Essay
Introduction
After the 2nd World War was ended the unity among the allied forced could not be sustained for a long time. This can be partially explained by the huge difference of interest of both superpowers, the military race of these countries, but what was the real cause for this prolonged worldwide tension is completely different social, political, economical, and ideological development prospects of former allies. And the situation even got worse, when the U.S first used the nuclear bomb on Japan, and the Soviet Union in its turn released it its own nuclear bomb, showing that it is a mighty country.
Among the reasons for this silence war there are several conflicts that are of the most importance in this story that could eventually result in the 3rd World War.
The Korean War
In 1945, Soviet and American troops liberated Korea from the Japanese army. In this way Korean Peninsula was divided into two parts, with Northern part being under Communists control, and Southern being ruled by the military, backed by the U.S aid. Later two states were formed - North Korea, and South Korea.
But in 1950, North Korean leader Kim Il-sung pursued his dream of uniting two states by travelling to Moscow and getting the support of the Soviet Union. Plans for the "war of liberation" of South Korea were also approved by the Chinese leader Mao Zedong. At dawn on June 25th, 1950, North Korean army moved to the south of the country attacking powerfully, that in three days the capital city of the South was occupied, with almost the entire peninsula being taken by mid-September.
However, on July 7th the UN Security Council voted to send international troops to help South Korea. And in September, the UN troops (mostly American) came to South Korea. They launched a major offensive operation in the North; from this point events began to move in the opposite direction. As the result, North Korea was on the brink of a total disaster, when China unexpectedly intervened, with sending nearly 1 million Chinese soldiers to aid North Korea’s troops, without declaring war on the United States. During the American offensive operation, the Soviet Union provided several aviation divisions to help North Korea.
The war continued for another three years, and on July 27th, 1953 the war ended, with North Korea remaining in power, and Kim Il-sung taking the honorary title of "great leader".
Construction of the Berlin Wall
In 1955, the final division of Europe between East and West was shaped. However, an opened spot on this division line still remained opened, and it was the city of Berlin. As the result, the city got divided in two. Two opposite economic systems have coexisted within the same city since then, with more than 500 thousand people crossing the border both directions every day. Many of the Eastern Germans took the advantage of the open border, and left for Western Europe forever, resulting in migration of thousands of people every year, which indeed troubled East German authorities.
In August of 1961, Soviet and East German authorities decided to close the border between two parts of Berlin by erecting a wall. Western countries immediately expressed their protest against the division of the city. The tension is this situation grew, and finally in October the confrontation reached its climax. At the Brandenburg Gate and Friedrich strasse, American tanks were lined up in order to meet Soviet military machinery. For more than a day, tanks of the USSR and the United States stood there with their guns being aimed at each other all the time. But the situation got resolved peacefully, with tanks moving onto the other streets. Finally a treaty was signed by 4 powers (the USSR, the U.S. , Britain and France), which formalized the worldwide erection of the Wall to be a symbolic end of the post-war division of Europe.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
On January 1st, 1959 the revolution triumphed in Cuba, from which the new government began a determined struggle against American influence on the island, with the support of the Soviet Union. However, the authorities of Havana seriously feared the U.S. military invasion. In May 1962, Nikita Khrushchev proposed to put nuclear missiles in Cuba. After some deliberation, Cuba agreed to the Soviets’ proposal, and in the summer of 1962 42 nuclear missiles along with bombers capable of carrying nuclear bombs were sent to the island. The transfer of missiles was made confidentially, but on September 4th President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States in any case will not tolerate Soviet nuclear missiles to 150 km from its coast.
On October 22nd, President Kennedy stated in his radio and television transmission that Soviet missiles were discovered in Cuba, thus demanded the USSR to remove those immediately. Kennedy declared the naval blockade of Cuba. From October 23rd began a letter exchange between Moscow and Washington. After a few days of correspondence it became clear that the U.S. was determined to remove the missiles at any cost. Eventually Nikita Khrushchev acknowledged the presence of nuclear weapons in Cuba, and promised to retract those only if the U.S was not about to invade Cuban territory. Parties agreed on that, but the situation escalated once again, when one of the U.S. spy planes was shot down with an anti-aircraft missile over Cuba.
However, on Sunday, October 28, the Soviet leadership decided to accept the American terms, removing nuclear missiles and bombers from the island. International tension was quickly subsided, and on November 20th the U.S. lifted a naval blockade of the island, with the Cuban missile crisis ending peacefully.
These conflicts along with the military race that two countries were participating in led to the Cold War, which is often dated from 1947 to 1991, and which was a political and military tension mainly between the United States of America and the Soviet Union.
This “conflict” started just right after the Nazi Germany was defeated, and the nuclear bomb being tested on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leaving the previous allies as two superpowers with completely different social and economic views. It carried on to multiple near-military conflicts that could result in a 3rd World War, but fortunately the conflict never happened. After the split of the Soviet Union the Cold War was automatically ended.
Conclusion
After the 2nd World War, the Soviet Union has been building its economy with huge amounts of money going to to the military-industrial complex, as the Soviet Union could not afford being military weaker than the U.S . This turned the USSR into an empire with huge budget deficit and a weak economy that led to the collapse of once mighty power. As for the U.S, it dropped a once dangerous rival, and gained a partner of the Russian Federation. And finally, the Cold War showed the main values of humanity, which could overcome any scientific technological development or any sophisticated ideological influence.
References
Duiker, W. (2008). World History. USA: Cengage Learning.
Hanhimaki, J. (2004). The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts. USA: Oxford University Press.
Leffler, M., & Westad, O. (2010). The Cambridge History of the Cold War. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
