Cold War
The cold war was a duration in history when geographical and political tension existed between the United States of America and other the Soviet Union and their affiliates and allies; the East and Western blocks. It came after the end of world war two. This period led to the span of the Truman Doctrine of 1947 and the dissolution of Soviet Unions in 1991[1]. The end of world war two led to peace, evident from the American and Soviet soldiers clasping their hands in the region of camaraderie along Elbe River. This union of two different groups of soldiers was in celebration of victory against the opposing German soldiers. During the German surrender, wartime union between the United States of America, Soviet Unions, and Great Britain was already disintegrating. This disintegration occurred in the year 1945.
One-time partners, however, increased their sacrifices to their corporations for their national interest. After two years, the alliance that emerged from mutual dangers paved the way to the cold war between the two rivaling principals[2]. The two principals contested on which side would give way. During this clash, direct involvement of weapons and firearms was avoided, thus ‘cold war.’ The cold war was a confrontation to which state would principally influence the globe between the Soviet Union and the United States of America.
The Cold war was an encounter full of tension on economical and political systems between the rivals. It touched on an option between capitalism and democracy that was liberal to all, and global communism and a single party rule over the other. Ideological and geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet States and the allies involved lasted for about five decades, affecting every inch of the world. Cold war led to the formation of political and military alliances. The Cold war also led to the formation of arms races for the unprecedented scopes and states that were referred to as client states.
This war led to the endangering of a diplomatic crisis and triggered conflicts against various militaries. Cold war brought the universe to an edge of destruction by nuclear power from the warring sides. Cold war came with different manifestations, the first one being the complete division of Europe as a continent[3]. This manifestation aimed to make the divided European nations compete politically, through their militia and for a block in the economy. One side’s economic block depended on the United States while the other opposing side was for the USSR. The two blocks were separated by the ‘iron curtain,’ as it was referred by Winston Churchill in the year 1946.
An international body, the United Nations was founded in the year 1945 to maintain world security and peace. The idea to form this international body was from the corporations that had allied during world war two. To prevent the eruption of another world war, the United Nations a very powerful and strong Security Council whose purpose was to maintain world peace. To ensure that the world peace was met, the United Nations understood that the world powers had to come into a common agreement.
To create this agreement, the founders of the UN came up with a rule that the Security Council had to contain five permanent Council members and chose six members that had to rotate after a designated duration. These permanent members had to have a unanimous vote for substantial matters. Decisions from the Council binds all members. Even with the initial merger, wartime corporations that existed between allies that had initially existed began to go astray.
The allies showed differences over the future of the states that had been freed and occupied by the red army belonging to the Soviet Union. This difference emerged even before the defeat of the Germans. The involved stakeholders agreed on the establishment of a government that could respond to the people’s will through free elections[4]. Joseph Stalin, on the other hand, proposed a ‘friendly’ type of government that would be under the control of the Soviet Union. He proposed to defend the territories against unforeseen threats from the German government.
This proposal signaled permanent domination by the Soviet Union to the Eastern Union according to the British and Americans. This proposal would mean that the Soviets would establish their communist parties and compete for power with western European countries that had democracies.
Cold war prolonged and the future became disastrous. It was a race for ammunition warfare and nuclear weapons proliferation. The Soviet Union tested its atomic weapon in 1949. This broke the law on monopoly by the U.S on atomic weaponry. This act led to superpower countries developing a lot of nuclear weapons that they got to a capacity that they could mutually destroy each other. Their balance of destruction helped stabilize their co-existence, but with an exception.
Cuba was the epicenter of the Cold war. Fidel Castro led a revolution that overthrew Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Batista’s term helped maintain Cuba’s relationship with the U.S, especially the U.S companies that produced sugar[5]. This relationship controlled the economy of Cuba. Castro’s reign, however, welcomed the Soviet deal of massive aid to Cuba. This included the Soviet purchasing half of his country’s sugar production and shipments of amour. This union triggered the government of the United States. To his reaction, the new president, John F. Kennedy ordered Castro’s overthrowal.
In 1961, America sent 1500 armed and trained force to Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. In three- days- time, Castro’s army had killed and captured the surviving U.S task force. This fiasco diminished the Latin American prestige, strengthening Castro’s power and encouraging him to accept more Soviet deployment of nuclear weapons in his country as a barrier for future attacks.
The U.S learned of Cuba’s site for launching nuclear weapons that could only hit medium-range. The missiles could hit U.S targets within minutes. This posed a threat to J.F Kennedy. He ordered the Soviet governance to withdraw missiles from Cuba and stop the importation of more nuclear weapons to Cuba. He quarantined Cuba naval and air, poising the superpower countries. A fortnight later, the world still lived in fear of possible nuclear warfare. The Soviet government later gave in to the demands of the U.S. in return, the Premiere pledge with Kennedy to stop the attempt to overthrow Castro and secretly remove their nuclear weapons from Turkey.
Bibliography
History.com Editors. “Cold War History.” HISTORY (blog). December 4, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history.
“Newsround.” BBC – Home (blog). February 7, 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47122488.
[1] “Newsround.” BBC – Home (blog). February 7, 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47122488.
[2] History.com Editors. “Cold War History.” HISTORY (blog). December 4, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history.
[3] History.com Editors. “Cold War History.” HISTORY (blog). December 4, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history
[4] History.com Editors. “Cold War History.” HISTORY (blog). December 4, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history
[5] History.com Editors. “Cold War History.” HISTORY (blog). December 4, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/cold-war-history.