origins of the cold war essay plan

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Cold War History

By: History.com Editors

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

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

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

Containment

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

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

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

The Cold War: The Atomic Age

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

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

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

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

HISTORY Vault: Nuclear Terror

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

The Cold War and the Space Race

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

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

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

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

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

The Cold War and the Red Scare

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

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

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

The Cold War Abroad

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

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

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

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

The End of the Cold War and Effects

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

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

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

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

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

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Origins of the Cold War

The Cold War was the global, ideological rivalry between the Soviet Union-led Eastern bloc and American-dominated “Free World.” It emerged in the aftermath of World War II and was fought on many fronts—political, economic, military, cultural, ideological, and in the Space Race. It led to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, and the Warsaw Pact alliance (1955-1991). Under the threat of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), the two nuclear powers—the United States since 1945 and the Soviet Union since 1949—and military alliances avoided direct confrontations, the reason why the term “cold” is used to describe the conflict. However, they eagerly supported their allies and fought proxy wars; for example, the Korean War from 1950-1953, the Vietnam War from 1955-1975, and Afghanistan from 1979-1989.  

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The Origins of the Cold War

Students will examine the historical interpretation of the origins of the Cold War and use primary documents to defend or refute a particular historical interpretation.

This lesson allows students to explore the historical thinking skill of historical interpretation and strengthen their abilities to use primary sources as evidence to support a position.  It also explores essential content in American history.

• Evaluate historical interpretation of the origins of the Cold War.
• Use primary source documents to defend or refute historical interpretation of the origins of the Cold War.
• Strengthen his or her ability to participate in class discussion to defend a position.
• Describe and evaluate the evolution of United States domestic and foreign policies from Reconstruction to the present, including: . . . two world wars (and the) Cold War.  (Missouri Social Studies High School standard 3a.w)
• Examine the wars of the twentieth-century pertinent to US history including: causes, comparisons, consequences and peace efforts  (Missouri High School Social Studies standard 3a.x)
• Be able to analyze diverse historical interpretations (College Board Advanced Placement United States History Skill 8)
• Based on analysis and evaluation of historical evidence, make supportable inferences and draw appropriate conclusions. (College Board Advanced Placement United States History Skill 7)
• Six Months in 1945:  FDR, Stalin, Churchill and Truman – from World War to Cold War, by Michael Dobbs (2012) – opening excerpt https://www.c-span.org/video/?314968-1/six-months-1945
• Article:  “The Inevitability of the Cold War,” by Michael Dobbs, History News Network, George Mason University, 29 October 2012.  https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/148999#:~:text=Michael%20Dobbs%20is%20author%20of,%3A%20Wikimedia%20Commons%2FHNN%20staff.
• Minutes from The Crimea Conference (Yalta), excerpt from February 8, 1945 section, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Papers as President:  Map Room Papers, 1941-1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

< http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/_resources/images/mr/mr0129.pdf >

• Photograph:  Crimean Conference--Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Marshal Joseph Stalin at the palace in Yalta, where the Big Three met, Library of Congress

< http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96522032/ >

• Notes by Harry S. Truman on the Potsdam Conference, July 17-30, 1945. President’s Secretary’s File, Truman Papers. July 17, 1945 July 18, 1945 July 20, 1945 July 25, 1945 July 26, 1945 July 30, 1945
• Photograph:  Churchill, Stalin, Truman at Potsdam, United States Army Signal Corps Harry S. Truman Library & Museum. Accession Number: 63-1457-28

• Henry Stimson to Harry S. Truman, accompanied by a memorandum, September 11, 1945. President’s Secretary’s File, Truman Papers.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/313172409

• Winston Churchill, “Sinews of Peace” (excerpt), Westminster College, 1946

< http://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace >

• Telegram, George Kennan to James Byrnes ["Long Telegram"], February 22, 1946. Harry S. Truman Administration File, Elsey Papers. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/301668215

1.  Present essential question:  When did the Cold War begin?  (Teacher may have assigned textbook reading on origins of Cold War, or students may just have finished examining World War II.)   Depending on the students’ prior knowledge, some may mention the “Iron Curtain” speech or even the Truman Doctrine.  If students know nothing about the origins of the Cold War, teacher should provide some background as to what the Cold War was and how it grew out of World War II. 

2.  Present students with excerpt from historian Michael Dobbs’ monograph, Six Months in 1945:  From World War to Cold War. (If teachers prefer, they may assign Dobbs’ article, “The Inevitability of the Cold War,” from History News Network.)  After reading the excerpt, students should discuss the following in small groups:  What is Dobbs’ argument regarding the beginning of the Cold War?  (By the time students examine the Cold War in an AP US History class, they should have had lots of practice identifying an author’s thesis.  If students have not done this in other classes, the teacher should talk about historiography a bit, explaining that historians have different viewpoints and that there is no “right answer.” History is interpretation.)

3.  Discuss Dobbs’ thesis as a class, honing in on the argument that while many historians place the origins of the Cold War with various events (The Iron Curtain Speech, George Kennan’s push for containment, the Truman Doctrine, etc.), Dobbs argues that the Cold War began during the last six months of World War II, from February to August 1945.  Have students share which ONE SENTENCE in the excerpt best summarizes this argument.  (Suggested response:  “The six months between Yalta and Hiroshima form a hinge between two very different wars and two very different worlds.”) 

4.  The main task for the class period is to assess the validity of Dobbs’ claim, to determine whether historical evidence proves his thesis.  Students will work in groups to analyze the primary documents listed above.  To analyze the documents students will complete the following tasks:

            a.  Examine the source of the document.  Discuss the author’s background (if relevant) and the capacity in which the writer produced the document.

            b.  Discuss the historical context  -- time and place – in which the document was written.  Obviously, these documents were written during or immediately following World War II.  What other specific details can students provide to add meaning to the documents?

            c.  Discuss the main points of each document, particularly as they show growing tension between the United States and the Soviet Union.

            d.  Draw comparisons among documents.  How are the documents similar to one another?  How are they different?  (Particularly important with the two photographs)

            e.  Evaluate the extent to which the document support Dobbs’ argument, that the Cold War began within the final six months of World War II.

***The document analysis portion of this lesson could be rather time-consuming, depending on students’ comfort level with reading primary sources.  The Truman notes on Potsdam may give them difficulties due to the handwriting, and the minutes from the Crimea (Yalta) conference are rather lengthy.  However, for my purposes, reading these documents in their entirety and in the provided format is an important part of historiography in my classroom.  Teachers should feel free to excerpt these documents or put them in a different format to meet the needs of their students.

            f.  After students have discussed the documents in small groups, have them create a chart showing which documents support Dobbs and which may not.  Groups should be prepared to share the chart in a full-class discussion.

            g.  After discussing the small groups’ analyses of the documents and the charts they created, provide copies of excerpts from Churchill’s “Sinews of Peace,” aka “Iron Curtain” speech, George Kennan’s Long Telegram, and the Truman Doctrine.  Students should pay close attention to the dates on these documents and determine whether these documents show a direct shift to create the Cold War or whether they simply reflect the Cold War that was well in play by the time these documents were written.  After small-group discussion, bring the discussion to the full class as time allows.

            h.  Exit Ticket:  Students should respond to the following question on a half-sheet of paper and hand it to the teacher as a ticket out of class:  To what extent do you agree with historian Michael Dobbs that the Cold War began during the last six months of World War II?  Which document(s) best supports your conclusion?  Explain. 

• This lesson relies primarily on formative informal assessment.  The full-class discussion will provide the teacher with a clear picture of whether students are able to evaluate the historian’s thesis and use evidence from the documents to support or refute the thesis.  The exit ticket will provide the teacher with a snapshot of student understanding of the topic as follows:

Exit Ticket:  To what extent do you agree with historian Michael Dobbs that the Cold War began during the last six months of World War II?  Which document(s) best supports your conclusion?  Explain. 

• Student response should be about 50 words. (guideline)
• Student response MUST defend or refute the historical interpretation. (1 point)
• Student response MUST cite at least two specific historic documents to support or refute the claim.  (2 points)
• Student response MUST explain HOW the document(s) support their analysis of the historian’s claim.  (2 points)

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The Origins of the Cold War - A Review Essay

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

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

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

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California History-Social Science Project

The cold war, why and how was the cold war fought.

This unit also provides detailed instructions to support student analysis of a number of relevant primary sources, including addresses made by Churchill, Stalin, Truman, Gandhi, Castro, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Reagan, Gorbachev, and dozens of ordinary citizens that experienced the turmoil and daily life of the Cold War.  The unit concludes as it begins with a focus on an engaging and historically significant question: Why and how was the Cold War Fought?

In addition to teaching students about the Cold War, this unit teaches students how to read, write, and think historically, analyze historical evidence from primary and secondary sources, and make interpretations.  Students will practice Common Core reading and writing skills, especially identifying the perspective and point of view of a source, integrating information from visual and written sources, identifying evidence from sources, using that evidence to support an argument or interpretation, and communicating that argument in well-conceived sentence, paragraph, essay, or explanation.

Drawing on new historical scholarship about the global context of the Cold War, students consider,  Why and how was the Cold War fought?

• Unit Introduction for 11th-Grade U.S. History
• Unit Introduction for 10th-Grade World History
• Origins of the Cold War  (Early Tensions - The Truman Doctrine; The Marshall Plan & Divided Germany; Yalta & Potsdam; The Iron Curtain and Containment; Why Did We Fight?)
• Decolonization (Decolonization and Nationalism; Third Way and Non-Alignment; Suez Canal Crisis; Cuban Missile Crisis)
• Principles vs Practices  (Racism in the First World; Prague Spring 1968; China: Chairman Mao's Challenge; Chile 1973)
• Hot Spots Research Project  (Research project in which students will produce a newspaper about a hotspot in the Cold War:  Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Cambodia, Congo, Guatemala, Hungary, Iran, Nicaragua)
• Containment Abroad  (Founding of the United Nations; Creation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact; National Security Act, NSC-68, Iran Coup d'etat; Korean War, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis; Hungarian Revolution, Guatemalan Coup d'etat)
• Containment at Home  (Domestic Containment; HUAC and The Rosenbergs; Civil Defense, Nuclear Power, The Kitchen Debate; Civil Rights and the Integration of the Armed Forces)
• Vietnam  (Origins of the Vietnam War, Tonkin Gulf & Escalation; A War of Attrition, The War's Legacies; The Anti-War Movement; End of the War)
• End of the Cold War  (The End of Detente; Problems with the USSR; Diplomacy and Reform: Gorbachev and Reagan; China's Solution and the Fall of the Soviet Union)
• Click here  for a detailed unit index for US History (Cold War America).
• Click here  for a detailed unit index for World History (Cold War World).

This unit was made possible by the generous support of the Library of Congress, the Walter and Elise Haas Fund and History Channel, in addition to California History-Social Science Project / California Subject Matter Project funding. 

  All History Blueprint materials are Copyrighted by the Regents of the University of California, Davis Campus.  These materials, however, are designed for K12 educational purposes, and as such, teachers have the right to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.  This use is predicated on the assumption that educators will give appropriate credit, provide a link to our site ( http://chssp.ucdavis.edu ), and indicate if any changes were made.  Educators may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the University or the California or the California History-Social Science Project endorses said teacher, school, or related organization.  Finally, educators or any members of the public may not apply any legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from accessing the materials or doing anything that this agreement permits.

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Three Cold War History Essay Plans A Level

Subject: History

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

27 June 2020

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Three essay plans for Cold War A level History exam. 25 mark essay plans each with agree and disagree bullet points. Useful for basis of revision, lesson discussions, essay planning and essay writing.

These essay plans were created using the Oxford AQA History - The Cold War 1945-1991 textbook to make all of these notes for revision purposes.

Three questions included are:

• ‘US policies in response to the rise of Communism in Asia in the years 1949 to 1960 consistently failed.’
• ‘The relations between Khrushchev and Kennedy were marked more by cooperation than by confrontation.’
• ‘The outcome of the Cuban Missile Crisis marked a victory for the United States and Kennedy.’

NOTE - these essay plans are the basis for an essay and can be added to so don’t expect full detail on everything.

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HISTORY Gr.12 T1 W1: The Origin of the Cold War

The origins of the Cold war and spehers of influence in Europe.

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Grade 12 - The Cold War

How did the Cold War period shape international relations after the Second World War?

After the Second World War, there was a struggle between two world powers, the US and Russia. Why was it called the ‘Cold War’ ? The reason lay in the threat of new and even deadlier weapons of nuclear technology that prevented outright open warfare. The Cold War was characterised by conflict through proxy wars, the manipulation of more vulnerable states through extensive military and financial aid, espionage, propaganda, rivalry over technology, space and nuclear races, and sport. Besides periods of tense crisis in this bi-polar world, the Cold War deeply affected the newly independent countries in Africa and the liberation struggles in southern Africa from the 1960s until the 1990s, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)  was dismantled.

Did you know?  The term “Cold War” was first used by George Orwell, author of the book satirizing Stalinism, “Animal Farm”.

The detente (friendship) that existed between the Allied powers (The US, France and Russia) after 1945 was no more. That military aid would be offered to each other when faced with Nazism fell away, and increased hostility was the order of the day. Some historians argue that it was the formulation and implementation of common policy documents by the USSR for its East European territories that heralded the beginning of different spheres of influence.  Quickly, two distinct blocs emerged.

Also see: National Senior Certificate Grd 12, History Paper 1, November 2014 and National Senior Certificate Grd 12, History Paper 2, November 2014 .

Most learners will understand that a ‘war’ involves conflict between warring parties; that a ‘war’ involves the use of weaponry amongst ‘warring parties’ BUT what is meant by a ‘COLD’ war as opposed to a ‘HOT’ one? Common reference to any war usually involves the type of war that involves weaponry, personnel, devastation, explosions, and most of the images of war. A “COLD” war would refer to a battle of ideologies where the protagonists do not face each other, or fight, each other DIRECTLY.

The Cold War was characteristics by different ideologies being imposed or sold to other countries.

It dissected the world into spheres of influence, with the United States of America (USA) as a champion of democracy (and incidentally, Capitalism, as well) pitted against the USSR (Russia), which stood as a beacon of Communism. These divisions played themselves out in the exporting of influence...and then arms and money....to countries sympathetic to either cause.

The Cold War, which occurred from 1945 until 1989/1990 had far-reaching consequences for the world in general. Much of the literature during this period focussed on the bi-polar nature of the globe. Nation-states across the world, whatever explicit or not, empathised with either Russia or the USA. These countries became the battlefields for the competing influences of Democracy/Capitalism against Communism/Centrally-planned economies.

So, learners might ask as to why this Cold War did not escalate into a ‘Hot’ war, where conventional means of warfare were employed. The reason lies in the proliferation (increase) of nuclear weapons so that if these weapons were ever used, the destruction that would follow would result in a global destruction. So, this Cold War was fought behind the threat of a nuclear war.  The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) was probably the closest that the world got to a full-blown conventional war.

The Cold War was a period of increased hostility between two blocs of power, the USA and its allies on the one hand; and the USSR and China, on the other. From the end of the Cold War until the early 1990s, world politics and events were primarily viewed through this lens the battle to exert control and influence globally. The Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world, and drew to a close by end of the late 1980s / early 1990s. Towards the end of the 1980s, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev held conferences with USA President Ronald Reagan. The USSR introduced reform policies aimed at restructuring (perestroika) and opening the Russian economy (glasnost).

In December 1989, after more than four decades, Russian President Gorbachev and American President G. H.W Bush declared the Cold War officially over.

Timeline (Source:  “ Timeline of events in the Cold War ” [ Accesssed: 23 January 2015])

• 1945:  Cold War begins
• 1946:  Winston Churchill delivers his ‘ Iron Curtain’ speech
• 1947:  Marshall Plan is announced
• 1948 :  February, Communists take over Czechoslovakia
• 1948 :  June, The ‘Berlin Blockade’ begins
• 1949 :  July, NATO is ratified
• 1950 :  February, McCarthy begins communist witchunt
• 1954 :  KGB established.  CIA assists in overthrowing ‘unfriendly’ regimes in Iran and Guatemala
• 1961 :  Bay of Pigs invasion.  Construction of Berlin Wall begins.  US involvement in Vietnam increases ( troops were dispatched in 1965)
• 1962 :  Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1965 :  150000 troops dispatched to Vietnam
• 1970 :  US President Nixon extends the war to Cambodia.
• 1973 :  Ceasefire between the US and Vietnam.
• 1975 :  North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam.
• 1979 :  USSR invades Afghanistan
• 1983 :  Ronald Reagan proposes Star Wars
• 1989 :  Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan.  Communist governments collapse in Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania.  The Soviet Empire ( USSR ) ends.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/what%20was%20the%20cold%20war.htm

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cold-War-New-History/dp/0143038273

USSR and USA and the creation of spheres of interest :

- installation of Soviet-friendly governments in satellite states;

- USA’s policy of containment: Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan;

- Berlin Crises from 1949 to 1961 (broad understanding of the crises); and

- opposing military alliances: NATO and Warsaw Pact (broadly)

Containment and brinkmanship: the Cuban crisis (as an example of containment and brinkmanship)

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

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

Then America took the leadership of all the Capitalist Countries.

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

Definition of the Cold War:

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

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

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

Origin of Cold War:

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

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

Causes of the Cold War:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Various Phases of the Cold War:

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

First Phase (1946-1949 ):

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

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

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

Second Phase (1949-1953 ):

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

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

Third Phase (1953-1957):

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

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

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

Fourth Phase (1957-1962):

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

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

Fifth Phase (1962-1969 ):

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

Sixth Phase (1969-1978 ):

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

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

Last Phase (1979-1987 ):

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

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

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

Result of the Cold War:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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