Ussr's Contribution to the Cold War

History
The cold war
USA’s / USSR’s contribution.

The beginning of the cold war is often seen as from 1947 when there was a sustained political and military tension between the western world (the US) and the eastern world (the Soviet Union). One of the main goals for the USA was the containment of communism. One of the ways that was tried was called the Truman Doctrine. This that the USA would give money and military aid to any countries wishing to defend themselves from communism. In 1955 the Warsaw pact was formed by the Soviet Union to set up a series of states closely aligned to the USSR as a military and political barrier between Russia’s vulnerable borders(due to WWII) in eastern Europe and its potential enemies.

After WWII Germany was divided into 4 regions, 1 was given to France,1 given to Britain and another given to America, the final 1 was given to the USSR. In Germany Marshall aid money began to be used in the zones under the control of the USA, France and Britain. The Deutschmark, a new currency was issued in each of the zones but Stalin had refused to allow it in the soviet zone. On the 24th of June 1948 the Russians closed all routes land and water to Berlin from the western zones. The western world feared that the Russians were trying to use this blockade as a means to take over all of Germany using this blockade. The western side believed that the actions of the soviets had to be beaten at all costs. The western side believed that the Russians could block land, railway and naval access they could not stop air. In June 1948 an airlift known as Operation Vittels which would last till May 1949 transported 2.35 million tonnes of supplies. This was achieved by flying supplies over the soviet blockade. Stalin was reluctant to turn this incident of the cold war in to a large one by attacking the allied aircraft so in in may 1949 he called off the blockade giving the first significant victory of the war to the allies.

On the 4th of April 1949,the USA and 11 other countries formed an alliance know as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). One of the terms of the alliance was that all members agreed to support any other member against soviet attack and to oppose strongly to the advance of communism. The USA was the dominant member of NATO because of its industrial strength and because they possessed the atomic bomb.

The USSR developed its first atomic bomb in 1949. Because the worlds most powerful nations were clearly both the USA and the USSR they both became known as superpowers.

From the 1950’s onwards the fear of communism grew stronger amongst USA and its NATO allies. One of the reasons the fear was growing is because communist governments around the world were likely to become allies off the USSR and therefore strengthening them and threatening America. The cold war never developed into a war in Europe but elsewhere. Around the globe several serious events occurred between communists and non-communists. The first of these incidents came in 1950 in Korea.

Just as Germany part of Korea was occupied by the soviets (the north) and part of it by the Americans (the south). The USSR set up a communist North and the USA a somewhat democratic in the South. On the 25th of June 1950 the north Korean army invaded the south, crossing the border which had been fixed upon the 38° North parallel. The US president reacted immediately to the invasion. On the 26th of June he promised to send military assistance to the south. Within 3 months US troops had landed joined by UN forces driving the north Koreans back with great success. Both the USSR and China both had communist governments and both sent aid to the north Koreans. The USSR sent military equipment whereas the Chinese sent 500,000 volunteers to help them. these volunteers helped the north to push the UN forces to Seoul and beyond. Although in 1951 they were back facing each other at the border of 38° parallel north.

Eventually the casualties reach 1.3 million for the south and twice as much for the North. In July 1953 a ceasefire was agreed between both North and South Korea. The North Remained predominantly communist whereas the south a pro-American but not fully democratic. Although the Korean war never brought the two Superpowers USA and USSR into direct conflict on the battlefield it did however widen the rift between the communist and democratic nations greatly.

Nuclear weapons were starting to be developed as well, but the USA generally held the lead in this “nuclear arms race”. In 1951 the USA successfully tested the Hydrogen Bomb (H-Bomb). This was almost a thousand times more powerful than the one dropped on Japan during WWII. The Russians caught up exploding their first H-Bomb in 1953. By the mid 50’s both the Russians and Americans both had bombs capable of destroying entire cities in a single blow. If either side decided to use these weapons the radioactive fallout was expected to kill people hundreds of miles away from where the bombs had landed. Some of these missiles that had been created could fly up to thousands of miles and strike any target with deadly accuracy. Both countries knew though that if either country were to unleash their arsenal of nuclear weapons it would no just destroy the enemy but themselves as well.

Continuing to seek ways to oust Castro following the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Kennedy and his administration experimented with various ways of covertly facilitating the overthrow of the Cuban government. Significant hopes were pinned on a covert program named the Cuban Project, devised under the Kennedy administration in 1961.
In February 1962, Khrushchev learned of the American plans regarding Cuba: a "Cuban project"—approved by the CIA and stipulating the overthrow of the Cuban government in October, possibly involving the American military—and yet one more Kennedy-ordered operation to assassinate Castro. Preparations to install Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba were undertaken in response.
Alarmed, Kennedy considered various reactions, and ultimately responded to the installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba with a naval blockade and presented an ultimatum to the Soviets. Khrushchev backed down from a confrontation, and the Soviet Union removed the missiles in return for an American pledge not to invade Cuba again.
The Cuban Missile Crisis (October–November 1962) brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before. It further demonstrated the concept of mutually assured destruction, that neither superpower was prepared to use their nuclear weapons, fearing total global destruction via mutual retaliation.
The aftermath of the crisis led to the first efforts in the nuclear arms race at nuclear disarmament and improving relations, although the Cold War 's first arms control agreement, the Antarctic Treaty, had come into force in 1961.
In 1964, Khrushchev 's Kremlin colleagues managed to oust him, but allowed him a peaceful retirement. Accused of rudeness and incompetence, he was also credited with ruining Soviet agriculture and bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Khrushchev had become an international embarrassment when he authorized construction of the Berlin Wall, a public humiliation for Marxism-Leninism.

References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact Kevin McCarthy Footsteps in time junior certificate history VolumeII.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact Kevin McCarthy Footsteps in time junior certificate history VolumeII.