The article briefly talks about the Cold War - the confrontation between the USSR and the USA after World War II. The superpowers were in a state of confrontation. The Cold War found expression in a series of limited military conflicts in which the USSR and the USA took some part. For about half a century the world was waiting for the Third World War.

1. Introduction
2. Causes of the Cold War
3. Progress of the Cold War
4. Results of the Cold War

Causes of the Cold War

• After the end of World War II, two superpowers emerged in the world: the USSR and the USA. The Soviet Union made a decisive contribution to the victory over fascism and had, at that time, the most combat-ready army, armed with the latest technology. The movement in support of the Soviet Union intensified throughout the world due to the emergence of states with socialist regimes in Eastern Europe.
• Western countries, led by the United States, watched with alarm the growing popularity of the Soviet Union. The creation of the atomic bomb in the United States and its use against Japan allowed the American government to believe that it could dictate its will to the whole world. Plans for an atomic strike on the Soviet Union immediately began to be developed. The Soviet leadership realized the possibility of such actions and hastily carried out work to create such weapons in the USSR. During the period when the United States remained the sole owner of atomic weapons, the war did not begin only because the limited number of bombs would not allow for complete victory. In addition, the Americans were afraid of support from many states for the USSR.
• The ideological justification for the Cold War was W. Churchill’s speech in Fulton (1946). In it, he stated that the Soviet Union was a threat to the whole world. The socialist system strives to conquer the globe and establish its dominance. Churchill considered the English-speaking countries (primarily the USA and England) to be the main force capable of countering the global threat, which should declare a new crusade against the Soviet Union. The USSR took note of the threat. From this moment the Cold War begins.

Progress of the Cold War

• The Cold War did not develop into World War III, but situations arose when this could well have happened.
• In 1949, the Soviet Union invented the atomic bomb. The seemingly achieved parity between the superpowers turned into an arms race - a constant increase in military-technical potential and the invention of more powerful weapons.
• In 1949, NATO was formed - a military-political bloc of Western states, and in 1955 - the Warsaw Pact, which united the socialist states of Eastern Europe led by the USSR. The main warring parties have emerged.
• The first "hot spot" of the Cold War was the Korean War (1950-1953). In South Korea there was a pro-American regime in power, in North Korea it was pro-Soviet. NATO sent its armed forces, USSR assistance was expressed in the supply of military equipment and the dispatch of specialists. The war ended with recognition of the division of Korea into two states.
• The most dangerous moment of the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). The USSR stationed its nuclear missiles in Cuba, in close proximity to the United States. The Americans became aware of this. The Soviet Union was demanded to remove the missiles. After the refusal, the military forces of the superpowers were put on alert. However, common sense prevailed. The USSR agreed to the demand, and in return the Americans removed their missiles from Turkey.
• The further history of the Cold War was expressed in the material and ideological support by the Soviet Union for third world countries in their national liberation movement. The United States, under the pretext of the struggle for democracy, provided the same support to pro-Western regimes. The confrontation led to local military conflicts around the globe, the largest of which was the US war in Vietnam (1964-1975).
• Second half of the 70s. marked by a relaxation of tensions. A series of negotiations were held, and economic and cultural ties between the Western and Eastern blocs began to be established.
• However, in the late 70s, the superpowers made another breakthrough in the arms race. Moreover, in 1979, the USSR sent its troops into Afghanistan. Relations became strained again.
• Perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union led to the collapse of the entire socialist system. The Cold War ended due to the voluntary withdrawal of one of the superpowers from the confrontation. Americans rightfully consider themselves victors in the war.

Results of the Cold War

• The Cold War for a long time kept humanity in fear of the possibility of a Third World War, which could well be the last in human history. By the end of the confrontation, according to various estimates, the planet had accumulated such a quantity of nuclear weapons that would be enough to blow up the globe 40 times.
• The Cold War led to military clashes in which people died and enormous damage was caused to states. The arms race itself was ruinous for both superpowers.
• The end of the Cold War should be recognized as an achievement for humanity. However, the conditions under which this became possible led to the collapse of the great state with all the ensuing consequences. There was a threat of the formation of a unipolar world led by the United States.

Introduction. 2

1. Causes of the Cold War. 3

2. “Cold War”: beginning, development. 6

2.1 The beginning of the Cold War... 6

2.2 The culmination of the Cold War... 8

3. Consequences, results and lessons of the Cold War. 11

3.1 Political, economic and ideological consequences of the Cold War... 11

3.2 The results of the Cold War and whether its outcome was predetermined.. 14

Conclusion. 17

Literature. 19

Introduction

Not only history, but also the attitude towards it knows sharp turns, indicating qualitative stages of the political, social, moral development of human society. With a reasonable degree of reliability, we can say: when civilization moves beyond the beliefs of power, everyone will agree that the Cold War - one of the saddest chapters of the twentieth century - was the product, first of all, of human imperfections and ideological prejudices. She could very well not exist. It would not exist if the actions of people and the actions of states corresponded to their words and declarations.

However, the Cold War befell humanity. The question arises: why did yesterday’s military allies suddenly turn into enemies who are cramped on the same planet? What prompted them to exaggerate their previous mistakes and add many new ones to them? This did not jibe with common sense, not to mention the duty of an ally and basic concepts of decency.

The Cold War did not break out suddenly. It was born in the crucible of the “hot war” and left a very noticeable imprint on the course of the latter. Many people in the USA and England perceived interaction with the USSR in the fight against aggressors as forced, contrary to their affections and interests, and secretly, and some clearly dreamed that the battles, which London and Washington had been observers for a long time, would exhaust the strength of Germany as well. and the Soviet Union.

Many did not just dream, but worked out variants of strategy and tactics behind tightly closed doors in the hope of gaining a “decisive advantage” in the final direct war, when the hour struck to take stock, and to actively use this advantage against the USSR.

G. Hopkins, an adviser to F. Roosevelt, wrote in 1945 that some people overseas “really wanted our (American armies), passing through Germany, to start a war with Russia after the defeat of Germany.” And who knows how things would have turned out in reality if the cards had not been confused by the unfinished war with Japan and the need for help from the Red Army in order, as it was then calculated, to “save up to a million American lives.”

The relevance of the study is that the Cold War was a sharp confrontation between two systems on the world stage. It became especially acute in the late 40s - 60s. There was a time when the severity subsided somewhat, and then intensified again. The Cold War covered all spheres of international relations: political, economic, military and ideological.

Currently, due to the deployment of the US anti-missile system and the negative attitude of representatives of a number of countries, including Russia, to this, since the missiles will be located near Russian borders, this topic is becoming particularly acute.

Purpose of the work: to consider the Cold War in Russia, its causes and origins, development.

1. Causes of the Cold War

The prologue of the Cold War can be traced back to the final stage of the Second World War. In our opinion, the decision of the leadership of the United States and England not to inform the USSR about the work on creating atomic weapons played an important role in its emergence. To this we can add Churchill’s desire to open a second front not in France, but in the Balkans and to advance not from West to East, but from south to north, in order to block the path of the Red Army. Then, in 1945, plans emerged to push back Soviet troops from the center of Europe to the pre-war borders. And finally in 1946, a speech in Fulton.

In Soviet historiography, it was generally accepted that the Cold War was started by the United States and its allies, and the USSR was forced to take retaliatory, most often adequate, measures. But at the very end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, other approaches emerged in the coverage of the Cold War. Some authors began to argue that it is generally impossible to determine its chronological framework and establish who started it. Others blame both sides - the USA and the USSR - as the culprits for the emergence of the Cold War. Some accuse the Soviet Union of foreign policy mistakes that led, if not to a direct outbreak, then to an expansion, aggravation and long-term continuation of the confrontation between the two powers.

The term “Cold War” was coined in 1947 by the US Secretary of State. They began to denote the state of political, economic, ideological and other confrontation between states and systems. One Washington government document from that time stated: the “Cold War” is a “real war”, the stake in which is “the survival of the free world.”

What were the causes of the Cold War?

The economic reasons for the change in US policy were that the US became immeasurably rich during the war. With the end of the war they were threatened by a crisis of overproduction. At the same time, the economies of European countries were destroyed, their markets were open to American goods, but there was nothing to pay for these goods. The United States was afraid to invest capital in the economies of these countries, since there was a strong influence of leftist forces there and the situation for investment was unstable.

In the United States, a plan was developed, called the Marshall Plan. European countries were offered assistance to rebuild their devastated economies. Loans were given to purchase American goods. The proceeds were not exported, but were invested in the construction of enterprises in these countries.

The Marshall Plan was adopted by 16 Western European countries. The political condition for providing assistance was the removal of communists from governments. In 1947, the communists were removed from the governments of Western European countries. Help was also offered to Eastern European countries. Poland and Czechoslovakia began negotiations, but under pressure from the USSR they refused assistance. At the same time, the United States broke the Soviet-American loan agreement and adopted a law banning exports to the USSR.

The ideological basis for the Cold War was the Truman Doctrine, put forward by the US President in 1947. According to this doctrine, the conflict between Western democracy and communism is irreconcilable. The tasks of the United States are to fight communism throughout the world, “contain communism,” and “throw back communism within the borders of the USSR.” American responsibility for the events taking place throughout the world was proclaimed; all these events were viewed through the prism of the confrontation between communism and Western democracy, the USSR and the USA.

Speaking about the origins of the Cold War, according to many historians, it is illogical to try to completely whitewash one side and place all the blame on the other. By now, American and British historians have long accepted partial responsibility for what happened after 1945.

In order to understand the origin and essence of the Cold War, let us turn to the events of the history of the Great Patriotic War.

Since June 1941, the Soviet Union fought Nazi Germany in difficult single combat. Roosevelt called the Russian front “the biggest support.”

The great battle on the Volga, according to Roosevelt’s biographer and his assistant Robert Sherwood, “changed the whole picture of the war and the prospects for the near future.” As a result of one battle, Russia became one of the great world powers. The victory of Russian troops at the Kursk Bulge dispelled all doubts in Washington and London about the outcome of the war. The collapse of Hitler's Germany was now only a matter of time.

Accordingly, in the corridors of power in London and Washington, the question arose about whether the anti-Hitler coalition had exhausted itself, whether it was time to sound the trumpet of an anti-communist rally?

Thus, already during the war, some circles in the United States and England considered plans to go through Germany and start a war with Russia.

The fact of negotiations that Germany conducted at the end of the war with the Western powers on a separate peace is widely known. In Western literature, the “Wolf Affair” is often classified as the first operation of the Cold War. It can be noted that the “Wolf-Dallas case” was the largest operation against F. Roosevelt and his course, launched during the life of the president and designed to disrupt the implementation of the Yalta agreements.

Truman succeeded Roosevelt. At a White House meeting on April 23, 1945, he questioned the usefulness of any agreements with Moscow. “This needs to be broken now or never...” he said. This refers to Soviet-American cooperation. Thus, Truman’s actions erased the years of Roosevelt’s work, when the foundations of mutual understanding with Soviet leaders were laid.

On April 20, 1945, at a meeting with, the American president in an unacceptable form demanded that the USSR change its foreign policy in a spirit pleasing to the United States. Less than a month later, supplies to the USSR under Lend-Lease were stopped without any explanation. In September, the United States set unacceptable conditions for the Soviet Union to receive a previously promised loan. As Professor J. Geddis wrote in one of his works, the USSR was demanded that “in exchange for an American loan, it would change its system of government and renounce its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe.”

Thus, contrary to sober thinking in politics and strategy, the leading place was taken by the concept of permissiveness, based on the monopoly of atomic weapons.

2. “Cold War”: beginning, development

2.1 Beginning of the Cold War

So, at the final stage of the war, the rivalry between two tendencies in the politics of the USA and England sharply intensified.

During the Cold War, the use of force or the threat of force became the rule. The desire to establish its dominance and dictate on the part of the United States began to manifest itself long ago. After the Second World War, the United States used all means to achieve its goal - from negotiations at conferences, at the United Nations, to political, economic and even military pressure in Latin America, in Western Europe, and then in the Near, Middle and Far East. The main ideological cover of their foreign policy doctrine was the fight against communism. Typical slogans in this regard were: “throwing away communism”, “politics on a knife’s edge”, “balancing on the brink of war”.

From NSC document 68, declassified in 1975, and approved in April 1950 by President Truman, it is clear that the United States then decided to build relations with the USSR only on the basis of constant crisis confrontation. One of the main goals in this direction was to achieve US military superiority over the USSR. The goal of American foreign policy was to “accelerate the disintegration of the Soviet system.”

Already in November 1947, the United States began to introduce a whole system of restrictive and prohibitive measures in the fields of finance and trade, which marked the beginning of the economic war of the West against the East.

During 1948, there was a progressive development of mutual claims in economic, financial, transport and other areas. But the Soviet Union took a more accommodating position.

American intelligence reported that the USSR was not preparing for war and was not carrying out mobilization measures. At the same time, the Americans understood the loss of their operational-strategic position in the center of Europe.

This is evidenced by an entry in the diary of influential US politician William Leahy for June 30, 1948: “The American military situation in Berlin is hopeless, since there are no sufficient forces anywhere and there is no information that the USSR is experiencing inconvenience due to internal weakness. It would be in the US's interest to withdraw from Berlin. However, the Soviet side soon agreed to lift the blockade.

This is the outline of the events that threatened to lead humanity to the third world war in 1948.

2.2 Climax of the Cold War

The years 1949–1950 were the culmination of the Cold War, marked by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949, whose “openly aggressive nature” was tirelessly exposed by the USSR, the Korean War and the rearmament of Germany.

1949 was an “extremely dangerous” year, since the USSR no longer doubted that the Americans would remain in Europe for a long time. But it also brought satisfaction to the Soviet leaders: the successful test of the first Soviet atomic bomb in September 1949 and the victory of the Chinese communists.

The strategic military plans of that time reflected the national interests and capabilities of the country, the realities of that time. Thus, the country’s defense plan for 1947 set the following tasks for the Armed Forces:

ü Ensure reliable repulsion of aggression and the integrity of the borders in the west and east established by international treaties after the Second World War.

ü Be prepared to repel an enemy air attack, including the use of atomic weapons.

ü The Navy to repel possible aggression from sea directions and provide support for ground forces for these purposes.

Soviet foreign policy decisions during the Cold War period were mainly reactive in nature and determined by the logic of struggle, rather than the logic of cooperation.

In contrast to its policies pursued in other regions of the world, the USSR acted extremely cautiously in the Far East since 1945. The entry of the Red Army into the war with Japan in August 1945 allowed it to restore positions in this region that were lost in 1905 by the Tsarist Empire. On August 15, 1945, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to the Soviet presence in Port Arthur, Dairen and Manchuria. With Soviet support, Manchuria became an autonomous communist state led by Gao Gang, who apparently had close ties to Stalin. At the end of 1945, the latter called on the Chinese communists to find a common language with Chiang Kai-shek. This position has been confirmed several times over the years.

The fact that, starting in the summer of 1947, the political and military situation changed in favor of the Chinese communists did not generally change the restrained attitude of the Soviet leadership towards the Chinese communists, who were not invited to the meeting dedicated to the founding of the Comintern.

The USSR's enthusiasm for "Chinese brothers in arms" only emerged after the final victory of Mao Zedong. On November 23, 1949, the USSR established diplomatic relations with Beijing. One of the main factors in agreement was general hostility towards the United States. That this was so was openly confirmed a few weeks later, when the Security Council refused to expel Nationalist China from the UN, the USSR withdrew from all its bodies (until August 1950).

It was thanks to the absence of the USSR that the Security Council was able, on June 27, 1950, to pass a resolution on the entry of American troops into Korea, where the North Koreans had crossed the 38th parallel two days earlier.

According to some modern versions, North Korea was pushed to this step by Stalin, who did not believe in the possibility of US retaliation after they “abandoned” Chiang Kai-shek, and wanted to compete with Mao in the Far East. However, when China, in turn, entered the war on the side of North Korea, the USSR, encountering the firm position of the United States, tried to maintain the local nature of the conflict.

To a greater extent than the conflict in Korea, the “headache” of Soviet foreign policy in the early 50s was the question of the integration of Germany into the Western political system and its rearmament. On October 23, 1950, the foreign ministers of the Eastern European camp gathered in Prague proposed signing a peace treaty with Germany, providing for its demilitarization and the withdrawal of all foreign troops from it. In December, Western countries agreed to a meeting, but demanded that all problems on which there was confrontation between the West and the East be discussed.

In September 1951, the US Congress passed the Mutual Security Act, which granted the right to finance emigrant anti-Soviet and counter-revolutionary organizations. On its basis, significant funds were allocated to recruit individuals living in the Soviet Union and other countries of Eastern Europe and pay for their subversive activities.

Speaking about the Cold War, one cannot help but touch upon the topic of conflicts that could escalate into a nuclear war. Historical analyzes of the causes and course of crises during the Cold War leave much to be desired.

So far, there are three documented cases in which American policy took a course toward war. In each of them, Washington deliberately risked atomic war: during the Korean War; in the conflict over the Chinese islands of Quemoy and Matsu; in the Cuban crisis.

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 convincingly demonstrated that the nuclear missile arsenals of both powers were not only sufficient, but also excessive for mutual destruction, and that a further quantitative increase in nuclear potential could not provide advantages to either country.

Thus, already in the early 60s it became obvious that even in the Cold War environment only compromises, mutual concessions, understanding of each other’s interests and the global interests of all humanity, diplomatic negotiations, exchange of truthful information, taking emergency rescue measures against the emergence of immediate threats of nuclear war are effective means of conflict resolution in our time. This is the main lesson of the Cuban missile crisis.

Being a product of the psychology of the Cold War, it clearly demonstrated the vital need to discard the categories of previous thinking and adopt new thinking, adequate to the threats of the nuclear missile age, global interdependence, the interests of survival and universal security. The Cuban missile crisis, as we know, ended in a compromise; the USSR removed Soviet ballistic missiles and Il-28 medium-range bombers from Cuba. In response, the United States gave guarantees of non-interference in the affairs of Cuba and removed Jupiter missiles from Turkey, and then from Great Britain and Italy. However, militaristic thinking was far from eradicated, continuing to dominate politics.

In September 1970, the London International Institute for Strategic Studies announced that the USSR was approaching nuclear parity with the United States. On February 25, 1971, Americans heard President Nixon on the radio: “Today, neither the United States nor the Soviet Union has a clear nuclear advantage.”

In October of the same year, preparing for the Soviet-American summit, he said at a press conference: “If there is a new war, if the war is between superpowers, then no one will win. That is why the moment has come to resolve our differences, to resolve them taking into account our differences of opinion, recognizing that they are still very deep, recognizing, however, that at the moment there is no alternative to negotiations.”

Thus, recognition of the realities of the nuclear age led in the early 70s to a revision of policy, a turn from the Cold War to détente, and cooperation between states with different social systems.

3. Consequences, results and lessons of the Cold War

3.1 Political, economic and ideological consequences of the Cold War

The United States constantly sought to forestall the USSR and be the initiator both in politics and economics and, especially, in military affairs. At first, they rushed to use their advantage, which consisted in the possession of an atomic bomb, then in the development of new types of military equipment and weapons, thereby pushing the Soviet Union to quick and adequate actions. Their main goal was to weaken the USSR, destroy it, and tear its allies away from it. By dragging the USSR into the arms race, the United States thus forced it to strengthen its army at the expense of funds intended for internal development and improving the well-being of the people.

In recent years, some historians have accused the Soviet Union of taking and implementing measures that allegedly helped the United States pursue its policies aimed at confrontation and strengthening the Cold War. However, the facts tell a different story. The United States, together with its Western allies, began to implement its special line from Germany. In the spring of 1947, at a session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, representatives of the United States, England and France announced their rejection of the decisions previously agreed upon with the Soviet Union. With their unilateral actions, they put the eastern zone of occupation in a difficult situation and consolidated the division of Germany. By carrying out monetary reform in the three western zones in June 1948, the three powers actually provoked the Berlin crisis, forcing the Soviet occupation authorities to protect the eastern zone from currency manipulation and protect its economy and monetary system. For these purposes, a system of checking citizens arriving from West Germany was introduced and the movement of any transport was prohibited in case of refusal of verification. Western occupation authorities prohibited the population of the western part of the city from accepting any help from East Germany and organized supplies to West Berlin by air, while simultaneously intensifying anti-Soviet propaganda. Later, such an informed person as J.F. Dulles spoke about the use of the Berlin crisis by Western propaganda.

In line with the Cold War, the Western powers carried out such foreign policy actions as the split of Germany into two states, the creation of the military Western Alliance and the signing of the North Atlantic Pact, which was already mentioned above.

This was followed by a period of creation of military blocs and alliances in different parts of the world under the pretext of ensuring mutual security.

In September 1951, the USA, Australia and New Zealand created a military-political alliance (ANZUS).

On May 26, 1952, representatives of the USA, England and France, on the one hand, and Germany, on the other, signed in Bonn a document on the participation of West Germany in the European Defense Community (EDC), and on May 27, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg conclude an agreement in Paris on the creation of this bloc.

In September 1954, in Manila, the USA, England, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand signed the Southeast Asian Collective Defense Treaty (SEATO).

In October 1954, the Paris Agreements were signed on the remilitarization of Germany and its inclusion in the Western Union and NATO. They come into force in May 1955.

In February 1955, the military Turkish-Iraqi alliance (Baghdad Pact) was created.

The actions of the United States and its allies required retaliatory measures. On May 14, 1955, a collective defensive alliance of socialist states was formalized - the Warsaw Pact Organization. This was a response to the creation of the NATO military bloc and the inclusion of Germany in it. The Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance was signed by Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, USSR and Czechoslovakia. It was purely defensive in nature and was not directed against anyone. Its task was to protect the socialist gains and peaceful labor of the peoples of the countries participating in the treaty.

In the event of a collective security system being created in Europe, the Warsaw Pact should have lost its force from the day the pan-European treaty came into force.

To make it difficult for the Soviet Union to resolve issues of post-war development, the United States introduced a ban on economic ties and trade with the USSR and the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe. The supply to these countries of even previously ordered and ready-made equipment, vehicles and various materials was interrupted. A list of items prohibited for export to the USSR and other countries of the socialist camp was specially adopted. This created certain difficulties for the USSR, but also caused serious damage to Western industrial enterprises.

In September 1951, the American government canceled the trade agreement with the USSR that had existed since 1937. Adopted at the beginning of January 1952, the second list of goods prohibited for export to socialist countries was so broad that it included goods from almost all industries.

3.2 The results of the Cold War and whether its outcome was predetermined

What was the Cold War for us, what were its results and lessons in terms of the changes that took place in the world?

It is hardly legitimate to characterize the Cold War with one-sided definitions - either as another conflict in the history of mankind, or as a long-term peace. This point of view was shared by J. Gaddis. Apparently, this historical phenomenon carried features of both.

In this regard, I agree with Academician G. Arbatov, who believes that the antagonisms and instability generated by the Second World War carried the same possibility of military conflict as those that arose after the First World War.

In any case, both the Berlin crisis of 1953 and, especially, the Caribbean Missile Crisis of October 1962 could well have culminated in a third world war. A general military conflict did not arise only due to the “dissuasive” role of nuclear weapons.

Political scientists and ideologists around the world have tried many times to clearly define the concept of the “Cold War” and identify its most characteristic features. From the perspective of today, in conditions when the Cold War has become a thing of the past, it is quite obvious that it represented, first of all, a political course of the confronting parties, carried out from a position of strength on a unique ideological basis.

In economics and trade, this manifested itself in blocs and discriminatory measures towards each other. In propaganda activities - in the formation of the “image of the enemy.” The goal of such a policy in the West was to contain the spread of communism, to protect the “free world” from it. In the East, the goal of such a policy was also seen as protecting peoples, but from the “pernicious influence of the decaying Western world.”

Now it is futile to look for the guilt of any one of the parties as the main reason for the emergence of the Cold War. Quite obviously, there was a general “blindness”, in which, instead of political dialogue, preference was given to confrontation between the leading states of the world - the USSR and the USA.

The transition to confrontation happened imperceptibly quickly. A circumstance of exceptional importance was the appearance of nuclear weapons on the world stage.

The Cold War, as a whole complex of phenomena, had a huge impact on the overall increase in tension in the world, on the increase in the number, scale and severity of local conflicts. There is no doubt that without the established climate of the Cold War, many crisis situations in various regions of the planet would certainly have been extinguished by the concerted efforts of the international community.

Speaking about the peculiarities of the Cold War, it should be said that in our country for a long time everything related to nuclear weapons was anathema. Ostensibly for moral reasons. Again, the question arises: what prevented the development of an armed conflict when the world was literally on the verge of war?

This, in my opinion, is the fear of universal destruction, which sobered up politicians, reoriented public opinion, and forced them to remember eternal moral values.

The fear of mutual destruction led to the fact that international politics ceased to be solely “the art of diplomats and soldiers.” New subjects have actively joined it - scientists, transnational corporations, mass media, public organizations and movements, and individuals. They all brought to it their own interests, beliefs and goals, including those based solely on moral considerations.

So who won this war?

Now, after the passage of time, which has put everything in its place, it has become clear that humanity as a whole has emerged victorious, since the main result of the Caribbean crisis, as well as the Cold War as a whole, was the unprecedented strengthening of the moral factor in world politics.

Most researchers note the exceptional role of ideology in the Cold War.

In this case, the words spoken by General de Gaulle are true: “since the birth of the world, the banner of ideology has not, it seems, covered anything except human ambitions.” The country, which proclaimed itself the bearer of universal moral values, unceremoniously discarded morality when it came to its own interests or the ability to win back at least one point in the political struggle with the enemy.

The question is legitimate: if the policies of the West in post-war history were based not on momentary state interests, but exclusively on the principles proclaimed in international law, in democratic constitutions, and finally in the biblical commandments, if the demands of morality were addressed primarily to ourselves, - would there be an arms race and local wars? There is no answer to this question yet, since humanity has not yet accumulated experience in politics based on moral principles.

Currently, the “triumph” the United States won in the short term now seems to Americans to be something completely different, maybe even a defeat in the long term.

As for the other side, having suffered defeat in the short term, the Soviet Union, or rather its successors, did not at all deprive themselves of their chances in the long term. Reforms and changes in Russia give it a unique opportunity to answer the questions facing civilization as a whole. The chance that Russia has given the world today, ridding it of the exhausting arms race and class approach, it seems to me, can be qualified as a moral achievement. And in this regard, I agree with the authors of the article “Were there winners in the Cold War” B. Martynov.

This circumstance is also noted by many foreign politicians.

I believe that its outcome was predetermined, since there was a military balance in the world and in the event of a nuclear threat there would be no survivors.

Conclusion

The “Cold War” quite naturally became a kind of fusion of traditional, power confrontation not only of two military blocs, but also of two ideological concepts. Moreover, the struggle around moral values ​​was of a secondary, auxiliary nature. A new conflict was avoided only thanks to the presence of nuclear weapons.

Fear of mutually assured destruction has become, on the one hand, a catalyst for moral progress in the world (the problem of human rights, ecology), and on the other, the cause of the economic and political collapse of the society of so-called real socialism (the unbearable burden of the arms race).

As history shows, not a single socio-economic model, no matter how economically effective it is, has a historical perspective if it is not based on any solid moral postulates, if the meaning of its existence is not focused on achieving universal humanistic ideals.

The common victory of humanity as a result of the Cold War may be the triumph of moral values ​​in politics and in the life of society. Russia's contribution to achieving this goal determined its position in the world in the long term.

The end of the Cold War should not, however, lull the peoples and governments of the two great states, as well as the entire population, to sleep. The main task of all healthy, realistically thinking forces in society is to prevent a second return to it. This is also relevant in our time, since, as noted, confrontation is possible over the deployment of a missile defense system, as well as in connection with the conflicts that have recently arisen between Russia and Georgia, Russia and Estonia, former Soviet republics.

Refusal of confrontational thinking, cooperation, mutual consideration of interests and security - this is the general line in relations between countries and peoples living in the nuclear missile era.

The years of the Cold War provide grounds for the conclusion that, in opposing communism and revolutionary movements, the United States primarily fought against the Soviet Union, as the country that represented the greatest obstacle to the implementation of its main goal - establishing its dominance over the world.

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Topic 7. World history in the second half of the 20th century.
Task 3. “Cold War”: causes, course and consequences.

INTRODUCTION
The unity of the victorious countries could not be strong. The USSR, on the one hand, and the USA, Great Britain and France, on the other, represented different social systems. Stalin sought to expand the territory led by the communist parties. The Soviet Union sought to gain access to resources that were previously controlled by capitalist countries. The United States and its allies sought to maintain their dominance in Asia, Africa and Latin America. All this brought humanity to the brink of the third world war. The confrontation between the USSR and the USA, which unfolded in the mid-40s-80s of the twentieth century and was called the “Cold War,” never resulted in a “hot” war, although it constantly led to conflicts in certain regions. The Cold War caused a split in the world into two camps, gravitating towards the USSR and the USA. The term "Cold War" was coined by Churchill during his speech in Fulton (USA) on March 5, 1946. No longer the leader of his country, Churchill remained one of the most influential politicians in the world. In his speech, he stated that Europe was divided by the “Iron Curtain” and called on Western civilization to declare war on “communism.” In fact, the war between two systems, two ideologies has not stopped since 1917, however, it took shape as a completely conscious confrontation precisely after the Second World War.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR
Its beginning was associated with atomic weapons. The American military, thinking in the usual categories of naked force, began to look for the appropriate means to strike the “enemy,” that is, the Soviet Union. The philosophical stone in solving a problem that seemed insoluble in the recommendations dating back to 1943-1944 was atomic weapons. Support for the position of the United States by the majority of countries in the world was combined with their exceptional position as holders of a monopoly on the atomic bomb: the Americans again demonstrated their power by conducting test explosions on Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946. Stalin made a number of statements during this period in order to downplay the importance of the new weapon. These statements set the tone for all Soviet propaganda. But the behavior of the representatives of the Soviet Union in private showed their great concern in reality.

But the American monopoly on nuclear weapons lasted only four years. In 1949, the USSR tested its first atomic bomb. This event was a real shock for the Western world and an important milestone in the Cold War. In the course of further accelerated development in the USSR, nuclear and then thermonuclear weapons were soon created. Fighting has become very dangerous for everyone, and is fraught with very bad consequences. The nuclear potential accumulated over the years of the Cold War was enormous, but the gigantic stockpiles of destructive weapons were of no use, and the costs of their production and storage were growing. The debate is fruitless, especially considering that if a war broke out and one of the opponents used nuclear weapons, very soon there would be nothing left not only of him, but of the entire planet.

CONSEQUENCES
The dismantling of the Berlin Wall is considered the last milestone of the Cold War. That is, we can talk about its results. But this is perhaps the most difficult thing. Because for everyone the consequences are twofold.
What are they like for the USSR and present-day Russia? After the Second World War, the USSR restructured its economy in such a way that the overwhelming majority of funds went to the military-industrial complex, since the USSR could not afford to be weaker than the United States. This turned the USSR into a country of general shortages and a weak economy, and destroyed the once mighty power. However, on the other hand, thanks to this, another state appeared on the political map - the Russian Federation, the state in which we now live, which is developing and building exclusively friendly and partnership relations with other countries. And the United States, first of all, lost a dangerous rival in the person of the USSR, and lost a partner in the person of the Russian Federation. And secondly, helping the Mujahideen in Afghanistan gave birth to a global evil - international terrorism.
And finally, the Cold War emphasized that the main component that determined the victory of one of the sides was universal human values, which neither the fantastic development of technology nor sophisticated ideological influence could outweigh.

CONCLUSION
A slight detente in the confrontation occurred in the 70s. Its crowning achievement was the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. The participating countries deliberated for two years, and in 1975 in Helsinki, these countries signed the Final Act of the meeting. On the USSR side, it was sealed by Leonid Brezhnev. This document legitimized the post-war division of Europe, which is what the USSR sought. In exchange for this Western concession, the Soviet Union pledged to respect human rights.
Shortly before this, in July 1975, the famous Soviet-American joint flight on the Soyuz and Apollo spacecraft took place. The USSR stopped jamming Western radio broadcasts. It seemed that the Cold War era was forever a thing of the past. However, in December 1979, Soviet troops entered Afghanistan - another period of the Cold War began. Relations between the West and the East reached a freezing point when, by decision of the Soviet leadership, a South Korean plane with civilian passengers on board was shot down, which ended up in Soviet airspace. After this event, US President Ronald Reagan called the USSR “an evil empire and the center of evil.” It was only by 1987 that relations between East and West began to gradually improve again. In 1988-89, with the beginning of perestroika, dramatic changes occurred in Soviet politics. In November 1989, the Berlin Wall ceased to exist. On July 1, 1991, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. The socialist camp collapsed. In a number of countries - its former members - democratic revolutions took place, which were not only not condemned, but were supported by the USSR. The Soviet Union also refused to expand its influence in third world countries. Such a sharp turn in Soviet foreign policy in the West is associated with the name of USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Causes, stages and consequences of the Cold War.

After the end of the Second World War, which became the largest and most brutal conflict in the entire history of mankind, a confrontation arose between the countries of the communist camp on the one hand and Western capitalist countries on the other. Between the two superpowers of that time, the USSR and the USA. The Cold War can be briefly described as a competition for dominance in the new post-war world.

The main reason for the Cold War was the insoluble ideological contradictions between the two models of society, socialist and capitalist. The West feared the strengthening of the USSR. The lack of a common enemy among the winning countries, as well as the ambitions of political leaders, also played a role.

Historians identify the following stages of the Cold War:

· March 5, 1946 - 1953 - The Cold War began with Churchill's speech in Fulton in the spring of 1946, which proposed the idea of ​​​​creating a union of Anglo-Saxon countries to fight communism. The US goal was an economic victory over the USSR, as well as achieving military superiority. In fact, the Cold War began earlier, but it was by the spring of 1946, due to the USSR’s refusal to withdraw troops from Iran, that the situation seriously worsened.

· 1953 – 1962 - During this period of the Cold War, the world was on the brink of nuclear conflict. Despite some improvement in relations between the Soviet Union and the United States during Khrushchev's "thaw", it was at this stage that the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, events in the GDR and, earlier, in Poland, as well as the Suez crisis took place. International tensions increased following the Soviet development and successful testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in 1957.

However, the threat of nuclear war receded as the Soviet Union was now able to retaliate against US cities. This period of relations between the superpowers ended with the Berlin and Caribbean crises of 1961 and 1962, respectively. The Cuban missile crisis was resolved only through personal negotiations between the heads of state - Khrushchev and Kennedy. Also, as a result of the negotiations, a number of agreements on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons were signed.

· 1962 – 1979 - The period was marked by an arms race that undermined the economies of rival countries. The development and production of new types of weapons required incredible resources. Despite the presence of tension in relations between the USSR and the USA, agreements on the limitation of strategic arms are signed. The joint Soyuz-Apollo space program is being developed. However, by the beginning of the 80s, the USSR began to lose in the arms race.

· 1979 – 1987 - Relations between the USSR and the USA deteriorate again after the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. In 1983, the United States deployed ballistic missiles at bases in Italy, Denmark, England, Germany, and Belgium. An anti-space defense system is being developed. The USSR reacts to the actions of the West by withdrawing from the Geneva negotiations. During this period, the missile attack warning system is in constant combat readiness.

· 1987 – 1991 - Gorbachev’s coming to power in the USSR in 1985 entailed not only global changes within the country, but also radical changes in foreign policy, called “new political thinking.” Ill-conceived reforms completely undermined the economy of the Soviet Union, which led to the country's virtual defeat in the Cold War.

The end of the Cold War was caused by the weakness of the Soviet economy, its inability to no longer support the arms race, and also by pro-Soviet communist regimes. Anti-war protests in various parts of the world also played a certain role. The results of the Cold War were dismal for the USSR. A symbol of the victory of the West. was the reunification of Germany in 1990.

Consequences:

In fact, the Cold War had an impact on almost all aspects of human life, and its consequences in different countries had their own characteristics. If we try to highlight some of the main, most general consequences of the Cold War, then we need to mention the following:

· division of the world along ideological lines - with the beginning of the Cold War and the formation of military-political blocs. Led by the USA and the USSR, the whole world found itself in a state of division into “us” and “strangers”. This created numerous practical difficulties, as it put many obstacles in the way of economic, cultural and other cooperation, but first of all it had negative psychological consequences - humanity did not feel like a single whole. In addition, there was a constant fear that the confrontation could go into an acute phase and end in a world war using nuclear weapons;

· dividing the world into spheres of influence and fighting for them - in fact, the entire planet was considered by the opposing sides as a springboard in the fight against each other. Therefore, certain regions of the world were spheres of influence, for control over which there was a fierce struggle between the superpowers at the level of economic policy, propaganda, support for certain forces in individual countries and secret operations of the special services. As a result, severe disagreements were provoked in various regions, which after the end of the Cold War led to numerous hotbeds of tension, the emergence of local armed conflicts and full-scale civil wars (the fate of Yugoslavia, “hot spots” in the territory of the former USSR, numerous conflicts in Africa, and so on) ;

· militarization of the world economy - huge material, natural, technical and financial resources were directed into the military industry and into the arms race. In addition to the fact that this undermined the economic potential of many countries (primarily from the socialist camp), it also became a very serious factor in the subsequent emergence of local conflicts and global terrorism. After the end of the Cold War, a large number of weapons and weapons remained, which through the black market began to fuel “hot spots” and extremist organizations;

· the formation of a number of socialist regimes - the end of the Cold War marked anti-communist and anti-socialist revolutions in many countries, primarily in Europe. However, a number of countries have retained socialist regimes, and in a rather conservative form. This is one of the factors of instability of modern international relations: for example, for the United States it is still very unprofitable to have a socialist state (Cuba) near its borders, and the DPRK, whose political regime is very close to Stalinism, is an irritant for the West, South Korea and Japan due to information about work on the creation of North Korean nuclear weapons;

· the Cold War was not really that “cold” - the fact is that this confrontation was called a Cold War because it did not lead to an armed conflict between the superpowers and their most powerful allies. But meanwhile, in a number of places in the world, full-scale military conflicts took place, partly provoked by the actions of superpowers, as well as with their direct participation in them (the Vietnam War, the War in Afghanistan, a whole list of conflicts on the African continent);

· the Cold War contributed to the emergence of some countries into leading positions - after the end of World War II, the United States actively supported the economic revival and development of West Germany and Japan, which could be its allies in the fight against the USSR. The Soviet Union also provided some assistance to China. At the same time, China developed independently, but while the rest of the world was focused on the confrontation between the USA and the USSR, China received favorable conditions for transformation;

· scientific, technical and technological development - the Cold War stimulated the development of both fundamental science and applied technologies, which were initially sponsored and developed for military purposes, and were later repurposed for civilian needs and influenced the growth of the standard of living of ordinary people. A classic example is the Internet, which originally appeared as a communications system for the American military in the event of a nuclear war with the USSR;

· the formation of a unipolar model of the world - the United States, which actually won the Cold War, became the only superpower. Relying on the NATO military-political mechanism they created to confront the USSR, as well as on the most powerful military machine, which also appeared during the arms race with the Soviet Union, the States received all the necessary mechanisms to protect their interests in any part of the world, regardless of the decisions of international organizations and the interests of other countries. This was especially evident in the so-called “export of democracy” carried out by the United States since the turn of the 20th-21st centuries. On the one hand, this means the dominance of one country, on the other, it leads to increasing contradictions and resistance to this dominance.

The aggravation of relations between the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition led to a split of the world into two opposing military bloc systems. This confrontation, which lasted more than four decades, not only determined the state of international relations, but also had a direct impact on the nature of the socio-economic and socio-political development of most countries of the world.

From the point of view of the objective interests of peoples and states, the Cold War was not beneficial to anyone. Most of Europe lay in ruins; the restoration of its economy, as well as the national economy of the USSR, required conditions of peace and cooperation. The only power that grew stronger during the war was the United States. The national income of this country increased from 64 billion dollars in 1938 to 160 billion in 1944. The United States accounted for 60% of world industrial production and up to 80% of the world's gold reserves. But the United States also did not gain anything from the severance of cooperative relations with the USSR. The United States could prevent a decline in production after the curtailment of military orders only with the full implementation of the principle of free trade, which was impossible during the Cold War.

The post-war world and the causes of the Cold War. The transition from cooperation between former allies in the anti-fascist coalition to confrontation between them did not occur immediately.

The most important reason for the deterioration of relations between the USSR and the USA was the lack of mutual trust. For I.V. Stalin, especially after Germany's attack on the USSR, was characterized by extreme suspicion regarding the intentions of the leaders of foreign states. This suspicion was reinforced by theoretical conclusions of the 1920s and 1930s. about the inevitability of fascisation of countries of bourgeois democracy.

The leadership of the USSR sought to surround its territory with a belt of friendly states ruled by communists. This was perceived in the USA and Great Britain as an aggressive policy that violated the principle of freedom of peoples to choose their own path of development. The leaders of Western countries believed that the successes of the communists could not be the product of the free expression of their will by the people, especially in countries in whose territories Soviet troops were located. From the point of view of the leadership of the USSR, on the contrary, any choice other than in favor of the communist parties could only be a product of dictate, external influence.

An extremely negative reaction from the USSR was caused in the fall of 1945 by the demands of Western diplomacy to change the composition of the governments of Bulgaria and Romania on the grounds that only communists were represented in them. Moscow believed that the West intended to restore the barrier of states unfriendly to the USSR, separating it from Western Europe, which could become a springboard for an attack on it.

The formal beginning of the Cold War is often considered March 5, 1946, when Winston Churchill(at that time no longer holding the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain) made his famous speech in Fulton (USA-Missouri), in which he put forward the idea of ​​​​creating a military alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries with the aim of fighting world communism. In fact, the aggravation of relations between the allies began earlier, but by March 1946 it intensified due to the USSR’s refusal to withdraw occupation troops from Iran (the troops were withdrawn only in May 1946 under pressure from Great Britain and the United States).

Manifestations of the Cold War

An acute political and ideological confrontation between the communist and Western liberal systems, which has engulfed almost the entire world;

Creation of a system of military (NATO, Warsaw Pact Organization, SEATO, CENTO, ANZUS, ANZYUK) and economic (EEC, CMEA, ASEAN, etc.) alliances;

Creation of an extensive network of military bases of the USA and the USSR on the territory of foreign states;

Speeding up the arms race and military preparations;

A sharp increase in military spending;

Periodically emerging international crises (Berlin crises, Cuban missile crisis, Korean War, Vietnam War, Afghan War);

The unspoken division of the world into “spheres of influence” of the Soviet and Western blocs, within which the possibility of intervention was tacitly allowed in order to maintain a regime pleasing to one or another bloc (Soviet intervention in Hungary, Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, the American operation in Guatemala, the overthrow of the anti-Western organized by the United States and Great Britain government in Iran, US-led invasion of Cuba, US intervention in the Dominican Republic, US intervention in Grenada)

The rise of the national liberation movement in colonial and dependent countries and territories (partly inspired by the USSR), the decolonization of these countries, the formation of the “Third World”, the Non-Aligned Movement, neo-colonialism;

Waging a massive “psychological war”, the purpose of which was to promote one’s own ideology and way of life, as well as to discredit the official ideology and way of life of the opposite bloc in the eyes of the population of “enemy” countries and the “Third World”. For this purpose, radio stations were created that broadcast to the territory of the countries of the “ideological enemy” (see the articles Enemy Voices and Foreign Broadcasting), the production of ideologically oriented literature and periodicals in foreign languages ​​was financed, and the intensification of class, racial, and national contradictions was actively used. First main control e KGB of the USSR carried out so-called “active measures” - operations to influence foreign public opinion and the policies of foreign states in the interests of the USSR.

Support for anti-government forces abroad - The USSR and its allies supported financially communist parties and some other leftist parties in Western and developing countries, as well as national liberation movements, including terrorist organizations. Also, the USSR and its allies supported the peace movement in Western countries. In turn, the intelligence services of the United States and Great Britain supported and took advantage of such anti-Soviet organizations as the People's Labor Union. The United States has also secretly provided material assistance to Solidarity in Poland since 1982, and also provided material assistance to the Afghan Mujahideen and the Contras in Nicaragua.

Reduction of economic and humanitarian ties between states with different socio-political systems.

Boycotts of some Olympic Games. For example, the USA and a number of other countries boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In response, the USSR and most socialist countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.