Cold War

*The compare between communism and capitalism which is in table form will not appear here. Please download the doc. version. The begin of Cold War “Cold” means no direct military conflict between two superpowers, Unites States (US) and Soviet Union (USSR). Their ideological differences between US (capitalism) and USSR(communism). As they were superpowers, they had large land area, strong industry, large population, nuclear weapon, wealth, stable political system, natural resources, well foreign trade, strong armed forces and worldwide influence. The two bloc -- capitalist bloc included US, western Europe and some other country. Communist bloc included USSR, eastern Europe, China and some other country. They fear attack, thought, nuclear weapon and mistrust intentions each others → Cold War started. 1) Soviet expansion -- After the end of WWII, UUSR started to control countries in eastern Europe that librated from Nazis and become it’s satellites. As a result, “Iron Curtain” had descended across Europe and separated the communist countries and the western democratic nations. 2) Truman Doctrine -- The president that time, Truman, thought that any communist revolution threatens US, and providing financial aid prevent those revolution. In Mar 1947, he stated that US could help all countries that felt threatened by communism. Meanwhile in the same year, Marshall Plan was going to offer financial aid to European nations. Then, USSR also proposed the Molotov Plan the help eastern Europe nation’s finance. 3) Berlin Crisis -- Germany was settled into four part after WWII to USSR, British, French and American zone. Berlin is divided Into four part also but Berlin is under Soviet’s zone. USSR wants to control the whole Berlin, so that in 1948, USSR stopped all land traffic from Berlin to western zones and the western provide supplies western Berlin by air everyday (successfully). At last USSR lifted the blockade in 1949. E and W Germany and Berlin were created and lots of East Germany people went into west Berlin. Berlin wall was built up in 1961 and block communication between them. 4) Capitalist countries formed a military alliance Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization”(NATO) in 1949 while USSR and it’s satellites set up Warsaw Treaty Organization in 1955. 5) Korean War (1950 - 1953), after WWII, Korean was divided into N and S Korea. Capitalist representatives: H.Truman (US) and Rhee Synman (S Korea) Communist representatives: Kim Il Sung (N Korea), Mao Zedong (PRC), .J.Stalin (USSR). After the WWII, N Korea “believed in communism” and S Korea “believed in capitalism”. Both country wanted to control the whole Korea. N Korea stacked S Korea in 1950, then US helped S Korea and over US troops went over the 38N line, PRC helps N Korea and attacks back. After sometime, those representatives were affected by various reason(fear of NATO, change of president, not enough troops) and a truce was signed in 1953 but the war has not end until now. 6) The Cuban Missile Crisis(1962), between US, Cuba and USSR. Capitalist representatives: John Kennedy (US president) and communist representatives Nikita Khrushchev(First secretary of USSR), Fidel Castro (Cuba president) US claimed that Cuba is a communist country. USSR wanted to help Cuba and gave some nuclear missile without fuel to Cuba and US was afraid of it because Cuba is near to US. US put troops in Florida, and USSR required US to respect Cuba. After some days, both of them don’t want to fight and USSR agreed to remove missile in Cuba. 7) Vietnam War (1961 - 1975) -- the only event that US “lost” Just like Korea, it was torn into two part, N and S Vietnam and they also want to unify their countries. At that time, the “capitalist” (in fact, people there believed in communist) government had a problem of serious corruption. People in S Vietnam became anti-government. Ho Chi Minh, the president of N Vietnam, attacked S Vietnam. US helped S Vietnam but it’s useless. N Vietnam attacks Saigon underground or via other countries. At last US people didn’t want to fight and in 1975, US retreated troops. The communist controlled the whole Vietnam. After the “lost” of USSR in Cuban Missile Crisis and US in Vietnam War, the relation between the two bloc started to ease. In 1963, an emergency communication line(hot line) from Washington to Moscow was set up. Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was set up between Soviet Union, US and Britain. In 1985, M.Gorbachev became the general secretary of USSR and he worked to improve relations with US. He signed treaties to destroy nuclear weapons with President Reagan and bigger Bush. He relaxed control to the satellites reduced armed forces in eastern Europe and refused to intervene the democratic movements in 1989-1991. He was remarkable for the end of Cold War. As a result, 1989, the communist eastern Europe nations overthrown their communist government. Berlin wall was torn down. In 1990, the two Germany became one. In 1991, communist state under USSR declared their independence and formed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This marked the end of cold war. The impacts of Cold War 1) Cold War is a chance for US and USSR to extend their influence within their bloc and they tried to gain influence over the developing countries. 2) The European nations realized that cooperation is important in 1951. They set up European Economic Community(EEC,1957), European Community (EC,1993) and developed into European Union now. 3) During the Cold War, US and USSR competed in developing nuclear and chemical weapons and created tension in the international relation until the end of Cold War. 4) After the Cold War, nation started to solve problem through communication more than military conflict and improve way of cooperation. For example, in the Persian Gulf, 1990-1991, USSR cooperated with US to force Iraq to remove troops from Kuwait. US called for the end of Cold War during the presidency of George Bush.