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The Second Cold War
As the United States and the Soviet Union competed for
supremacy in their dangerous game of chess, many other
nations throughout the world served as pawns for the
greater powers. Events would bring an end to détente and
lead toward a renewal of tensions in the latter phase of the
Cold War.
The Arab-Israeli Confrontation
In 1958, partly to coordinate efforts against Israel, Jamal
Nasser (the leader of Egypt) convinced Syria to merge with
Egypt in what became the United Arab Republic, or UAR.
As new Arab leaders began to emerge in Syria and Iraq,
however, so too did their own fears of Egyptian domination.
Perhaps the only point of agreement among all Arab leaders
was their ongoing opposition to the state of Israel.
In May 1967, Nasser demanded the withdrawal of the UN
troops that had been policing the border between Egypt and
Israel since the end of the Suez crisis in 1956, in which
Nasser had attempted to gain total control of the Suez Canal.
This move almost led to a greater war between the two
adversaries of the cold war (communists vs. democracies).
He also announced a blockade of the Gulf of Aqaba to cut
Israel’s direct sea route to Africa and Asia.
The Six-Day War. Realizing the danger of delay, Israel
launched a lightning attack on June 5, 1967. In six days of
fighting, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza
Strip from Egypt, seized the Golan Heights from Syria, and
took from Jordan the entire west bank of the Jordan River.
The so-called West Bank, part of the original Palestine
mandate, had remained in Arab hands after the Arab-Israeli
war of 1948. Israel also captured the Jordanian section of
Jerusalem. Israel then annexed Jerusalem, despite a UN
ruling making it an international city.
Israel confirmed its military superiority over its neighbors,
but peace remained elusive. Many displaced Palestinians
lost faith in the Arab governments’ ability to recapture what
had been Palestine, As a result, they increasingly relied an
their own guerrilla organization, the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO), led by Yasir Arafat.
Continued Arab-Israeli Conflict. Palestinian terror groups
embarked on an unprecedented wave of attacks against
Israel and Jewish targets in other countries. The climax of
this wave occurred at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games,
when, in the Munich Massacre, Palestinian terrorists held
hostage and killed 11 Israeli athletes and one German police
officer. The Palestinian organization responsible was called
Black September – a group with ties to Yasser Arafat's Fatah
organization. Five of the eight kidnappers were killed by
police during an abortive rescue attempt. Israel responded
by assassinating most of those who were involved in the
massacre.
On October 6, 1973, on the Jewish fast day of Yom Kippur,
the Egyptian and Syrian armies launched a surprise attack
against Israel. However, despite the expected blow dealt to
Israel by this attack, Egypt and Syria failed to accomplish
their goal of regaining the territories lost in 1967.
The Soviet Union, which had supported the Arab states
previously with money and weapons, refrained from any
direct involvement due to the desire to attain détente with
the United States. Israel quickly gained the upper hand,
bolstered by American weaponry, and a cease-fire was
negotiated. After the Yom Kippur War, a number of years
of relative calm ensued, which fostered the environment in
which Israel and Egypt could make peace.
In September 1978, U.S. President Jimmy Carter invited
Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and Menachem Begin of Israel to
Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. After
meetings and negotiations there Sadat and Begin agreed on
the framework for a peace settlement. The Camp David
Accords marked the first time an Arab nation recognized the
state of Israel. This momentous occasion was followed by a
peace treaty that Egypt and Israel signed in March 1979.
The Helsinki Accords
In 1975, representatives of 35 nations, including the United
Stares and the Soviet Union, met in Helsinki, Finland, to
discuss the topics of security and cooperation in Europe. The
meeting resulted in a series of agreements known as the
Helsinki Accords. These agreements specified ways of
improving economic and technological cooperation between
East and West, endorsing the use of peaceful means rather
than force to settle disputes between nations. The accords
also settled a major Cold War issue by recognizing the
legitimacy of certain boundaries in Eastern Europe that were
established after World War II but were disputed by some
countries. Perhaps the most
important part of the
accords,
however,
concerned the protection of
human rights, including
freedom of speech and
freedom of worship. The
Helsinki Accords called on
all nations to respect the
basic human rights of their
citizens.
Although the Helsinki Accords provided for no real means
of enforcement, they proved to be an important symbolic
step. By showing little interest in complying with the human
rights aspects of the accords, the Soviets and other
Communist bloc countries undermined their own credibility
in the international community. The accords also formed an
important foundation for the democratic movement that
ultimately swept across Eastern Europe in the late l980s.
minister to preside over Iran in his absence. By midFebruary Khomeini’s revolution had triumphed. Iranians
overwhelmingly voted to establish an Islamic republic, and
they elected a president in January 1980. Real power,
however, remained with Khomeini. His supporters rapidly
eliminated other political forces, such as the socialists, who
had helped overthrow the shah.
The Iranian Revolution
The
United
States
supported the restoration
of full power to the young
shah of Iran, Mohammad
Reza Shah Pahlavi in
1953. Thereafter, the shah
worked to establish his
power and to impose
rapid
modernization
within his country. He
relied on close ties with
the U.S., on his army, and
on his secret police
Many Iranians opposed
the shah. Some were
socialists, while others were Islamic traditionalists eager to
rid the country of Western influences. Iran’s government
had carried out ambitious modernization programs,
including land distribution to the peasants, a campaign
against illiteracy, and increased industrialization. As a
result, millions had left the countryside for the cities. When
an economic slump hit Iran in the 1970s, these uprooted
masses rapidly grew anxious. As their prospects for
prosperity seemed to vanish, many of these Iranians became
ready to support the call for revolution.
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi
The shah tried to keep
all control and power in
his hands. Conservative
Islamic leaders who had
long
opposed
the
modernization
programs of the shah
began to attract wide
support in their calls to
rid Iran of Western
influences.
The
Ayatollah
Ruhollah
Khomeini (koh-MAYnee) soon emerged as
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
the leader of religiously
based apposition to the
shah. Banished from Iran since 1964, the 76-year-old
religious leader had directed a propaganda campaign
against the shah from exile in France.
Iran’s Islamic republic. In 1978, discontent with the shah’s
rule erupted in demonstrations and riots throughout Iran. In
January 1979, the shah left the country, appointing a prime
On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants captured the
American embassy in Tehran, seizing more than 60
Americans in a predicament called the Iran Hostage Crisis.
The militants were protesting the American decision to let
the ailing shah enter the United States for medical treatment.
They demanded that the shah be returned to Iran to stand
trial. The shah left the United States in December 1979 and
died in Egypt in July 1980. Even though the Iranian militants
faced worldwide condemnation, they continued to hold the
hostages. The United States launched a military operation to
rescue the hostages, but the mission was recalled when
several aircraft involved collided with each other on the way
into Tehran. The militants finally released the American
hostages in January 1981 when Ronald Reagan took office.
The End of Détente
The most serious break in the relationship between the
superpowers came when the Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan. In 1978 a communist regime launched a coup
in Afghanistan and took over the government. The series of
communist governments that followed created considerable
opposition. As part of a Cold War strategy, the US
government began to covertly fund and train antigovernment Mujahedeen forces (meaning “struggler”),
which were derived from discontented Muslims in the
country who opposed the official atheism of the Marxist
regimes. In order to bolster the local Communist forces the
Soviet Union intervened in December 1979, conducting a
massive invasion and setting off the Soviet-Afghan War.
The Soviet occupation resulted in a mass exodus of over 5
million Afghans who moved into refugee camps in
neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
Carter Doctrine. The invasion threatened the security of
the oil-rich and economically vital Persian Gulf. In what
became known as the Carter Doctrine. President Carter
declared in his 1980 State of the Union Address that the
United States would regard any attempts by outside forces
to gain control of the Persian Gulf region as an assault on the
vital interests of the United States—an assault that might be
answered by military force. He restricted U.S. trade with the
Soviet Union and called for an international boycott of the
1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Carter also called for a
delay in ratifying a second Strategic Arms Limitation
Treaty—SALT II—that was pending at the time.
By the late 1970s, détente had come to an end and the
second phase of the Cold War had begun. Some Americans
believed that the reduction of the U.S. military after Vietnam
had served to encourage the aggressive actions of the Soviet
Union. On taking office in 1981, President Ronald Reagan
consequently called for substantially increased defense
spending. Congress approved his request, and the United
States soon began to build up its conventional forces,
modernize
its
nuclear
arsenal, and provide new aid
to anticommunist forces that
existed overseas.
Many
feared that the United States
was now pushing the Soviet
Union
too
hard.
The
administration
however,
maintained the pressure,
believing it would ultimately
force a more conciliatory
policy from the Soviets.
The Second Cold War
The Second Cold War essentially began with the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan, but was sent into high gear with
President Reagan’s announcement that the US would
employ ground-based and space-based systems to protect
the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic
missiles.
This Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was
commonly called “Star Wars,” after the popular sciencefiction films. The initiative focused on strategic defense
rather than the previous strategic offense doctrine of mutual
assured destruction.
In 1983, Reagan announced, "I call upon the scientific
community who gave us nuclear weapons to turn their great
talents to the cause of mankind and world peace: to give us
the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and
obsolete." Reagan also made his “Evil Empire” speech, in
which he stated, “[L]et us be aware that, while [the Soviet
leaders] preach the supremacy of the state, declare its
omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual
domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of
evil in the modern world.” These speeches, along with the
continuing Soviet assault in Afghanistan, brought the
nuclear standoff with the USSR to its most critical point
before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Grenada. In 1979, a popular left-wing leader, Maurice
Bishop, took control of Grenada through a coup d’etat.
Bishop's failure to allow elections, coupled with his Marxist
socialism and cooperation with communist Cuba did not sit
well with the country's neighbors, especially the United
States. A power struggle led to Bishop's house arrest and
eventual execution in 1983.
Days later, the island was invaded by forces from the
United States and five other Caribbean nations. A publicized
tactical concern of the United States was the safe recovery of
U.S. nationals enrolled at St. George's University. The forces
quickly captured the ringleaders and hundreds of Cuban
"advisors.”
Inflammatory rhetoric and violent events like the Soviet
War in Afghanistan, as well as the American invasion of
Grenada, would strain relations between the two
superpowers for several years.