Introduction

After the Second World War, the USA and USSR became two Superpowers. One nation tried to reduce the
power of another. Indirectly the competition between the Superpowers 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.

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”.

In fact, 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 ideological and diplomatic war.

Therefore, in simple terms the Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and
its satellite states (the Eastern European countries), and the United States with its allies (the Western
European countries) after World War II. Since, post World War II, the world got divided into two power
blocs dominated by two superpowers viz. the Soviet Union and the US. The two superpowers were
primarily engaged in an ideological war between the capitalist USA and the communist Soviet Union. The
term "Cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides.

Cold War Confrontation 1947-1963: Historical Background

When Hitler invaded Russia in 1941, President Roosevelt of the USA delivered weapons to that country
because Roosevelt and Stalin had good relations with one another. However, after Germany was defeated
and Stalin sought to impose the Communist philosophy in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania, at that
time, England and America began to harbor suspicions about him.

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In his “Fulton Speech” on March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of England, said that
Soviet Russia was hidden behind an Iron Curtain. Stalin was deeply contemplated by it. As a result, mistrust
between Soviet Russia and western nations grew, leading to the start of the Cold War.

The US, the UK, and France joined forces to fight Nazi Germany during World War II. The USSR would
join this alliance following Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany’s invasion of Russia.
However, following the conflict, tensions grew. The United States became the most powerful nation after
the war. It was a superpower in terms of economic power and military power. As the second-most powerful
nation in the world, the USSR played a crucial role in Germany’s defeat during World War II. As a result,
its standing in the world improved.

Causes of the Cold War:

Lasting from the end of World War II in 1945 until the early 1990s, the Cold War was one of the most
significant events of the 20th century. At its heart, the Cold War was essentially a ‘face off’ or competition
between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. Historians have identified several
causes that led to the outbreak of the Cold War, some of these are are follows:

1) Tensions between two Superpowers

The first major cause of the Cold War was the increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet
Union at the end of World War II. During the Second World War, the Soviet Union under the leadership
of Joseph Stalin, was allied with Britain, France, and the United States against Nazi Germany, Italy and
Japan. At the time, the alliance was based around destroying the fascist regimes in the Europe and Japanese
expansionism in the Pacific. However, by 1945 the major fighting in both the European Theater and Pacific
Theater began to come to an end. During the final stages of World War II, the partnership between the
Soviet Union and the other Allied nations began to fall apart. This is best evidenced by the Allied wartime
conferences in Yalta and Potsdam.

The Yalta Conference, along with the Potsdam Conference, was an important event for the end stages of
World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. The Yalta Conference occurred from February 4th to
the 11th in 1945 and was a wartime meeting of the Allied leaders, including: Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. The meeting took place near Yalta, which is now a city in Crimea,
Ukraine. The purpose of the conference was for the three Allied powers to begin discussing how to
reorganize Europe once Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany were defeated. While World War II in Europe was
not over yet, the Allies could see that the end of the war was near and that Germany would soon be defeated.
The hope was that the three leaders could agree on how to divide Europe following the war.

However, the Yalta Conference is now viewed as a major event in the Cold War as well, because it
highlighted the divide between Stalin and the other two leaders. Neither side trusted the other and Joseph
Stalin was resentful of the other two believing that they delayed the Normandy Invasion and Allied invasion
of Italy to cause the Soviet army to struggle alone against Nazi Germany. This divide would be further
highlighted at the later Potsdam Conference.

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 Allied leaders at the Yalta Conference in February of l945. Winston Churchill (Britain), Franklin D. Roosevelt (USA) and
Joseph Stalin (USSR).

The Potsdam Conference occurred from July 17th to August 2nd in 1945 and was a wartime meeting of
the Allied leaders, including: Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Truman had just
replaced Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the United States following his death. The meeting took
place in Potsdam, which at the time was in the Allied controlled area of Germany. The purpose of the
conference was for the three Allied powers to begin discussing how to handle the defeat of Nazi Germany,
which had occurred just recently. Other goals focused on how the world would carry on after the war.
However, the Potsdam Conference is now viewed as a major event in the Cold War as well, because it
highlighted the divide between Stalin and the other two leaders similar to the earlier Yalta Conference. As
well, it is at the Potsdam Conference that Truman made Stalin aware of the American atomic weapons
program (Manhattan Project) and that the Americans had developed the world's first atomic bomb. It was
also at this conference that a deep divide was created between the United States and the Soviet Union
specifically. Truman was incredibly suspicious of Stalin and his intentions and Stalin felt a similar way
towards Truman. In general terms, the seeds of the Cold War were planted at the Potsdam Conference. As
such, many historians view the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences as the start of the Cold War since they
highlighted the growing mistrust and tensions between Truman of the United States and Stalin of the Soviet
Union.

Allied leaders at the Potsdam Conference in July of l945. Winston Churchill (Britain), Harry S. Truman (USA) and Joseph
Stalin (USSR).

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2) Nuclear Arms Race
The next major cause of the Cold War was the emergence of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II.
As stated previously, World War II ended in Europe by May of 1945 with the defeat of Nazi Germany by
the Allied Powers, but the war did not officially end in the Pacific Theater until the atomic bombing of
Japan in August of 1945. The United States had developed its atomic weaponry during the final years of
the war through its secretive program called the Manhattan Project. With the atomic bombing of Japan, the
United States had begun the era of nuclear weapons and the nuclear arms race.

At the outset of the Cold War, the United States was the only nation in the world to contain atomic weapons,
such as those used against Japan in 1945. As such, the Soviet Union was not able to militaristically
challenge the United States and worked to develop their own atomic weapons. However, on August 29th,
1949, the Soviet Union performed a test of their first atomic bomb codenamed ‘First Lighting’. These early
years were important to the growing tensions and anger between the two superpowers. Because of the
development of nuclear weapons, the two nations did not trust each other. As a result, they each spent the
first few decades of the Cold War developing large arsenals of nuclear weapons. By the 1950’s each
country had developed enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other. This development was an important
aspect of the Cold War, as the stockpiles of nuclear weapons acted as a means of defence. Essentially, each
nation was deterred from going to war with other, or from escalation tensions, due to the fear of a nuclear
war. Historians refer to this idea as Mutual Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) since any escalation to war could
result in the total destruction of both countries. Regardless, this nuclear arms race between the two nations
showed the growing divide between the two nations. As such, the initial development of nuclear weapons
in the 1940s and 1950s is considered to be a cause of the Cold War because it increased the tensions between
the United States and the Soviet Union and caused them to enter into a dangerous nuclear arms race.

3) Ideological Conflict (Capitalism VS. Communism)

The third main cause of the Cold War was the ideological conflict that existed between the United States
and Soviet Union. At the time, the Soviet Union was a communist nation that was based on the principles
of collectivism or socialism, while the United States was a modern liberal democracy nation based primarily
on the principles of individualism. This difference in ideology was a major source of the conflict between
the two nations because throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union sought to expand communism to other
regions and the United States sought to stop it with its policy of containment. To better understand the
ideological conflict of the Cold War it is first important to understand the main principles of capitalism,
communism, democracy and dictatorship. During the Cold War, the United States was based upon
capitalism and democracy while the Soviet Union was based upon communism and dictatorship.

At its heart, capitalism is an economic system based upon the values of individualism and promotes
individual liberty over government regulation and control. For example, laissez-faire capitalism is a form
of the ideology that translates to “leave us alone” meaning that the government should remain out of the
economy and instead allow individuals to freely carry out their own economic affairs. The development of
capitalism as an economic system, sought to reject the idea of government control of the economy and
instead put the focus on individuals.
Democracy is a political system that is associated with the idea that power or authority in a society rests
with the people. In general, the people exercise their authority through elections in which they choose
others to represent their interests in a formal legislative structure. This system differs from dictatorships

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wherein many of the decisions are made by the government which is often a single person and single
political party.

Communism is an economic system that is based on the principles of socialism. Communism is centred on
the idea of establishing a society based upon public ownership of the means of production and the removal
of any form of social classes. For example, communism generally focuses on the conditions of the working-
class, and the wide income gap that existed in laissez-faire capitalist societies. Communist countries such
as the Soviet Union are also often dictatorships. Communism differs from capitalism because it focuses on
the government having much more control over the economy, and is often referred to as a command
economy.

This ideological conflict caused the Cold War because it displayed the difference in worldview between
the two nations. As such, the United States and the Soviet Union differed greatly in their views of how the
world should be organised following the major events of World War II. For their part, the United States
feared Soviet expansionism into regions in Europe and around the world. As a result, the United States
President at the start of the Cold War, Harry S. Truman, developed a policy in which the country would
work to contain the spread of communism. Historians refer to this as the

4) Truman Doctrine
Truman Doctrine was announced on March 12, 1947,by US President Harry S. Truman. The Truman
Doctrine was a US policy to stop the Soviet Union’s communist and imperialist endeavours, through
various ways like providing economic aid to other countries. For example, the US appropriated financial
aid to support the economies and militaries of Greece and Turkey. Historians believe that the announcement
of this doctrine marked the official declaration of the Cold War.

5) Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain is the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War
II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West
and other non-communist areas. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected
to or influenced by the Soviet Union, while on the west side were the countries that were allies of the US,
UK or nominally neutral.

The Iron Curtain erected by the Soviet Union between Eastern and Western European countries

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Important Events of the Cold War

Berlin Blockade 1948:

As the tension between the Soviet Union and Allied countries grew, Soviet Union applied Berlin Blockade
in 1948. The Berlin Blockade was an attempt by the Soviet Union to limit the ability of Allied countries to
travel to their sectors of Berlin. Further, on August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German
Democratic Republic began to build a barbed wire and concrete wall (Berlin Wall) between East and West
Berlin. It primarily served the objective of stemming mass emigration from East Berlin to West Berlin.
Except under special circumstances, travellers from East and West Berlin were rarely allowed across the
border. This Berlin Wall served as a symbol of the Cold War (US and Soviet Union), until its fall in 1989.

History of the Berlin wall

Allied countries (US, UK, France) and Soviet Union together defeated Nazi Germany in World War II in
1945, after which Yalta and Potsdam conferences (1945) were held between Soviet Union and Allied
countries to decide the fate of Germany’s territories.Germany At the conference, Germany was to be
divided into zones under Russian, American, British and French influence.
The eastern part of the country went to the Soviet Union, while the western part went to the United States,
Great Britain and France. Berlin, as the capital, was to be likewise split. However, Berlin happened to be
in the middle of the Russian zone.
The three Allied zones merged and became the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) or West Germany
while the former Soviet occupation zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) or East
Germany. The division of Berlin was the main bone of contention between USSR and Allied countries, as
West Berlin became an island within Communist East Germany.

The Marshall Plan vs The Cominform:

The Marshall Plan
In 1947, American Secretary of State George Marshall, unveiled the European Recovery Programme
(ERP), which offered economic and financial help wherever it was needed. One of the aims of the ERP was

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to promote the economic recovery of Europe. However, this was an economic extension of the Truman
Doctrine.

The Cominform
The Soviet Union denounced the whole idea of Marshall Plan as 'dollar imperialism. Therefore, the
Cominform (the Communist Information Bureau) - was launched in 1947, as the Soviet response to the
Marshall Plan. It was an organisation to draw together mainly Eastern European countries.

NATO vs Warsaw Pact:

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
The Berlin blockade showed the West's military unreadiness and frightened them into making definite
preparations. Therefore, in 1948, mainly the countries of western Europe signed the Brussels Defence
Treaty, promising military collaboration in case of war. Later on Brussels Defence Treaty was joined by
the USA, Canada, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Italy and Norway. This led to the formation of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1949. NATO countries agreed to regard an attack on any
one of them as an attack on all of them, and placed their defence forces under a joint command.

Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (1955) was signed between Russia and her satellite states shortly after West Germany
was admitted to NATO. The Pact was a mutual defense agreement, which the Western countries perceived
as a reaction against West Germany's membership of NATO.

NATO Countries Warsaw Pact Alliance

Space Race:
Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. In 1957, Soviet Union
launched Sputnik I, the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the
Earth’s orbit. In 1958, the U.S. launched its own satellite called Explorer I. However, this space race was
won by the US, when it successfully landed, the first man (Neil Armstrong) on the surface of the moon in
1969.

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Arms Race:
The containment strategy of US provided the rationale for an unprecedented arms buildup in the United
States, reciprocated by Soviet Union. Development of nuclear weapons took place on a massive scale and
the world entered into the age of nuclear age.

Korean War:
In the first major conflict since the end of World War 2, a crisis occurred in the Korean peninsula when
Communist North Korea invaded democratic South Korea. This was the first test for the newly-formed
United Nations to stop escalation between the two superpowers who were using their proxies to fight for
them. A United Nations Army under the command of American General Douglas Mac Arthur pushed back
North Koreans following the decisive battle of Inchon. However, the push into North Korea and China
threatened to escalate matters when the Soviet Union pledged to support its allies for what they saw as a
fight “against capitalist tyranny”. The war began on 25 June 1950 and ended on 27th July 1953 with the
establishment of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Tensions between North and South Korea persists to this
day despite decades after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Cuban Missile Crisis 1961:

Leaders of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were worried that the United States of America
(USA) would invade Communist-ruled Cuba and overthrow President (Fidel Castro). Cuba was an ally of
the USSR and received both diplomatic and financial aid from it. The leader of the USSR decided to
Convert Cuba into a Russian base, and Placed Nuclear missiles in Cuba. Geographically Cuba is close to
the USA; therefore, the Installation of weapons in Cuba by the USSR had directly threatened the USA, for
the first time, under fire from close range. In Reaction, USA nearly doubled the number of defence bases
or Cities in the American mainland, which could be threatened by the USSR. USA President ordered
American warships to block any Soviet Ships heading to Cuba. Eventually, both sides decided to avoid war
and Soviet ships Slowed down and turned back.

Vietnam War:
The US intervened in the Vietnam crisis in 1965 by sending troops to aid South Vietnam in its fight against
communist North Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the USSR and China. The Vietnam war
(Which ended on April 30, 1975) proved very costly for the US where they lost about 58000 men. The
losses and anti-war sentiment by its own people forced the US to withdraw its troops from Vietnam. In
1975, the Vietnam war ended with the fall of Saigon, the capital of the South Vietnamese government, with
a decisive victory for communists.

Afghan Invasion:
Tensions between the US and the Soviet Union were abating in the seventies. But the situation in
Afghanistan reversed this trend. The Afghanistan crisis further escalated when the Soviet army invaded
Afghanistan to help the communist government there fight the insurgents called Mujahideen. The United
States responded by supporting the Mujahideen elements in a war that lasted ten years there. The Taliban
emerged directly as a result of this war. The US-funded the Mujahideen through Pakistan’s ISI. The Afghan
war ended in 1989 when Soviet troops withdrew from there. This had long-lasting consequences for South
Asia itself. The fighters from the Afghan-Soviet war were funnelled into Kashmir, leading to a rise in the
insurgency in the state.

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The Dissolution of the Soviet Union and the End of Cold War
The Dissolution of the Soviet Union was a significant event in world history. It happened on 25th December
1991after nearly 74 years of the formation of the USSR. Once, it was one of the most powerful and largest
nations in the World, which covered an area of more than 22 million square kilometers. It also had thousands
of nuclear weapons at the time of dissolution. The Soviet Union (USSR) broke up into 15 independent
nations after the disintegration. It happened during the tenure of Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. He
came to power in 1985 and brought several reforms in the political and economic spheres of the nation.
There were several reasons for this disintegration. These include the reform policies of Mikhail Gorbachev,
as discussed in the following sections.

There were several significant reasons for the fall of the Soviet Union (USSR). These are explained below:

Policies of Gorbachev
o His reform policies of Glasnost (political Openness) and Perestroika (economic restructuring)
didn’t work.
o The reforms of Gorbachev were expected to give results in the long term. But the immediate
loosening of control over the Soviet Union was detrimental to the crumbling political system.
o The state lost its control over the states, which led to the rise of revolutionary movements.

Economic Stagnation
o The Soviet economy suffered from mismanagement. There was a stagnation of the economy
coupled with the rise of the black market.
o Wage hikes and printing more money led to a high rise in inflation.
o The management of fiscal policy was poor. The country faced major fiscal issues during the fall in
oil prices in 1986.
o The application of Perestroika reforms only increased the problems of the economy.

High Military Spending

o Even during the period of economic stagnation, the military spending of the Soviet Union was very
high.
o It is estimated that it was somewhere between 10 to 20% of the total GDP.
o This further weakened the state.

Nuclear Disaster
o Shortly after Gorbachev came to power, a nuclear disaster occurred in the Chernobyl Nuclear
Power Plant on 26th April 1986.
o The radioactive fallout was 400 times that of the bomb on Hiroshima.
o Initially, the Soviet Government suppressed the news of the severity of the disaster to the World.
But, soon, the truth came to the surface, and the government lost its trust and legitimacy in the eyes
of its states and the rest of the World.

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Setback in Afghanistan
o The involvement of the USSR army in Afghanistan from the 1979 to 1989 period was a failure.
o Around 15 thousand Soviet soldiers, out of the millions of those involved, lost their lives in the
adventure.
o More than 1 million Afghani civilians were killed, and more than 4 million were displaced.
o These atrocities and setbacks developed dissent in the minds of people against the regime.

Conclusion
The Dissolution of the Soviet Union was a major turning point in world history. It marked the end of Cold
war and a new beginning in the world of politics. Eventually, it characterized the dominance of the USA as
the new super power. The consequence of Dissolution of Soviet Union affected those countries who
emerged from its ashes. As they had to struggle to switch from socialist policies to market based economies.
It reshaped the balance of power and ended an era in the world politics.

Although, the end of the Cold War marked the victory of the US and the bipolar world order turned into a
unipolar. However, over the last decade, the position of the US as the world's most powerful state has
appeared increasingly unstable. The US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, non-traditional security threats,
global economic instability, the apparent spread of religious fundamentalism, together with the rise of
emerging economic powers (like Japan, Australia, India, China etc.) have made the world look more
multipolar and has led many to predict the decline of the west and the rise of the rest.

References:
 History: "Themes in World History". NCERT
 Political Science: "Contemporary World Politics". NCERT
 "The Cold War: A History" by Martin Walker.
 "The Cambridge History of the Cold War" edited by Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne
Westad.
 "The Cold War: A Very Short Introduction" by Robert J. McMahon.

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