Holodnaya voyna (1946—1989...present)

In short, the Cold War is an ideological, military and economic confrontation between the two strongest powers of the 20th century, the USSR and the USA, which lasted 45 years - from 1946 to 1991. The word “war” here is conditional; the conflict continued without the use of military force, but this did not make it any less severe. If we talk briefly about the Cold War, then the main weapon in it was ideology.

The main countries of this confrontation are the Soviet Union and the United States. The USSR has caused concern in Western countries since its inception. The communist system was the extreme opposite of the capitalist one, and the spread of socialism to other countries caused an extremely negative reaction from the West and the United States.

Only the threat of Nazi Germany's seizure of Europe forced the former fierce opponents to become temporary allies in World War II. France, Great Britain, the USSR and the USA created an anti-Hitler coalition and jointly fought against German troops. But the conflicts were forgotten only for the duration of the war.

After the end of the bloodiest war of the 20th century, a new division of the world into spheres of influence between the major victorious countries began. The USSR extended its influence to Eastern Europe. The strengthening of the Soviet Union caused serious concerns in England and the United States. The governments of these countries already in 1945 were developing plans to attack their main ideological enemy. British Prime Minister William Churchill, who hated the communist regime, made an open statement in which he emphasized that military superiority in the world should be on the side of Western countries, not the USSR. Statements of this kind caused increased tension between Western countries and the Soviet Union.

In short, the Cold War began in 1946, immediately after the end of World War II. Churchill’s speech in the American city of Fulton can be considered its beginning. It showed the true attitude of the Western allies towards the USSR.
In 1949, the West created the NATO military bloc in order to protect against possible aggression from the USSR. In 1955, the Soviet Union and its allied countries also formed their own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact Organization, as a counterbalance to Western countries.

The main participants in the conflict, the USSR and the USA, did not engage in hostilities, but the policies they pursued led to the emergence of many local conflicts in many regions of the world.
The Cold War was accompanied by increased militarization, an arms race and ideological warfare. The Cuban Missile Crisis that occurred in 1962 showed how fragile the world is under such conditions. A real war was barely averted. After him, the USSR came to understand the need for disarmament. Mikhail Gorbachev, starting in 1985, pursued a policy of establishing more trusting relations with Western countries.

Cold War

Cold War is a military, political, ideological and economic confrontation between the USSR and the USA and their supporters. It was a consequence of the contradictions between two state systems: capitalist and socialist.

The Cold War was accompanied by an intensification of the arms race and the presence of nuclear weapons, which could lead to a third world war.

The term was first used by the writer George Orwell October 19, 1945, in the article “You and the Atomic Bomb.”

Period:

1946-1989

Causes of the Cold War

Political

An insoluble ideological contradiction between two systems and models of society.

The West and the United States are afraid of the strengthening role of the USSR.

Economic

The struggle for resources and markets for products

Weakening the economic and military power of the enemy

Ideological

Total, irreconcilable struggle of two ideologies

The desire to shield the population of their countries from the way of life in enemy countries

Goals of the parties

Consolidate the spheres of influence achieved during World War II.

Put the enemy in unfavorable political, economic and ideological conditions

USSR goal: complete and final victory of socialism on a global scale

US goal: containment of socialism, opposition to the revolutionary movement, in the future - “throw socialism into the dustbin of history.” The USSR was seen as "evil empire"

Conclusion: Neither side was right, each sought world domination.

The forces of the parties were not equal. The USSR bore all the hardships of the war, and the United States received huge profits from it. Only by the mid-1970s was it achieved parity.

Cold War weapons:

Arms race

Bloc confrontation

Destabilization of the enemy's military and economic situation

Psychological warfare

Ideological confrontation

Interference in domestic politics

Active intelligence activity

Collection of incriminating evidence on political leaders, etc.

Main periods and events

March 5, 1946- W. Churchill's speech in Fulton(USA) - the beginning of the Cold War, in which the idea of ​​​​creating an alliance to fight communism was proclaimed. Speech by the British Prime Minister in the presence of the new American President Truman G. two goals:

Prepare the Western public for the subsequent gap between the winning countries.

Literally erase from people’s consciousness the feeling of gratitude to the USSR that appeared after the victory over fascism.

The United States has set a goal: to achieve economic and military superiority over the USSR

1947 – "Truman Doctrine"" Its essence: containing the spread of the expansion of the USSR by creating regional military blocs dependent on the United States.

1947 - Marshall Plan - aid program for Europe after World War II

1948-1953 - Soviet-Yugoslav conflict over the question of ways to build socialism in Yugoslavia.

The world is split into two camps: supporters of the USSR and supporters of the USA.

1949 - the split of Germany into the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany, the capital is Bonn, and the Soviet GDR, the capital is Berlin. (Before this, the two zones were called Bisonia)

1949 – creation NATO(North Atlantic Military-Political Alliance)

1949 – creation Comecon(Council for Mutual Economic Assistance)

1949 - successful atomic bomb testing in the USSR.

1950 -1953 – Korean War. The USA participated in it directly, and the USSR participated in a veiled manner, sending military specialists to Korea.

US target: prevent Soviet influence in the Far East. Bottom line: division of the country into the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea (capital Pyongyang), established close contacts with the USSR, + into the South Korean state (Seoul) - a zone of American influence.

2nd period: 1955-1962 (cooling in relations between countries , growing contradictions in the world socialist system)

At this time, the world was on the verge of a nuclear disaster.

Anti-communist protests in Hungary, Poland, events in the GDR, Suez crisis

1955 - creation OVD- Warsaw Pact organizations.

1955 - Geneva Conference of Heads of Government of the Victorious Countries.

1957 - development and successful testing of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the USSR, which increased tensions in the world.

October 4, 1957 - opened space age. Launch of the first artificial earth satellite in the USSR.

1959 - victory of the revolution in Cuba (Fidel Castro). Cuba became one of the most reliable partners of the USSR.

1961 - worsening relations with China.

1962 – Caribbean crisis. Settled by N.S. Khrushchev And D. Kennedy

Signing of a number of agreements on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

An arms race that significantly weakened the economies of countries.

1962 - complication of relations with Albania

1963-USSR, UK and USA signed first nuclear test ban treaty in three spheres: atmosphere, space and underwater.

1968 - complications in relations with Czechoslovakia (“Prague Spring”).

Dissatisfaction with Soviet policy in Hungary, Poland, and the GDR.

1964-1973- US war in Vietnam. The USSR provided military and material assistance to Vietnam.

3rd period: 1970-1984- tension strip

1970s - the USSR made a number of attempts to strengthen “ détente" international tension, arms reduction.

A number of agreements on the limitation of strategic weapons have been signed. So in 1970 there was an agreement between Germany (W. Brand) and the USSR (Brezhnev L.I.), according to which the parties pledged to resolve all their disputes exclusively peacefully.

May 1972 - American President R. Nixon arrived in Moscow. Treaty limiting missile defense systems signed (PRO) And OSV-1- Interim Agreement on Certain Measures in the Field of Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms.

Convention on the prohibition of development, production and accumulation of reserves bacteriological(biological) and toxic weapons and their destruction.

1975- the highest point of détente, signed in August in Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe And Declaration of Principles on Relationships Between states. 33 states signed it, including the USSR, USA, and Canada.

Sovereign equality, respect

Non-use of force and threats of force

Inviolability of borders

Territorial integrity

Non-interference in internal affairs

Peaceful settlement of disputes

Respect for human rights and freedoms

Equality, the right of peoples to control their own destinies

Cooperation between states

Conscientious fulfillment of obligations under international law

1975 - joint space program Soyuz-Apollo.

1979- Treaty on the Limitation of Offensive Arms – OSV-2(Brezhnev L.I. and Carter D.)

What are these principles?

4th period: 1979-1987 - complication of the international situation

The USSR became a truly great power that had to be reckoned with. The detente of tension was mutually beneficial.

The aggravation of relations with the United States in connection with the entry of USSR troops into Afghanistan in 1979 (the war lasted from December 1979 to February 1989). USSR goal- protect the borders in Central Asia against the penetration of Islamic fundamentalism. Eventually- The United States did not ratify SALT II.

Since 1981, the new President Reagan R. launched programs SOI– Strategic defense initiatives.

1983- US hosts ballistic missiles in Italy, England, Germany, Belgium, Denmark.

Anti-space defense systems are being developed.

The USSR withdraws from the Geneva negotiations.

5 period: 1985-1991 - the final stage, mitigation of tension.

Having come to power in 1985, Gorbachev M.S. pursues a policy "new political thinking".

Negotiations: 1985 - in Geneva, 1986 - in Reykjavik, 1987 - in Washington. Recognition of the existing world order, expansion of economic ties between countries, despite different ideologies.

December 1989- Gorbachev M.S. and Bush at the summit on the island of Malta announced about the end of the Cold War. Its end was caused by the economic weakness of the USSR and its inability to further support the arms race. In addition, pro-Soviet regimes were established in Eastern European countries, and the USSR lost support from them as well.

1990 - German reunification. It became a kind of victory for the West in the Cold War. A fall Berlin Wall(existed from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989)

December 25, 1991 - President D. Bush announced the end of the Cold War and congratulated his compatriots on their victory.

Results

The formation of a unipolar world, in which the United States, a superpower, began to occupy a leading position.

The United States and its allies defeated the socialist camp.

The beginning of the Westernization of Russia

The collapse of the Soviet economy, the decline of its authority in the international market

The emigration of Russian citizens to the West, his lifestyle seemed too attractive to them.

The collapse of the USSR and the beginning of the formation of a new Russia.

Terms

Parity- the primacy of a party in something.

Confrontation– confrontation, collision of two social systems (people, groups, etc.).

Ratification– giving the document legal force, its acceptance.

Westernization– borrowing a Western European or American way of life.

Material prepared by: Melnikova Vera Aleksandrovna

After graduation 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 an alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries to fight communism. The goal of the United States 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 the Thaw Khrushchev, 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. But, the threat of nuclear war receded, since 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 are again strained 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 M. 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, as well as 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. The symbol of the victory of the West was the reunification of Germany in 1990.

As a result, after the USSR was defeated in the Cold War, a unipolar world model emerged with the dominant superpower of the United States. However, there are other consequences of the Cold War. This is the rapid development of science and technology, primarily military. Thus, the Internet was originally created as a communication system for the American army.

The confrontation between the two superpowers, in which their allies also participated, was not a war in the literal sense of the concept; the main weapon here was ideology. The expression “” was first used by the famous British writer George Orwell in his article “You and Nuclear”. In it, he accurately described the confrontation between invincible superpowers possessing atomic weapons, but who agreed not to use them, remaining in a state of peace, which, in fact, is not peace.

Post-war prerequisites for the beginning of the Cold War

After the end of the Second World War, the allied states participating in the Anti-Hitler coalition faced the global question of the upcoming struggle for peace. The USA and Great Britain, concerned about the military power of the USSR, and not wanting to lose their leadership positions in global politics, began to perceive the Soviet Union as a future potential enemy. Even before the signing of the official act of German surrender in April 1945, the British government began to develop plans for a possible war with the USSR. In his memoirs, Winston Churchill justified this by the fact that at that time Soviet Russia, inspired by a difficult and long-awaited victory, had become a mortal threat to the entire free world.

The USSR understood very well that the former Western allies were planning a new aggression. The European part of the Soviet Union was depleted and destroyed, all resources were used to rebuild the cities. A possible new war could become even more protracted and require even greater expenses, which the USSR would hardly have been able to cope with, unlike the less affected West. But the country could not show its vulnerability in any way.

Therefore, the authorities of the Soviet Union invested huge amounts of money not only in the restoration of the country, but also in the maintenance and development of communist parties in the West, trying to expand the influence of socialism. In addition, the Soviet authorities put forward a number of territorial demands, which further increased the intensity of the confrontation between the USSR, USA and Great Britain.

Fulton speech

In March 1946, Churchill, speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, USA, gave a speech that in the USSR began to be considered a signal for the beginning. In his speech, Churchill explicitly called on all Western states to unite in the upcoming fight against the communist threat. It is worth noting the fact that at that time Churchill was not the Prime Minister of England and spoke as a private person, but his speech clearly outlined the new foreign policy of the West. Historically, it is believed that it was Churchill’s Fulton speech that gave impetus to the formal beginning of the Cold War - a long confrontation between the USA and the USSR.

Truman Doctrine

A year later, in 1947, American President Harry Truman, in his statement known as the Truman Doctrine, finally formulated the foreign policy objectives of the United States. The Truman Doctrine marked the transition from post-war cooperation between the USA and the USSR to open rivalry, which was called in the statement of the American president a conflict of interests between democracy and totalitarianism.

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 Climax of the Cold War... 8

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

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. We can say with a fair degree of reliability: 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 primarily 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 fit 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, counting on gaining a “decisive advantage” in the final direct war, when the hour struck to take stock, and on actively using 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, and 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 appear a long time 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 spheres. 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 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 “overtly 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 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, and 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 a US response 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 general 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 air supplies to West Berlin, 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 the Federal Republic of 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, the Federal Republic of 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 the creation of a collective security system in Europe, the Warsaw Pact should have lost its force from the date of entry into force of the pan-European treaty.

To make it more 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 was primarily 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 been defeated 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” by 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. 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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