Download Relations between the Soviet Union and the United States

Jasper Franceschi
Dr. Davenport
Term Paper
History from 1648
The Cold War: A Chilly History
At the end of World War II, a rivalry began between the United States and the
Soviet Union called the Cold War. The Cold War was characterized by a fight between
democracy and communism with a constant threat of nuclear war.
Relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were driven by a complex
interplay of ideological, political, and economic factors, which led to shifts between
cautious cooperation and often bitter superpower rivalry over the years. The distinct
differences in the political systems of the two countries often prevented them from
reaching a mutual understanding on key policy issues and even, as in the case of the
Cuban missile crisis, brought them to the brink of war.
When the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia in November 1917, two figures
stood out among the leaders of the uprising: Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. Lenin
was the founder of Bolshevism and the single-minded catalyst of revolution, but
Trotsky's role in the events of November 1917 was no less important. Trotsky was
instrumental in the formation and guidance of the Military Revolutionary Committee,
which spearheaded the Bolshevik coup d'e'tat. Over the next three years he gained
renown in Russia and throughout the world for his skill in organizing the Red Army
against loyalist White forces. The Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War in
November 1920 boosted Trotsky's fortunes still further. When it became clear in the early
1920s that Lenin was seriously ill, Trotsky was widely viewed as the most plausible
successor.
Within a few short years, however, the whole situation had changed. Even before
Lenin's death in 1924, Trotsky was rapidly losing ground to his long-time nemesis and
rival, Josif Stalin. Although a secret British diplomatic report in 1925 described Trotsky
as "the most powerful figure in Russian Bolshevism" and "the most significant individual
in socialist revolutionary Europe," Stalin, in fact, had already attained a decisive edge.
Trotsky, for all his revolutionary tenacity, often seemed remarkably inept in his highlevel political maneuvering, and he lacked the drive and instinct needed to attain
dominance within the leadership. In part because of Trotsky's mistakes, Stalin rapidly
consolidated his own power. In October 1926 Trotsky was removed from the Politburo,
and a year later he was ousted from the Central Committee. Within another month he was
expelled from the Communist party, and in January 1929 he was driven out of his
homeland for good. Until nearly the end of his life, Trotsky harbored at least a faint hope
of returning to the Soviet Union. In March 1933, while in exile in Turkey, Trotsky sought
to reconcile himself with the Soviet leadership, professing a readiness to "enter into
preliminary negotiations without any publicity" and proclaiming his "goodwill" in
attempting to "ease the strained atmosphere." He made at least two further attempts at
reconciliation in the latter half of the 1930s. Stalin spurned all such overtures and instead
ordered the secret police (NKVD) to liquidate Trotsky. After Stalin gave his final orders
to the NKVD's chief of "special tasks," Pavel Sudoplatov, in March 1939, a large-scale
operation got under way in Mexico. It took nearly a year-and-a-half -- and one botched
effort -- before an NKVD agent was finally able to penetrate the security around Trotsky
in August 1940 and lodge an ice-pick in Trotsky's head. Having dedicated his life to the
cause of violent revolution, Trotsky himself met a violent and grisly end.
The United States government was initially hostile to the Soviet leaders for taking
Russia out of World War I and was opposed to a state ideologically based on
communism. Although the United States embarked on a famine relief program in the
Soviet Union in the early 1920s and American businessmen established commercial ties
there during the period of the New Economic Policy (1921-29), the two countries did not
establish diplomatic relations until 1933. By that time, the totalitarian nature of Joseph
Stalin's regime presented an insurmountable obstacle to friendly relations with the West.
Although World War II brought the two countries into alliance, based on the common
aim of defeating Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union's aggressive, antidemocratic policy
toward Eastern Europe had created tensions even before the war ended.
After World War II, Joseph Stalin saw the world as divided into two camps:
imperialist and capitalist regimes on the one hand, and the Communist and progressive
world on the other. In 1947, President Harry Truman also spoke of two diametrically
opposed systems: one free, and the other bent on subjugating other nations. After Stalin's
death, Nikita Khrushchev stated in 1956 that imperialism and capitalism could coexist
without war because the Communist system had become stronger. The Geneva Summit
of 1955 among Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States, and the Camp
David Summit of 1959 between Eisenhower and Khrushchev raised hopes of a more
cooperative spirit between East and West. In 1963 the United States and the Soviet Union
signed some confidence-building agreements, and in 1967 President Lyndon Johnson met
with Soviet Prime Minister Aleksei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey. Interspersed with
such moves toward cooperation, however, were hostile acts that threatened broader
conflict, such as the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 and the Soviet-led invasion of
Czechoslovakia of 1968.
In Asia, the Communist cause gained great incentive when the Communists under
Mao Zedong gained control of mainland China in 1949. The United States continued to
support Nationalist China, with its headquarters in Taiwan. President Truman, fearing the
appeal of Communism to the peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, created the
Four Point program, which was intended to help underdeveloped areas. Struggle
continued, and in 1950 Communist forces from North Korea attacked South Korea,
starting the Korean War. Chinese Communist troops entered the conflict in large
numbers, but were checked by UN forces, especially those of the United States. The
focus of the cold war in Asia soon shifted to the southeast. China supported insurgent
guerrillas in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia; the United States, on the other side, played a
leading role in the formation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and provided
large-scale military aid, but guerrilla warfare continued.
The newly emerging nations of Asia and Africa soon became the scene of coldwar skirmishes, and the United States and the Soviet Union (and later China) competed
for their allegiance, often through economic aid; however, many of these nations
succeeded in remaining neutral. The cold-war struggle continued in Southeast Asia, in the
Middle East, in Africa (nations such as Congo, Angola, and others), and in Latin
America. Both the Soviet Union and the United States supported and maintained
sometimes brutal regimes (through military, financial, and other forms of aid) in return
for their allegiance.
In Europe, the East German government erected the Berlin Wall to check the
embarrassing flow of East Germans to the West. Major anti-Communist riots broke out in
East Berlin in June 1953 and, on August 13, 1961. The Soviet Sector was sealed off with
a wall that ran through the city. The Communist-built wall was intended to seal the flood
of refugees seeking freedom in the West. Approximately 200,000 had already made the
move in 1961, before the wall was erected. In addition, Communist East Germany
wanted to isolate the citizens of East Berlin from the West, and did so with 27 miles of
concrete and barbed wire. The fall of that edifice 31 years later came to symbolize the
collapse of Soviet influence in Europe.
According to Nikita Khrushchev's memoirs, in May 1962 he conceived the idea of
placing intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba as a means of countering an
emerging lead of the United States in developing and deploying strategic missiles. He
also presented the scheme as a means of protecting Cuba from another United Statessponsored invasion, such as the failed attempt at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.
After obtaining Fidel Castro's approval, the Soviet Union worked quickly and
secretly to build missile installations in Cuba. On October 16, President John Kennedy
was shown reconnaissance photographs of Soviet missile installations under construction
in Cuba. After seven days of guarded and intense debate in the United States
administration, during which Soviet diplomats denied that installations for offensive
missiles were being built in Cuba, President Kennedy, in a televised address on October
22, announced the discovery of the installations and proclaimed that any nuclear missile
attack from Cuba would be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union and would be
responded to accordingly. He also imposed a naval quarantine on Cuba to prevent further
Soviet shipments of offensive military weapons from arriving there.
During the crisis, the two sides exchanged many letters and other
communications, both formal and "back channel." Khrushchev sent letters to Kennedy on
October 23 and 24 indicating the deterrent nature of the missiles in Cuba and the peaceful
intentions of the Soviet Union. On October 26, Khrushchev sent Kennedy a long
rambling letter seemingly proposing that the missile installations would be dismantled
and personnel removed in exchange for United States assurances that it or its proxies
would not invade Cuba. On October 27, another letter to Kennedy arrived from
Khrushchev, suggesting that missile installations in Cuba would be dismantled if the
United States dismantled its missile installations in Turkey. The American administration
decided to ignore this second letter and to accept the offer outlined in the letter of
October 26. Khrushchev then announced on October 28 that he would dismantle the
installations and return them to the Soviet Union, expressing his trust that the United
States would not invade Cuba. Further negotiations were held to implement the October
28 agreement, including a United States demand that Soviet light bombers also be
removed from Cuba, and to specify the exact form and conditions of United States
assurances not to invade Cuba.
The long rule of Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982) is now referred to in Russia as the
"period of stagnation." But the Soviet stance toward the United States became less hostile
in the early 1970s. Negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted
in summit meetings and the signing of strategic arms limitation agreements. Brezhnev
proclaimed in 1973 that peaceful coexistence was the normal, permanent, and irreversible
state of relations between imperialist and Communist countries, although he warned that
conflict might continue in the Third World. In the late 1970s, growing internal repression
and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to a renewal of Cold War hostility.
Soviet Tanks in Afghanistan, 1979
Soviet views of the United States changed once again after Mikhail Gorbachev
came to power in early 1985. Arms control negotiations were renewed, and President
Reagan undertook a new series of summit meetings with Gorbachev that led to arms
reductions and facilitated a growing sympathy even among Communist leaders for more
cooperation and the rejection of a class-based, conflict-oriented view of the world.
With President Yeltsin's recognition of independence for the other republics of the former
USSR and his launching of a full-scale economic reform program designed to create a
market economy, Russia was pledged at last to overcoming both the imperial and the
ideological legacies of the Soviet Union.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Polish blue-collar workers embarked on a series of
bold actions against the Communist regime. Mass labor protests against the government's
abrupt announcement of food price increases in December 1970 were a milestone in the
development of group organization among Polish workers. Strike committees in Szczecin
and Gdansk forged links with factories all over Poland, voicing demands for genuinely
independent workers organizations. Despite the regime's use of force against the strikes,
the workers persisted until the government rescinded the price increases in February
1971. This achievement further galvanized the incipient labor movement in Poland and
promoted "class solidarity" among disparate groups of workers. Over the next few years,
however, the Polish authorities were able to retract much of what they had conceded, as
they clamped down on workers organizations and attempted to reestablish the monopoly
of the Communist party (PZPR) over all aspects of labor relations. These efforts
ultimately proved futile, despite a brief period of social tranquility in the early 1970s
when economic output grew rapidly on the basis of heavy borrowing from other nations.
When the government's import led strategy failed and collapsed in the mid to late 1970s,
harsh wartime economy measures were reinstated. In June 1976 another announcement of
increases on food prices sparked strikes and protests around the country. Links among
workers were quickly strengthened, as the structure of a nationwide movement emerged
spontaneously. Within less than 24 hours the government was forced to back down,
giving workers a more powerful sense of their collective ability to bring about desired
political change.
Soon after the June 1976 protests had subsided, the authorities launched a wave of
repression against the strike organizers, sentencing many to long prison terms. These
measures, it turned out, provided only a temporary relief. The crackdown inspired a
group of intellectuals to set up the Committee for Workers' Defense (KOR) in September
1976, and the success of KOR prompted the formation of other dissident groups,
including some calling for independent labor organizations. Workers in central Poland
established a small unofficial trade union in late 1977, the first such entity in the Soviet
bloc. Soon after, similar bodies were set up on a local basis elsewhere in Poland. The
Polish authorities cracked down harshly against these unofficial unions, but a solid basis
had been laid for the momentous events of 1980-1981.
Amidst a surge of strikes and protests in the summer of 1980 the "Solidarity"
trade union was established as the first nationwide workers' organization outside the
control of the PZPR. The independent status of Solidarity was formally approved by the
Polish government in the historic Gdansk accords at the end of August. The new trade
union soon gained a membership of nearly 10 million (roughly half the Adult
population), enabling it to rival the PZPR for political control. When martial law was
imposed in December 1981, Solidarity and its affiliated organizations were banned, and
they remained officially illegal until early 1989.
In the 1980s, U.S. President Ronald Reagan revived cold-war policies and
rhetoric, referring to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire” and escalating the nuclear
arms race. On November 9, 1989, several weeks after the resignation of East Germany's
long-time Communist leader, Erich Honecker, the Berlin wall's designer and chief
proponent, the East German government opened its borders to the West and allowed
thousands of citizens to pass freely beyond the wall. They were cheered and greeted by
hordes of West Berliners, and many of the jubilant newcomers celebrated their new
freedom by climbing to the top of the despised wall. The following day, East German
troops began dismantling parts of the wall. It was ironic that the wall was built to keep
the citizens from leaving and 28 years later, it was being dismantled for the same reason.
On November 22, new passages were opened at the north and south ends of the
Brandenburg Gate in an emotional ceremony attended by Chancellor Helmut Kohl of
West Germany and Chancellor Hans Modrow of East Germany. The opening of the
Brandenburg Gate climaxed the ending of the barriers that had divided the German
people since the end of World War II. By the end of 1990, the entire wall had been
removed.
The collapse of the Eastern European Communist regimes has led to a number of
wars around the globe, especially ethnic and religious conflict, such as in the former
Yugoslavia. The post Cold War era saw a period of unprecedented prosperity in the West,
especially in the United States, and a spread of democracy throughout Latin America,
Africa, and Eastern Europe. Cold War institutions such as NATO have found new roles,
while other products of the Cold War-era such as the European Union have gone on to
great success. The space exploration has petered out in both the United States and Russia
without the competitive pressure of the space race. Russia's transition from a command
economy to free-market capitalism has not been smooth so far. Twenty five percent of
the population currently lives in poverty, which was largely nonexistent in the last
decades of the Soviet Union. GDP growth also declined, and life expectantly dropped
sharply.
Bibliography:
D. F. Fleming, The Cold War and Its Origins, 1917–1960 (1961).
J. Sharnik, Inside the Cold War (1987).
Lucas, Scott. Freedom's War: The American Crusade Against the Soviet Union.
New York: New York University Press, 1999.
Sibley, Katherine A. S. The Cold War. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1998.
W. LaFeber, America, Russia and the Cold War (8th ed. 1996).
William R. Keylor, The Twentieth Century World: An International History, 2nd
edition (1992).
US, CIA, SR 81-10035X, April 1981, Intelligence Assessment, The Development of
Soviet Military Power: Trends Since 1965 and Prospects for the 1980s.
This is an image of the Fall 1951 Buster-Jangles test shot, from a web site called
"The Atomic Duty of Pvt. Bill Bires," The Army was attempting to assess the
impact of tactical nuclear weapons on soldiers who saw a blast in the distance.