Cold War: A Recap of the Resoundingly Silent War between the Allies

The aftermath of the World War II saw two major changes that had rippling effects around the globe. One, was the end of Adolf Hitler and his dictatorial regime. People hailed his downfall, especially  those victim to brutal cruelties in the concentration camps. Then the division of the world into Western and Eastern Blocs because the allies – the U.S.S.R., and the U.S.A., – had now become adversaries. Thus ensued the ‘Cold War’.

Many historians, viewed this without much surprise and they went on to say it was in fact inevitable. Naturally the downfall of one of the biggest, but brutal, leaders had to be followed by a fight for the throne. So almost two years after the end of the World War II in 1945, the Eastern Superpower, U.S.S.R., (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,) or the Soviet Union, tackled it horns with the Western Superpower, U.S.A., over the right to rule the now overthrown land of Germany. The allies had actually never really relied on each other with the United States wary of the then Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s blood thirsty disposition and the Soviets on their part disliking the delayed entry of the States into the war which cost them millions of Russian lives. And thus followed a period of Cold War wherein no prominent wars were fought as such but there was an underlying current of tension and friction of such degree that the world knew that the superpowers were engaged in a virtual combat.

What then ensued were a chain of events that clearly showed both the superpowers were trying to oust the other. The first of the links in this chain was when United States signed the Truman doctrine (named after then President of United States Harry Truman,) in 1947 which “pledged aid to governments threatened by communist subversion” and the Marshall Plan which “provided billions of dollars in economic assistance to eliminate the political instability that could open the way for communist takeovers of democratically elected governments.” Both of these strategies were a part of the containment path that the States had taken to limit the ideals of communism of the East so that it wouldn’t affect the other parts of the Europe. The East then retaliated in their way by testing an atomic bomb in 1949 which led to the “Atomic Age.” Hydrogen bombs which spewed radioactive waste into the atmosphere and fear into the hearts of the watchers were created by both sides.

cold war red scare

Though the Cold War was still going on, the actual division came into being when in June 1950, the North Koreans invaded South Korea with the backing of Soviet Union. President Truman of United States could no longer be a silent spectator and sent troops to South Korea making the point quite clear that the Allies had indeed fallen apart. Many such proxy wars were fought and the other events that followed made it clearer that the world was perhaps on the edge of yet another war.

Three events that stood out for such compulsions were the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Berlin Wall Erection and the Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew General Fulgencio Batista, Cuba’s American-backed president. Although the citizens of Cuba welcomed the fall of the dictator that was Batista, the U.S. feared they might lose the island to the hands of USSR. On April 17, 1961 John F. Kennedy, the then President, sent 1,400 American trained Cubans into the battlefield at Bay of Pigs to attack the enemy from within. But alas, the causalities mounted and in less than 24 hours the troops had surrendered to the new Cuban leader. Irked by the operation, Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Leader, contacted the Cubans in 1962 to discreetly place missiles in the region in the event of such manoeuvres being carried out again. Kennedy answered it with creating a ‘naval blockade’ all around Cuba and ceasing any economic contact. With the fear of nuclear war heightened, Khrushchev backed out the missiles on the deal that United States would not invade Cuba.

Although this was the first step that the world saw between the two superpowers, there was still a major setback with the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 by the Eastern bloc to keep out the western ‘fascists.’ The wall was erected to isolate West Berlin, a deeply capitalist city contrasting it eastern counterpart, and “stuck like a bone in the Soviet throat,” as the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev put it. But the wall was taken down in the subsequent years as the Cold War began to thaw in 1989.

berlin wall cold war

There were many such back and forth tiffs between the blocs over the years. Russia sent its first satellite into space called Sputnik and U.S.A. answered with its own Explorer. There was also the formation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) as a measure of coordinated defense in 1949 by United States with 11 other allied countries. In simpler terms, it meant that an attack by any third party on one of them would be viewed as an attack on them all. The Soviets too formed a pact of their own called the Warsaw pact with 7 other countries in 1955 on similar terms. Although it wasn’t made until 6 years of the formation of NATO, it was still considered as a response to the former. It was clear that the other countries had to pledge their allegiance to one of these superpowers and show their cards in the combat. But a small group of nations, led by India, formed the Non- Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961 announcing that they were in support of both sides, or rather in support of none.

In many ways 1961 was obviously a year of high octane tension and almost after 30 years the Cold War ceased to be. But 55 years hence, 2016 sets us on the perch of yet another Cold War. With Russia and U.S.A. again on the brink of battle, it would be interesting to see where India would lay its loyalty or whether we would be the centre of a neutral bloc again.

cold war us and russia

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here