THE COLD WAR PART 2
INTRODUCTION
The Cold War began after Europe was divided-up following World War II,
and an Iron Curtain separated East from West. The ideological differences
between capitalism and communism alienated former allies. The Truman Doctrine,
the Marshall Plan, and the Berlin Blockade created greater distrust on both
sides. A communist victory in the Chinese Civil War and the subsequent Korean
War moved the focus of the Cold War to Asia. Added to these conflicts was the
Arms Race as the superpowers vied for nuclear supremacy. The nuclear deterrent
kept them from open conflict, although their influence was felt in many
countries around the world. When the Berlin wall was erected in 1961, it seemed
the threat of a world war would always exist. Indeed, in 1962, events unfolded
off the coast of the United States that could have triggered a Third World War.
Main
title: The Cold War. Part Two
THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS
Cuba is just 150 kilometres from the Florida coastline. In 1959, a small
band of guerrillas led by Fidel Castro seized power in Havana Cuba, after a
two-year insurrection against the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista,
who was supported by the USA.
Shortly after taking power, Castro visited the United States. He briefly
saw Vice President Richard Nixon, who immediately branded him a Communist. Cuba
depended on sugar exports to the United States so, when the Eisenhower
administration threatened to cut back imports as a warning against moves to
nationalize American interests, Cuba looked for support from other sources.
Cuba exchanged its sugar with the Soviet Union in return for farm and
industrial machinery and, eventually, aid and military assistance.
The Kennedy Administration, angered over the Castro government’s nationalization
of many American businesses, and socialist policies, supported an invasion of
Cuba. In 1961 about 1500 exiled Cubans landed at the Bay of Pigs. This
ill-fated operation was easily defeated by Cuban troops. Castro’s dislike for
America deepened, and he formed a close alliance with Khrushchev. Castro
finally announced that Cuba would become a Communist nation.
On Sunday 14th October 1962, a U-2 spy plane photographed
Soviet missile sites being built near the Cuban capital of Havana. The missiles
had a range of 4000 kilometres, and could bomb most continental American
cities. President Kennedy had three choices. Bomb the missile bases and other
targets in Cuba. Invade Cuba. Or, put a naval blockade around Cuba to stop
Soviet ships delivering missiles.
The air force advised Kennedy that an air strike could cost the lives
of 20,000 people. After a drawn-out debate, it was decided to blockade Cuba.
Some members of the committee thought that Kennedy had gone soft. General LeMay
told him: ‘A blockade would be considered by a lot of our friends to be a
pretty weak response.’
For 13 days from October 15th, to October 28th,
American warships set up a blockage around Cuba. The world held its breath as
the two superpowers stared a nuclear holocaust in the face. Secret negotiations
were held between representatives of both countries as a compromise was being
negotiated. Finally, an agreement was reached, with Khrushchev agreeing to
remove the missiles from Cuba, and Kennedy agreeing not to invade Cuba.
Soviet technicians removed the missile sites, but Castro was furious
that Khrushchev would remove the missiles without consulting with him. And the
Soviet people believed their country had lost face. Citizens of the West,
however, were grateful that the USA had not been pushed any further by
Khrushchev, thus avoiding a potential third world war.
SINO – SOVIET SPLIT 1954 - 1963
The Cuban missile crisis was one of many incidents
that caused a final rupture between the Soviet Union and China. Mao criticised Khrushchev
for backing down in the crisis: ‘Khrushchev has moved from adventurism to
capitulationism,’ to which Khrushchev responded that Mao's policies would lead
to a nuclear war. And the Soviets also openly supported India in its brief war
with China, and reneged on their earlier commitment to help China develop
nuclear weapons.
The origins of the split had simmered for thirty
years, as the Soviet Union and China differed in ideological thinking. In the
1920s and 30s The Soviet Union had supplied aid and advisors to the Chinese
communists. However, led by Mao Zedong, it was believed that the great force
behind the Chinese Communist Party gaining control of the country, would come
from an uprising of the peasant population. This differed from the directions
of Stalin, who believed the industrial working class, as it had in Russia, would be the impetus for
revolution. These different ideological views are regarded as the difference
between Maoism and Marxist-Leninism.
Despite their differences, Mao had supported
Stalin during the early 1950s, both ideologically and politically. But
Khrushchev, in a series of speeches had dismantled that support by deliberately
denouncing Stalin's leadership. Most infuriating to Mao was his downplaying the
core of Marxist-Leninist theries: that there would be an inevitable armed
conflict between capitalism and socialism. Khrushchev wanted "peaceful
coexistence" between the communist and capitalist nations, not the
worldwide triumph of communism.
After the Cuban Missile Crisis, and numerous
border clashes, it would be another nine years before China and the Soviet
Union, the two largest communist nations in the world could resume a friendly
relationship.
VIETNAM WAR
In 1954 the Vietminh, led by Ho Chi Minh, finally drove the French
colonialists out of Vietnam. At a conference held in Geneva in 1956, Vietnam
was divided. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam was formed in the north, with
Ho Chi Minh as the leader. In the south, the State of Vietnam installed Ngo
Dinh Diem as president. Free elections were proposed in an effort to
re-unite it, but the elections never eventuated. The very unpopular government
in South Vietnam began to come under attack from a guerilla force, the
Vietcong, which was supported by communist North Vietnam.
The USA believed that the North Vietnamese intended to take over the
whole of Vietnam and make it a communist country. They also believed that this
would create a “domino” effect, with communism spreading throughout South-east
Asia. The USA provided financial aid and advisers to the South Vietnamese
government. However, the Vietcong won the support of the peasants. With
continuous support from the North and weapons being transported down the Ho Chi
Minh trail, by 1961 they controlled half of South Vietnam. President Kennedy
sent the first detachments of American advisers in 1962, which would start an
ever-expanding commitment of military forces.
After President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Lyndon Johnson took
his place. An excuse to escalate the war in Vietnam came with the supposed
attack on the USS Maddox by North Vietnamese gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin
Incident. Congress approved an escalation of the war that included the
deployment of more troops and equipment. In 1965, ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’
began with air raids on the North. Over a three-year period more bombs were
dropped on Vietnam than by all countries in World War II.
To continue a war against the might of the United
States, Vietnam needed support from the USSR. Even though there was a split
between China and the USSR, Soviet arms and supplies were permitted to cross
from China to support the communists in North Vietnam.
The build-up of troops continued by the Americans and their allies,
until over half a millions were in Vietnam by 1968. This was a war that was
costing the lives of thousands of Americans, and many people saw no end in
sight. Every night on the news Americans were subjected to the horrors of the
war. Anti-war protests increased. This movement turned to tragedy when National
Guardsmen fired into an anti-war crowd at Kent State University, killing four
students.
Peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam began in 1968
and culminated in a cease-fire being signed in 1973. American troops commenced their
withdrawal from Vietnam at this time. The architect of the peace process was
Richard Nixon who was elected President in 1968. He was, however, forced to
resign his Presidency in August 1974 following the Watergate Scandal, and
Gerald Ford assumed the Presidency.
One year later, North Vietnamese forces over-ran the South. Vietnam
became a united country under a communist government. However, nearly two
million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans died during the conflict.
THE PRAGUE SPRING 1968
There had been a decline in the Czechoslovakian economy during 1967,
with factories shut down and wages lowered. The communist party of
Czechoslovakia dismissed their leader, Antonin Novotny as he did nothing to
improve the situation, and replaced him with the popular Alexander Dubček
in January 1968.
Dubček wanted to remain loyal to Moscow and for Czechoslovakia to
be communist country. In contrast, however, he expected the people and
newspapers to have freedom of expression, and wanted to develop a higher
standard of living. He also promised that political parties, as well as a
Communist Party, would be tolerated. Political prisoners were to be released
and Czechs could travel freely abroad. These reforms were known as the Prague
Spring.
The new Soviet leader, Leonard Brezhnev, was worried that events in
Czechoslovakia would be a repeat of Hungary in 1956. He believed Dubček
wanted to take Czechoslovakia out of the Warsaw Pact. It was the time to act.
In August 1968 over 500,000 Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia. Huge crowds
of people confronted Soviet tanks on the streets of Prague. Although a few
tanks were set on fire, the protesters remained calm. Dubček was arrested
and taken to Moscow. He had to renounce all his reforms and agree to Soviet
troops remaining on Czech soil. In 1969 a hard line Communist, Gustav Husak,
replaced Dubček as leader.
Again the Soviets made it clear that they were going to keep Eastern
Europe firmly under control.
DÉTENTE
The lessening of political and military tension began as early as 1963.
It culminated in an agreement referred to as the Limited Test Ban Treaty. All
the superpowers except France signed it at a meeting in Geneva. Nuclear testing
was banned in the atmosphere, outer space and underwater.
Beginning in 1968, there was a significant relaxation of political
tension. The French word for relaxation is détente and the term was adopted for
this period of history. With the
superpowers having massive nuclear capacity, it was time to co-operate, and to
reduce the threat of a nuclear war. It began in 1968 with the Paris Peace Talks
between North Vietnam and the USA. This year also saw the election of Richard
Nixon as President of the United States.
He immediately made efforts to develop friendly relations with China,
which had had virtually no contact with the USA for forty years. Although the Soviets were initially furious, they soon held a summit of
their own with Nixon, creating a triangular relationship between Washington,
Beijing, and Moscow. This ended the worst period of confrontation between the
Soviet Union and China.
Also in 1968, the Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed by the USA, the
Soviet Union and Great Britain. It was designed to stop the spread of nuclear
weapons, and discourage assistance to other nations that may have nuclear
intentions. For the USSR, this meant a greater proportion of its financial
resources could be directed towards its economy.
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks continued for ten years. SALT I,
1969 to 1977, and SALT II in 1979, resulted in the USA and USSR restricting the
number of long-range missiles in production. Salt II, however was never
ratified by the United States Congress.
Nineteen seventy-three would prove to be a significant year. The United
States and North Vietnam signed a cease-fire ending America’s involvement in
the Vietnam War. But, Middle East tensions again added a strain to this time of
Détente. The Yom Kippur War began when Syrian and Egyptian troops, backed by
the Soviets, invaded Israel. The Israelis, on the other hand, were financed by
the USA. The two superpowers had again found themselves supporting opposing
factions at war. Again, there was mutual distrust, and neither side would allow
the entry nuclear weapons inspectors. Each was suspicious that the other was
not destroying weapons as promised. This would prove to be a major obstacle to
the success of the SALT agreements.
The delicate political situation was eased during 1975. Firstly, the
Helsinki Agreement was signed, in which thirty-five countries agreed to
recognize the 1945 borders of Eastern Europe. And a Peace Conference held in
Switzerland eventually led to the Arab-Israeli Peace Treaty, signed in
1979.
For almost ten years, the two superpowers tried to co-exist without the
threat of world annihilation. But Détente would be seen as a failure, as events
during the 1980s were not conducive to the continuation of this policy. The
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 would finally signal the end of
Détente.
AFGHANISTAN
By mid-1978, a rebellion began in the eastern
region of Afghanistan and civil war spread throughout the country. A Muslim group,
the Mujaheddin, emerged as one of the major forces in this war. In September 1979, Hafizullah Amin, a member of the ruling marxist Khalq (People) faction,
seized power after a palace shootout that resulted in the death of President
Taraki. The KGB influenced Soviet
leaders to believe that Amin destabilized Afghanistan.
In December the Soviet Union, under Leonid Brezhnev, sent troops into
Afghanistan to ‘restore order’. Amin died at the hands of a
special assault unit that attacked the presidential palace. The Soviets
installed Babrak Karmal as head of a communist government that was loyal to Moscow.
The Western powers were furious. The invasion brought a decade of
détente to an abrupt end. Jimmy Carter, the new American president, was angered
by the invasion and called it: ‘the greatest threat to world peace since World
War Two.’ This marked the renewal of
the Cold War. Carter stopped American grain exports to the USSR, and Congress
refused to ratify the SALT Π agreement signed in 1979. Carter increased
the size of the American military and allowed the production of a new missile
system. The 1980 Olympics in Moscow were boycotted by 60 nations including the
USA, to protest Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
During this period there were two new faces in the superpower
leaderships. Ronald Reagan became President of the United States in 1981, and
Mikhael Gorbachev succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as the leader of the Soviet
Union in 1985.
The USA contributed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of guns and
food to Afghanistan to aid the Mujaheddin and refugees. The Soviet Union viewed
this funding as provocative and anti-Soviet. The United Nations voted to
condemn the Soviet invasion, and repeatedly called for the pullout of troops.
In addition, the Arab world provided financial support to the Mujahedddin.
The occupation of Afghanistan was a disaster. By the time the
last troops left in February 1989, Soviet casualties numbered fifteen thousand.
But the real damage was to the superpower image of the USSR. Mikhael Gorbachev,
however, was able to save face for the Soviets, agreeing to troop withdrawal in
1988. This fall from invincibility and the crippling expense of financing a
lost cause would, in part, contribute to the disintegration of the Soviet Union
in the early 1990s. The Afghan campaign has often been referred to as the
equivalent of the United States' Vietnam War.
THE REAGAN ERA
Ronald Reagan’s presidency began in 1981 while the
USSR was occupying Afghanistan. He was extremely anti-communist and referred to
the USSR as the‘evil empire.’ His speeches were aggressive and he described the
Cold War as ‘a struggle between freedom and totalitarianism, between what is
right and wrong’. Reagan instigated policies that were designed to underline
his tough stance against the USSR and its allies. Cruise missiles were located
in NATO countries in Europe and the USA stopped trading with the Soviet Union.
However, the selection of missile sites was not always popular. At one proposed
site at Greenham Common in Britain, 30,000 female protesters formed a human
circle around the airbase. Later, protestors joined hands forming a chain 22
kilometres long, and kept up a daily vigil of protest.
In 1983 Reagan took the arms race into the realms
of science fiction. The Strategic Defence Initiative, known as ‘Star Wars’, was
a system that would allow laser beams to fire from satellites in space
destroying first strike foreign missiles. The Americans could then strike back
after surviving such an attack. ‘Stars Wars’ would be extremely expensive to
develop and, not surprisingly, defence spending increased to $367 billion in
1986. Reagan also funded right wing insurgents in Nicaragua, El Salvador,
Angola and Afghanistan.
When the Soviet Union boycotted the Los Angeles
Olympic Games in 1984, it appeared that there would never be peaceful
co-existance between the major powers. But in 1985, unimaginable changes
occured.
GORBACHEV, PERESTROIKA and GLASNOST
Mikhail Gorbachov became the Soviet leader in
1985. He believed that changes were imperative to rebuild a Soviet economy that
had stagnated. He had two plans he hoped would benefit the Soviet Union and
improve the living standards of its citizens. “Perestroika” was designed to
stimulate the economy by producing more consumer goods, rather than weapons and
nuclear missiles. His plan was to have communism and capitalism live peacefully
side by side. “Glasnost” meant that there would be greater freedom of speech
and government policy could be criticised.
Gorbachov met with President Reagan in an attempt
to reduce much of the tension between East and West. At a meeting in Reykjavik
Iceland, in October 1986, they agreed to scrap some of their nuclear missiles.
Reagan refused, however, to stop development of the ‘Star Wars’ programme.
Gorbachev remained positive both sides were working towards a safer world. In
Washington during 1987, they signed the Immediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF).
Both sides agreed to destroy all missiles with a range of between 500 and 5550
kilometres. Inspection teams were allowed to keep count. Indeed, President
Reagan praised the attitude of Gorbachev, describing their meetings as having
made, ‘huge breaches in the walls of the Cold War fortress.’
Gorbachev’s efforts in helping to end the Cold War
made him very popular in the West, and he received the Nobel Peace Prize in
1990. In the satellite communist nations of Eastern Europe, however, this
relaxed attitude was seen as an opportunity to break free from the Soviet
Union.
1989
The countries of Eastern Europe had been under
Soviet control since 1945. Any attempts to free themselves of this control, like Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968, had been crushed
by the Red army. Mikhail Gorbachev said in March 1989, that the Soviet Union
would never again use force to impose it’s will on these countries. Soviet
troops would also be withdrawn. These statements alarmed many leaders of those communist nations. But, for the people
who had grown weary of the harsh restrictions placed on them, the time was
right for a revolt.
Beginning in May 1989, change swept through
eastern Europe. First Hungary, then Poland where the trade union Solidarity
movement defeated the communists in freely-held elections. The Solidarity
leader, Lech Walesa, eventually became president of a democratic Poland.
Elections in East Germany saw Egon Krenz, a moderate communist brought to
power. He agreed that East Germans were free to travel to the West. This was a
signal to many that the Berlin Wall had been opened. On November 9th
1989 thousands flocked to the Wall to walk into East Berlin. People climbed
onto it and began to hack it to pieces. The ultimate symbol of the Cold War
would no longer divide the city of Berlin.
A wave of change swept through the rest of Eastern
Europe with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Romania deposing their communist
rulers. On 2nd December 1989, US President George Bush and Mikhail
Gorbachev announced that the Cold War was finally over.
The 1990s
With the signing by Presidents Gorbachev and Bush,
of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in 1991, a significant number of
missiles were reduced by both the Soviet Union and the US. The threat to world
peace had taken another step back. But, for Mikhail Gorbachev, his plans for
the Soviet Union had not worked and he had become extremely unpopular.
Perestroika was not working, prices were high and supplies of every day goods
were short. Some members of the Communist Party hated the changes, while others
believed change was not happening quickly enough. The republics within the
Soviet Union were also demanding independence.
By August 1991 discontent had spread, with
Gorbachev and his wife Raisa being placed under house arrest by the KGB. Coup
leaders sent tanks onto the streets of Moscow. Boris Yeltshin, president of
Russia, called for Gorbachev to be released. The leaders of the coup
surrendered and were imprisoned, and it seemed that Gorbachev had lost all
power. Yeltsin, on the other hand, had
placed himself in a position to control the destiny of the Soviet Union. He was
anti-communist and forced Gorbachev to ban the Communist Party. By December
1991, the fifteen republics had declared themselves independent. Gorbachev
resigned on Christamas Day and Boris Yeltsin became the leader of Russia, the
most powerful of the old Soviet Unions republics.
Germany became united but problems remain and for
some Soviet Bloc nations, independence has not brought the advancements they
believed it would. The major powers possess long range missiles. Pakistan,
India, Israel and Iran all have nuclear weapons. The spread of world wide
terrorism also threatens peace.
It is not a perfect world after the Cold War. What
remains in the future only time will tell, but, hopefully, world leaders will
learn from history, and not repeat the mistakes of the past.