Cold War & Disintegration Of USSR

• ‘Cold War’ was used for the first time by Bernard Baruch.
• Popularity through the journalist Walter Lippman.
• Conflicts between the western world and the Communist countries.
• State of uneasy peace - Neither a condition of war nor a condition of peace.
• The ideological war otherwise known as Cold War.
• The vertical division of nation states. Military alliances were made. Arms race developed. Nuclear holocaust threatened the world on many occasions.

Beginning of the Cold War

• Communist regimes in Poland, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary and Yugoslavia.
• Soviet Union brought East Germany under her influence. West Germany came under the influence of the U.S.A.
• Soviet Union blocked all roads to the west-occupied zones in Berlin. This is known as Berlin Blockade.
• 1947, 5th June , the Marshall Plan was announced by the U.S.A. by which economic assistance was to be provided to the western European nations.
• Response to American Marshall Plan, the Soviet Union initiated Molotov Plan.
• 1948, March 12, Truman Doctrine - U.S.A. provided economic and the military aid to Greece and Turkey.

NATO

• 1948, Brussels Treaty, Britain, France, Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg signed this treaty promising military collaboration.
• 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed thus forming a military power bloc, commonly known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO.
• Mutually extend military help in case of an attack on any one of them

Warsaw Pact

• 1955, Baghdad pact, Western military pacts known as Central Treaty Organization (CENTO).
• Response to these western military pacts, the Soviet Union concluded the Warsaw Pact on 14th May 1955 with her satellite powers.

China

• Strengthened the Soviet bloc.
• U.S.A. helped Chiang Kai-Sheik to establish his Nationalist Government in Taiwan.
• Nationalist Government as the legal Government of China and made her as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
• People’s Republic of China was prevented by the U.S.A. to become a member in the UNO.

Korean Crisis

• 1950, cold war was changed from Europe to East Asia.
• North Korea the Soviet - supported communist government was formed, while the South Korea had an American - sponsored government.
• 25th June 1950 North Korea attacked South Korea.
• U.S.A. in the name of U.N. force was fighting on behalf of South Korea.
• Korean War turned the Cold War into an open armed conflict.

Vietnam War

• 17th parallel between North Vietnam and South Vietnam (USA Support).
• Contain Communism in South East Asia, the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was formed in 1954.

The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

• Soviet Union stationed her nuclear missiles in Cuba.
• U.S.A. considered this as a great threat to her security.
• John F. Kennedy sent the 7th Nuclear fleet towards Cuba, brought the two super - powers to the verge of war.
• However, Good sense prevailed, U.S.S.R. dismantled missiles in Cuba.

Decline of Cold War- Détente (Reduction of Tension)

• After 1960, the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. had developed equality in nuclear weapons.
• Prompted to conclude the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963. This treaty was followed by a ‘Hot Line Agreement’ between Washington and Kremlin.
• UN. President Nixon of U.S.A. visited Moscow in May 1972 and concluded the SALT -I Treaty (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty).
• U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. is known as era of détente

End of the Cold War

• With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe occurred.
• The bi-polar world became unipolar world.
• On 31st July 1991, American President George Bush and Soviet leader Michael Gorbachev signed the ‘historic’ START - I Treaty in the Moscow Summit.
• End of the Era of Cold War.