Berlin Crisis 1948-1949

By the middle of 1948, the offensive nature of American policy continued to grow. The United States was not afraid of Moscow's reactions, believing that I.V. Stalin was constrained by the understanding of Washington's nuclear superiority and was focused on consolidating his positions in Eastern Europe. The USSR showed no signs of aggressiveness outside this zone. American experts believed that the Soviet Union would be able to create its own atomic bomb only by the mid-1950s. In addition, it was known that the USSR did not have strategic bombers, the range of which would allow them to reach US territory and return back. Military analysts of the US National Security Service also pointed to the lack of airfields in the Soviet Union capable of receiving heavy combat vehicles of the required class, and the lack of high-octane gasoline for refueling them. In general, the military readiness of the USSR for a conflict with the West was rated low.

The monetary reform of June 18, 1948 in the western zones involved the introduction of new banknotes into them and their subsequent distribution in West Berlin, although legally the latter, being in the center of the Soviet zone of occupation, was part of it in the financial and economic sense, that is, it had common with its sources of supply, transport communications, etc. The measures of the Western powers caused an influx into the Soviet zone of depreciated old banknotes, which continued to circulate in East Germany. This raised the threat of economic chaos in the east, and Moscow reacted sharply to the situation. On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union introduced a ban on the movement and transportation of goods from the western zones to the eastern. At the same time, deliveries from the Soviet occupation zone to the western sectors of Berlin were also cut off. The western part of the city was cut off from supply sources in the Soviet occupation zone and was deprived of the opportunity to receive goods by land from the western ones. This situation has been referred to in the literature as the "blockade of West Berlin".

Maintaining this position meant economic strangulation of both the civilian population of the city and the US, British and French armed forces stationed there. In response to Soviet measures, the United States and Great Britain, using the airfield available in West Berlin, organized an air bridge between the Western occupation zones and West Berlin, through which military transport aviation began to deliver everything necessary to ensure its life. Western warplanes violated the airspace over the Soviet occupation zone and flew over the location of Soviet units in East German territory. Everything was accompanied by harsh rhetoric and mutual threats exchanged between Moscow and Washington. Neither the USSR nor the USA were ready to fight. But the war could start by accident, if one of the planes was shot down, fell on some of the Soviet military facilities, etc. The likelihood of a collision was high, both powers teetered on the brink of war.

The situation described in the literature is called the Berlin crisis, which refers to a sharp aggravation of the international political situation due to the situation around the city, in which the likelihood of a military clash between the Soviet Union and the Western powers began to grow. The Berlin crisis fortunately did not escalate into a war. The Western powers were able to carry out deliveries by air without hindrance, the USSR did not try to shoot down aircraft or otherwise interfere with their navigation. The peak of the crisis lasted from June 24 to August 30, 1948. After negotiations between the ambassadors of the four powers in Moscow, a partial agreement was reached on measures to resolve the situation. It was not implemented and the situation remained tense. But it was already clear that it was stable in its own way and that the opposing sides did not seek to escalate. The downward confrontation around Berlin continued until May 23, 1949 (VI session of the Ministerial Council in Paris), after which the USSR lifted restrictions on the transportation of goods from the west and the situation returned to normal.

In Western capitals, the events around Berlin were assessed as a defeat for Stalinist diplomacy and a sign of the weakness of the Soviet Union. In Washington, the victory seemed complete. H. Truman finally became convinced of the correctness of the offensive line and began to speed up the solution of the issue of ending the occupation regime in West Germany and creating a separate West German state. In November 1948, G. Truman had to go through presidential elections. The Berlin situation gave him a serious trump card.

In Moscow, what happened caused great irritation to I.V. Stalin, who preferred to find those to blame. In 1949, V.M. Molotov was removed from the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. His place was taken by A. Ya. Vyshinsky.

Berlin Crisis of 1961

After the Soviet Union actually handed over its part of Berlin to the GDR, the western sector still remained under the rule of the occupying forces of the USA, England and France. From the point of view of the USSR, this situation called into question the state independence of the GDR and hampered the entry of East Germany into the international legal space.

In this regard, the USSR demanded the end of the four-power administration of Berlin and the transformation of West Berlin into a demilitarized free city. Otherwise, according to the ultimatum, the Soviet Union intended to transfer control of access to the city to the authorities of the GDR and conclude a separate peace treaty with it.

Satisfaction of this demand would lead in the future to the accession of West Berlin to the GDR. The US and France rejected the Soviet demands, while the British government, led by Harold Macmillan, was ready to compromise. After unsuccessful negotiations with the United States at Camp David 1959 and Vienna 1961, the Soviet Union abandoned its ultimatum, but encouraged the leadership of the GDR to tighten control over the border between East and West Berlin and eventually to build the Berlin Wall.

The German question continued to be a stumbling block in relations between the USSR and Western countries. During this period, it was reduced mainly to the problem of the status of West Berlin. In February 1958, Khrushchev proposed to convene a conference of the "four great powers" and reconsider the status of West Berlin, declaring it a demilitarized free city. After a negative reaction from the West, he agreed to postpone the dates, and in September 1959, during a visit to the United States, he achieved an agreement in principle with Eisenhower to convene such a conference in Paris in May 1960. However, the conference was disrupted due to the fact that on May 1, 1960 an American reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over the USSR

On April 17, 1961, Khrushchev put forward a new ultimatum on the Berlin issue, announcing that the USSR would conclude a peace treaty with the GDR before the end of the year and transfer full power over the eastern part of Berlin to it. In developing this idea, the Political Consultative Committee of the WTS on August 5, 1961, called on the GDR to take measures against the "subversive activities" of West Berlin.

On July 25, 1961, President Kennedy, in his speech, listed a number of measures to improve the combat effectiveness of the American military, and on July 28, he issued a statement confirming the determination of the United States to defend West Berlin. On August 3, the US Congress approved the allocation of additional funds for the purchase of weapons and the drafting of 250,000 reservists. On August 16, 113 units of the US National Guard and the reserve were put on high alert.

The standard of living in West Berlin could not be compared with the socialist part of the city, emigration from East Berlin increased. On August 12, free movement between West and East Berlin was banned. The German communists acted decisively: on alarm, all the rank and file members of the party were mobilized, who created a living cordon along the border of East and West Berlin. They stood until all of West Berlin was surrounded by a concrete wall with checkpoints. This was a violation of the Potsdam Agreement, which provided for free movement in the city.

On August 24, in response to the construction of the wall, about a thousand American troops were deployed along it, supported by tanks. On August 29, the Soviet government announced a temporary delay in the transfer to the reserve from the Soviet Armed Forces.

On September 12, F. Kozlov, speaking in Pyongyang, announced that the deadline for the ultimatum for signing a peace treaty with the GDR had been extended. The next day, two Soviet fighter jets fired warning shots at two American transport planes flying to West Berlin.

On October 17, in a report at the XXII Congress of the CPSU, Khrushchev announced that the ultimatum for signing a separate peace treaty with the GDR (December 31) is not so important if the West demonstrates a real readiness to resolve the Berlin issue.

In September-October 1961, the American military grouping in the FRG was increased by 40,000 men and a whole series of exercises were held.

On October 26-27, a conflict arose in Berlin, known as the “Checkpoint Charlie Incident”. Soviet intelligence reported to Khrushchev about an impending American attempt to demolish the border barriers on Friedrichstrasse. Three American jeeps with military and civilians arrived at Checkpoint Charlie, followed by powerful bulldozers and 10 tanks. In response, the 7th tank company of Captain Voitchenko of the 3rd battalion of the 68th Soviet Guards Tank Regiment arrived at Friedrichstrasse. Soviet and American tanks stood facing each other all night. Soviet tanks were withdrawn on the morning of 28 October. After that, American tanks were also withdrawn. This marked the end of the Berlin Crisis.

Caribbean Crisis 1962

The crisis arose in an atmosphere of confrontation over the construction of the Berlin Wall. The immediate cause of the crisis was the secret deployment of Soviet missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba. The operation was carried out secretly, on the personal instructions of N. S. Khrushchev and with the consent of F. Castro. Khrushchev probably wanted in this way to balance the US nuclear superiority, both numerical (according to the estimates of the Minister of Defense in the government of John. Kennedy, about 17-fold) and tactical (American missiles were deployed at that time in close proximity to the borders of the USSR - in Turkey ). An important role was played by the desire of the Soviet leader to protect Cuba from a possible American attack, which in April 1961 repulsed the landing on Playa Giron. Obviously, this risky step is largely due to the impulsive and unpredictable nature of N. S. Khrushchev, his declared desire to compete with the United States, his willingness to neglect the security of his own and other peoples for the sake of the “triumph of socialism” in the Western Hemisphere. The decision to deploy missiles was made in the summer of 1962 during a visit to Cuba by a Soviet delegation, which included Marshal S. S. Biryuzov under an assumed name. The presence of missiles, categorically denied by Khrushchev in the September personal message to Kennedy and A. A. Gromyko during an audience with Kennedy on October 18, was irrefutably established by US intelligence agencies using aerial photography. On October 22, President Kennedy went on television and announced the beginning of a naval blockade of Cuba, where Soviet ships were no longer allowed. Hearings were held in the UN Security Council, to which the USSR, Cuba and the USA applied with requests. On October 23, the Soviet government issued a statement condemning the US actions as aggressive. Both sides discussed attack options. However, President Kennedy did not go along with the ambitions of the military and took the initiative in personal negotiations with N. S. Khrushchev by direct telephone connection between Moscow and Washington.

Already on October 28, Khrushchev, in a message to Kennedy, “in order to reassure the American people,” announced the dismantling of the missiles, without naming them directly (the fact that the missiles were deployed was denied in the Soviet press until the “glasnost” announced by M. S. Gorbachev). As a result of private talks between the leaders, the United States agreed to dismantle its installations in Turkey, and officially renounced any attempts to change the F. Castro regime by force of arms.

LECTURE #38

International relations and regional conflicts

Military-political blocs.

The desire of Western countries and the USSR to strengthen their positions on the world stage led to the creation of military-political blocs. The largest number of them arose on the initiative and under the leadership of the United States: NATO (1949), AN-SUS (Australia, New Zealand, USA, 1951), SEATO (USA, Great Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand , Philippines, 1954), Baghdad Pact (Great Britain, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, 1955; after the withdrawal of Iraq - CENTO).

In 1955, the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD) was formed. It included the USSR, Albania (withdrew in 1968), Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia.

The main obligations of the participants in the blocs consisted in mutual assistance to each other in the event of an attack on one of the allied states.

Practical activities within NATO, and above all in military-technical cooperation, as well as in the creation of military bases by the US and the USSR and the deployment of their troops on the territory of the allied states on the line of confrontation between the blocs. Particularly significant forces of the parties were concentrated in the FRG and the GDR. A large number of atomic weapons were also placed here.

Cold War periods and international crises.

There are two periods in the Cold War. For the period 1946 - 1963. characterized by growing tensions between the two great powers, culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is the period of the creation of military-political blocs and conflicts in the zones of contact between the two socio-economic systems. Significant events were the Korean War of 1950 - 1953, the French war in Vietnam 1946 - 1954, the suppression of the uprising in Hungary in 1956 by the USSR, the Suez crisis of 1956, the Berlin crises of 1948 -1949, 1953 and 1961, the Caribbean crisis 1962 A number of them almost caused a new world war.

The second period of the Cold War began in 1963. It is characterized by the transfer of the center of gravity of international conflicts to the Third World, to the periphery of world politics. At the same time, relations between the US and the USSR were transformed from confrontation to detente of international tension, to negotiations and agreements, in particular, on the reduction of nuclear and conventional weapons and on the peaceful settlement of international disputes. The major conflicts were the US war in Vietnam and the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Caribbean crisis.

In the spring of 1962, the leaders of the USSR and Cuba decided to secretly place medium-range nuclear missiles on this island. The USSR hoped to make the United States as vulnerable to a nuclear strike as the Soviet Union became after the deployment of American missiles in Turkey. Receiving information about the deployment of Soviet missiles on the "Red Island" caused a panic in the United States. The confrontation reached its peak on October 27 - 28, 1962. The world was on the brink of war, but prudence prevailed: the USSR removed nuclear missiles from the island in response to US President John F. Kennedy's promises not to invade Cuba and remove missiles from Turkey.

War in Vietnam.

The United States provided assistance to South Vietnam, but the regime established there was in danger of collapse. A guerrilla movement, supported by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV, North Vietnam), China and the USSR, unfolded on the territory of South Vietnam. In 1964 the United States, using its own provocation as a pretext, launched a massive bombardment of North Vietnam, and in 1965 landed troops in South Vietnam.

Soon these troops were drawn into fierce fighting with the partisans. The United States used the tactics of "scorched earth", carried out massacres of civilians, but the resistance movement expanded. The Americans and their local henchmen suffered more and more losses. American troops were equally unsuccessful in Laos and Cambodia. Protests against the war around the world, including in the United States itself, along with military failures, forced the Americans to enter into peace negotiations. In 1973, American troops were withdrawn from Vietnam. In 1975, the partisans took its capital - the city of Saigon. A new state appeared - the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV).

War in Afghanistan.

In April 1978, a military coup took place in Afghanistan, carried out by adherents of leftist views. The new leadership of the country concluded an agreement with the Soviet Union and repeatedly asked him for military assistance. The USSR supplied Afghanistan with weapons and military equipment. The civil war between supporters and opponents of the new regime in Afghanistan flared up more and more. In December 1979, the USSR decided to send a limited contingent of troops into the country. The presence of Soviet troops in Afghanistan was regarded by the Western powers as aggression, although the USSR acted within the framework of an agreement with the country's leadership and sent troops at its request. In fact, the Soviet troops were drawn into the civil war in Afghanistan. The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan was carried out in February 1989.

Middle East conflict.

International Jewish (Zionist) organizations chose the territory of Palestine as a center for the Jews of the whole world at the beginning of the 20th century. In November 1947, the UN decided to create two states on the territory of Palestine: Arab and Jewish. Jerusalem stood out as an independent unit. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was proclaimed, and on May 15, the Arab Legion, which was in Jordan, opposed the Israelis. The first Arab-Israeli war began. Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iraq brought troops into Palestine. The war ended in 1949. Israel occupied more than half of the territory intended for the Arab state and the western part of Jerusalem. Jordan received its eastern part and the western bank of the Jordan River, Egypt got the Gaza Strip. The total number of Arab refugees exceeded 900 thousand people.

Since then, the confrontation between Jews and Arabs in Palestine has remained one of the most acute problems. Zionists called on Jews from all over the world to move to Israel, to their "historical homeland." Jewish settlements were created to accommodate them in the Arab territories. Influential forces in Israel dream of creating a "Greater Israel" from the Nile to the Euphrates (this idea is symbolically reflected in the national flag of Israel). The United States and other Western countries became Israel's ally, the USSR supported the Arabs.

In 1956, the nationalization of the Suez Canal announced by President Nasser hit the interests of Great Britain and France (Nasser supported the anti-French uprising in Algeria). The tripartite Anglo-French-Israeli aggression against Egypt began. On October 29, 1956, the Israeli army crossed the Egyptian border, and the British and French landed in the canal zone. The forces were unequal, an attack on Cairo was being prepared. Only after the threat of the USSR to use force against the aggressors in November 1956, hostilities were stopped, and the troops of the interventionists left Egypt.

On June 5, 1967, Israel launched military operations against the Arab states in response to the activities of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), headed by Yasser Arafat, created in 1964 to fight for the formation of an Arab state in Palestine and the liquidation of Israel. Israeli troops quickly moved deep into Egypt, Syria, Jordan. Protests against aggression that swept the whole world, and the efforts of the USSR forced Israel to stop hostilities already on June 10. During the six-day war, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the western bank of the Jordan River, the eastern part of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights in Syrian territory.

In 1973 a new war began. Arab troops acted more successfully, Egypt managed to liberate part of the Sinai Peninsula. In 1970 and 1982-1991 Israeli troops invaded Lebanese territory to fight the Palestinian refugees who were there. Part of Lebanese territory came under Israeli control. Only at the beginning of the XXI century. Israeli troops left Lebanon, but provocations against this country continued.

All attempts by the UN and the leading world powers to achieve an end to the conflict were unsuccessful for a long time. Only in 1978-1979. Through the mediation of the United States, it was possible to sign a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel at Camp David. Israel withdrew troops from the Sinai Peninsula, but the Palestinian problem was not solved. Since 1987, an intifada began in the occupied territories of Palestine - an uprising of Palestinians. In 1988, the creation of the State of Palestine was announced. An attempt to resolve the conflict was an agreement between the leaders of Israel and the PLO in the mid-1990s. on the creation of a Palestinian autonomy on part of the occupied territories. However, the Palestinian Authority was completely dependent on Israel, and Jewish settlements remained on its territory.

The situation escalated at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century, when the second intifada began. Israel was forced to withdraw its troops and migrants from the Gaza Strip. But mutual shelling of the territory of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, terrorist acts continued. In the summer of 2006, there was a war between Israel and the Lebanese organization Hezbollah. In late 2008 - early 2009, Israeli troops attacked the Gaza Strip, where the radical Hamas movement was in power. The hostilities have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians.

Discharge.

Since the mid 50s. The USSR repeatedly came up with initiatives for general and complete disarmament. The most important steps towards easing the international situation were taken in the 1970s. There was a growing understanding in the USA and the USSR that a further arms race was becoming pointless, that military spending was undermining the economy. The improvement in relations between the USSR and the West was called détente.

An essential milestone on the path of détente was the normalization of relations between the USSR and the FRG. An important point of the agreement between them was the recognition of the western borders of Poland and the border between the GDR and the FRG (1970). During a visit to the USSR in May 1972 by US President R. Nixon, agreements were signed on the limitation of anti-missile defense systems (ABM) and the Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Arms (SALT-1). The new Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Arms (SALT-2) was signed in 1979. The treaties provided for the mutual reduction of the number of ballistic missiles.

On July 30 - August 1, 1975, the final stage of the Conference on Security and Cooperation of the Heads of 33 European countries, the USA and Canada took place in Helsinki. Its result was the Final Act, which fixed the principles of the inviolability of borders in Europe, respect for the independence and sovereignty, territorial integrity of states, the renunciation of the use of force and the threat of its use.

At the end of the 70s. reduced tension in Asia. The SEATO and CENTO blocs ceased to exist. However, the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, conflicts in other parts of the world in the early 80s. again led to an intensification of the arms race and increased tension.

International relations at the endXX- earlyXXIV.

Perestroika, which began in the USSR in 1985, very soon began to have a significant impact on international relations.

The head of the Soviet Union put forward the idea of ​​a new political thinking in international relations. He stated that the main problem is the survival of mankind and all foreign policy activity should be subordinated to its solution. The decisive role was played by meetings and negotiations at the highest level between the presidents of the United States: first by R. Reagan, and then by George W. Bush Sr. They led to the signing of bilateral treaties on the elimination of intermediate and shorter range missiles (1987) and on the limitation and reduction of strategic offensive arms (START-1) in 1991.

The completion of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan also favorably affected the normalization of international relations.

After the collapse of the USSR, Russia continued the policy of friendly relations with the United States and other leading Western states. A number of important treaties were concluded on further disarmament and cooperation (for example, the treaties on START-2 and START-3). The threat of a new war with the use of weapons of mass destruction has sharply decreased. At the same time, the Soviet-American agreements of the times of perestroika and later Russian-American agreements contained many unilateral concessions on the part of the USSR and Russia.

Since the 90s There is only one superpower left in the world - the United States. Instead of the bipolar world of the Cold War era, a unipolar world emerged. The United States has taken a course to build up its weapons, including the latest. In 2001, the United States withdrew from the 1972 ABM Treaty, and in 2007 announced the deployment of missile defense systems, actually directed against Russia, in the Czech Republic and Poland.

In 2008, the pro-American regime established in Georgia carried out a large-scale attack on South Ossetia, one of the unrecognized state entities on the territory of the former USSR. The aggression was repelled by Russian troops and local militias. After that, the Russian Federation recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Serious changes took place at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. in Europe. In 1991, the CMEA and the Department of Internal Affairs were liquidated. In September 1990, representatives of the GDR, the FRG, Great Britain, the USSR, the USA and France signed an agreement to settle the German issue and unify Germany. The USSR withdrew its troops from Germany and agreed to the entry of the united German state into NATO. In 1999, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined NATO, in 2004 - Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, in 2009 - Albania and Croatia. In 2009, France returned to the NATO military organization.

NATO's goal is to ensure the collective security of its members in the Euro-Atlantic region. An attack on one of the NATO countries is interpreted as an attack on the alliance as a whole. NATO is open to new members who are able to develop the principles of the treaty and contribute to collective security. Among the activities of NATO: the development of international cooperation and the prevention of conflicts between its members and partner members, the protection of the values ​​of democracy, individual freedom, the economy of free enterprise and the rule of law.

The highest political body of NATO is the North Atlantic Council (NATO Council), which consists of representatives of all member states and holds its meetings under the chairmanship of the NATO Secretary General. The North Atlantic Council may organize meetings at the level of foreign ministers and heads of state and government. Council decisions are taken unanimously. Between sessions, the functions of the NATO Council are performed by the Permanent Council of NATO, which includes representatives of all member countries of the bloc in the rank of ambassadors.

NATO's highest military-political body is the Defense Planning Committee, which meets twice a year at its sessions at the level of defense ministers. In the period between sessions, the functions of the Military Planning Committee are carried out by the Standing Committee of Military Planning, which includes representatives of all countries participating in the bloc in the rank of ambassadors.

NATO's highest military body is the Military Committee, consisting of the chiefs of the general staff of NATO member countries. The Military Committee has under its command the command of two zones: Europe and the Atlantic. The main command in Europe is headed by the supreme commander (always an American general).

Within the framework of NATO there are a number of programs, among them the most important - "Partnership for Peace". The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) includes 46 countries, including Ukraine and Russia.

With the threat of global war reduced, local conflicts in Europe and the post-Soviet space intensified. There were armed conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in Transnistria, Tajikistan, Georgia, in the North Caucasus. Especially bloody were the events in the former Yugoslavia. The processes of formation of independent states in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia were accompanied by wars, mass ethnic cleansing, and refugee flows. Since 1993, NATO has actively intervened in the affairs of these states on the side of the anti-Serb forces. In 1999, NATO, led by the United States, without UN sanction, committed open aggression against Yugoslavia, starting the bombing of this country.

Another hotbed of tension continues to exist in the Middle East. Iraq is a troubled region. Relations between India and Pakistan remain complicated. In Africa, interstate and civil wars periodically flare up, accompanied by mass extermination of the population.

Tensions persist in a number of regions of the former USSR. There are still unrecognized state formations here - the Pridnestrovian Republic, Nagorno-Karabakh.

Since 2001, the United States has proclaimed the fight against international terrorism as its main goal. In addition to Iraq, American troops invaded Afghanistan, where the Taliban regime was overthrown with the help of local forces. This led to a multiple increase in the production of drugs, which flooded into the countries of the former USSR and Europe.

In Afghanistan itself, fighting between the Taliban and the occupying army is intensifying. The US is threatening to use military force against North Korea, Iran, Syria and other countries. All this became possible due to the formation of a unipolar world dominated by the United States. However, it is clear that even such a powerful state as the United States, especially in the context of the collapse of the economy due to the crisis that began in 2008, will not be able to solve global world problems.

Other constantly growing centers of power - the European Union, China, India - are dissatisfied with this situation. They, like Russia, are in favor of creating a multipolar world and expanding the role of the UN.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1. What were the reasons for the formation of military-political blocs? What were their tasks?

2. What are the causes of crises in the 1940s and 1950s? What were their consequences?

3. What are the causes and consequences of the major military conflicts of the 60-80s?

4. What is discharge? What are its reasons? What agreements have been reached?

5. How did the balance of power in the world change at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century?

6. Make a table showing the chronology of the major international conflicts that occurred in the second half of the 20th - early 21st centuries.

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.

For 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 state's main export product. 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 on which edge they are, and not to 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.

If you have any questions - leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR by the people's democracies. At the final stage of the Second World War, the Red Army entered the countries of Eastern Europe. They began to be called the countries of people's democracy. The Stalinist policy with its methods of violence began to be applied there even before the end of the war. Europe after World War II.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR Iron Curtain. Already in May 1945, a few days after the end of the war in Europe, Churchill telegraphed Truman that an iron curtain had descended over the Soviet front. "Iron Curtain" (American propaganda poster).

THE BEGINNING OF THE "COLD WAR" March 5, 1946 in Fulton (USA). The beginning of the Cold War is considered to be the speech of the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, which he delivered on March 5, 1946 in Fulton (USA). In his speech, Churchill warned the world against the growing threat of communism. Winston Churchill's speech at Fulton (March 5, 1946). "Churchill scares the world with the threat of communism."

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR March 12, 1947 On March 12, 1947, US President Harry Truman addressed Congress with a proposal to provide assistance to all countries threatened by communist expansion. Truman Doctrine. These principles have become the fundamental provisions of the so-called. Truman Doctrine. Text of the Truman Doctrine. Harry Truman is the 33rd President of the United States.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR The Marshall Plan. One of the first measures to implement the Truman Doctrine was the Marshall Plan. It got its name from the estate of the then US Secretary of State George Marshall. Signing of the Marshall Plan (1948). George Marshall.

THE BEGINNING OF THE "COLD WAR" The essence of the Marshall Plan was to provide the countries of Europe in 1948-1952 with dollars to restore the destroyed economy. The countries of Eastern Europe, under pressure from the USSR, refused American assistance. European states that received US aid under the Marshall Plan.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR January 1949 Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). In January 1949, the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe established the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). Mutual economic aid instead of US aid is the meaning behind the name of this organization. CMEA member countries (as of 1980).

BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR April 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created. This bloc was created primarily to protect its members. Signing of the North Atlantic Treaty.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR May 1955 The Warsaw Pact Organization. In May 1955, the Warsaw Pact Organization was created. It was a military-political union under the auspices of the USSR. By 1955, the confrontation between East and West had finally taken shape. Thus, by 1955, the confrontation between East and West was finally formed. Signing of the Warsaw Pact.

KOREAN WAR (1950 - 1953) The Korean War ended in 1953. In three years of fierce fighting, more than Koreans, Chinese and about Americans died. Each side declared its victory. The final stage of the Korean War.

The Suez Crisis (1956) October 1956 In October 1956, Israeli troops invaded Egypt and began to rapidly approach the Suez Canal. Soon, English and French troops were introduced into the territory of Egypt. November 6, 1956 However, on November 6, 1956, an armistice was signed through the mediation of the United Nations. In 1957, Israeli troops left the territory of Egypt. The Suez Canal became the legal property of Egypt. Suez Crisis (1956).

BERLIN CRISIS (1961) In 1955, Western countries recognized the FRG, and the USSR recognized the GDR. The German authorities did not recognize the GDR and declared that they would break off relations with the country that did this (an exception was made only for the USSR). In 1958, Moscow demanded the withdrawal of the former allies from West Berlin.

CARIBBEAN (CUBAN) CRISIS (1962) In January 1959, the regime of dictator Batista was overthrown in Cuba. The rebels came to power, led by Fidel Castro, who in his policy was guided by the USSR. The United States began to finance the struggle of Cuban emigrants against the Castro regime. Dictator Batista. Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev.

THE CARIBBEAN (CUBAN) CRISIS (1962) In the summer of 1962, Washington became aware of the deployment of Soviet medium-range missiles in Cuba. Map of Cuba showing locations of Soviet medium-range missiles. Photograph of a Soviet missile base in Cuba taken by an American spy plane.

CARIBBEAN (CUBAN) CRISIS (1962) In response to the deployment of Soviet missiles, US President Kennedy announced the introduction of quarantine around Cuba. The quarantine was intended to prevent the delivery of weapons to Cuba. The USSR dismantled the missiles in November 1962, and the United States ended the blockade of Cuba. Meeting of the President of the United States with the commander of the US Air Force. Meeting of the US President with Soviet diplomats.

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) In 1945, Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In 1946, a war began between France and Vietnam, which lasted 8 years. French Indochina. Ho Chi Minh. Fight with the participation of French paratroopers (1952).

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) In 1954, ceasefire agreements were signed in Geneva in Indochina. In Vietnam, actually two states were formed, which began to fight against each other. In this struggle, North Vietnam was supported by the USSR, and South - by the United States. North and South Vietnam on the eve of the start of the Vietnam War.

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) The reason for the US entry into the war was the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964. March 1965 In March 1965, the first American units arrived in Vietnam. Incident in the Gulf of Tonkin (August 1964). American landing in Vietnam (March 1965).

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) The US entry into the war caused a wave of pacifist sentiments in the US itself and sharp condemnation from the USSR and its allies. Anti-war activists and military police (Washington, October 1967). "Put an end to the aggression in Vietnam!" (Soviet propaganda poster).

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) January 7, 1973 On January 7, 1973, agreements were signed in Paris to end the Vietnam War. They also provided for the withdrawal of American troops. Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam unified in 1976. The state became known as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Signing of agreements in Paris (January 1973).

THE ERA OF DETECTION The 1970s went down in the history of the Cold War as a period of détente in international tensions. In 1972, in Moscow, the leaders of the USSR and the United States signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and the Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Arms (SALT-1). Signing of the ABM and SALT-1 Treaties (Moscow, 1972).

The Era of Detente 1975 The Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe In 1975, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe was signed in Helsinki, which guaranteed the inviolability of European borders and laid the foundation for the development of cooperation in various fields of life. Brezhnev signs the so-called. Helsinki Accords. Participants of the Helsinki meeting.

THE ERA OF DEFEET 1979 SALT-2 Treaty In 1979, the leaders of the USSR and the USA signed the SALT-2 Treaty, according to which they pledged to reduce the number of nuclear weapons carriers. Due to the fact that the USSR sent its troops into Afghanistan, the United States refused to ratify this treaty. Signing of the SALT-2 Treaty (Vienna, June 7, 1979).

THE END OF THE COLD WAR (1985-1991) Mikhail Gorbachev. Edward Shevardnadze. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the new Soviet leader. Eduard Shevardnadze was appointed as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Soviet leadership set out to improve relations with the West. Mikhail Gorbachev was the leader of the USSR in 1985-1991. Eduard Shevardnadze - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.

THE END OF THE COLD WAR (1985-1991) Meetings between the heads of the USSR and the USA became regular. Four circles of problems were discussed at them: disarmament; regional conflicts; human rights; bilateral relationship. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan during negotiations.

END OF THE COLD WAR (1985-1991) In the late 1980s, the USSR withdrew its troops from Afghanistan and agreed to the unification of Germany. Relations with the West began to improve. Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan (February 1989). German unification (October 1990). 46

Lecture 3

Topic 1.2. The first conflicts and crises of the Cold War.

Formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The Korean War as the first experience of the Cold War era.

A) The landing of UN troops in Korea.

B) Armistice and division of Korea.

Creation of the NATO military bloc

After the end of the Second World War, it became clear that the former allies of the USSR and the USA imagined the principles of the post-war political system in different ways. Each of these countries was ready to fight for military and political influence on the countries of Europe. The rivalry led to the fact that the USSR began to intensively support the communist parties in European states, and the United States, together with Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, France,

April 4, 1949 in Washington created the International Defense Organization - the world's largest military-political bloc, called NATO, to which the huge military forces of these countries were subordinate.

The reasons for the emergence of NATO are primarily political, as well as economic and social. The participating countries thus sought to ensure joint security, to protect themselves from a possible war and its consequences, to oppose the USSR, and later all the countries of the Warsaw clause.

Some historians consider the date of the formation of NATO the date of the beginning of the confrontation and opposition of the two superpowers - the USSR and the USA, the emergence of the so-called cold war.

During the period of existence, other countries joined NATO, especially the collapse of the USSR contributed to this. To date, the bloc includes 28 countries. The policy pursued by the North Atlantic Alliance has recently begun to go beyond the area of ​​​​responsibility and geographical boundaries (the actual approval of North Korea's attack on South Korea, participation in the war against Iraq, the wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, in Afghanistan, etc.), in fact, this is reminiscent of claims for world domination.

The creation of NATO deepened the division of the world and was a step towards the escalation of the confrontation between the two world systems from the ideological and political sphere to the military one, which significantly exacerbated international tension.

The most important form of confrontation between the two great powers and their allies isarms race . Both sides have relied on military force as the basis of their policies. The explosion of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima in August 1945 marked the beginning of the nuclear arms race. The Soviet Union is speeding up the creation of its own nuclear weapons. It was not possible to stop the nuclear arms race at its very beginning.

On January 24, 1946, the first session of the UN General Assembly decided to establish the UN Atomic Energy Commission and instructed it to develop proposals for the “exclusion from national armaments of atomic weapons” and for “control over atomic energy to the extent necessary to ensure its use only in peaceful purposes." However, it proved impossible to ensure the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to the Commission. The US representatives in the Commission B. Baruch presented the American project of establishing international control over atomic energy. All states of the world were forbidden to create a national nuclear industry and conduct scientific research in this area. It was proposed to establish an international body on atomic energy with very broad powers and which would be outside the control of the UN Security Council. In this international organization, the United States was to have a permanent majority.

The "Baruch Plan" effectively consolidated the US monopoly on atomic weapons, opened up the possibility of permanent interference in the internal affairs of other countries, and ultimately would have contributed to the transformation of the United States into a world leader in the field of atomic science and the practical development of atomic energy.

In opposition to the American plan, the Soviet Union proposed a draft convention on the prohibition of the production and use of atomic weapons under strict international control, including the obligation to destroy their existing stockpiles. The United States and its supporting countries rejected the Soviet proposals. As a result, the USSR was forced to speed up the creation of its own nuclear weapons. On August 29, 1949, the first test of the Soviet atomic bomb was carried out at the test site in the Semipalatinsk region. It entered service with the Soviet Army in 1954. At the same time, in September 1954, the Soviet Union conducted a major military exercise with a real explosion of an atomic bomb at the Totsk test site in the Orenburg region.

A race of nuclear weapons and their means of delivery unfolded between the superpowers. In 1952, the hydrogen bomb appeared in the USA. USSR created it in the following 1953. Since 1948, the United States began to build intercontinental bombers, they appeared in the USSR in 1955. Using the large technical reserve created by German specialists during the Second World War, the USSR and the United States launched large-scale work to create long-range ballistic missiles.

The formation of the NATO bloc spurred the arms race. For five years (in 1949-1953). military expenses of the members of the organization increased by more than 3.5 times, from 18.5 billion dollars to 65 billion. The Soviet Union, reducing its army in 1945-1948. from 11365 thousand people to 2874 thousand, since 1949 it began to increase again and in the early 50s it reached almost 6 million people. The direct military spending of the USSR absorbed about 25% of the country's annual budget - only half as much as in 1944. Large Soviet forces were located in Eastern Europe and, in the event of war, could quickly seize significant territories west of the Elbe, reach the English Channel . NATO had to reckon with this possibility.

The growth of international tension in the late 40s caused serious concern of the most famous people on the planet. In 1948, several hundred of the most authoritative scientists, writers, artists, artists from many countries addressed the international community with an appeal to organize a broad movement in support of peace. National and international peace organizations sprang up. And in April 1949, simultaneously in Paris and Prague (the French government did not give visas to enter France to a number of participants in the movement), the First World Peace Congress was held, bringing together representatives of 72 states. It ended with the election of a Standing Committee headed by the outstanding French physicist F. J. Curie. The Soviet government supported this movement. Three months later, the All-Union Peace Conference was convened in Moscow and the Soviet Peace Committee was established.

In March 1950, in Stockholm, the Standing Committee of the World Congress adopted an appeal demanding the prohibition of atomic weapons and condemning their use as a crime against humanity. In the Soviet Union, the Stockholm Appeal was signed by the entire adult population - 115.5 million people, and on the planet - 503 million in March 1951 the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Law on the Protection of Peace. Propaganda for war was declared the gravest crime against humanity.

At the Second Peace Congress, held in November 1950 in Warsaw, the Standing Committee was transformed into the World Peace Council (WPC).

The Berlin session of the SCM (February 1951) adopted an appeal for the conclusion of a peace pact between the five great powers. Under this appeal, 620 million signatures were collected. The peace movement was a social movement. At the same time, it completely coincided with the official foreign policy line of the Soviet Union, and therefore the USSR provided constant assistance to the movement. The movement reflected the opinion of a significant number of the inhabitants of the planet and was a significant factor in international life.

Adapting NATO to new historical realities

With the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, NATO's role in European military affairs became uncertain. NATO's focus in Europe has shifted towards cooperating with European institutions such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in order to plan policy

NATO is also working towards the inclusion of the former member states of the Warsaw Pact and the CIS states. Every year the organization plans to expand in order to surround Russia with a ring of its own bases and dictate its terms, as well as buy Russian raw materials at reduced prices.

The expansion of NATO was the reason for the consolidation of the agreement between NATO and Russia, which contains the main principles of cooperation and security between the Russian Federation and NATO dated May 27, 1997. "Partnership for Peace":

Development on the basis of stable, long-term and equal partnership and cooperation in order to strengthen security in the North Atlantic region.

Refusal to use force and danger by force against each other.

Respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries.

Maintenance in each specific case of peacekeeping operations.

The Summit also marked the 50th anniversary of the Alliance. NATO leaders reaffirmed the enduring value of transatlantic ties and certain fundamental goals of the alliance - guaranteeing the freedom and safety of the members of the alliance, adherence to the principles of the UN Charter, upholding democracy and the constant struggle for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

The Washington meeting was also an event that consolidated the changes that took place in NATO in the nineties, in the process of adapting to the requirements of the modern world. These include the process of expanding membership in the organization; reshaping NATO's military structures to carry out the latest functions in the field of crisis management, peacekeeping and peacekeeping in the Euro-Atlantic region; as well as a more active role for European states in safeguarding.

The NATO Mediterranean Dialogue also has a special cooperation program with seven non-NATO Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia). The aim of the Mediterranean Dialogue is to strengthen security and stability in the Mediterranean region. Safety and stability in the Mediterranean are connected with safety in Europe.

Within NATO, there is also active cooperation between member states and their partners in such areas as civil emergency planning, disaster relief, scientific and environmental programs. While contingency planning is primarily the responsibility of countries themselves, NATO's activities contribute to ensuring that the Alliance's civilian resources are used more effectively when needed.

The participants in the North Atlantic Treaty undertake to resolve all international disputes by peaceful means so that international peace, security and justice are not endangered. They refrain in their own international relations from the danger of force or the use of force, by any method incompatible with the purposes of the UN.

NATO now plays an important role.

This bloc, mainly represented by the United States, does not have a sufficiently powerful political and military counterbalance in the world and, therefore, is actually not limited in its own actions. Often NATO replaces the UN and its decisions. What is clearly seen in the example of the military conflict in the Balkans, in which the United States pursued a policy of unilateral support for the Croats and the extermination of the Serbs, as potential allies of Russia in the future. In the future, Japan, which is actively developing now in a bloc with neighboring countries (for example, China, Korea ...) will become a counterweight to NATO in international relations.

Russia and NATO

Russia had a permanent representation at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, which until headed by a well-known Russian politician, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary . From 2012 until April 1, 2014, the post was held by

Within the framework of Russia-NATO contacts, a number of working groups functioned in the following areas of cooperation:

in the airspace

in the field of logistics and logistics

in the field of missile defense

On April 1, 2014, NATO announced the suspension of cooperation with Russia

Story

Logo of the Russian Mission to NATO

Relations between Russia and NATO were established in 1991. Russia joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (since 1997 - ).

In 1994, Russia began to participate in the program .

After the signing in Paris in May 1997 of the "Russia-NATO Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security" actedJoint Permanent Council (THX). Council meetings were held in the bilateral format "NATO+1" . According to the Russia-NATO Founding Act, the alliance has committed itself not to deploy troops along Russia's borders on a permanent basis.

The diplomatic mission of Russia to NATO was established in 1998.

In 2002, the so-called Rome Declaration "Russia-NATO Relations: A New Quality" was signed. In accordance with it, on May 28, 2002, the Russia-NATO Council was established. .

of the year, the Minister of Defense of Russia and NATO Secretary General J. Robertson signed "Russia - NATO" on cooperation in the field of search and rescue of submarine crews.

For 2004, Russia not only participates in joint exercises, but also conducts joint peacekeeping operations with NATO. With some NATO members, Russia has agreements on military-technical cooperation and joint development of various military products. The Russian Ministry of Defense is solving the problem of increasing the degree of interoperability between units of the Russian Armed Forces and NATO troops for the successful implementation of joint activities.

In April 2006, answering questions from the Moscow News newspaper, hsaid:

NATO plan to protect the Baltic countries from "Russian aggression"

In connection with the NATO plans to protect the Baltic countries from the alleged “Russian attack” that the alliance has become known, the Russian Foreign Ministry has serious questions. The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that such circumstances make it possible to raise the question of when NATO representatives were sincere: when they agreed on partnership or when they discussed plans for defense against Russia. "We have asked these questions and we expect answers to them," S. Lavrov concluded.

Modern Relations

In March 2014, relations between Russia and NATO heated up due to . NATO regarded this, according to (Danish politician, NATO Secretary General from 2009 to 2014. In 2001-2009 was head of the government of Denmark.as a threat to the sovereignUkraine in particular, and as a threat to European security in general.

On April 1, at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, the alliance announced the suspension of all civil and military cooperation with Russia.

COMPOSITION OF NATO IN 2015

The NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization includes 28 states of Europe and North America. NATO is a strategic military-political bloc designed to ensure the collective security of the member countries.

Here is the full list of countries that are members of NATO as of 2014:

(part of NATO since 2009)

Belgium (part of NATO since the founding of the alliance)

Bulgaria (part of NATO since 2004)

Great Britain (part of NATO since the founding of the alliance)

Canada (part of NATO since the founding of the alliance)

Latvia (part of NATO since 2004)

Lithuania (part of NATO since 2004)

(part of NATO since the founding of the alliance)

Netherlands (part of NATO since the founding of the alliance)

Norway (part of NATO since the founding of the alliance)

Poland (part of NATO since 1999)

Portugal (part of NATO since the founding of the alliance)

Romania (part of NATO since 2004)(part of NATO since 2004)

War in Korea

Korea has been a Japanese colony since 1910. The question of the liberation of Korea was first raised in 1943 at the Cairo Conference, which was attended by the USA, Britain and China. At the Yalta Conference, in the Declaration of the Potsdam Conference, the USSR's statement on declaring war on Japan, this demand was confirmed. In August 1945, an agreement was reached between the USSR and the USA that in order to accept the surrender of Japanese troops, Soviet troops would enter the northern part of Korea, and American troops would enter the southern part. The dividing line of the peninsula was the 38th parallel. Subsequently, the USSR and the United States failed to reach an agreement on the question of the future government of Korea. The American side proceeded from the need for the subsequent unity of the country, the Soviet side - from the presence of two separate administrative units. Thus, taking advantage of the moment, the Soviet leadership decided to secure the northern part of Korea.

On November 14, 1947, the UN General Assembly, despite the resistance of the USSR, formed a temporary UN Commission on Korea to oversee the holding of free elections. The USSR did not allow members of the commission into its zone, therefore, by decision of the UN, elections were held only in the south of Korea, that is, where members of the commission could work. According to the results of the elections held in the south of Korea on May 10, 1948, the Republic of Korea was formed. In contrast, on September 9, 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was proclaimed in the north of the peninsula. The UN Commission described it as an "occupation and anti-democratic regime." Thus, the split of Korea along the 38th parallel was a direct result of the uncompromising position of the USSR, which created an "iron curtain" not only in Europe, but also in Asia. The main support of the Soviet Union in North Korea was Kim Il Sung. Stalin and Soviet propaganda created a myth about this man, making the leader of an entire country out of an ordinary partisan.

After the formation of two Korean states, the question arose of the withdrawal of foreign troops from both parts of Korea. The USSR did this on October 25, 1948, and the United States did this from September 1948 to June 29, 1949. At the same time, the United States provided significant economic and military assistance to South Korea.

The proposal to start a war on the Korean Peninsula, i.e., "probe South Korea with a bayonet," came from the North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, who in 1949-1950. repeatedly came to Stalin for talks about increasing military assistance to the DPRK. Stalin hesitated. There was a danger of American intervention in the war, which could lead to a global conflict.Kim Il Sung assured Stalin that at the very beginning of the war in South Korea, a popular uprising would break out everywhere, which would make it possible to achieve a quick victory. Ultimately, after consulting with Mao Zedong, who supported the North Korean plan, Stalin approved Kim Il Sung's plan some time later.

It should be noted here that the aggressiveness and intention to unite the country by force was also shown by the South Korean leaders. South Korean President Lee Syngman and his ministers have repeatedly spoken about the real possibility of capturing the capital of the DPRK, Pyongyang, in a matter of days.

North Korea carefully prepared for war. The Soviet Union supplied the necessary military equipment and other means of warfare. On June 8, a state of emergency was introduced on all railways of the DPRK - only military cargo was transported. The entire population was taken out of the five-kilometer zone along the 38th parallel. A few days before the invasion, in the border areas of the DPRK, in order to quickly mask the future action, a large military exercise was played, during which military groupings were concentrated in the areas of upcoming actions. On the morning of June 25, 1950, the DPRK army invaded the south of the country. The Republic of Korea found itself in an extremely difficult situation.

On the same day, the hastily convened Security Council (since January 1950, the Soviet Union boycotted its meetings in protest against the participation of the representative of Taiwan in it, instead of the representative of the PRC) adopted a resolution qualifying the DPRK as an aggressor and demanded the withdrawal of its troops back beyond the 38th parallel. The continued offensive of the North Korean troops contributed to the transition of the United States to more decisive action. On June 30, President Truman ordered ground troops to be sent to Korea. On June 7, the Security Council decided on the formation of a UN force. The US was authorized to appoint a commander in chief. It was General MacArthur. In addition to the United States, 15 other states sent their troops to Korea, but 2/3 of all UN forces were American units.

The intervention of UN troops led to a turning point in the war on the Korean Peninsula. At the end of October 1950, South Korean units and UN troops reached the Yalu and Tumyn rivers bordering China. This circumstance predetermined the intervention of the PRC in the military conflict.On October 25, 1950, about 200 thousand Chinese volunteers entered the territory of Korea . This led to a change in the military situation. The UN troops began to retreat. In January 1951, the offensive of the DPRK army and Chinese volunteers was stopped in the Seoul area. Subsequently, the initiative passed from one side to the other. Events at the front developed with varying success and without decisive consequences. The way out of the crisis lay through diplomatic negotiations. They began on May 10, 1951, were very difficult, were repeatedly interrupted, but eventually led to the signing

27 July 1953 ceasefire agreements . The military phase of the inter-Korean confrontation has ended. The war claimed the lives of 400 thousand South Koreans, 142 thousand Americans, 17 thousand soldiers from 15 other countries that were part of the UN army. North Korea and China suffered heavy losses: according to various sources, from 2 to 4 million people.

The Soviet Union, although in many ways indirectly rather than directly, took an active part in the events on the Korean Peninsula. The USSR supplied the DPRK army and Chinese volunteers with weapons, ammunition, vehicles, fuel, food, and medicines. At the request of the PRC, the Soviet government transferred fighter aircraft (several aviation divisions) to the airfields of North, Northeast, Central and South China, which for two and a half years participated in repelling American air raids on China. The Soviet Union helped the PRC to create its own aviation, tank, anti-aircraft artillery and engineering troops, training personnel and transferring the necessary equipment. A large group of Soviet military advisers (according to some sources, about 5 thousand officers) was in Korea, providing assistance to North Korean troops and Chinese volunteers. In total, during the Korean War, Soviet air formations that participated in repelling US air raids lost 335 aircraft and 120 pilots, and the total losses of the Soviet Union amounted to 299 people, including 138 officers and 161 sergeants and soldiers. In the event of a new deterioration in the situation, the USSR was preparing to send five divisions to Korea for direct participation in the war. They were concentrated in Primorye, near the border with the DPRK.

The Korean War gave rise to a serious crisis in international relations, turned into a clash of the superpowers of the Cold War era. In the Soviet-American confrontation, elements of a direct military clash began to emerge. There was a danger of using super-powerful weapons during this war and turning it into a full-scale world war. The war in Korea showed the irreconcilability of the two opposing systems.