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COLD WAR
A brief outlook of the major events after the world war II
Md. Moniruzzaman
LLB(Hons),LLM(Running)
Department of Law,
University of Rajshahi
Email: [email protected]
The new world:
End of World war II saw two opposing
super powers emerging in the form of
USA and Soviet Union.
Outcome of the World War II:
These two super powers tried to spread
their influence throughout the world and
thus the cold war began.
Cold war was not a direct war but a
series of proxy wars.
Intimidation, propaganda and espionage
were the main weapons used.
Effects:
The world divided into East and West.
Both US and Soviet felt threatened by each other
and the world feared for new war.
Both capitalist US and Communist Soviet wanted
to spread their socio political ideologies through
out the world to increase their influence.
MEJOR EVENTS:
After the World War II, almost in all major
world events, USA and The Soviet had a
huge influence. They played their part either
directly or indirectly in all the wars, civil
wars, military insurgency, military coup,
revolution against the acting Govt. or killing
of politicians.
THE BERLIN CRISIS:
Germany was split into four “allied occupation zones” after the
war.
The eastern part of the country went to the Soviet Union, while
the western part went to the United States, Great Britain and
(eventually) France.
In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was created out of the
Western zones. The Soviet zone became the German Democratic
Republic.
The control over Berlin was also divided among the super
powers, and conflict arose when both party wanted full control
over the city.
This conflict almost resulted into total nuclear war
when the Soviet decided to place nuclear missiles
in Cuba in 1962. But it was avoided when both the
head of states decided to remove the missiles.
On August 13, 1961, the Communist government
of the German Democratic Republic began to build
the Berlin wall, which stood for almost 30 years.
NUCLEAR DEMONSTRATIONS:
The two super powers spent the 1950s testing nuclear
weapons and displaying their might.
Many people campaigned against the development of
nuclear weapon seeing the inherent danger.
Although the US president Dwight D. Eisenhower thought
these weapon could be used to deter other acts of war.
SPACE RACE:
Space race was another important event that occurred
during the cold war, as the two nation franticly developed
more and more technology.
 The Soviet launched the first satellite and the first man
into the space (Yuri Gagarin).
While the US won the race to the Moon.
MARSHAL’S PLAN & ROLE OF CIA
The Marshall Plan was an American initiative to aid
Western Europe, in which the United States gave $13
billion in economic support to help rebuild Western
European economies after the end of World War II.
This support was given only to the countries who
complied with the political ideology of USA.
One of the main aim of this project was to stop the spread
of communism in the Western Europe.
CIA(Central Intelligence Agency) also played its part in
stopping the rise of communism by influencing politics all
over the world by backing pro-American parties, killing
politicians, spreading propaganda and many other behind
the scene activities.
KOREAN WAR(1950-1953):
Korea had been divided into half after the World War II.
And both sides claimed to govern the whole country.
To help further spread Communism, China and Soviet
Union aided the Northern Government to invade into the
South.
Load of United Nations countries came into defend the
South, with USA providing the vast majority of troops.
The Korean War was fought to stalemate. Korea remained
divided in the state of cease fire to this day.
VIETNAM WAR:
War had been reigning in the old French colony, Vietnam
since 1955 and even before that between the communist
backed west and mainly the US backed south.
 US involvement grew and grew through out the 1960s
ultimately ended in defeat for the South and the US.
The North Vietnamese force captured Saigan, the capital
of South Vietnam, in 1975.
It was an embarrassment for the US, as the great super
power lost to such a poor nation.
AFGAN WAR:
The Afghanistan War was fought between Afghanistan
rebels called the Mujahideen and the Soviet supported
Afghanistan government.
The United States supported the Afghanistan rebels in
order to try and overthrow the communist government and
to prevent the spread of communism.
In this period of time Al Qaeda was formed and it was
trained and weaponized by the USA.
This war ended in1989 with the Soviet defeated.
END OF COLD WAR:
 1970s saw a new angel in the cold war, a time known as DETANE.
 The Soviet Union were finding that many of the economies within the
eastern block countries weren’t doing as well as the west. They increased
trade with each other and brought about an peaceful coexistence.
 During 1989 and 1990, the Berlin Wall came down, borders opened, and
free elections ousted Communist regimes everywhere in eastern Europe.
 In late 1991 the Soviet Union itself dissolved into its component
republics. With stunning speed, the Iron Curtain was lifted and the Cold
War came to an end.
CONCLUDING REMARKS:
Although the cold war ended but the tension between USA
and Russia never ceased to exist.
When Soviet dissolved, the USA became the sole super
power of the world.
Russia tried its best to keep its influence through out the
world but in most of the cases the USA dominated the world
affairs.
However the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s recent
attacks in Syria signaling new dimension in the world
politics.