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And the United States of America lasted more than 40 years and was called the "cold war". The years of its duration are estimated differently by different historians. However, we can say with full confidence that the confrontation ended in 1991, with the collapse of the USSR. The Cold War left an indelible mark on world history. Any conflict of the last century (after the end of World War II) must be viewed through the prism of the Cold War. It was not just a conflict between two countries.

It was a confrontation between two opposing worldviews, a struggle for dominance over the whole world.

Main reasons

The beginning of the Cold War is 1946. It was after the victory over Nazi Germany that a new map of the world and new rivals for world domination loomed. The victory over the Third Reich and its allies went to the whole of Europe, and especially the USSR, with great bloodshed. The future conflict was outlined at the Yalta Conference in 1945. At this famous meeting of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt, the fate of post-war Europe was decided. At this time, the Red Army was already approaching Berlin, so it was necessary to make the so-called division of spheres of influence. Soviet troops, hardened in battles on their territory, brought liberation to other peoples of Europe. In the countries occupied by the Union, friendly socialist regimes were established.

Spheres of influence

One of these was installed in Poland. At the same time, the previous Polish government was in London and considered itself legitimate. supported him, but the Communist Party elected by the Polish people de facto ruled the country. At the Yalta Conference, this issue was especially sharply considered by the parties. Similar problems were also observed in other regions. The peoples liberated from Nazi occupation created their own governments with the support of the USSR. Therefore, after the victory over the Third Reich, the map of the future Europe was finally formed.

The main stumbling blocks of the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition began after the partition of Germany. The eastern part was occupied by Soviet troops, the Western territories were proclaimed, which were occupied by the allies, became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. Disputes immediately broke out between the two governments. The confrontation eventually led to the closure of the borders between the FRG and the GDR. Spy and even sabotage actions began.

American imperialism

Throughout 1945, the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition continued close cooperation.

These were acts of transferring prisoners of war (who were captured by the Nazis) and material values. However, the Cold War began the following year. The years of the first exacerbation occurred precisely in the post-war period. The symbolic beginning was Churchill's speech in the American city of Fulton. Then the former British minister said that the main enemy for the West is communism and the USSR, which personifies it. Winston also called for all English-speaking nations to unite to fight the "red plague". Such provocative statements could not but provoke a response from Moscow. After some time, Joseph Stalin gave an interview to the Pravda newspaper, in which he compared the English politician with Hitler.

Countries during the Cold War: two blocs

However, although Churchill was a private individual, he only marked the course of Western governments. The United States has dramatically increased its influence on the world stage. This happened largely due to the war. The fighting was not conducted on American territory (with the exception of raids by Japanese bombers). Therefore, against the backdrop of a devastated Europe, the States had a fairly powerful economy and armed forces. Fearing the start of popular revolutions (which would be supported by the USSR) on their territory, the capitalist governments began to rally around the United States. It was in 1946 that the idea of ​​creating a military was first voiced. In response to this, the Soviets created their own unit - the Department of Internal Affairs. Things even went so far that the parties were developing a strategy for armed struggle with each other. At the direction of Churchill, a plan was developed for a possible war with the USSR. The Soviet Union had similar plans. Preparations began for a trade and ideological war.

Arms race

The arms race between the two countries was one of the most revealing phenomena that the Cold War brought. Years of confrontation led to the creation of unique means of warfare that are still in use today. In the second half of the 40s, the United States had a huge advantage - nuclear weapons. The first nuclear bombs were used during World War II. The Enola Gay bomber dropped shells on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, which almost razed it to the ground. It was then that the world saw the destructive power of nuclear weapons. The United States began to actively increase its stocks of such weapons.

A special secret laboratory was created in the state of New Mexico. Based on the nuclear advantage, strategic plans were made for further relations with the USSR. The Soviets, in turn, also began to actively develop a nuclear program. The Americans considered the presence of charges with enriched uranium the main advantage. Therefore, intelligence hastily removed all documents on the development of atomic weapons from the territory of defeated Germany in 1945. Soon a secret was developed. This is a strategic document, which involved a nuclear strike on the territory of the Soviet Union. According to some historians, various variations of this plan were presented to Truman several times. Thus ended the initial period of the Cold War, the years of which were the least tense.

Union nuclear weapons

In 1949, the USSR successfully conducted the first tests of a nuclear bomb at the Semipalatinsk test site, which was immediately announced by all Western media. The creation of the RDS-1 (nuclear bomb) became possible largely due to the actions of Soviet intelligence, which also penetrated the secret test site at Los Alamos.

Such a rapid development of nuclear weapons came as a real surprise to the United States. Since then, nuclear weapons have become the main deterrent to direct military conflict between the two camps. The precedent in Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed the whole world the terrifying power of the atomic bomb. But in what year was the cold war the most bitter?

Caribbean crisis

For all the years of the Cold War, the most tense situation was in 1961. The conflict between the USSR and the USA went down in history as its prerequisites were long before that. It all started with the deployment of American nuclear missiles in Turkey. The Jupiter charges were placed in such a way that they could hit any targets in the western part of the USSR (including Moscow). Such a danger could not remain unanswered.

A few years earlier, a popular revolution had begun in Cuba, led by Fidel Castro. At first, the USSR did not see any prospects in the uprising. However, the Cuban people managed to overthrow the Batista regime. After that, the American leadership declared that it would not tolerate a new government in Cuba. Immediately after that, close diplomatic relations were established between Moscow and the Island of Freedom. Soviet troops were sent to Cuba.

The beginning of the conflict

After the deployment of nuclear weapons in Turkey, the Kremlin decided to take urgent countermeasures, since for this period it was impossible to launch nuclear missiles at the United States from the territory of the Union.

Therefore, the secret operation "Anadyr" was hastily developed. The warships were tasked with delivering long-range missiles to Cuba. In October, the first ships reached Havana. The installation of launch pads has begun. At this time, American reconnaissance aircraft flew over the coast. The Americans managed to get some pictures of the tactical divisions, whose weapons were directed to Florida.

Aggravation of the situation

Immediately after this, the US military was put on high alert. Kennedy held an emergency meeting. A number of dignitaries urged the president to immediately launch an invasion of Cuba. In the event of such a development of events, the Red Army would immediately launch a nuclear missile attack on the landing force. This could well lead to a world wide. Therefore, both sides began to look for possible compromises. After all, everyone understood what such a cold war could lead to. The years of nuclear winter were clearly not the best prospect.

The situation was extremely tense, everything could change literally at any second. According to historical sources, at this time Kennedy even slept in his office. As a result, the Americans put forward an ultimatum - to remove Soviet missiles from the territory of Cuba. Then began the naval blockade of the island.

Khrushchev also held a similar meeting in Moscow. Some Soviet generals also insisted not to succumb to Washington's demands and, in which case, to repel the American attack. The main blow of the Union could not be in Cuba at all, but in Berlin, which was well understood in the White House.

"Black Saturday"

The world was hit the hardest during the Cold War on October 27, Saturday. On this day, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flew over Cuba and was shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft gunners. A few hours later, this incident became known in Washington.

The US Congress advised the President to launch an invasion immediately. The President decided to write a letter to Khrushchev, where he repeated his demands. Nikita Sergeevich responded to this letter immediately, agreeing to them in exchange for a US promise not to attack Cuba and take the missiles out of Turkey. In order for the message to reach as quickly as possible, the appeal was made through the radio. This was the end of the Cuban crisis. Since then, the intensity of the situation began to gradually decrease.

Ideological confrontation

Foreign policy during the Cold War for both blocs was characterized not only by rivalry for control over territories, but by a tough information struggle. Two different systems tried in every possible way to show their superiority to the whole world. The famous "Radio Liberty" was created in the USA, which was broadcast to the territory of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. The stated purpose of this news agency was to fight Bolshevism and Communism. It is noteworthy that Radio Liberty still exists and operates in many countries. During the Cold War, the USSR also created a similar station that broadcast to the territory of the capitalist countries.

Each significant event for humanity in the second half of the last century was considered in the context of the Cold War. For example, Yuri Gagarin's flight into space was presented to the world as a victory for socialist labor. Countries spent huge resources on propaganda. In addition to sponsoring and supporting cultural figures, there was a wide agent network.

Spy games

The spy intrigues of the Cold War are widely reflected in art. The secret services went to all sorts of tricks to be one step ahead of their opponents. One of the most characteristic cases is Operation Confession, which is more like a plot of a spy detective.

Even during the war, the Soviet scientist Lev Terminus created a unique transmitter that did not require recharging or a power source. It was a kind of perpetual motion machine. The listening device was named "Zlatoust". The KGB, on Beria's personal order, decided to install "Zlatoust" in the building of the US Embassy. For this, a wooden shield was created with the image of the coat of arms of the United States. During the visit of the American ambassador to the children's wellness center, a solemn line was arranged. At the end, the pioneers sang the US anthem, after which the touched ambassador was presented with a wooden coat of arms. He, unaware of the trick, installed it in his personal account. Thanks to this, the KGB received information about all the conversations of the ambassador for 7 years. There were a huge number of similar cases, open to the public and secret.

Cold War: years, essence

The end of the confrontation between the two blocs came after the collapse of the USSR, lasting 45 years.

Tensions between West and East have persisted to this day. However, the world has ceased to be bipolar when Moscow or Washington was behind any significant event in the world. In what year was the cold war the most bitter, and closest to the "hot"? Historians and analysts are still arguing on this topic. Most agree that this is the period of the "Caribbean Crisis", when the world was on the verge of nuclear war.

We do not want a single inch of foreign land. But we will not give our land, not a single inch of our land, to anyone.

Joseph Stalin

The Cold War is a state of contradiction between the two dominant world systems: capitalism and socialism. Socialism represented the USSR, and capitalism, mainly the USA and Great Britain. Today it is popular to say that the Cold War is a confrontation between the USSR and the USA, but at the same time they forget to say that the speech of the British Prime Minister Churchill led to the formal declaration of war.

Causes of the war

In 1945, contradictions began to appear between the USSR and other members of the anti-Hitler coalition. It was clear that Germany had lost the war, and now the main question is the post-war structure of the world. Here, everyone tried to pull the blanket in his direction, to take a leading position relative to other countries. The main contradictions were in European countries: Stalin wanted to subordinate them to the Soviet system, and the capitalists sought to prevent the Soviet state from entering Europe.

The causes of the Cold War are as follows:

• Social. Rallying the country in the face of a new enemy.
• Economic. The struggle for markets and resources. The desire to weaken the economic power of the enemy.
• Military. An arms race in the event of a new open war.
• Ideological. The society of the enemy is presented exclusively in a negative connotation. The struggle of two ideologies.

The active stage of confrontation between the two systems begins with the US atomic bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If we consider this bombing in isolation, then it is illogical - the war is won, Japan is not a competitor. Why bomb cities, and even with such weapons? But if we consider the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War, then in the bombing appears the goal is to show the potential enemy their strength, and to show who should be the main thing in the world. And the factor of nuclear weapons was very important in the future. After all, the atomic bomb appeared in the USSR only in 1949 ...

The beginning of the war

If we briefly consider the Cold War, then its beginning today is associated exclusively with Churchill's speech. Therefore, they say that the beginning of the Cold War is March 5, 1946.

Churchill's speech March 5, 1946

In fact, Truman (President of the United States) delivered a more specific speech, from which it became clear to everyone that the Cold War had begun. And Churchill's speech (it is not difficult to find and read it on the Internet today) was superficial. It talked a lot about the Iron Curtain, but not a word about the Cold War.

Stalin's interview of February 10, 1946

On February 10, 1946, the Pravda newspaper published an interview with Stalin. Today this newspaper is very hard to find, but this interview was very interesting. In it, Stalin said the following: “Capitalism always breeds crises and conflicts. This always creates the threat of war, which is a threat to the USSR. Therefore, we must restore the Soviet economy at an accelerated pace. We must prioritize heavy industry over consumer goods.”

This speech of Stalin turned over and it was on it that all Western leaders relied, talking about the desire of the USSR to start a war. But, as you can see, in this speech of Stalin there was not even a hint of the militaristic expansion of the Soviet state.

The real start of the war

To say that the beginning of the Cold War is connected with Churchill's speech is a bit illogical. The fact is that at the time of 1946 it was just the former Prime Minister of Great Britain. It turns out a kind of theater of the absurd - the war between the USSR and the USA is officially started by the former Prime Minister of England. In reality, everything was different, and Churchill's speech was just a convenient pretext, on which it was later profitable to write everything off.

The real beginning of the Cold War should be attributed to at least 1944, when it was already clear that Germany was doomed to defeat, and all the allies pulled the blanket over themselves, realizing that it was very important to gain dominance over the post-war world. If you try to draw a more accurate line for the start of the war, then the first serious disagreements on the topic of “how to live on” between the allies happened at the Tehran conference.

The specifics of the war

For a correct understanding of the processes that took place during the Cold War, you need to understand what this war was in history. Today, more and more often they say that it was actually the third world war. And this is a huge mistake. The fact is that all the wars of humanity that were before, including the Napoleonic wars and World Wars 2, these were wars of the capitalist world for the rights dominated in a certain region. The Cold War was the first global war where there was a confrontation between two systems: capitalist and socialist. Here it may be objected to me that in the history of mankind there were wars, where at the forefront was not capital, but religion: Christianity against Islam and Islam against Christianity. In part, this objection is true, but only from happiness. The fact is that any religious conflicts cover only part of the population and part of the world, while the global cold war has engulfed the whole world. All countries of the world could be clearly divided into 2 main groups:

1. Socialist. They recognized the dominance of the USSR and received funding from Moscow.
2. Capitalist. Recognized US dominance and received funding from Washington.

There were also "indefinite". There were few such countries, but they were. Their main specificity was that outwardly they could not decide which camp to join, therefore they received funding from two sources: both from Moscow and from Washington.

Who started the war

One of the problems of the Cold War is the question of who started it. Indeed, there is no army here that crosses the border of another state, and thereby declares war. Today you can blame everything on the USSR and say that it was Stalin who started the war. But this hypothesis is in trouble with the evidence base. I will not help our “partners” and look for what motives the USSR could have for the war, but I will give the facts why Stalin did not need an aggravation of relations (at least not directly in 1946):

• Nuclear weapon. In the United States it appeared in 1945, and in the USSR in 1949. You can imagine that the overcalculated Stalin wanted to aggravate relations with the United States when the enemy has a trump card up his sleeve - nuclear weapons. At the same time, let me remind you, there was also a plan for the atomic bombing of the largest cities of the USSR.
• Economy. The United States and Great Britain, by and large, made money on the Second World War, so they had no economic problems. The USSR is another matter. The country needed to restore the economy. By the way, the USA had 50% of the world GDP in 1945.

The facts show that in 1944-1946 the USSR was not ready to start a war. And Churchill's speech, which formally started the Cold War, was not delivered in Moscow, and not at its suggestion. But on the other hand, both opposing camps were extremely interested in such a war.

As early as September 4, 1945, the United States adopted Memorandum 329, which developed a plan for the atomic bombing of Moscow and Leningrad. In my opinion, this is the best proof of who wanted war and aggravation of relations.

Goals

Any war has goals, and it is surprising that our historians for the most part do not even try to define the goals of the Cold War. On the one hand, this is justified by the fact that the USSR had only one goal - the expansion and strengthening of socialism by any means. But Western countries were more resourceful. They sought not only to spread their world influence, but also to inflict spiritual blows on the USSR. And it continues to this day. The following goals of the United States in the war in terms of historical and psychological impact can be distinguished:

1. Make a substitution of concepts at the historical level. Note that under the influence of these ideas, today all the historical figures of Russia who bowed to Western countries are presented as ideal rulers. At the same time, everyone who advocated the rise of Russia is presented by tyrants, despots and fanatics.
2. The development of an inferiority complex among Soviet people. They tried to prove to us all the time that we are somehow not like that, that we are guilty of all the problems of mankind, and so on. Largely because of this, people so easily accepted the collapse of the USSR and the problems of the 90s - it was a "retribution" for our inferiority, but in fact the enemy simply achieved the goal in the war.
3. Blackening of history. This stage continues to this day. If you study Western materials, then there our whole history (literally all) is presented as one continuous violence.

There are, of course, pages of history with which our country can be reproached, but most of the stories are sucked out of thin air. Moreover, liberals and Western historians for some reason forget that it was not Russia that colonized the whole world, it was not Russia that destroyed the indigenous population of America, it was not Russia that shot Indians with cannons, tying 20 people in a row to save cannonballs, it was not Russia that exploited Africa. There are thousands of such examples, because every country in history has hard-hitting stories. Therefore, if you really want to poke around in the bad events of our history, be kind enough not to forget that Western countries have no less such stories.

Stages of war

The stages of the Cold War is one of the most controversial issues, since it is very difficult to graduate them. However, I can suggest dividing this war into 8 key phases:

• Preparatory (193-1945). The world war was still going on and formally the “allies” acted as a united front, but there were already disagreements and everyone began to fight for post-war world domination.
• Beginning (1945-1949). The time of complete US hegemony, when the Americans manage to make the dollar a single world currency and strengthen the country's position in almost all regions except those in which the USSR army was located.
• Razgar (1949-1953). The key factors of 1949, which make it possible to single out this year as a key one: 1 - the creation of atomic weapons in the USSR, 2 - the economy of the USSR is reaching the indicators of 1940. After that, an active confrontation began, when the United States could no longer speak with the USSR from a position of strength.
• First détente (1953-1956). The key event was the death of Stalin, after which the beginning of a new course was announced - the policy of peaceful coexistence.
• A new round of crisis (1956-1970). Events in Hungary led to a new round of tension, which lasted almost 15 years, which also included the Caribbean crisis.
• Second détente (1971-1976). This stage of the Cold War, in short, is associated with the start of the work of the commission to relieve tensions in Europe, and with the signing of the Final Act in Helsinki.
• Third crisis (1977-1985). A new round, when the cold war between the USSR and the USA reached its climax. The main point of confrontation is Afghanistan. In terms of military development, the countries staged a "wild" arms race.
• End of the war (1985-1988). The end of the Cold War falls on 1988, when it became clear that the “new political thinking” in the USSR was ending the war and so far only de facto recognized the American victory.

These are the main stages of the Cold War. As a result, socialism and communism lost out to capitalism, since the moral and psychic influence of the United States, which was openly directed at the leadership of the CPSU, achieved its goal: the leadership of the party began to put their personal interests and benefits above socialist foundations.

Forms

The confrontation between the two ideologies began in 1945. Gradually, this confrontation embraced all spheres of public life.

Military confrontation

The main military confrontation of the Cold War era is the struggle between the two blocs. On April 4, 1949, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created. NATO included the USA, Canada, England, France, Italy and a number of small countries. In response, on May 14, 1955, the OVD (Warsaw Pact Organization) was created. Thus, there was a clear confrontation between the two systems. But again, it should be noted that the first step was taken by the Western countries, which organized NATO 6 years earlier than the Warsaw Pact appeared.

The main confrontation, about which we have already partially spoken, is atomic weapons. In 1945, this weapon appeared in the United States. Moreover, in America they developed a plan for delivering nuclear strikes on the 20 largest cities of the USSR, using 192 bombs. This forced the USSR to do even the impossible to create its own atomic bomb, the first successful tests of which took place in August 1949. In the future, all this resulted in an arms race on a huge scale.

Economic confrontation

In 1947, the United States developed the Marshall Plan. According to this plan, the United States provided financial assistance to all countries affected during the war. But there was one limitation in this plan - only those countries that shared the political interests and goals of the United States received assistance. In response to this, the USSR begins to provide assistance in post-war reconstruction to countries that have chosen the path of socialism. Based on these approaches, 2 economic blocks were created:

• Western European Union (ZEV) in 1948.
• Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) in January 1949. In addition to the USSR, the organization included: Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Despite the formation of alliances, the essence has not changed: ZEV helped with US money, and CMEA helped with USSR money. The rest of the countries only consumed.

In the economic confrontation with the United States, Stalin took two steps that had an extremely negative effect on the American economy: on March 1, 1950, the USSR moved away from calculating the ruble in dollars (as it was around the world) to gold backing, and in April 1952, the USSR, China and Eastern European countries are creating an alternative trade zone to the dollar. This trading zone did not use the dollar at all, which means that the capitalist world, which previously owned 100% of the world market, lost at least 1/3 of this market. All this happened against the backdrop of the "economic miracle of the USSR." Western experts said that the USSR would be able to reach the level of 1940 after the war only by 1971, but in reality this happened as early as 1949.

Crises

Crises of the Cold War

Event	the date
	1948
Vietnam War	1946-1954
	1950-1953
	1946-1949
	1948-1949
	1956
	Mid 50s - mid 60s
	Mid 60s
War in Afghanistan

These are the main crises of the Cold War, but there were others, less significant. Next, we will briefly consider what the essence of these crises was, and what consequences they led to in the world.

Military conflicts

Many people in our country do not take the Cold War seriously. We have an understanding in our minds that war is “drawn swords”, weapons in hand and in the trenches. But the Cold War was different, although even it was not without regional conflicts, some of which were extremely difficult. The main conflicts of those times:

• The split of Germany. Formation of Germany and the GDR.
• Vietnam War (1946-1954). It led to the division of the country.
• War in Korea (1950-1953). It led to the division of the country.

Berlin Crisis of 1948

For a correct understanding of the essence of the Berlin crisis of 1948, one should study the map.

Germany was divided into 2 parts: western and eastern. Berlin was also in the zone of influence, but the city itself was located deep in the eastern lands, that is, on the territory controlled by the USSR. In an effort to put pressure on West Berlin, the Soviet leadership organized its blockade. It was a response to the recognition of Taiwan and its admission to the UN.

England and France organized an air corridor, supplying the inhabitants of West Berlin with everything they needed. Therefore, the blockade failed and the crisis itself began to slow down. Realizing that the blockade leads to nothing, the Soviet leadership removes it, normalizing life in Berlin.

The continuation of the crisis was the creation of two states in Germany. In 1949, the western states were transformed into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). In response, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was created in the eastern lands. It is these events that should be considered the final split of Europe into 2 opposing camps - West and East.

Revolution in China

In 1946, a civil war broke out in China. The Communist bloc staged an armed coup seeking to overthrow the government of Chiang Kai-shek from the Kuomintang party. The civil war and revolution became possible thanks to the events of 1945. After the victory over Japan, a base was created here for the rise of communism. Starting in 1946, the USSR began supplying weapons, food and everything necessary to support the Chinese communists who were fighting for the country.

The revolution ended in 1949 with the formation of the People's Republic of China (PRC), where all power was in the hands of the Communist Party. As for the Chiang Kai-shek, they fled to Taiwan and formed their own state, which was very quickly recognized in the West, and even admitted to the UN. In response, the USSR leaves the UN. This is an important point as it had a major impact on another Asian conflict, the Korean War.

Formation of the State of Israel

From the first meetings of the UN, one of the main issues was the fate of the state of Palestine. At that time, Palestine was actually a British colony. The division of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state was an attempt by the US and the USSR to strike at Great Britain and its positions in Asia. Stalin approved of the idea of ​​creating the state of Israel, because he believed in the power of the "leftist" Jews, and expected to gain control over this country, gaining a foothold in the Middle East.

The Palestinian problem was resolved in November 1947 at the UN Assembly, where the position of the USSR played a key role. Therefore, we can say that Stalin played a key role in the creation of the state of Israel.

The UN Assembly decided to create 2 states: Jewish (Israel" Arab (Palestine). In May 1948, Israel's independence was declared and immediately the Arab countries declared war on this state. The Middle East crisis began. Great Britain supported Palestine, the USSR and the USA supported Israel. In In 1949, Israel won the war, and immediately a conflict arose between the Jewish state and the USSR, as a result of which Stalin severed diplomatic relations with Israel.The battle in the Middle East was won by the United States.

Korean War

The Korean War is an undeservedly forgotten event that is little studied today, which is a mistake. After all, the Korean War is the third in history in terms of human casualties. During the war years, 14 million people died! More casualties in only two world wars. The large number of casualties is due to the fact that this was the first major armed conflict in the Cold War.

After the victory over Japan in 1945, the USSR and the USA divided Korea (a former colony of Japan) into zones of influence: North Korea - under the influence of the USSR, South Korea - under the influence of the USA. In 1948, 2 states were officially formed:

• Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Zone of influence of the USSR. The leader is Kim Il Sung.
• The Republic of Korea. US zone of influence. The leader is Lee Seung Mann.

With the support of the USSR and China, on June 25, 1950, Kim Il Sung starts a war. In fact, it was a war for the unification of Korea, which the DPRK planned to end quickly. The factor of a quick victory was important, since this was the only way to prevent the US from intervening in the conflict. The beginning was promising, the UN troops, which were 90% American, came to the aid of the Republic of Korea. After that, the DPRK army retreated and was close to collapse. The situation was saved by Chinese volunteers who intervened in the war and restored the balance of power. After that, local battles began and the border between North and South Korea was established along the 38th parallel.

First détente of the war

The first détente in the Cold War occurred in 1953 after the death of Stalin. An active dialogue began between the opposing countries. Already on July 15, 1953, the new government of the USSR, headed by Khrushchev, announced its desire to build new relations with Western countries, based on a policy of peaceful coexistence. Similar statements were made from the opposite side.

A major factor in stabilizing the situation was the end of the Korean War and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Israel. Wanting to demonstrate to Western countries the desire for peaceful coexistence, Khrushchev withdrew Soviet troops from Austria, having obtained a promise from the Austrian side to maintain neutrality. Naturally, there was no neutrality, just as there were no concessions and gestures from the United States.

Detente lasted from 1953 to 1956. At that time, the USSR established relations with Yugoslavia, India, began to develop relations with African and Asian countries, which had only recently freed themselves from colonial dependence.

A new round of tension

Hungary

At the end of 1956, an uprising began in Hungary. Local residents, realizing that the position of the USSR after the death of Stalin, became noticeably worse, raised an uprising against the current regime in the country. As a result, the cold war came to its critical point. For the USSR there were 2 ways:

1. Recognize the revolution's right to self-determination. This step would give all the other countries dependent on the USSR the understanding that at any moment they could leave socialism.
2. Suppress the rebellion. This approach was contrary to the principles of socialism, but only in this way it was possible to maintain a leading position in the world.

The 2nd option was chosen. The army crushed the rebellion. For suppression in places it was necessary to use weapons. As a result, the revolution was won, it became clear that the "detente" was over.

Caribbean crisis

Cuba is a small state near the US, but it almost led the world to a nuclear war. At the end of the 50s, a revolution took place in Cuba and Fidel Castro seized power, who declared his desire to build socialism on the island. For America, this was a challenge - a state appeared near their border, which acts as a geopolitical enemy. As a result, the United States planned to resolve the situation by military means, but were defeated.

The Cuban Missile Crisis began in 1961, after the USSR secretly delivered missiles to Cuba. This soon became known, and the US President demanded to withdraw the missiles. The parties escalated the conflict until it became clear that the world was on the verge of a nuclear war. As a result, the USSR agreed to withdraw its missiles from Cuba, and the United States agreed to withdraw its missiles from Turkey.

"Prague Vienna"

In the mid-1960s, new tensions arose, this time in Czechoslovakia. The situation here strongly resembled the one that was earlier in Hungary: democratic tendencies began in the country. Basically, young people opposed the current government, and the movement was headed by A. Dubcek.

A situation arose, as in Hungary - to allow for a democratic revolution, meant to give an example to other countries that the socialist system could be overthrown at any moment. Therefore, the Warsaw Pact countries sent their troops to Czechoslovakia. The rebellion was suppressed, but the suppression caused outrage throughout the world. But it was a cold war, and, of course, any active actions of one side were actively criticized by the other side.

Detente in the war

The peak of the Cold War came in the 1950s and 1960s, when the aggravation of relations between the USSR and the USA was so great that a war could break out at any moment. Beginning in the 1970s, the war was detente and the subsequent defeat of the USSR. But in this case, I want to focus briefly on the United States. What happened in this country before "détente"? In fact, the country ceased to be popular and came under the control of the capitalists, under which it is to this day. One can say even more - the USSR won the Cold War from the USA in the late 60s, and the USA, as the state of the American people, ceased to exist. Capitalists seized power. The apogee of these events is the assassination of President Kennedy. But after the United States became a country representing capitalists and oligarchs, they already won the USSR in the Cold War.

But let us return to the Cold War and détente in it. These signs were indicated in 1971 when the USSR, the USA, Britain and France signed agreements on the start of the work of a commission to solve the Berlin problem, as a point of constant tension in Europe.

final act

In 1975, the most significant event of the détente era of the Cold War took place. In those years, a pan-European meeting on security was held, in which all the countries of Europe took part (of course, including the USSR, as well as the USA and Canada). The meeting was held in Helsinki (Finland), so it went down in history as the Helsinki Final Act.

As a result of the congress, an Act was signed, but before that there were difficult negotiations, primarily on 2 points:

• Freedom of the media in the USSR.
• Freedom to leave "from" and "to" the USSR.

The commission from the USSR agreed to both points, but in a special formulation that did little to oblige the country itself. The final signing of the Act was the first symbol that the West and the East can agree among themselves.

New aggravation of relations

In the late 70s and early 80s, a new round of the Cold War began, when relations between the USSR and the USA heated up. There were 2 reasons for this:

The United States in the countries of Western Europe placed medium-range missiles that were capable of reaching the territory of the USSR.

The beginning of the war in Afghanistan.

As a result, the Cold War reached a new level and the enemy engaged in their usual business - an arms race. It hit the budgets of both countries very painfully and ultimately led the United States to a terrible economic crisis in 1987, and the USSR to defeat in the war and subsequent collapse.

Historical meaning

Surprisingly, in our country the Cold War is not taken seriously. The best fact demonstrating the attitude to this historical event in our country and in the West is the spelling of the name. In our country, the Cold War is written in quotation marks and with a capital letter in all textbooks, in the West - without quotation marks and with a small letter. This is the difference in attitude.

It really was a war. Just in the understanding of people who have just defeated Germany, war is weapons, shots, attack, defense, and so on. But the world has changed, and in the Cold War contradictions and ways to resolve them have come to the fore. Of course, this resulted in real armed clashes.

In any case, the results of the Cold War are important, because the USSR ceased to exist as a result of it. This ended the war itself, and Gorbachev received a medal in the United States "for victory in the cold war."

The Cold War, which lasted from 1946 to 1989, was not an ordinary military confrontation. It was a struggle of ideologies, different social systems. The very term "cold war" appeared among journalists, but quickly became popular.

The reasons

It seems that the end of the terrible and bloody World War II should have led to world peace, friendship and unity of all peoples. But the contradictions among the allies and the victors only intensified.

The struggle for spheres of influence began. Both the USSR and the Western countries (led by the USA) sought to expand "their territories".

• Westerners were frightened by communist ideology. They could not even imagine that private property would suddenly become state property.
• The United States and the USSR did their best to increase their influence by supporting various regimes (which sometimes led to local wars around the world).

There was no direct confrontation. Everyone was afraid to press the "red button" and launch nuclear warheads.

Main events

Speech in Fulton as the first "swallow" of the war

In March 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill blamed the Soviet Union. Churchill said that he was engaged in active world expansion, violating rights and freedoms. At the same time, the British Prime Minister called on Western countries to repulse the USSR. It is from this moment that historians count the beginning of the Cold War.

The Truman Doctrine and "Containment" Attempts

The United States decided to start "containment" of the Soviet Union after the events in Greece and Turkey. The USSR demanded territories from the Turkish authorities for the subsequent deployment of a military base in the Mediterranean. This immediately alerted the West. The doctrine of the American President Truman marked the complete cessation of cooperation between the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.

Creation of military blocs and division of Germany

In 1949, a military alliance of a number of Western countries, NATO, was created. After 6 years (in 1955) the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe united in the Warsaw Treaty Organization.

Also in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany appeared on the site of the western zone of occupation of Germany, and the German Democratic Republic appeared on the site of the eastern one.

Chinese Civil War

The civil war in China in 1946–1949 was also a consequence of the ideological struggle between the 2 systems. China after the end of World War II was also divided into 2 parts. The northeast was under the control of the People's Liberation Army of China. The rest were subordinate to Chiang Kai-shek (leader of the Kuomintang Party). When peaceful elections failed, war broke out. The Chinese Communist Party won.

Korean War

Korea also at that time was split into 2 zones of occupation under the control of the USSR and the USA. Their henchmen are Kim Il Sung in the north and Lee Syngman in the south of Korea. Each of them wanted to take over the whole country. A war broke out (1950-1953), which, apart from huge human losses, did not lead to anything. The borders of North and South Korea have not changed much.

Berlin Crisis

The most difficult years of the Cold War - the beginning of the 60s. It was then that the whole world was on the brink of nuclear war. In 1961, Soviet Secretary General Khrushchev demanded that US President Kennedy radically change the status of West Berlin. The Soviet Union was alarmed by the activity of Western intelligence there, as well as the "brain drain" to the West. There was no military clash, but West Berlin was surrounded by a wall - the main symbol of the Cold War. Many German families found themselves on opposite sides of the barricades.

Cuban Crisis

The most intense conflict of the Cold War was the crisis in Cuba in 1962. The USSR, in response to the request of the leaders of the Cuban revolution, agreed to deploy medium-range nuclear missiles on Liberty Island.

As a result, any town in the US could be wiped off the face of the earth in 2-3 seconds. The United States did not like this "neighborhood". I almost got to the “red nuclear button”. But even here the parties managed to agree peacefully. The Soviet Union did not deploy missiles, and the United States guaranteed Cuba not to interfere in their affairs. American missiles were also withdrawn from Turkey.

The policy of "détente"

The Cold War did not always proceed in an acute phase. Sometimes tension was replaced by "detente". During such periods, the US and the USSR entered into important agreements to limit strategic nuclear weapons and missile defense. In 1975, the Helsinki Conference of 2 countries was held, and the Soyuz-Apollo program was launched in space.

A new round of tension

The entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in 1979 led to a new round of tension. The United States in 1980-1982 waged a set of economic sanctions against the Soviet Union. The installation of regular American missiles in European countries has begun. Under Andropov, all negotiations with the United States ceased.

Crisis of the socialist countries. perestroika

By the mid-1980s, many socialist countries were on the verge of a crisis. Less and less aid came from the USSR. The needs of the population grew, people sought to travel to the West, where they discovered a lot of new things for themselves. The consciousness of people has changed. They wanted change, a life in a more open and free society. The technical lag of the USSR from the countries of the West was intensifying.

• Understanding this, the General Secretary of the USSR Gorbachev tried to revive the economy through "perestroika", give the people more "glasnost" and move on to "new thinking".
• The communist parties of the socialist camp tried to modernize their ideology and move on to a new economic policy.
• The Berlin Wall, which was the symbol of the Cold War, has fallen. The unification of Germany took place.
• The USSR began to withdraw its troops from European countries.
• In 1991, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved.
• The USSR, which did not survive the deep economic crisis, also collapsed.

Results

Historians argue about whether to link the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR. Nevertheless, the end of this confrontation occurred as early as 1989, when many authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe ceased to exist. Contradictions on the ideological front were completely removed. Many countries of the former socialist bloc became part of the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance

War is incredible
peace is impossible.
Raymond Aron

Today's relations between Russia and the collective West can hardly be called constructive, let alone partnership. Mutual accusations, loud statements, growing saber-rattling and furious propaganda - all this creates a strong impression of deja vu. All this once was and is repeated now - but already in the form of a farce. Today, the news feed seems to return to the past, at the time of the epic confrontation between two powerful superpowers: the USSR and the USA, which lasted more than half a century and repeatedly brought humanity to the brink of a global military conflict. In history, this long-term confrontation has been called the Cold War. Historians consider its beginning to be the famous speech of the British Prime Minister (at that time already former) Churchill, delivered in Fulton in March 1946.

The era of the Cold War lasted from 1946 to 1989 and ended with what the current Russian President Putin called "the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century" - the Soviet Union disappeared from the map of the world, and with it the entire communist system sank into oblivion. The confrontation between the two systems was not a war in the truest sense of the word, a clear clash between the armed forces of the two superpowers was avoided, but the numerous military conflicts of the Cold War that it gave rise to in different regions of the planet claimed millions of human lives.

During the Cold War, the struggle between the USSR and the United States was not only in the military or political sphere. No less intense was the competition in the economic, scientific, cultural and other fields. But the ideology was still the main one: the essence of the Cold War is the sharpest confrontation between the two models of the state system: communist and capitalist.

By the way, the very term "cold war" was coined by the cult writer of the 20th century, George Orwell. He used it even before the start of the confrontation in his article "You and the atomic bomb." The article was published in 1945. Orwell himself in his youth was an ardent supporter of the communist ideology, but in his mature years he was completely disillusioned with it, therefore, probably, he understood the issue better than many. Officially, the term "cold war" was first used by the Americans two years later.

The Cold War was not only fought by the Soviet Union and the United States. It was a global competition involving dozens of countries around the world. Some of them were the closest allies (or satellites) of the superpowers, while others were drawn into the confrontation by accident, sometimes even against their will. The logic of the processes required the parties to the conflict to create their own zones of influence in different regions of the world. Sometimes they were reinforced with the help of military-political blocs, NATO and the Warsaw Pact became the main alliances of the Cold War. On their periphery, in the redistribution of spheres of influence, the main military conflicts of the Cold War took place.

The described historical period is inextricably linked with the creation and development of nuclear weapons. Mainly, it was the presence of this most powerful means of deterrence in the hands of the opponents that did not allow the conflict to go into a hot phase. The Cold War between the USSR and the USA gave rise to an unheard of arms race: already in the 70s, the opponents had so many nuclear warheads that they would be enough to destroy the entire globe several times. And that's not counting the huge arsenals of conventional weapons.

Over the decades, there have been both periods of normalization of relations between the US and the USSR (détente) and times of tough confrontation. The crises of the Cold War several times brought the world to the brink of a global catastrophe. The most famous of these is the Cuban Missile Crisis, which took place in 1962.

The end of the Cold War was swift and unexpected for many. The Soviet Union lost the economic race with the West. The lag was already noticeable at the end of the 60s, and by the 80s the situation had become catastrophic. The most powerful blow to the national economy of the USSR was dealt by the fall in oil prices.

In the mid-80s, it became clear to the Soviet leadership that something must be changed in the country immediately, otherwise a catastrophe would come. The end of the Cold War and the arms race were vital for the USSR. But perestroika, started by Gorbachev, led to the dismantling of the entire state structure of the USSR, and then to the collapse of the socialist state. Moreover, the United States, it seems, did not even expect such a denouement: back in 1990, American Soviet experts prepared for their leadership a forecast for the development of the Soviet economy until the year 2000.

At the end of 1989, Gorbachev and Bush officially announced during a summit on the island of Malta that the global cold war was over.

The theme of the Cold War is very popular in the Russian media today. Speaking of the current foreign policy crisis, commentators often use the term "new cold war". Is it so? What are the similarities and differences between the current situation and the events of forty years ago?

Cold War: causes and background

After the war, the Soviet Union and Germany lay in ruins, and Eastern Europe suffered greatly during the fighting. The economy of the Old World was in decline.

On the contrary, the territory of the United States was practically not affected during the war, and the human losses of the United States could not be compared with the Soviet Union or Eastern European countries. Even before the start of the war, the United States had become the world's leading industrial power, and military supplies to the allies further strengthened the American economy. By 1945, America had managed to create a new weapon of unheard of power - a nuclear bomb. All of the above allowed the United States to confidently count on the role of a new hegemon in the post-war world. However, it soon became clear that on the way to planetary leadership, the United States had a new dangerous rival - the Soviet Union.

The USSR almost single-handedly defeated the strongest German land army, but paid a colossal price for it - millions of Soviet citizens died at the front or in occupation, tens of thousands of cities and villages lay in ruins. Despite this, the Red Army occupied the entire territory of Eastern Europe, including most of Germany. In 1945, the USSR, no doubt, had the strongest armed forces on the European continent. No less strong were the positions of the Soviet Union in Asia. Literally a few years after the end of World War II, the communists came to power in China, which made this huge country an ally of the USSR in the region.

The communist leadership of the USSR never abandoned plans for further expansion and spread of its ideology to new regions of the planet. It can be said that throughout almost its entire history, the foreign policy of the USSR was quite tough and aggressive. In 1945, especially favorable conditions developed for the promotion of communist ideology in new countries.

It should be understood that the Soviet Union was incomprehensible to most American, and Western politicians in general. A country where there is no private property and market relations, churches are being blown up, and society is under the complete control of the special services and the party, seemed to them some kind of parallel reality. Even Hitler's Germany was somewhat more understandable to the average American. In general, Western politicians had a rather negative attitude towards the USSR even before the start of the war, and after its completion, fear was added to this attitude.

In 1945, the Yalta Conference took place, during which Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt tried to divide the world into spheres of influence and create new rules for the future world order. Many modern researchers see the origins of the Cold War in this conference.

Summarizing the above, we can say: the cold war between the USSR and the USA was inevitable. These countries were too different to coexist peacefully. The Soviet Union wanted to expand the socialist camp to include new states, and the US sought to reshape the world to create more favorable conditions for its large corporations. However, the main causes of the Cold War are still in the realm of ideology.

The first signs of a future Cold War appeared even before the final victory over Nazism. In the spring of 1945, the USSR made territorial claims against Turkey and demanded that the status of the Black Sea straits be changed. Stalin was interested in the possibility of creating a naval base in the Dardanelles.

A little later (in April 1945), British Prime Minister Churchill instructed to prepare plans for a possible war with the Soviet Union. He later wrote about this in his memoirs. At the end of the war, the British and Americans kept several divisions of the Wehrmacht undisbanded in case of a conflict with the USSR.

In March 1946, Churchill gave his famous Fulton speech, which many historians consider the "trigger" of the Cold War. In this speech, the politician called on Britain to strengthen relations with the United States in order to jointly repel the expansion of the Soviet Union. Churchill considered the growing influence of communist parties in the states of Europe to be dangerous. He urged not to repeat the mistakes of the 1930s and not to be led by the aggressor, but to firmly and consistently defend Western values.

“... From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, the Iron Curtain was lowered across the entire continent. Behind this line are all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. (…) The communist parties, which were very small in all the eastern states of Europe, seized power everywhere and gained unlimited totalitarian control. (…) Police governments predominate almost everywhere, and so far, apart from Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy anywhere. The facts are as follows: this, of course, is not the liberated Europe for which we fought. This is not what is needed for permanent peace…” – this is how Churchill, undoubtedly the most experienced and insightful politician in the West, described the new post-war reality in Europe. The USSR did not like this speech very much, Stalin compared Churchill with Hitler and accused him of inciting a new war.

It should be understood that during this period, the Cold War confrontation front often ran not along the external borders of countries, but within them. The poverty of Europeans, ravaged by the war, made them more receptive to leftist ideology. After the war in Italy and France, about a third of the population supported the communists. The Soviet Union, in turn, did everything possible to support the national communist parties.

In 1946, the Greek rebels became more active, led by local communists, and the Soviet Union supplied weapons through Bulgaria, Albania and Yugoslavia. It was not until 1949 that the uprising was put down. After the end of the war, the USSR for a long time refused to withdraw its troops from Iran and demanded that it be granted the right to protectorate over Libya.

In 1947, the Americans developed the so-called Marshall Plan, which provided for significant financial assistance to the states of Central and Western Europe. This program included 17 countries, the total amount of transfers was 17 billion dollars. In exchange for money, the Americans demanded political concessions: the recipient countries were to exclude communists from their governments. Naturally, neither the USSR nor the countries of the "people's democracies" of Eastern Europe received any assistance.

One of the real "architects" of the Cold War can be called the Deputy American Ambassador to the USSR George Kennan, who sent telegram No. 511 to his homeland in February 1946. It went down in history under the name "Long Telegram". In this document, the diplomat recognized the impossibility of cooperation with the USSR and called on his government to oppose the communists harshly, because, according to Kennan, the leadership of the Soviet Union respects only force. Later, this document largely determined the position of the United States in relation to the Soviet Union for many decades.

In the same year, President Truman announced the "containment policy" of the USSR throughout the world, later called the "Truman Doctrine".

In 1949, the largest military-political bloc was formed - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO. It included most of the countries of Western Europe, Canada and the United States. The main task of the new structure was to protect Europe from the Soviet invasion. In 1955, the communist countries of Eastern Europe and the USSR created their own military alliance, called the Warsaw Pact Organization.

Stages of the Cold War

The following stages of the Cold War are distinguished:

• 1946 - 1953 The initial stage, the start of which is usually considered to be Churchill's speech in Fulton. During this period, the Marshall Plan for Europe is launched, the North Atlantic Alliance and the Warsaw Pact Organization are created, that is, the main participants in the Cold War are determined. At this time, the efforts of Soviet intelligence and the military-industrial complex were aimed at creating their own nuclear weapons; in August 1949, the USSR tested its first nuclear bomb. But the United States for a long time retained a significant superiority both in the number of charges and in the number of carriers. In 1950, the war on the Korean Peninsula began, which lasted until 1953 and became one of the bloodiest military conflicts of the last century;
• 1953 - 1962 This is a highly controversial period of the Cold War, during which there was the Khrushchev "thaw" and the Cuban Missile Crisis, which almost ended in a nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union. These years saw anti-communist uprisings in Hungary and Poland, another Berlin crisis and a war in the Middle East. In 1957, the USSR successfully tested the first intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States. In 1961, the USSR conducted demonstrative tests of the most powerful thermonuclear charge in the history of mankind - the Tsar Bomba. The Caribbean crisis led to the signing of several documents between the superpowers on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons;
• 1962 - 1979 This period can be called the apogee of the Cold War. The arms race reaches its maximum intensity, tens of billions of dollars are spent on it, undermining the economy of rivals. Attempts by the government of Czechoslovakia to carry out pro-Western reforms in the country were thwarted in 1968 by the entry of troops of members of the Warsaw Pact into its territory. Tensions between the two countries, of course, were present, but the Soviet Secretary General Brezhnev was not a fan of adventures, so acute crises were avoided. Moreover, in the early 1970s, the so-called "detente of international tension" began, which somewhat reduced the intensity of the confrontation. Important documents relating to nuclear weapons were signed, joint programs in space were implemented (the famous Soyuz-Apollo). In the conditions of the Cold War, these were out of the ordinary events. However, "détente" ended by the mid-1970s, when the Americans deployed medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe. The USSR responded by deploying similar weapon systems. Already by the mid-1970s, the Soviet economy began to noticeably slip, and the USSR was lagging behind in the scientific and technical sphere;
• 1979 - 1987 Relations between the superpowers deteriorated again after Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. In response, the Americans staged a boycott of the Olympics, which was hosted by the Soviet Union in 1980, and began to help the Afghan Mujahideen. In 1981, a new American president came to the White House - Republican Ronald Reagan, who became the most tough and consistent opponent of the USSR. It was with his submission that the program of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) began, which was supposed to protect the American territory of the United States from Soviet warheads. During the Reagan years, the United States began to develop neutron weapons, and appropriations for military needs increased significantly. In one of his speeches, the American president called the USSR an "evil empire";
• 1987 - 1991 This stage is the end of the Cold War. A new general secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev, came to power in the USSR. He began global changes within the country, radically revised the foreign policy of the state. Another discharge has begun. The main problem of the Soviet Union was the state of the economy, undermined by military spending and low energy prices - the main export product of the state. Now the USSR could no longer afford to pursue a foreign policy in the spirit of the Cold War, it needed Western loans. Literally in a few years, the intensity of the confrontation between the USSR and the United States practically vanished. Significant documents were signed concerning the reduction of nuclear and conventional weapons. In 1988, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan began. In 1989, one after another, pro-Soviet regimes began to crumble in Eastern Europe, and at the end of the same year the Berlin Wall was broken. Many historians consider this event to be the true end of the Cold War era.

Why did the USSR lose in the Cold War?

Despite the fact that every year the events of the Cold War are getting further and further away from us, topics related to this period are of increasing interest in Russian society. Domestic propaganda tenderly and carefully nurtures the nostalgia of a part of the population for those times when "there were two to twenty sausages and everyone was afraid of us." Such, they say, the country was destroyed!

Why did the Soviet Union, having huge resources at its disposal, having a very high level of social development and the highest scientific potential, lost its main war - the Cold War?

The USSR appeared as a result of an unprecedented social experiment to create a just society in a single country. Such ideas appeared in different historical periods, but usually they remained projects. The Bolsheviks should be given their due: for the first time they managed to realize this utopian plan on the territory of the Russian Empire. Socialism has a chance to take its place as a just system of social organization (socialist practices are becoming more and more evident in the social life of the Scandinavian countries, for example) - but this was not feasible at a time when they tried to introduce this social system in a revolutionary, coercive way. We can say that socialism in Russia was ahead of its time. It is unlikely that he became such a terrible and inhuman system, especially in comparison with the capitalist one. And it is all the more appropriate to recall that historically it was the Western European "progressive" empires that caused the suffering and death of the largest number of people around the world - Russia is far in this respect, in particular, to Great Britain (probably, it is she who is the true "evil empire"). ", a tool of genocide for Ireland, the peoples of the American continent, India, China and many others). Returning to the socialist experiment in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century, it should be recognized that the peoples living in it cost innumerable victims and suffering throughout the century. The German Chancellor Bismarck is credited with the following words: "If you want to build socialism, take a country that you do not mind." Unfortunately, it turned out not to be a pity for Russia. However, no one has the right to blame Russia for its path, especially given the foreign policy practice of the past 20th century in general.

The only problem is that under Soviet-style socialism and the general level of productive forces of the 20th century, the economy does not want to work. From the word at all. A person deprived of material interest in the results of his labor does not work well. Moreover, at all levels, from an ordinary worker to a high official. The Soviet Union - having Ukraine, Kuban, Don and Kazakhstan - already in the mid-60s was forced to buy grain abroad. Even then, the food supply situation in the USSR was catastrophic. Then the socialist state was saved by a miracle - the discovery of "big" oil in Western Siberia and the rise in world prices for this raw material. Some economists believe that without this oil, the collapse of the USSR would have happened already in the late 70s.

Speaking about the reasons for the defeat of the Soviet Union in the Cold War, of course, one should not forget about ideology. The USSR was originally created as a state with a completely new ideology, and for many years it was its most powerful weapon. In the 1950s and 1960s, many states (especially in Asia and Africa) voluntarily chose the socialist type of development. Believed in the construction of communism and Soviet citizens. However, already in the 1970s, it became clear that the construction of communism was a utopia that could not be realized at that time. Moreover, even many representatives of the Soviet nomenklatura elite, the main future beneficiaries of the collapse of the USSR, stopped believing in such ideas.

But at the same time, it should be noted that today many Western intellectuals admit that it was the confrontation with the “backward” Soviet system that forced the capitalist systems to mimic, to accept unfavorable social norms that originally appeared in the USSR (8-hour working day, equal rights for women , various social benefits and much more). It will not be superfluous to repeat: most likely, the time of socialism has not yet come, since there is no civilizational base for this and an appropriate level of development of production in the global economy. Liberal capitalism is by no means a panacea for world crises and suicidal global wars, but rather, on the contrary, an inevitable path to them.

The loss of the USSR in the Cold War was due not so much to the power of its opponents (although it was certainly great), but to the insoluble contradictions inherent within the Soviet system itself. But in the modern world order, there are no fewer internal contradictions, and certainly no more security and peace.

Results of the Cold War

Of course, the main positive outcome of the Cold War is that it did not develop into a hot war. Despite all the contradictions between the states, the parties were smart enough to realize what edge they were on and not cross the fatal line.

However, other consequences of the Cold War cannot be overestimated. In fact, today we live in a world that was largely shaped during that historical period. It was during the Cold War that the current system of international relations emerged. And at the very least, it works. In addition, we should not forget that a significant part of the world elite was formed back in the years of confrontation between the US and the USSR. We can say that they come from the Cold War.

The Cold War had an impact on almost all international processes that took place during this period. New states arose, wars broke out, uprisings and revolutions broke out. Many countries in Asia and Africa gained independence or got rid of the colonial yoke thanks to the support of one of the superpowers, which thus sought to expand their own zone of influence. Even today, there are countries that can safely be called "cold war relics" - for example, Cuba or North Korea.

It is impossible not to note the fact that the Cold War contributed to the development of technology. The confrontation of the superpowers gave a powerful impetus to the study of outer space, without it it is not known whether the landing on the moon would have taken place or not. The arms race contributed to the development of rocket and information technologies, mathematics, physics, medicine and much more.

If we talk about the political results of this historical period, then the main one, without a doubt, is the collapse of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the entire socialist camp. As a result of these processes, about two dozen new states appeared on the political map of the world. Russia inherited from the USSR the entire nuclear arsenal, most of the conventional weapons, as well as a seat in the UN Security Council. And as a result of the Cold War, the United States has significantly increased its power and today, in fact, is the only superpower.

The end of the Cold War led to two decades of explosive growth in the global economy. Huge territories of the former USSR, previously closed by the Iron Curtain, have become part of the global market. Military spending dropped sharply, and the freed funds were directed to investments.

However, the main result of the global confrontation between the USSR and the West was a clear proof of the utopian nature of the socialist model of the state in the conditions of social development at the end of the 20th century. Today in Russia (and other former Soviet republics) disputes about the Soviet stage in the history of the country do not subside. Someone sees in it a blessing, others call it the greatest catastrophe. At least one more generation must be born in order for the events of the Cold War (as well as for the entire Soviet period) to be viewed as a historical fact - calmly and without emotions. The communist experiment is, of course, the most important experience for human civilization, which has not yet been “reflected”. And perhaps this experience will still benefit Russia.

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«HUMANITIES V.F. PAVLOV LESSONS OF THE COLD WAR The article analyzes the causes, course and manifestations of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR 20 years after its end. Cold War...»

HUMANITARIAN SCIENCES

V.F. PAVLOV

LESSONS FROM THE COLD WAR

The article analyzes the causes, course and manifestations of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR through

20 years after graduation.

The Cold War is a global geopolitical, economic and ideological

confrontation between the Soviet Union and its allies on the one hand, and the United States and their

allies, on the other hand, which lasted from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s of the 20th century.

One of the main components of the confrontation was ideology. The deep contradiction between the capitalist and socialist models of the world order is the main cause of the Cold War. The two superpowers - the victors in World War II - tried to rebuild the world according to their ideological guidelines. Over time, confrontation became an element of the ideology of the two sides and helped the leaders of the military-political blocs to consolidate allies around them "in the face of an external enemy."

The term "cold war" was first used on April 16, 1947 by Bernard Baruch, adviser to US President Harry Truman, in a speech before the South Carolina House of Representatives57.

The internal logic of the confrontation required the parties to participate in conflicts and interfere in the development of events in any part of the world. The efforts of the USA and the USSR were directed, first of all, to dominance in the military sphere. From the very beginning of the confrontation, the process of militarization of the two superpowers unfolded.

The USA and the USSR created their own spheres of influence, securing them with military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

Although the US and the USSR never entered into a direct military confrontation, their rivalry for influence often led to outbreaks of local armed conflicts around the world.

The Cold War was accompanied by a race of conventional and nuclear arms that every now and then threatened to lead to a third world war. Confrontation with varying success took place in the field of space exploration. The formal beginning of the Cold War is considered March 5, 1946, when Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain, delivered his famous speech in Fulton (USA, Missouri), in which he put forward the idea of ​​creating a military alliance of the Anglo-Saxon countries in order to fight world communism. The United States and Great Britain were extremely concerned about the strengthening of the position and influence of the USSR after the end of World War II, both in Europe and throughout the world. They were frightened by the emergence of pro-communist governments in European countries.

W. Churchill stated: “... The facts are as follows: this, of course, is not the liberated Europe for which we fought. This is not what is needed for permanent peace.”58 A week later, I.S. Stalin, in an interview with Pravda, put Churchill on a par with Hitler and said that in his speech he called on the West to war against the USSR.

On March 12, 1947, US President Harry Truman came up with a doctrine in which he defined the content of the beginning rivalry between the USA and the USSR as a conflict of democracy and totalitarianism.

Leaving aside the rhetoric familiar to the West, the reason for the beginning and unfolding of the Cold War on a global scale was that the US administration realized that it was impossible to destroy Russia by conventional military methods. Then, in the bowels of the US state apparatus, plans began to be developed for a general psychological and propaganda war against the USSR, for which many billions of dollars were allocated.

Bernard Baruch coins the term "Cold War" 16 April 1947 [Electronic resource]. - Access mode:

http://www.history.com.

W. Churchill. World War II / Abbr. translation from English - Prince. 3, vols. 5–6. - M., 1991, - S. 574.

HUMANITARIAN SCIENCES

Defining the nature of this war, the NATO military-theoretical journal General Military Review frankly wrote: “The only way to win the third world war is to blow up the Soviet Union from the inside with the help of subversive means and decay. The main method of war is to oppose Russia to all other countries, the Russian people to the rest of the world, and within the country - to pit one group of the population against another. The destruction of the spiritual values ​​of Russians, the imposition of alien attitudes in life, the economic exhaustion of the USSR in the arms race, mass training and the introduction of agents of influence - such a technique of overseas specialists for the collapse of the USSR was proposed to Western countries. It was stated very clearly and cynically in the last months of World War II by the future director of the CIA, Allen Dulles: “When the war ends, everything will somehow settle down, settle down. And we will throw everything we have, all the gold, all the material assistance or resources, into fooling and fooling people. The human brain, the consciousness of people are capable of change. Having sowed chaos there, we will quietly replace their values ​​with false ones and force them to believe in these false values.

How? We will find our like-minded people, our assistants and allies in Russia itself. Episode after episode, the grandiose tragedy of the death of the most recalcitrant people on earth, the final, irreversible extinction of its self-consciousness, will be played out. For example, we will gradually eradicate their social essence from literature and art, wean artists, we discourage them from engaging in depiction, studying the processes that take place in the depths of the masses. Literature, theater, cinema - everything will depict and glorify the basest human feelings. We will in every possible way support and raise the so-called artists, who will plant and hammer into the human consciousness the cult of sex, violence, sadism, betrayal, in a word, any kind of immorality. In the administration of the state, we will create chaos and confusion….

Honesty and decency will be ridiculed and will not be needed by anyone, will turn into a relic of the past. Rudeness and arrogance, lies and deceit, drunkenness, drug addiction, animal fear of each other and shamelessness, betrayal, nationalism and enmity of peoples - we will plant all this deftly and imperceptibly ... We will thus shatter, generation after generation ... We will take on people from childhood, youthful years, we will always place the main stake on youth, we will begin to corrupt, corrupt, corrupt it. We will make them spies, cosmopolitans. This is how we will do it."

April 4, 1949 The United States creates the NATO military-political bloc. In response, on May 14, 1955, the USSR organized the Warsaw Pact. It should be noted that the USSR and its allies were forced during the course of the Cold War to constantly take retaliatory measures in order to secure themselves, achieve military and economic parity, maintain a balance of power, and thereby ensure peace on earth for several decades.

The main manifestations of the Cold War were:

Formation of a bipolar world for many years;

Acute political and ideological confrontation between the communist and Western liberal systems;

Creation of military (NATO, SEATO, CENTO, Warsaw Pact, etc.) and economic (EEC, ASEAN, CMEA, etc.) unions by each of the parties;

Organization around the world of a network of military bases of the USA and the USSR on the territory of foreign states;

Forcing the arms race and military preparations;

Constantly emerging international crises (Berlin, Caribbean crises, wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan);

Unspoken division of the world into "spheres of influence";

Support for opposition forces in the countries of the ideological enemy. The USSR financially supported the communist and some leftist parties of the West and developing countries, stimulated the decolonization of dependent states;

In turn, the secret services of the United States and Great Britain supported anti-Soviet organizations in the USSR and in the countries of Eastern Europe (People's Labor Sosecrets of Secret Services, USA, - M., 1973. - P. 293.

Pravda, 03/11/1994

HUMANITARIAN SCIENCES

yuz), helped Solidarity in Poland, the Afghan Mujahideen and Contras in Nicaragua;

Information warfare in the media and radio;

Joseph Nye, professor at Harvard University (USA), speaking at the conference “From Fulton to Malta: How the Cold War Began and Ended” (Gorbachev Foundation, March 2005) pointed out the lessons to be learned

West from the Cold War:

bloodshed as a means of settling global or regional conflicts is not inevitable;

a significant deterrent role was played by the fact that the warring parties had nuclear weapons and an understanding of what the world could become after a nuclear conflict;

the course of development of conflicts is closely related to the personal qualities of specific leaders (Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan);

military power is essential, but not decisive (the US was defeated in Vietnam, and the USSR in Afghanistan); in the era of nationalism and the third industrial (information) revolution, it is impossible to control the hostile population of the occupied country;

under these conditions, the economic power of the state and the ability of the economic system to adapt to the requirements of modernity, the ability to constant innovation acquire a much greater role;

A significant role is played by the use of soft forms of influence, or soft power, that is, the ability to get what you want from others without forcing (intimidating) them and without buying their consent, but by attracting them to your side. Immediately after the defeat of Nazism, the USSR and communist ideas had a serious soft power potential, but most of it was lost after the events in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and this process continued as the Soviet Union used its military power.

And what conclusions should the Russians draw? At the last stage of the Cold War, when almost the entire top leadership of the USSR and an influential part of the intellectual elite went over to the side of the enemy, they managed to paralyze the consciousness and will of the majority of citizens, carry out the surrender and disarmament of the USSR with lightning speed, and then share the resulting fabulous trophies. This is already a fact of history, and if we want to survive as a people, we need to learn a lesson from this fact.

According to the calculations of the great D.I. Mendeleev, by the end of the 20th century, 400 million citizens were to live in Russia. Many in the last century predicted a great future for Russia. However, things turned out differently. The Russians survived two national catastrophes - in 1917 and 1991, and now they are approaching a third. We are very close to the point of no return. In one century, so many misfortunes and trials fell on Russia that would be enough for ten peoples.

The twenty years that have passed since the end of the Cold War have shown that in a unipolar world there is only a place for Russia in the backyards, it is assigned the role of a raw material base for the West, which is consistently preparing to dismember the Russian Federation into dwarf, dependent principalities.

A number of thorough Russian studies have shown that far from everything has been implemented from the Soviet project. Our society could not stand the artificially created arms race, the betrayal of the top leadership of the USSR, organized by the fifth column of agents of influence of systemic economic crises. All this was aggravated by many years of hard and still poorly understood Cold War with the West. The Soviet project was suppressed, and the Soviet system in many of its manifestations was destroyed61.

It seems that we will lift Russia from its knees if we develop a new ideology, a new sphere of values ​​that inspires the national idea, if we can introduce into the minds of our fellow citizens ground-breaking innovations: the spiritual is higher than the material; the general is higher than the personal; justice is above the law; the future is superior to the present and the past.

S.G. Kara-Murza, Soviet civilization. From the beginning to the present day. – M.: Algorithm, 2008.

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We will be reborn if we draw serious conclusions from the experience of the Cold War, if we remember the words of V. Klyuchevsky: "History teaches nothing, but only punishes for ignorance of its lessons."

In conclusion, it is worth saying that the Cold War, as a civilizational war, with the defeat of the USSR did not end at all in principle. It has only passed into a new stage and is hiding behind a new phraseology. Now there is no longer a scarecrow of communism, they say "Russian bear", "Russian fascism", "Russian mafia". And the real subversive actions of the West against Russia are, perhaps, even more cruel than they were during the Soviet era.

LITERATURE

1. Bernard Baruch coins the term "Cold War" 16 April 1947 [Electronic resource]. - Access mode:

http://www.history.com.

2. W. Churchill. World War II / Abbr. translation from English - Prince. 3, vol. 5–6. - M., 1991, - S. 574.

3. Secrets of the US secret services. - M., 1973, - S. 293.

4. Pravda, March 11, 1994

5. S.G. Kara-Murza. Soviet civilization. From the beginning to the present day. – M.: Algorithm, 2008.

M.K. PAVLOVA

MATURITY AS AN INTEGRAL QUALITY OF A HUMAN

AND THE FACTORS THAT DETERMINE IT

The article deals with the relationship between the concepts of "adulthood" and "maturity", as well as the content of the concept of "maturity" and the main conditions for its formation and development.

In order to lead the country out of the quagmire of the crisis that has engulfed all aspects of its existence and its movement along the path of increasing material and spiritual potential, it is necessary to increase the level of professionalism of people employed in all spheres of material and spiritual production, as well as targeted work on the moral, legal and cultural education of people at all levels.

The development of moral, legal consciousness and behavior, the high skill of a teacher, doctor, turner, engineer, banker, manager and worker in any other field of work is the most important source of improvement in our state.

The problem of a person's reaching the level of reaching maturity has many aspects. Psychological science is called upon to show what a person who has reached the peak of his development is, and also what path he must overcome in order to rise to the highest possible stage for him in the development of his potential.

At the same time, it is always an extraordinarily difficult task to understand the most complex synthesis of features that is found in a person who has reached maturity, and to prove that this is really a flourishing in development. It is no less difficult to give an exhaustive answer to the question: what objective and subjective conditions must be created so that the process of forming a person would raise him to the highest stage of maturity.

It should be emphasized that only an adult can reach maturity. However, these two concepts: adulthood and maturity are not identical. A person, according to the number of years he has lived, can be considered an adult, but he can be considered physically mature only if his constitution, the state of functioning of all his organs and systems turn out to correspond to statistical averages typical for a normal person of the age in question, or exceed them.

The correlation between psychological adulthood and psychological maturity of a person is also not simple. If a person who has reached the age of majority behaves in various situations in accordance with universal norms, and the basic universal values ​​have become his own values, then we can confidently speak of his psychological maturity. In cases where he observes some norms, while rudely ignoring others, proving this with his actions, it can be argued that, psychologically, he is only partially mature.

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