reports

The length of the Cold War gives students an ideal opportunity to present different topics or events individually or in groups. The Berlin Crisis of 1948, that of 1961 (the Berlin Wall), the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, and several others give students the opportunity to delve into the causes of the Cold War's persistence. Five-to-10-minute presentations with question-and-answer periods are particularly useful.  

The issue of nuclear weaponry is key to engaging students with one of the critical reasons the Cold War endured without a major conflict between the United States and the U.S.S.R. Students might debate the uses of the atomic bomb, or why it was never used after 1945. They might also consider why nuclear weapons were built in such numbers, the concept of "Mutual Assured Destruction," and the destructive power of a nuclear weapon.

Assignments

Critical Book Review

A possible assignment for a Cold War lesson is to have students read one of the several novels written during the Cold War about nuclear war and its effects. Some of these are included in the Additional Resources section below. Students can discuss the author's assessment of nuclear war, its damage, or the causes of a nuclear war. Having one group of students reading a novel written in the 1950s compared to one written in the 1960s or 1970s can be particularly instructive because students can contrast the development of public sentiment about the nuclear problem.  

Critical Film Review

There are numerous excellent and thought-provoking films on nuclear war as well, many accessible on VHS or DVD. Films can spark discussion about both nuclear conflict and the nature of the Cold War itself. Several suggestions are noted in the Additional Resources section below. Whether satirical or serious, films about nuclear war get at the public attitude and the difficult question of using nuclear weapons in a way few other sources can. You will have no problems getting students to engage with a film on a variety of levels, since most films either operate on a certain set of assumptions about nuclear conflict (that it was fundamentally irrational, or suicidal, for nuclear weapons to be used) or question them. Students can also discuss the value of the film as a source.

III. The Cold War's End, 1974-91

Most likely toward the end of the course, students can explore the reasons for the Soviet Union's abandonment of its position as the United States' main rival in 1989 and its disintegration in 1991-93.

Important topics to cover in this section include the SALT talks, the Reykjavik Summit of 1986 (Gorbachev-Reagan), and the East German revolt of 1989.

Discussion Questions

Students should now be able to come to some conclusions about why the Cold War occurred, how leaders perpetuated it, and how it ended.

What were the reasons the United States and Soviet Union could not agree on a workable postwar relationship?

Why did the Soviet Union pursue the domination of Eastern Europe, including constructing the Berlin Wall?

What was the "Domino Theory"? What was "containment"? Why and how did the United States pursue containment as a strategy?

Why did crises like the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, or the Berlin Wall crisis not develop into war?

Additional Resources

Films  .

Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb . Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Columbia Pictures, 1964. One of two movies about a nuclear accident released in the same year, the film is a hilarious and thought-provoking satire about accidental nuclear war gone out of control. Students will find it very funny, although they may not identify the real-life figures represented by Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, and Slim Pickens.

Fail-Safe . Directed by Sidney Lumet. Columbia Pictures, 1964. The second film about a nuclear accident released in 1964, the film is a suspenseful look at the possible consequences of an "accidental" missile launch against the Soviet Union, resulting in a tit-for-tat destruction, without warning, of New York City.

From Russia with Love . Directed by Terence Young. United Artists, 1963.

You Only Live Twice . Directed by Lewis Gilbert II. United Artists, 1967. These two James Bond movies are excellent sources for engaging students in the way in which the Cold War affected ideas of manhood, the proper role of government, and espionage. They are also a tremendously entertaining way to explore how a single individual could cope with, or supposedly save the world, in an era of nuclear danger.

The Manchurian Candidate . Directed by John Frankenheimer. United Artists, 1962. Classic film about espionage and a communist conspiracy to gain control of the U.S. government. Invaluable for its accurate (if possibly over-the-top) examination of Cold War paranoia and the difficulty of maintaining individual freedoms in the face of a long-term rivalry with communist powers.

Wargames . Directed by John Badham. MGM, 1983.

Red Dawn . Directed by John Milius. MGM, 1984. These are not films that explore the Cold War in a sophisticated or intellectual way. Rather, they are included as representations or reflections of the Cold War in popular culture. Red Dawn, particularly, with its plot involving the dissolution of NATO and a subsequent invasion of the United States by Nicaragua, Cuba, and the U.S.S.R., is especially interesting as an illustration of the Reagan-era fears of Soviet aggression, an interesting view in light of the economic weakness of the Soviet Union.

Monographs  

Clemens, Diane Shaver. Yalta . New York: Oxford University Press, 1970. An older account of the origins of the Cold War, but continues to be a solid, highly readable analysis of the Yalta Conference and the issues of the early Cold War.

Gaddis, John Lewis. The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-47 . New York: Columbia University Press, 1972. Perhaps Gaddis's best book. Students will continue to find this account of the Cold War's origins a valuable narrative, written mainly from the American perspective.

Gardner, Lloyd. Spheres of Influence: The Great Powers Partition Europe, from Munich to Yalta . Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1993. A cogent account of the end of World War II and the conflicting plans for the postwar period. The centerpiece of Gardner's account is the Yalta conference, but the importance of the book is that it begins with World War II, so the background of the agreements and disagreements that began the Cold War is laid out well. Deals with the European as well as the American and Soviet leadership.

Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline. Russia and the World, 1917-1991 . London: Arnold, 1998. There are an increasing number of books devoted to the formation of Soviet foreign policy in the Cold War that deal confidently with the goals and beliefs of the Soviet leadership from Stalin to Gorbachev. Kennedy-Pipe's recent account is highly readable and stands out as a concise resource for students.

LaFeber, Walter. America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-2000 . 9th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2002. An excellent all-around account of the Cold War, including its ideological foundations and its various crises. It is probably too long to assign to students but is an invaluable reference for individual events. It is also an excellent bibliographic guide.

Novels  

Clancy, Tom. Red Storm Rising . New York: Putnam, 1986. Written before the fall of the U.S.S.R., this Reagan-era potboiler is a retelling of a 1970s fictionalized account of the likely path of World War III—fought in Germany, by NATO and the Warsaw Pact, with no nuclear weapons involved.

Frank, Pat. Alas, Babylon . New York: Bantam Books, 1960. Written before the era of MAD, this late 1950s novel is a "what if?" tale of a small band of Floridians caught in the aftermath of a nuclear conflict between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

Miller, Walter. A Canticle for Leibowitz . New York: Bantam Books, 1959. A post-apocalyptic world is held together by the lingering memories of the past, preserved by an order of monks in the New Mexico desert. This is an intriguing novel that examines the moral, physical, and political consequences of nuclear weapons and nuclear war.

Schute, Nevil. On the Beach . New York: William Morrow, 1957. A tragic story of mankind's last months on Earth. Nuclear fallout has exterminated the remnants of humanity in the northern hemisphere. A small community left at the southern tip of Australia confronts the inevitable progress of the fallout south, leading to the end of life on Earth.

Primary Sources  

Judge, Edward, and John Langdon. The Cold War: A History Through Documents . Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1999. A well-edited source for speeches by American presidents and Soviet premiers; memoranda on national security, nuclear policy, and overseas crises; and a good central source for other primary materials on China and Europe.

Websites  

Students will find the following Web sites entertaining and useful sources of confirmed and factual data.

National Security Archive at George Washington University Through this site, students can also link to specific sites on the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam, and they can download visual sources from the digital National Security Archive. There are also links to the Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact and the Cold War International History Project.

Internet Modern History Sourcebook at Fordham University This unique central source for documents on modern history provides a wealth of primary source material for students. It is also excellent for intellectual views culled and presented in their original format (mainly from magazines of the 1950s-60s.) There are documents and articles on Korea, Vietnam, the fall of China, both Berlin crises, Cuba, and détente. On the Soviet Union, in particular, there are sources on Khrushchev, the Warsaw Pact, the Hungarian revolt, and 1989.

• Early Modern Empires
• The French Revolution
• The Structures of Nineteenth-Century Government
• German Unification
• The Russian Revolution
• German Reunification, 1989-90

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Download Free PDF

The Origins of the Cold War - A Review Essay

Following the logic of earlier scholarly debates on which side is to be blamed for the Cold War it appears that in fact both or neither: it was the inevitable consequence of the fact that two superpowers emerged after the conflagration of WWII. The ideology confrontation mattered much less vis-a-vis this immense global power shift.

Free related PDFs Related papers

Bibliography of New Cold War History, 2017

This bibliography attempts to present the publications on the history of the Cold War published after 1989, the beginning of the „archival revolution” in the former Soviet bloc countries. While this first edition is still far from complete, it collects a huge number of books, articles and book chapters on the topic and it is the most extensive such bibliography so far, almost 600 pages in length. An enlarged and updated edition will be completed in 2018.

This bibliography attemts to present the publications on the history of the Cold War published after 1989, the beginning of the „archival revolution” in the former Soviet bloc countries. While this first edition is still far from complete, it collects a huge number of books, articles and book chapters on the topic and it is the most extensive such bibliography so far, almost 600 pages in length. An enlarged and updated edition will be completed in 2018. So, if you are a Cold War history scholar in any country and would like us to incude all of your publications on the Cold War (published after 1989) in the second edition, we will gladly do that. Please, send us a list of your works in which books and articles/book chapters are separated and follow the format of our bibliography. The titles of non-English language entries should be translated into English in square brackets. Please, send the list to: [email protected] The Cold War History Research Center owes special thanks to the Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security (formerly: on NATO and the Warsaw Pact) in Zurich–Washington D.C. for their permission to use the Selective Bibliography on the Cold War Alliances, compiled by Anna Locher and Cristian Nünlist, available at: http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch/lory1.ethz.ch/publications/bibliography/index.html

The Bibliography of New Cold War History (second enlarged edition), 2018

This bibliography attempts to present the publications on the history of the Cold War published after 1989, the beginning of the „archival revolution” in the former Soviet bloc countries.

Soshum: Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2019

The Cold War that occurred between 1945 and 1991 was both an international political and historical event. As a political event, the Cold War laid bare the fissures, animosities, mistrusts, misconceptions and the high-stake brinksmanship that has been part of the international political system since the birth of the modern nation-state in 1648. As a historical event, the Cold War and its end marked an important epoch in human social, economic and political development. The beginning of the Cold War marked the introduction of a new form of social and political experiment in human relations with the international arena as its laboratory. Its end signaled the end of a potent social and political force that is still shaping the course of political relationship among states in the 21 st century. The historiography of the Cold War has been shrouded in controversy. Different factors have been given for the origins of the conflict. This work is a historical and structural analysis of the historiography of the Cold War. The work analyzes the competing views of the historiography of the Cold War and create an all-encompassing and holistic historiography called the Structuralist School.

In Rosella Mamoli Zorzi e Simone Francescato (eds.), American Phantasmagoria. Modes of representation in US culture, 2017

The first section shows that the presence of ghosts in the foreign policy decision making processes of both the United States and the Soviet Union has been detected mainly in relatively recent works. The second, third and fourth sections are dedicated to distinguishing between three different kinds of apparitions—ghosts of the past, specters of the future, and phantasmagorias, respectively. The concluding section attempts some reflections on the possible meanings of such interest of Cold War historiography for spectral figures, particularly in connection with the ongoing debates about the “very notion of Cold War.”

Review of Jonathan Haslam's Russia's Cold War, published in International Affairs

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

Saber and Scroll, 1:3 (Fall 2012), 34-39, 2012

GTU academic journal “Intellectual”, 2016

Diplomatic History, 1997

Békés, Csaba, Melinda Kamár (Ed.): Students on the Cold War. New Findings and Interpretations. Budapest, 2017

European History Quarterly, 2014

Cold War History, 2011

Cold War International History Project Working Paper #89, 2018

Oxford Handbook in the History of Communism, ed. Stephen Anthony Smith (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2014

Journal of Cold War Studies, 2001

Contemporary European History, 2013

The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East …, 2001

[w:] Disintegration and Integration in East-Central Europe 1919 – post-1989, red. W. Loth, N. Păun, Cluj-Napoca 2014, s. 134-146, 2014

The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review, 2018

Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) Working Paper Series, 2015

Ab Imperio, 2011

COLD WAR. GEOPOLITICS, 2014

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2006

Related topics

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

The Cold War

The end of the cold war.

Three events heralded the end of the Cold War: the fall of the Berlin Wall , the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. All came in the last years of the tumultuous 1980s when ordinary but defiant people challenged the viability of socialism and socialist governments. The collapse of the Soviet bloc occurred at remarkable speed, and by the end of 1991, many of the formal structures of the Cold War had vanished into history.

‘People power’

By and large, the Cold War was brought to an end by people in the Soviet bloc demanding a relaxation or an end to socialist policies. The pressures they applied undermined and eroded political authority their respective nations. With Moscow no longer demanding adherence to socialist policies, those national governments relented, allowing political reforms or relaxing restrictions such as border controls.

In East Germany , the epicentre of Cold War division, popular unrest brought about a change in leadership and the collapse of the Berlin Wall (November 1989). Within a few months, the two Germanys were rejoined after 45 years of division.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union was also in its death throes. After two decades of economic stagnation , the USSR was weakening internally. As the historian John Lewis Gaddis put it, the USSR was a “troubled triceratops”: it remained powerful and intimidating but on the inside its “digestive, circulatory and respiratory systems were slowly clogging up then shutting down”. Mikhail Gorbachev ‘s twin reforms, glasnost and perestroika , failed to save the beast.

Internal divisions vanish

The demise of the Berlin Wall cleared the road for the reunification of Germany. Internal borders between East and West Germany, as well as those within the divided city of Berlin, were quickly removed. West German chancellor Helmut Kohl seized the moment by drafting a ten-point plan for German reunification, doing so without consulting either NATO allies or members of his own party.

While most Germans welcomed the move, the prospect of a reunified Germany did not please everyone. It was particularly troubling for older Europeans with lingering memories of Nazism and World War II. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was privately concerned about it, as were many French, Italians and indeed the Soviets.

Israel, now home to thousands of Holocaust survivors with first-hand experience of German nationalism, was another vocal opponent of German reunification.

German reunification and elections

In March 1990, East Germany held its first free elections, producing a resounding defeat for the communists. The two German also states stepped up their political and economic co-operation, agreeing to a single currency (the Deutschmark ) in July 1990.

Work was already underway on the formalities of reunification and the composition of a new German state. These questions were finalised by the Unification Treaty , which was signed in August 1990 and came into effect on October 3rd.

A general election – the first all-German free election since 1932 – was held in December 1990. A coalition of Christian conservative parties won almost half the seats in the Bundestag (parliament), while Helmut Kohl was endorsed as chancellor. In the years that followed, Germany would dispel concerns about its wartime past by becoming one of the most prosperous and progressive states in Europe.

Soviet Union abolished

The Soviet Union remained the last bastion of socialism in Europe but it, too, was rapidly changing. Gorbachev’s reforms of the mid-1980s had failed to arrest critical problems in the Soviet economy. Soviet industries faced critical shortages of resources, leading to a decline in productivity. Meanwhile, Soviet citizens endured shortages of state-provided food items and consumer goods, giving rise to a thriving black market.

Moscow’s big-ticket spending on the military, space exploration and propping up satellite states only further drained the stagnating Soviet economy. More reforms in 1988 allowed private ownership in many sectors, though this came too late to achieve any reversal. It became clear that the Soviet economy could not recover on its own: it needed access to Western markets and emerging technologies.

The political dissolution of the Soviet Union unfolded gradually in the late 1980s. A series of reforms in 1987-88 loosened Communist Party control of elections, released political prisoners and expanded freedom of speech under glasnost . Outside Russia, the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) agitated for independence while separatist-driven violence was reported in Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In early 1990, the Communist Party accepted Gorbachev’s recommendation that Soviet bloc nations be permitted to hold free elections and referendums on independence. By the end of 1990, the citizens in six states – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova – had voted to leave the Soviet Union. Ukraine, a region of considerable economic value, also declared its independence in July 1990. The Soviet republics that remained were given greater political and economic autonomy.

The August 1991 coup

“Many Russians sympathised with the plotters… because they approved of their motivation, that of preventing the Soviet Union from unravelling. After the initial euphoria… had died down, and people began to face the realities of a disbanded Soviet empire, disenchantment set in. Within a couple of years, the Yeltsin administration was itself pushing for a ‘reintegration’ of the former Soviet republics.” Amy Knight, historian

In 1991, Gorbachev attempted to restructure and decentralise the Soviet Union by granting its member-states greater autonomy. Under Gorbachev’s proposed model, the USSR would become the “Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics”, a confederation of independent nations sharing a military force, foreign policy and economic ties.

These proposed changes angered some Communist Party leaders, who feared they would erode Soviet power and bringing about the collapse of the USSR. In August 1991, a group of hardliners including Gorbachev’s vice-president, prime minister, defence minister and KGB chief, decided to act. With Gorbachev at his dacha in Crimea, the group ordered his arrest, shut down the media and attempted to seize control of the government.

The coup leaders misread the mood of the Russian people, however, who came out in support of Gorbachev. The coup collapsed after three days and Gorbachev was returned to office, though with his authority reduced. By Christmas 1991, the Soviet Union had passed into history. It was formally dissolved and replaced by a looser confederation called the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Who ‘won’ the Cold War?

The death of the Soviet Union marked the curtain call of the Cold War. While communist regimes remained in China , North Korea and Cuba , the perceived threat of Soviet imperialism had been lifted from the world.

Debate raged then, and continues to some degree now, about who was most responsible for ending the Cold War. Some hailed Gorbachev and other Soviet bloc reformers as the architects of change and reform. Others credited strong-minded Western leaders like Ronald Reagan and Thatcher with bringing down the Soviet empire. Some believed communism was defeated by its own false promises: it was an unsustainable economic system that had collapsed from within.

There was some truth in all three perspectives. In the tumultuous 1980s, however, it was the ordinary people of a divided Europe who were the true engine of change.

For decades, citizens in the Soviet bloc had lived under oppressive one-party regimes with little or no say in government. They were forced to work, denied the right to protest or speak and denied the choices available to their neighbours in the West. The final years of the Cold War were defined by these ordinary people, who risked their lives to raise their voices and rejoin the free world. Their determination and, indeed, heroism were observed by novelist John Le Carre:

“It was man who ended the Cold War, in case you didn’t notice. It wasn’t weaponry, or technology, or armies or campaigns. It was just man. Not even Western man either, as it happened, but our sworn enemy in the East, who went into the streets, faced the bullets and the batons and said: ‘We’ve had enough’. It was their emperor, not ours, who had the nerve to mount the rostrum and declare he had no clothes. And the ideologies trailed after these impossible events like condemned prisoners, as ideologies do when they’ve had their day.”

1. Three significant events heralded the end of the Cold War: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

2. The fall of the Berlin Wall prompted the removal of borders between East and West Germany, while West German chancellor Helmut Kohl began pushing for the reunification of the two states.

3. Despite opposition from some quarters, reunification proceeded during 1990. It was finalised by the Reunification Treaty (October) and free elections for a single Germany (December).

4. Beset by internal economic and political problems, the Soviet Union weakened during the late 1980s. After an unsuccessful coup attempt by hardliners, the USSR was dissolved in 1991.

5. There is much debate about the factors that brought the Cold War to an end. Some attribute it to Gorbachev’s reforms, strong leadership in the West or the unsustainability of socialist economic systems. The role of ordinary people in the late 1980s is also undeniable.

US intelligence paper: ‘The Soviet system in crisis’ (November 1989) The German Unification Treaty (August 1990) Communist hardliners justify their attempted coup to unseat Mikhail Gorbachev (August 1991) The Minsk Agreement dissolves the Soviet Union (December 1991)

Citation information Title: ‘The end of the Cold War’ Authors: Jennifer Llewellyn , Steve Thompson Publisher: Alpha History URL: https://alphahistory.com/coldwar/end-of-the-cold-war/ Date published: November 2, 2019 Date updated: November 20, 2023 Date accessed: September 20, 2024 Copyright: The content on this page is © Alpha History. It may not be republished without our express permission. For more information on usage, please refer to our Terms of Use .

General Studies

All Programmes

Study Material

Cold War: Key Doctrines, Causes, Important Events and Impact.

Factors leading to cold war, key doctrines and pacts, important events, end of cold war, india and the cold war.

• Cold War USC PYQs

Cold War FAQs

Prelims : History of the World

Mains : History of the World will include events from the 18th century such as Industrial Revolution, world wars, Redrawal of National Boundaries, Colonization, Decolonization, political philosophies like Communism, Capitalism, Socialism etc.— their forms and effect on the society.

The Cold War, spanning from the late 1940s to the early 1990s , was a global ideological and geopolitical struggle between the capitalist West, led by the United States , and the communist East, spearheaded by the Soviet Union . Key doctrines like containment and détente shaped the conflict. Fueled by contrasting ideologies of capitalism versus communism, the Cold War manifested through an arms race, proxy wars, and intense diplomatic tensions. Pivotal events like the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The Cold War's impact reshaped international alliances, catalysed decolonisation, and ultimately led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

The Cold War emerged after WWII between the U S-led Western Bloc and Soviet-led Eastern Bloc . Though never erupting into direct conflict, it involved proxy wars, espionage, arms race, and tense competition. The term "Cold War" signified the cool relationship between the former allies despite no formal war declaration or large-scale combat.

•  As the war ended, tensions arose over the Soviet Union's domination of Eastern Europe, the US's economic support for Western Europe through the Marshall Plan, and the competing desires of both superpowers to expand their global influence.

Causes of Cold War

• Ideological differences: The U.S. and USSR had very different visions for the postwar world. The U.S. wanted to spread democracy and capitalism, while the Soviet Union sought to expand its communist ideology and influence.
• Bifurcation of Germany: After WWII, Germany was divided into East and West Germany, with the Soviet Union occupying the eastern part and the Western Allies (US, UK, France) controlling the western zones . This division epitomized the wider ideological split fueling the Cold War. 
• Berlin's bifurcation, including the Berlin Blockade and Wal l, made Germany's partition a potent symbol of the superpower rivalry between the US and the USSR.
• The Soviet Union's installation of communist regimes in Eastern European nations like Poland, Hungary, and East Germany after WWII alarmed the West. They saw it as a violation of self-determination and an expansionist move to create a buffer zone. 
• This deepened mistrust, cementing Europe's division into competing spheres of influence under the USSR's communist camp in the East and the US-led capitalist West , fueling the onset of the Cold War.
• The Truman Factor: Under President Truman, the US adopted a containment policy to curb Soviet expansionism, escalating Cold War tensions. 
• The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan provided aid to counter communism, supporting nations resisting Soviet influence. 
• This assertive stance heightened ideological divisions, fueling proxy conflicts as the superpowers sought global dominance in the emerging bipolar world order.
• The US and Soviet Union developed and stockpiled nuclear weapons. As a result, a fear of mutual destruction kept both sides i n a state of heightened tension.
• Both sides felt the need to maintain technological and military superiority. Ensuing an arms race drained resources and heightened the risk of conflict.
• Ideological Competition for Influence : The Cold War rivalry intensified through proxy wars as the US and USSR backed opposing sides in conflicts like Korea and Vietnam , as well as through interventions and covert operations aimed at gaining political alliances and ideological influence over newly independent nations in the developing " Third World" regions.
• Lack of Mutual Trust and Communication: Both sides engaged in propaganda campaigns against each other. This lack of direct communication and u nderstanding fueled mistrust and suspicion.

During the Cold War era, several key doctrines and pacts were formulated by the United States and the Soviet Union, shaping the geopolitical landscape and strategic alliances.

The Cold War, a period of intense geopolitical rivalry and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, was characterised by numerous significant events that shaped the global landscape. 

• In June 1948 , the Soviet Union imposed a blockade on West Berlin, cutting off road, rail, and water access to the Western sectors of the city.
• In response, the US and its allies organised the Berlin Airlift, which involved airlifting supplies to sustain the population of West Berlin.
• The airlift lasted for almost a year and forced the Soviets to lift the blockade, highlighting the determination of the Western powers to protect their interests in Berlin.
• Proxy wars: Instead of direct large-scale fighting, the US and USSR supported regional conflicts known as proxy wars.
• The Korean War erupted in June 1950 when North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea.
• The US and its UN allies intervened to support South Korea, while China also entered the conflict on the side of North Korea.
• The war ended in a stalemate, with an armistice signed in 1953, leaving Korea divided along the 38th parallel .
• The Vietnam War originated from the division of Vietnam into North and South following the First Indochina Wa r and the Geneva Accords of 1954.
• The communist North was supported by the Soviets and China, while the South was supported by the USA.
• The United States became increasingly involved in Vietnam as part of its policy of containment to halt the spread of communism.
• The war concluded with the fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, to North Vietnamese forces in 1975, resulting in the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule.
• The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in October 1962 when the US discovered Soviet missile installations in Cuba.
• This revelation sparked a tense standoff between the US and the Soviet Union , bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.
• Ultimately, a negotiated settlement was reached, with the US agreeing not to invade Cuba and the Soviets removing their missiles from the island.
• The Space Race was a competition between the US and the Soviet Union to achieve milestones in space exploration.
• Key events included the Soviet launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957 , and the US Apollo program 's successful moon landing in 1969.
• The Space Race symbolized the technological and ideological competition between the two superpowers during the Cold War.
• In the 1970s, a period of détente, or relaxation of tensions , emerged between the US and the Soviet Union.
• Strategic arms limitation talks (SALT) were conducted, resulting in arms control agreements aimed at reducing the nuclear arms race.
• The Helsinki Accords , signed in 1975, addressed human rights issues and aimed to promote cooperation among European countries.
• This move helped counter the Soviet Union's influence in the region and marked a shift in the global balance of power.

The end of the Cold War ( late 1980s-early 1990s ) marked a historic turning point with the collapse of the Soviet Union, ending the longstanding U.S.-Soviet ideological conflict. This momentous event reshaped the global political and economic landscape.

• Starting from the 1960s and 1970s, the unity within the Eastern Bloc started to wane as the alliance between China and the Soviet Union deteriorated.
• Western countries and Japan became more economically independent, leading to complex international relationships and increased resistance from smaller nations.
• The Cold War started to unravel in the late 1980s under Mikhail Gorbachev's leadership.
• Gorbachev introduced reforms such as perestroika (restructuring) to address economic problems in the Eastern Bloc and relax restrictions on freedom of expression through glasnost (openness).
• However, these reforms came too late as communist regimes in Eastern Europe collapsed, giving way to democratic governments in countries like East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
• On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall, a symbol of the Iron Curtain, was demolished by Germans from both sides, symbolising the desire for German reunification.
• Anti-communist sentiments surged throughout the Eastern Bloc during the same period.
• The end of the Cold War culminated in the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, resulting in the emergence of fifteen newly independent nations. The Cold War rivalry between the two superpowers ended as a result of the collapse. 
• The Soviet Union transformed into the Russian Federation, no longer led by a communist regime.

Consequences of the End of the Cold War

• The collapse of the Soviet Union effectively ended this bipolar system, leaving the United States as the sole remaining superpower.
• Democratisation and Economic Reforms : The end of the Cold War paved the way for democratisation and economic liberalisation in many former Soviet republics and Eastern Bloc countries. Countries like Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia transitioned towards market-based economies and democratic systems of governance.
• Reunification of Germany: The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent reunification of East and West Germany in 1990 marked a symbolic and practical end to the division of Europe that had existed since the end of World War II.
• Former Warsaw Pact countries and Soviet republics sought membership in these organisations, further solidifying their ties with the West.
• NATO expanded significantly from 16 members in 1991 to 32 members by 2024. 
• This has fuelled the Russian resurrection into global polity under Putin’s regime post-2014.
• This led to increased trade, investment, and economic cooperation on a global scale.
• Shifting Global Priorities : With the diminished threat of a large-scale conflict between the superpowers, global attention and resources shifted towards addressing other pressing issues, such as terrorism , environmental challenges , and regional conflicts .

India navigated the Cold War by adopting a non-aligned stance, forging strategic ties with the Soviet Union, and maintaining a balanced relationship with the United States.

• Firstly, India maintained distance from both alliances and refrained from joining them.
• Secondly, India voiced its opposition to newly decolonized countries becoming part of these alliances.
• Indian leaders such as Nehru, advocated for active intervention in world affairs to ease Cold War tensions.
• Indian diplomats played a role in communication and mediation between Cold War rivals, as seen in the Korean War.
• India sought to involve other nations in the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War.
• India aimed to activate regional and international organisations that were not aligned with the US or USSR.
• Nehru envisioned a cooperative community of nations that could contribute to softening or ending the Cold War.
• During the 1960s, India sought to enhance its military power after the 1962 defeat, and the West was hesitant to disturb the India-Pakistan balance.
• In these circumstances, India leaned towards the USSR for military and political support.
• India's alignment with the USSR was driven by a quest for power and securing its security interests while maintaining a degree of nonalignment.
• For some, Indira Gandhi's signing of a Peace, Friendship, and Cooperation Treaty with the USSR before the 1971 India-Pakistan War is seen as a deviation from nonalignment.
• However, it can be argued that India's actions were aimed at maintaining the subcontinental balance of power while seeking security and not entering into a formal alliance with the USSR.
• Economic changes : India underwent economic liberalisation in 1991 , dismantling the License Raj system, opening up to foreign investment, pursuing closer ties with the West, and integrating with the global economy.
• Foreign policy : India adopted a more pragmatic and multi-aligned foreign policy approach, engaging with various powers based on its national interests. India started to develop stronger ties with the United States and other Western nations, while maintaining good relations with Russia.
• Multilateralism : After the Cold War's end, India championed multilateralism over unilateralism , advocating amore inclusive, consensus-driven and rule-based global orde r.

Cold War U[SC PYQs

Question 1: “The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were considered by the Russian Bloc as a weapon against Russia in order to restrict her influence” critically examine (UPSC Mains- History Optional-2015)

Question 2: What factors contributed to the emergence of a unipolar world? (UPSC Mains- History Optional-2016)

Question 3: “By 1980s, the Communist System of Soviet Union was incapable of maintaining the country’s role as a Superpower”. Substantiate (UPSC Mains- History Optional-2017)

Question 4: A new configuration of power emerged in world politics after the end of the cold war. Analyse how USA managed to become the sole superpower. (UPSC Mains- History Optional-2021)

Question 5: Discuss, how the policies adopted by Mikhail Gorbachev were responsible for the disintegration of the USSR? (UPSC Mains- History Optional-2022)

Q1. What was the Cold War?

Ans. The Cold War was a geopolitical and ideological conflict that lasted from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. It primarily involved the United States and the Soviet Union, along with their respective allies

Q2. When did the Cold War start?

Ans. The Cold War is generally considered to have started after World War II, around the late 1940s, and continued until the early 1990s with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Q3. What were the main causes of the Cold War?

Ans. The main causes of the Cold War were ideological differences between communism (Soviet Union) and capitalism (United States), geopolitical competition for influence and control in post-war Europe and other regions, and mutual mistrust between the two superpowers.

Q4. What were some major events during the Cold War?

Ans. Some major events during the Cold War include the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), the construction of the Berlin Wall (1961), the Korean War (1950-1953), the Vietnam War (1955-1975), and the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Q5. What was the significance of the Cold War?

Ans. The Cold War had a significant impact on global politics, economics, and society. It shaped alliances, military strategies, and technological advancements. It also influenced the development of proxy wars in various regions and had a profound impact on the cultures and ideologies of nations around the world.

© 2024 Vajiram & Ravi. All rights reserved

When the world gets closer.

We help you see farthers.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

More about Worldcrunch

Follow us on social media.

To give you the best possible experience, this site uses cookies. If you continue browsing, you accept our use of cookies. You can review our privacy policy to find out more about the cookies we use.

($19.90) $5 !

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

30-days free access, then $2.90

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing. save $14.90.

Post. Individual Article Access

How October 7 Revived The Palestinian Cause — And Revealed Israel's True Intentions

It was the exceptional time that changed the equation, and revived the palestinian dream. it also awakened the hidden israeli plans: the extermination of the palestinian people, the liquidation of their cause, and the evacuation of their land..

Palestinian dream and Israeli nightmare, both reborn

CAIRO — The war has been far longer than we supporters of the Palestinian cause had predicted. We had built our expectations on the exceptional image of the moment, on this momentary glimpse, when the resistance crossed the border and flew its gliders towards the promised land. But on the ground, the confrontation was violent and bloody on both sides to form another exceptional image, which is the practice of violence.

Perhaps the members of the resistance who crossed (into southern Israel) did not believe that they were inside the land they were denied. They were stunned by the surprise, so the joy was mixed, sometimes, with historical revenge.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here .

Even now, as supporters of the cause, we learn from our mistakes and from our transgressive dreams, and from the sudden moments of joy that shaped our thoughts and emotions. We are still learning from our one-sided pessimism, and from our non-objective objectivity, as long as we do not yet have a clear method of thinking.

We will continue to learn from our mistakes, as long as there is no connection between our imagination and our objectivity, and between our infinite optimism and our one-sided pessimism. We still think in a short-sighted way. We don’t think in a matter, any matter, as a whole when we discuss one part, any part, of it.

Hunting question

The war continues , and the number of dead rises: all this bloodshed and victims are not enough to minimize the repercussions, or the explosion, of a war which was bound to happen. Nor is this bloodshed enough to justify the opinion that accuses and condemns the resistance and its historical mistake when it launched this attempted suicide. That attempt dragged the Palestinian people into this renewed historical predicament.

The Palestinian issue defies any sense of fairness.

Some argue we are witnessing the defeat of the resistance. They hold the resistance accountable for the death and massacre that has happened this past year, and beyond. I do not agree with this opinion. It does not account for the rules of time.

Perhaps some were waiting, as supporters of the cause, for a sudden victory that sets new conditions, and cancels our distortions and self-contradictions. One of the reasons may be that the Palestinian issue defies any sense of fairness when we look into it. It’s still deadlocked for 70 years, like an unfinished episode of an eternal history.

This desperation pushed us to believing in a miracle. Emotions usually trump objectivity in the analysis of events.

Palestinians check destroyed buildings in a refugee camp in central Gaza on Sept. 18, 2024.

Marwan Dawood/Xinhua/ZUMA

​Was the war inevitable?

The specter of an answer lingers in the minds of those who support the resistance, satisfying their conscience: that there is a destiny in this war that no one chose. It was chosen by the historical moment, to hasten the resolution or end of this episode of modern history, at least in our region. And it was inevitable, after the tragic situation that Gaza and the West Bank reached before the war. The liquidation of the cause was occurring in silence.

Throughout the months of the war and its mornings and evenings, I was scrolling through the pages of my Palestinian friends on Facebook to see their reactions to what was happening on the ground: Is there any condemnation for Hamas ? Is Hamas the resistance that represents them? Was the situation before the war better? In what ways?

I find myself confused about my pro-resistance opinion — and those who resemble me in it, despite the enormity of the losses. My opinion brings with it a guarantee of sacrifice and death — but also a future where history is completed, and becomes a reality greater than the present time.

I stare at the faces of those evicted from their homes as cameras follow them: the relatives of the dead and the martyrs, the procession accompanying any speeding stretcher filled with blood. I stare at the congregation behind the rows of white shrouds.

Perhaps the tragedy of all of this exceeded our utilitarian relationship with the cause, and our divisions and contradictions around it, but even exceeded the idea of condemnation itself. That’s because the tragedy made them touch the truth, overcome the internal division, and look with innocence, clarity and defiance, directly in the eye of the aggressor, or the conscience of the world waiting behind the cameras, and defend the cause with extraordinary clarity.

A moment of renewal

As the war goes on, we begin to understand anew the reasons behind the cause, and its consequences . Any beginning of an exceptional moment is a call to a new time from memory and from the stock of personal dreams for the sudden and temporary victory of the resistance.

The beginning is the most honest, because it is the exception that gets rid of the calculations. It has no precedent or successor, a frozen moment, devoid of any authority or rule. It is an exceptional, undefeated and historical time. This moment changes the equation of repetitive time that has been monopolized by the colonial regimes.

It was the exceptional time that changed the equation and moved towards deeper confrontations from the two sides. So the dream returned to the Palestinians, and to us as passive supporters of the cause, even if temporarily.

IDF soldiers in Tubas, West Bank, on Sept. 11.

Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/ZUMA

Liquidation of the cause

This exceptional time also awakened the hidden Israeli dream. It brought it to light in front of the whole world. It brought back the past conspiratorial plans of the extermination of the Palestinian people; the liquidation of the cause, and the evacuation of the land.

Everything Israel is doing now was part of its big project, and the moment of October 7th came to expose this highly racist colonial past. The State of Israel is an exceptional form of occupation, deriving its strength from oppression, sacrifice and isolation, and clinging to the past through the reproduction of the religious dream that exercises power in all its forms, demeans and monopolizes the other.

Perhaps these are not the practices of states in the modern sense, but temporary nationalities, wearing the dress of the states as represented in the Jewish state. It faces an opposing historical moment. It stumbles with the stones that it left behind in its exceptional growth and expansion. But it eventually collides with it.

The State of Israel returns to the time of pure racism. It unites with a scattered symbol of racial purity and the peoples chosen by God .

The exception changes the shape of the world, its policies and alliances. So there is constant resistance to it, because it gives the Palestinians the dream of returning to their homeland, and also deprives them of this right according to the other party's view of them.

Worldcrunch 🗞 Extra!

Translation matters • The author, novelist Alan Khaled, used some terms and phrases that appeared a challenge to translate into English. They include a term referring to short-sighted thinking. The author used “Tafkir bel-Keta’a- or التفكير بالقطعة”. I used “short-sighted thinking” as it's the most accurate term that gives the same meaning as the Arabic term.

Different levels of exceptionalism

It’s exceptionalism versus exceptionalism. But even within the exception there are fundamental differences between a dream of restoring a right and an occupied land, and another dream of annihilating a people from existence.

On Oct. 7, during those fleeting moments, the balance and rules of power were changed even if for a short while as happens in carnival times, where the laws are suspended and the forms of power change according to the Russian thinker Mikhail Bakhtin, or in the sovereignty of the exception concept that prevails in emergency situations as pointed out by the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben.

The Palestinians have been living in an exceptional situation for more than 70 years.

Who has the power and sovereignty in those situations? Agamben questions how the citizen is viewed after he has become a victim, without an identity, and no law to protect him, and can be killed in the name of the state of exception itself?

Perhaps the concept of the state of exception/emergency, as Agamben explains, applies to the Palestinian people as a whole since the 1948 Nakba drove them from their homes.

The Palestinians have been living in an exceptional situation outside of the law for more than 70 years. They are left to die in an extended moment in which the law was suspended. Emergency conditions have been imposed on them, from the negation of existence and the practice of all forms of torture and abuse.

• Will Israel-Hezbollah Escalate? First Ask What Iran Wants In Lebanon ›
• Tracking Israel's Systematic Annihilation Of The Schools Of Gaza ›
• Is Gaza The "Mother Of All Wars" Or Just A Diversion From China? On Western Drift In The Middle East ›
• Damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire ... ›
• Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live tracker | Israel-Palestine ... ›
• What is Hamas and why is it fighting with Israel in Gaza? ›

• While U Slept
• Worldcrunch Today
• Worldcrunch The Latest
• Worldcrunch Weekly
• Global Biz & Innovation
• Global Viewpoint
• Global Life
• Eyes on the U.S.
• My Grand-Père`s World
• Worldcrunch Communication

Vino Tinto With Your Curry? Chile's Winemakers Try To Break Into The Indian Market

Chilean winemakers are promoting their celebrated wines in several key markets for consumer spending power: the united states and china are already saturated with every kind of wine. but now india must be a focus despite crushing tariffs..

Tasting Chilean wine

SANTIAGO — It was a three-course dinner in a reputed Santiago restaurant, El Toro, washed down with Chilean wines and an entertaining and instructive interview with a local wine expert. Before the end, diners stood up and vowed loyalty, hands on their hearts, to Chile's colors — which meant, in this case, its red and white wines.

This was one of the dinners hosted last April by New York chef Paul Grieco, owner of Terroir, an eatery known for a carefully curated wine list that has won it praise, and prizes, in that capital of cosmopolitan living . These were in turn part of the Terroir Pop-Up Chile initiative to promote Chilean wines in highly competitive markets, highlighting both the excellent value of Chile's more affordable brands and the quality of its premium-range production. It was organized by Wines of Chile, an association of growers and their partners .

✉️ You can receive our Bon Vivant selection of fresh reads on international culture, food & travel directly in your inbox. Subscribe here .

Grieco's fascination for Chile began with a casual conversation in a bar, when he was told its per capita consumption of wine had fallen in spite of the quality of its wines. He had to do something, he thought. He later told the press in Santiago that he already loved Chile's wines before arriving, as he knew the people who made them and the varied terroirs , that are the climate and terrain in which they worked.

There was no reason, he said, why Chile should be a second-division player in the wine world.

China and Japan success

The United States is of course a choice market, but highly competitive both for the presence of the world's best wines and its own production, in California . What it needs then is to appreciate the traditional value of Chilean winemaking, which means improving "the perception of Chilean wines, not just as accessible but also high-quality products, especially in the premium segment (costing above $25 a bottle)," says Angélica Valenzuela, commercial director of Wines of Chile, speaking to América Economía .

Branding and perception are crucial, especially in upmarket competition.

Chilean wines have done well in other markets, including Brazil (No. 1 in market share), China (No. 2), Japan (No. 1 in sales volume). The United States rose to become their third export market, earning them just over 19% of total export value (or $81.5 million), and second for volume (just over 31%) by mid 2024. Recent figures showed a year-on-year increase of almost 40% in the volume of wine exports, measured in crates, even if the average crate price was 9% lower than in July 2023.

Chile has been doing well then in quantitative terms, with Brazil in particular importing more than one million crates of its wine in July 2024, though with narrowed profit margins. Which is why branding and perceptions are crucial, especially in upmarket competition.

Grieco's promotional tour in Chile typically consisted not just of wining and dining, but also production of English-language audiovisual content for the U.S. market. This included conversations with specialists on some of the country's most familiar brands, like Concha y Toro, Viña Montes, Viña Santa Rita and Viña Errazuriz .

A winery in Puente Alto, Chile.

Affluent Indian consumers

Increasingly-affluent India is another big market. In late August, the government organized a commercial mission to India, called Chile Summit India, with sectors and groups including Wines of Chile attending more than 20 meetings and events in two Indian cities.

Valenzuela said the main issues in India were both promoting the Chilean brand, but also cutting tariffs that begin with a 150% national importation tax, plus other regional and local taxes. She said Chile would have to negotiate an inclusive commercial treaty, similar to one it has with Indonesia, to include gradual cuts in tariffs and taxes on an increasing range of products including wine.

Brands are making India a focus of their export growth plans.

Ideally, she said, it might reach a similar agreement to one signed between India with one Chile's main wine competitors, Australia , which negotiated a five-year elimination of taxes on some of its premium wines sent to India. That, she said, "would protect the Indian wine industry a little," while allowing Chile's wines a foot in the door.

Both for its population and rising GDP, and for sputtering growth rates in China, a gigantic market for luxury products , brands are not waiting, and making India a focus of their export growth plans. There is a clear interest here in consuming Western products, and " women are coming into wine consumption," Valenzuela said.

Carmenere is one of the grapes she wishes to promote in particular. It is a variety rediscovered in Chile some 30 years ago and now becoming associated with Chile alongside the traditional Cabernet Sauvignon. "It's a variety that goes well with Indian food. In fact we found this out in England four years ago," she said, "We had food tastings combined with Carmenere. It worked out amazingly with curries and typical Indian dishes ."

Know more • India isn't only importing beverages, but now wants to export as well. India only ranks 40th in the world in alcohol exports, but the "Make in India" initiative , launched by the Indian Commerce and Industry Ministry, aims to increase the export of Indian spirits to other countries.

The first landmark move in this plan has been the launch of Godavan Single Malt Whisky, made in Rajasthan, in the United Kingdom. The government's initiative also aims to support the country's farmers, distilleries and winemakers, and give them a chance to find their way onto the international scene. — [ Chloé Touchard ] (read more about the Worldcrunch method here )

• Tropical Terroir: The Man Turning Taiwan Into Wine Country ›
• Neuromarketing: How The Price Of A Wine Can Influence Its Taste ›
• Cachaça To Cabernet: A New Generation Of Winemakers Puts Brazil On The Map ›
• walnuts: From walnuts to wines: Chile caters to Indian taste - The ... ›
• Exploring Chilean wine - Valdivieso — The Hungry Travelist ›
• Modernised EU-Chile agreements on wines and spirits to facilitate ... ›

How Hezbollah Shuts Down Debate In Lebanon

Le weekend: protecting banksy, peru’s mastodons, silly animal photos, hezbollah's hassan nasrallah: eternal enemy, political realist, violent end, how sri lankans fall into the traps of human trafficking.