THE COLD WAR PART 2 INTRODUCTION

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.

2 On Sunday 14 th 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 15 th, to October 28 th, 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 2

3 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. 3

4 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. 4

5 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. 5

6 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 6

7 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. 7

8 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. 8

9 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 9 th 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 2 nd December 9

10 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. 10