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

Causes

It seems to be the end of a terrible and bloody Second world should have led to world peace, friendship and unity of all peoples. But the contradictions among the allies and the victors only intensified.

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

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

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

Main events

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

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

The Truman Doctrine and "Containment" Attempts

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

Creation of military blocs and division of Germany

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

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

Chinese Civil War

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

Korean War

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

Berlin Crisis

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

Cuban Crisis

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

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

The policy of "détente"

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

A new round of tension

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

Crisis of the socialist countries. perestroika

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

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

Results

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

After graduation World War II, which has become the largest and most violent conflict in the entire human history, a confrontation arose between the countries of the communist camp on the one hand and the Western capitalist countries on the other, between the two superpowers of that time, the USSR and the USA. The Cold War can be briefly described as a rivalry for dominance in the new post-war world.

The main cause of the Cold War was the insoluble ideological contradictions between the two models of society, socialist and capitalist. The West feared the strengthening of the USSR. The absence of a common enemy among the victorious countries, as well as the ambitions of political leaders, played their role.

Historians distinguish the following stages of the Cold War:

March 5, 1946 - 1953 The beginning of the Cold War was marked by Churchill's speech, delivered in the spring of 1946 in Fulton, in which the idea of ​​creating an alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries to fight communism was proposed. The US goal was economic victory over the USSR, as well as the achievement of military superiority. In fact, the Cold War began earlier, but by the spring of 1946, due to the USSR's refusal to withdraw troops from Iran, the situation seriously escalated.

1953 - 1962 During this period of the Cold War, the world was on the brink of nuclear conflict. Despite some improvement in relations between the Soviet Union and the United States during the "thaw" Khrushchev, it was at this stage that the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, the events in the GDR and, earlier, in Poland, as well as the Suez crisis took place. International tension increased after the development and successful testing of the USSR in 1957 of an intercontinental ballistic missile. But, the threat of nuclear war receded, as the Soviet Union now had the opportunity to retaliate against US cities. This period of relations between the superpowers ended with the Berlin and Caribbean crises of 1961 and 1962, respectively. Allow Caribbean crisis succeeded only in the course of personal negotiations between the heads of state Khrushchev and Kennedy. Also, as a result of the negotiations, whole line agreements on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

1962 - 1979 The period was marked by an arms race that undermined the economies of rival countries. The development and production of new types of weapons required incredible resources. Despite the presence of tension in relations between the USSR and the USA, agreements on the limitation of strategic weapons are signed. A joint space program "Soyuz-Apollo" is being developed. However, by the beginning of the 80s, the USSR began to lose in the arms race.

1979 - 1987 Relations between the USSR and the USA are again aggravated after the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan. In 1983 the United States deployed ballistic missiles at bases in Italy, Denmark, England, the FRG, and Belgium. An anti-space defense system is being developed. The USSR reacts to the actions of the West by withdrawing from the Geneva talks. During this period, the missile attack warning system is in constant combat readiness.

1987 - 1991 M. Gorbachev's coming to power in the USSR in 1985 entailed not only global changes within the country, but also radical changes in foreign policy, called "new political thinking". Ill-conceived reforms finally undermined the economy of the Soviet Union, which led to the country's virtual defeat in the Cold War.

The end of the Cold War was caused by the weakness of the Soviet economy, its inability to sustain arms race, as well as pro-Soviet communist regimes. certain role anti-war speeches were also played in various parts of the world. The results of the Cold War were depressing for the USSR. The reunification of Germany in 1990 became a symbol of the West's victory.

As a result, after the USSR was defeated in the Cold War, a unipolar model of the world was formed with the US as the dominant superpower. However, there are other consequences of the Cold War. This is the rapid development of science and technology, primarily military. So, the Internet was originally created as a communication system for the American army.

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………….3

1. How the Cold War began. The reasons for its occurrence…………….4

2. The main stages in the development of the Cold War…………………………….12

3. Conflicts of the Cold War……………………………………………….14

4. Outcomes and consequences of the Cold War…………………………………20

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………22

List of used literature…………………………………………….25

Introduction

The first and subsequent post-war decades went down in history as a period of the "cold war", a period of acute Soviet-American confrontation, more than once bringing the world to the brink of a "hot" war. The Cold War was complex process, of which psychology was a part, a different perception of the world, a different mental paradigm. The situation of the Cold War cannot be considered an unnatural situation that goes beyond the framework of normal historical development. "Cold War" - natural stage Soviet-American relations, which was formed in the conditions of the post-war "division" of the world, the desire to create "its own zone of influence" on the largest possible territory, which is of economic and military interest. This stage cost the world enormous stress and expenses of at least ten trillion dollars (for the period 1945-1991).

But it would be wrong to see in this confrontation only negative side. The Cold War was the main stimulus for a powerful and prolonged technological breakthrough, the fruits of which were defense and attack systems, computer and other high technologies, about which only science fiction writers used to write.

The clash of interests between the USA and the USSR predetermined international politics for many years to come. Therein lies its relevance today. After all, it is very easy to understand the modern multipolar world, based on the lessons and results that the Cold War gave us.

My work is devoted to the study of the origins of the Cold War, the description of its major crises and the final analysis of its results. It tells about the main events of the confrontation between the two superpowers.

I want to fully and clearly outline all the main stages of the Cold War. The purpose of this work is to show the situation in the world after the Second World War, during the Cold War and the post-war situation on our planet. Try to study as deeply as possible, analyze what happened in the arena international relations in the second half of the 20th century and to show what this race, which took colossal resources for all fifty years, led to. The United States seems to have passed the test, but Russia, as a result of the change in the political and economic system, has fallen into a protracted crisis. Although it is worth recalling that the USSR began to choke in the hardest struggle with the West back in the 80s.

1. How the Cold War began. The reasons for its occurrence

When the shots of the Second World War died down, it seemed that the world had entered into new era of its development. The worst war is over. After it, the very idea of ​​a new war seemed blasphemous. More than ever, much has been done so that it does not happen again. Germany was not only defeated, it was occupied by the victors, and the revival of German militarism now seemed impossible. Inspired optimism and the degree of cooperation that was established between the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. Meetings became regular big three" on the highest level. Military operations were coordinated, political approaches were coordinated, and broad economic cooperation was carried out.

The symbol of these relations was the third meeting of the "Big Three" - the Berlin Conference. It took place from July 17 to August 2, 1954 in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin. The United States, instead of Franklin Roosevelt, who died in April, was represented by Harry Truman, Great Britain - by Winston Churchill. However, the unexpected happened during the conference. In the first post-war parliamentary elections, the Conservatives, led by Churchill, were defeated. For the first time, the majority of the seats were won by the Labor Party, their leader, Clement Attlee, headed the government and arrived in Potsdam. So the "big three" is quite updated compared to the Crimean conference.

The Berlin conference was not a peace conference like the one in Paris.

For the simple reason that there was no one to conclude peace with. Germany was occupied, and power on its territory was exercised in four occupation zones by Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the USA and France. The main task conference was the development of the policy of the Allied Powers in Germany. It was decided to dissolve all National Socialist organizations; restore previously banned political parties and basic civil liberties; destroy the military industry; disband the cartels that served in Nazi Germany as an instrument for the militarization of industry. The top Nazi leaders who fell into the hands of the Allies were decided to be tried by a special International Tribunal.

atomic weapons

In 1945, there was a deep disparity in power and strength between the two main victorious nations. Even before the war, disproportions were shifting in America's favor, especially in the economy. But hostilities pushed the two countries even further in the opposite direction. The war did not touch american soil: the battles were far from the coast of America. The economy of the United States, which was the main supplier and financier of the entire victorious coalition, experienced an unprecedented leap between 1939 and 1945. The potential of US industrial capacities grew by 50%, production increased by 2.5 times. Released 4 times more equipment, 7 times more vehicles. Agricultural production increased by 36%. Wages grew, as did all the incomes of the population.

The contrast between American living conditions and the poverty in which the Soviet people lived was very sharp. There was an obvious gap between the economies of the countries. The products of the Soviet ferrous metallurgy accounted for 16-18% of American level. The production of chemical products in the USA was 10-20 times higher than in the USSR; production of the textile industry - 6-13 times. The situation was supplemented by the fact that the United States had dominant positions throughout the world. The atomic bomb was born at the very last moment, as if specifically to give the overwhelming American superiority over the USSR an undeniable and threatening character. American leaders hoped that, thanks to their economic and scientific potential, they would be able to maintain a monopoly on the possession of new apocalyptic weapons for a long time. In the context of the rapidly growing deterioration of relations between Moscow and Washington, the bomb should, naturally, inspire concern Soviet leaders. The Americans were also the only owners of delivery vehicles - aircraft carriers and bomber aviation long-range, capable of delivering nuclear charges to targets anywhere in the world. The United States was at that time inaccessible and was in great security, they were the only country in post-war years capable of determining the course of world politics.

America refused to understand that changes were taking place in Eastern Europe, determined primarily by internal local causes.

The inability of the United States to come to terms with the presence of new revolutionary movements in the model of the world order forced their participants, primarily the Communists, to turn their eyes to Moscow as the opposite pole of world politics, while the most reactionary forces saw Washington as a protector and leader. Under these conditions, the inevitable difficulties in realizing American aspirations gave rise to ever-increasing anti-Soviet anger in the United States. Thus, a phenomenon arose that was later called the "cold war", the main reason for which is the global inequality between the USSR and the USA.

Inequality also manifested itself in relation to the possession of nuclear weapons. As is known, until 1949, the only power possessing an atomic bomb was the United States. The Americans did not hide the fact that they perceived nuclear weapons as an attribute of power great power, as a means of intimidating a potential enemy - the USSR and its allies, as a means of pressure.

Stalin faced a difficult dilemma: whether to resist the pressure that his former allies, now armed with an atomic bomb, exerted on the USSR in conditions when the country was exhausted. Stalin was convinced that the United States and England would not dare to start a war, and he decided to choose the path of confrontation with the might of the West. This is a fundamental choice, since it predetermined the main features of the future.

The Soviet government decided to speed up work on the manufacture of its own atomic bomb. The work, carried out in strict secrecy, began in full measure from August-September 1945. After Potsdam and Hiroshima, Stalin formed, under the supreme control of Beria, a special committee headed by People's Commissar Vannikov, called upon to direct all activities to create new weapons.

Support for the position of the United States by most countries of the world was combined with their exceptional position as holders of a monopoly on the atomic bomb: the Americans again demonstrated their power by conducting test explosions on the Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946. Stalin during this period made a number of statements aimed at downplaying the importance of the new weapon. These statements set the tone for all Soviet propaganda. But the behavior of the representatives of the Soviet Union in private showed in reality their great concern. Modern historians admit that because of the inequality in the possession of atomic weapons, the Soviet Union and the world community itself were then going through "a very dangerous and difficult period."

As a result of conflicting trends, a project was born to establish international control over atomic energy, known as the "Baruch Plan", after the American leader who was instructed to present it to the UN. In accordance with this plan, everything related to nuclear research and production was to be forcibly concentrated in a few states so that the management of the entire nuclear complex would be carried out by some kind of world power, functioning as a supranational body in which no country would have the right to veto. Only after such a mechanism had been prepared, tested and put into operation, the United States, in the event of renunciation of nuclear weapons, would consider its security sufficiently guaranteed.

The American proposal was met with distrust in Moscow. From the point of view of the USSR, the "Baruch plan" was tantamount to transferring everything related to atomic energy into the hands of the United States and, therefore, it was a form of legalization of the US nuclear monopoly, and possibly its establishment forever.

In all the activities carried out by the USSR for its security, two lines were observed.

The first, fundamental, was to, regardless of any costs, concentrate efforts on the creation of Soviet atomic weapons, eliminate the US nuclear monopoly and thereby, if not eliminate, then significantly reduce the threat of an atomic attack on the USSR and its allies. Ultimately, this problem was solved. In a TASS statement published on September 25, 1949, it was recalled that back in November 1947, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov made a statement regarding the secret of the atomic bomb, saying that this secret no longer exists. In the future, a quantitative increase and improvement of atomic weapons was carried out.

Another line of the party-state leadership of the USSR on the issue of nuclear weapons was of a propaganda nature. Not possessing an atomic bomb, the USSR began to conduct propaganda against the use of this terrible weapon, which aroused the support of many political circles abroad.

It follows from the above that atomic weapons played a leading role in the emergence of the Cold War. The American monopoly on nuclear weapons was one of the reasons for the power of the United States. With the US nuclear monopoly, they tried to put into practice those plans and those ideas that were directly beneficial to them. The USSR, which often saw in these plans an infringement of its interests, promoted the prohibition of atomic weapons, but at the same time, very quickly, spending enormous economic resources, created its own atomic bomb, which was done in 1949. The elimination of the United States monopoly on nuclear weapons led both the USSR and the United States to an exhausting arms race. But at the same time, the atomic bomb, as a weapon capable of destroying not only an opponent, but the whole world, was a deterrent to unleashing a hot war.

From Churchill's Fulton speech to the "Marshall Plan"

On March 5, 1946, W. Churchill delivered a speech in the small American town of Fulton (Missouri), where he arrived with President Truman. He declared that the capitalist countries were threatened by the danger of a new world war, and that the Soviet Union and the international communist movement were allegedly the cause of this threat. He said that "communist totalitarianism" had now replaced the "fascist enemy" and intended to conquer the countries of the West. Churchill argued that from Szczecin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, a kind of "iron curtain" ran across Europe. Churchill called for the toughest policy towards the USSR, threatened to use American atomic weapons, insisted on creating an alliance of imperialist states to impose their will on the USSR, not excluding military means. To this end, the program of action proposed by Churchill provided for the creation of an "association of English-speaking peoples", that is, the preservation good relations with Great Britain, and in the future, the creation of aggressive alliances, blocs and a network of military bases along the perimeter of the socialist world.

In the Soviet Union, Churchill's speech was received with deep indignation and regarded as a call for the creation of an Anglo-American military bloc directed against the USSR, other socialist countries and national freedom movement oppressed peoples.

In a speech before both houses of the US Congress, President Truman announced that the United States intended to take the place of a weakened England in supporting the governments of Greece and Turkey. The situation in these countries developed in different ways: in Greece, the civil war resumed, temporarily suppressed by the British in 1944, while in Turkey internal calm remained, but it was at odds with the USSR over the straits. The American president went much further, defining his gesture as the implementation of a general political line: the concept of “doctrine” was introduced, Truman chose the position put forward by Churchill in Fulton as the ideological foundation of his policy. The world seemed to him a stage on which a conflict unfolded between the forces of good and evil, that is, between " free societies and "societies of oppression". America must support "free societies" everywhere in the confrontation with "societies of oppression".

At an information meeting of representatives of a number of communist parties in Warsaw at the end of September 1947, it was noted that the "Truman Doctrine" was openly aggressive. It is designed to provide American aid reactionary regimes actively opposing the USSR and the countries of the socialist camp. The Soviet Union condemned the aggressive nature of the "Truman Doctrine". The US military intervention in Greece also drew condemnation from the world community.

In an effort to overcome the resistance of the peoples, the extreme monopoly circles in the USA decided to use more disguised forms of their actions. So appeared new version their policies are the Marshall Plan.

The new plan originated in the bowels of the military department. His ardent supporter was the former Chief of the US General Staff, General J. Marshall, appointed Secretary of State in January 1947. The main provisions of the plan were agreed upon with representatives of the largest monopolies and banks. Conversations on this issue were held with representatives of the governments of England, France and Italy. They assumed the character of a secret collusion between the American monopolies and Western European reactionaries, directed against the USSR, the communist movement and its development in European countries.

In May 1947, as a result, the communists were removed from the governments of Italy and France. The "Marshall Plan" was camouflaged with talk about the need for the economic recovery of Europe, but American capital cared least of all about the economy of its competitors, it was interested in military allies.

J. Marshall's speech on June 5, 1947 testified to the intention of the US leadership to expand the practice of interference in European affairs. George Marshall's speech marked an important milestone: the United States was moving on to asserting its positions in Europe on a long-term, orderly basis. Whereas previously US economic intervention had been ad hoc in individual countries continent, now the question was about a large-scale program of penetration into all states in need of economic assistance.

The Marshall Plan was designed to solve a number of interrelated tasks: strengthening the shattered foundations of capitalism in Europe, ensuring America's dominant position in European affairs, and preparing for the creation of a military-political bloc. At the same time, the main ally of the United States in Europe and the main recipient of assistance under the "Marshall Plan" is already on this stage Germany was conceived, more precisely, its western part.

The Soviet Union agreed to accept the "Marshall Plan" subject to the preservation of sovereignty European countries and making distinctions between those countries that fought in the war as allies, neutral countries and former adversaries, especially for Germany. These requirements were not accepted. For the USSR, there was nothing left but to choose between an agreement with the "Marshall Plan" and recognition leadership America, to which Western Europe has already agreed, and disagreement and the risk of opening confrontations with it. Stalin made a choice definitely in favor of the second solution.

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1948 was not passed by the United States Congress until April 3, 1948. The implementation of this plan marked a sharp turn in the policy of the victorious Western powers in relation to defeated Germany: West Germany became their ally, which ruling circles The United States clearly favored it over other allied countries. This can be seen from the distribution of appropriations under the Marshall Plan. During the first year of its implementation, West Germany received 2422 million dollars, England - 1324 million, France - 1130 million, Italy - 704 million dollars.

The military-strategic nature of the "Marshall Plan" was noted by many of its advocates in Western countries. The plan consolidated the two blocks, exacerbated the split between the communist world and the West. The Soviet Union was opposed by an organizational Western grouping, relying on the vast resources of America and persistently setting as its goal the destruction of communism by conquering world domination.

Summing up, it should be noted that the "Marshall Plan" and the sharply negative reaction to this plan from the Soviet Union, as well as Churchill's speech and the "Truman Doctrine" were a very important step in the split of Europe into opposing socio-political coalitions, and then this split of Europe was already formalized into military-political blocs, and consequently the confrontation between the USSR and the USA increased.

2. The main stages in the development of the Cold War

Over the years, the tension in the confrontation between the blocs has changed. Its most acute phase falls on the years of the Korean War, followed in 1956 by the events in Poland, Hungary and the Suez crisis; with the onset of the Khrushchev "thaw", however, the tension subsides - this was especially characteristic of the late 1950s, which culminated in Khrushchev's visit to the United States; the scandal with the American U-2 spy plane (1960) led to a new aggravation, the peak of which was the Berlin crisis of 1961 and the Caribbean crisis (1962); under the influence of this crisis, detente sets in again, darkened, however, by the suppression of the Prague Spring

Brezhnev, unlike Khrushchev, had no penchant for risky adventures outside the well-defined Soviet sphere of influence, nor for extravagant "peaceful" actions; The 1970s passed under the sign of the so-called "détente international tension”, the manifestations of which were the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki) and the joint Soviet-American flight into space (the Soyuz-Apollo program); At the same time, treaties on the limitation of strategic arms were signed. To a large extent this was determined economic reasons, since the USSR already then began to experience an increasingly acute dependence on the purchase of consumer goods and food (for which foreign currency loans were required), the West, during the years of the oil crisis caused by the Arab-Israeli confrontation, was extremely interested in Soviet oil. In military terms, the basis of "detente" was the nuclear-missile parity of the blocs that had developed by that time.

A new aggravation came in 1979 in connection with the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, which was perceived in the West as a violation of the geopolitical balance and the transition of the USSR to a policy of expansion. The escalation reached a peak in the fall of 1983, when Soviet air defense forces shot down a South Korean civilian airliner with about 300 people on board, according to media reports. It was then that US President Ronald Reagan, in relation to the USSR, put into use popular expression"evil empire" During this period, the United States deployed its nuclear missiles in Western Europe and began developing a space missile defense program (the so-called star wars»); both of these large-scale programs were extremely troubling Soviet leadership, especially since the USSR, which maintained nuclear-missile parity with great difficulty and stress for the economy, did not have the means to adequately rebuff it in space.

With the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, who proclaimed "socialist pluralism" and "the priority of universal human values ​​over class values", the ideological confrontation quickly lost its sharpness. In the military-political sense, Gorbachev initially tried to pursue a policy in the spirit of the "détente" of the 1970s, proposing programs to limit weapons, but rather hard bargaining over the terms of the treaty (meeting in Reykjavik).

However, the growing crisis of the Soviet political system and the dependence of the Soviet economy on Western technology and loans due to the sharp drop in oil prices gave Gorbachev a reason to make concessions in the foreign policy sphere. In 1988, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan began. The fall of the communist system in Eastern Europe during the revolutions of 1989 led to the liquidation of the Soviet bloc, and with it the virtual end of the Cold War. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union itself was on the brink of disaster. The collapse of the world socialist system, along with the fall in oil prices, was accompanied by a colossal decline in the economy and industrial production. Ethnic conflicts broke out on the outskirts of the country. Moscow began to lose control over the union republics. From March 1990 to December 1991, thirteen of the fifteen republics withdrew from the Union. On December 26, 1991, the new leadership of independent Russia denounced the Union Treaty, thereby putting an end to the history of the Cold War.

3. Cold War conflicts

The Cold War was characterized by the frequent emergence of conflict zones. Each local conflict was brought onto the world stage, thanks to the fact that opponents in the Cold War supported opposing sides. In view of the fact that a direct conflict between the two superpowers would inevitably develop into a nuclear one with the guaranteed destruction of all life on the planet, the parties sought to gain the upper hand by other methods, incl. and weakening the enemy in a particular region and strengthening their positions there, if necessary, and with the help of military operations. Here are some of them.

Korean War

In 1945 the Soviet and American troops liberated Korea from Japanese army. To the south of the 38th parallel are the US troops, to the north - the Red Army. Thus, the Korean Peninsula was divided into two parts. In the North, the Communists came to power, in the South, the military, relying on US assistance. Two states formed on the peninsula - the northern Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and southern republic Korea. The leadership of North Korea dreamed of uniting the country, even if by force of arms.

In 1950, the North Korean leader Kim Il Sung visited Moscow and enlisted the support of the Soviet Union. Plans for the "military liberation" of South Korea were also approved by the Chinese leader Mao Ze Dong. At dawn on June 25, 1950, the North Korean army moved to the south of the country. Her offensive was so powerful that in three days she occupied the capital of the South - Seoul. Then the advance of the northerners slowed down, but by mid-September almost the entire peninsula was in their hands. It seemed from final victory the army of the north is separated by only one decisive effort. However, on July 7, the UN Security Council voted to send international troops to help South Korea.

And in September, UN troops (mostly American) came to the aid of the southerners. They launched a powerful offensive to the North from that patch, which was still held by the South Korean army. At the same time, troops landed on the west coast, cutting the peninsula in half. Events began to develop with the same speed in the opposite direction. The Americans occupied Seoul, crossed the 38th parallel and continued their offensive against the DPRK. North Korea was on the brink of complete disaster when China unexpectedly intervened. The Chinese leadership proposed, without declaring war on the United States, to send North Korea troops. In October, about a million Chinese soldiers crossed the Yalu River and fought the Americans. Soon the front leveled off along the 38th parallel.

The war continued for another three years. During the American offensive in 1950, the Soviet Union deployed several air divisions to help North Korea. The Americans were significantly superior to the Chinese in technology. China suffered heavy losses. On July 27, 1953, the war ended with a truce. In North Korea, the government of Kim Il Sung, which was friendly to the USSR and China, remained in power. honorary title"great leader".

erection Berlin Wall

In 1955, the division of Europe between East and West finally took shape. However, a clear frontier of confrontation has not yet completely divided Europe. There was one unclosed "window" left in it - Berlin. The city was divided in half, with East Berlin being the capital of the GDR, and West Berlin considered its part of the FRG. Two opposing social systems coexisted within the same city, while every Berliner could freely get "from socialism to capitalism" and back, moving from one street to another. Every day up to 500 thousand people crossed this invisible border in both directions. Many East Germans, using the open border, forever left for the West. And in general, the wide open window in the "Iron Curtain" did not at all correspond to the general spirit of the era.

In August 1961, the Soviet and East German authorities decided to close the border between the two parts of Berlin. The tension in the city grew. Western countries protested the division of the city. Finally, in October, the confrontation culminated. At the Brandenburg Gate and Friedrichstrasse, near the main checkpoints lined up American tanks. Soviet combat vehicles came out to meet them. For more than a day, the tanks of the USSR and the USA stood with guns aimed at each other. Periodically, the tankers turned on the engines, as if preparing for an attack. The tension was somewhat relieved only after the Soviet, and after them the American tanks, withdrew to other streets. However, Western countries finally recognized the division of the city only ten years later. It was formalized by an agreement of four powers (USSR, USA, England and France), signed in 1971. All over the world, the construction of the Berlin Wall was perceived as a symbolic completion of the post-war division of Europe.

Cuban Missile Crisis

On January 1, 1959, a revolution won in Cuba, led by the 32-year-old partisan leader Fidel Castro. The new government began a decisive struggle against American influence on the island. Needless to say, the Soviet Union fully supported Cuban revolution. However, the Havana authorities seriously feared a US military invasion. In May 1962, Nikita Khrushchev put forward an unexpected idea - to place Soviet nuclear missiles on the island. He jokingly explained this step by saying that the imperialists "need to put a hedgehog in their pants." After some deliberation, Cuba agreed to the Soviet proposal, and in the summer of 1962, 42 missiles with nuclear warheads and bombers capable of carrying nuclear bombs were sent to the island. The transfer of missiles was carried out in the strictest secrecy, but already in September, the US leadership suspected something was wrong. On September 4, President John F. Kennedy declared that the United States would under no circumstances tolerate Soviet nuclear missiles 150 kilometers from its coast. In response, Khrushchev assured Kennedy that there were no Soviet missiles or nuclear weapons in Cuba and never would be.

On October 14, an American reconnaissance aircraft photographed the missile launch pads from the air. In an atmosphere of strict secrecy, the US leadership began to discuss retaliatory measures. On October 22, President Kennedy addressed the American people on radio and television. He reported that Soviet missiles had been found in Cuba and demanded that the USSR immediately remove them. Kennedy announced that the United States was beginning a naval blockade of Cuba. On October 24, at the request of the USSR, the UN Security Council urgently met. The Soviet Union continued to stubbornly deny the existence of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The situation in the Caribbean became more and more tense. Two dozen Soviet ships were moving towards Cuba. American ships were ordered to stop them, if necessary, by fire. True, before naval battles it didn't work out. Khrushchev ordered several Soviet ships to stop on the blockade line.

On October 23, an exchange of official letters began between Moscow and Washington. In his first messages, N. Khrushchev indignantly called the actions of the United States "pure banditry" and "the madness of degenerate imperialism."

Within days, it became clear that the US was determined to remove the missiles at any cost. On October 26, Khrushchev sent a more conciliatory message to Kennedy. He admitted that Cuba had powerful Soviet weapons. At the same time, Nikita Sergeevich convinced the president that the USSR was not going to attack America. In his words, "Only crazy people can do this or suicides who want to die themselves and destroy the whole world before that." Khrushchev suggested that John F. Kennedy pledge not to attack Cuba; then the Soviet Union will be able to remove its weapons from the island. The President of the United States replied that the United States was prepared to make a gentleman's pledge not to invade Cuba if the USSR withdrew its offensive weapons. Thus, the first steps towards peace were taken.

But on October 27 came the "Black Saturday" of the Cuban crisis, when only by a miracle did not flare up a new one. World War. In those days, squadrons of American planes swept over Cuba twice a day for the purpose of intimidation. And on October 27, Soviet troops in Cuba shot down one of the US reconnaissance aircraft with an anti-aircraft missile. Its pilot Anderson was killed. The situation escalated to the limit, the US President decided in two days to start bombing Soviet missile bases and military attack to the island.

However, on Sunday, October 28, the Soviet leadership decided to accept the American terms. The decision to remove the missiles from Cuba was made without the consent of the Cuban leadership. Perhaps this was done on purpose, since Fidel Castro strongly objected to the removal of the missiles.

International tension began to subside rapidly after 28 October. The Soviet Union removed its missiles and bombers from Cuba. On November 20, the United States lifted the naval blockade of the island. The Cuban (or Caribbean) crisis ended peacefully.

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War began with an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, during which ships coast guard DRV fired American destroyers who provided fire support to the government forces of South Vietnam in their fight against the guerrillas. After that, everything secret became clear, and the conflict developed according to the already familiar pattern. One of the superpowers entered the war openly, and the second did everything in its power to make it "not boring" to fight. The war, which the United States thought was a cakewalk, turned out to be America's nightmare. Anti-war demonstrations shook the country. The youth rebelled against the senseless massacre. In 1975, the United States considered it a good thing to announce that they had "accomplished their mission" and proceed with the evacuation of their military contingent. This war greatly shocked the entire American society and led to major reforms. The post-war crisis lasted more than 10 years. It is difficult to say how it would have ended if the Afghan crisis had not come to hand.

Afghan war

In April 1978, a coup took place in Afghanistan, later called the April Revolution. The Afghan communists, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), came to power. The government was headed by the writer Nur Mohammed Taraki. However, after a few months, a sharp struggle flared up within the ruling party. In August 1979, a confrontation broke out between the two leaders of the party - Taraki and Amin. On September 16, Taraki was removed from his post, expelled from the party and taken into custody. Soon he died - according to the official report, "from anxiety." These events caused discontent in Moscow, although outwardly everything remained as before. The mass “purges” and executions in the party environment that began in Afghanistan caused condemnation. And since they reminded the Soviet leaders of the Chinese "cultural revolution", there were fears that Amin might break with the USSR and move closer to China. Amin repeatedly asked for the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan to strengthen the revolutionary power. Finally, on December 12, 1979, the Soviet leadership decided to fulfill his request, but at the same time remove Amin himself. Soviet troops were brought into Afghanistan, Amin was killed by a grenade explosion during the storming of the presidential palace. Now Soviet newspapers called him a "CIA agent", wrote about the "bloody cabal of Amin and his henchmen."

In the West, the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan caused violent protests. The Cold War broke out with renewed vigor. On January 14, 1980, the UN General Assembly demanded the withdrawal of "foreign troops" from Afghanistan. 104 states voted for this decision.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan itself, armed resistance to Soviet troops began to intensify. Of course, it was not the supporters of Amin who fought against them, but the opponents of the revolutionary government in general. The Soviet press at first claimed that there were no battles in Afghanistan, that peace and tranquility reigned there. However, the war did not subside, and when it became clear, the USSR recognized that "bandits were rampaging" in the republic. They were called "dushmans", that is, enemies. Secretly, through Pakistan, they were supported by the United States, helping with weapons and money. The United States knew well what a war against an armed people meant. The experience of the Vietnam War was used at 100%, with only one small difference, the roles were reversed. Now the USSR was at war with an underdeveloped country, and the United States helped him to feel what a difficult thing it was. The rebels controlled a significant part of the territory of Afghanistan. All of them were united by the slogan jihad- holy Islamic war. They called themselves "mujahideen" - fighters for the faith. Otherwise, the programs of the rebel groups varied greatly.

The war in Afghanistan did not stop for more than nine years. More than a million Afghans died during the hostilities. Soviet troops, according to official figures, lost 14,453 people killed.

In June 1987, the first, so far symbolic, steps towards peace were taken. The new Kabul government offered the rebels " national reconciliation". In April 1988, the Soviet Union signed an agreement in Geneva on the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. On May 15, the troops began to leave. Nine months later, on February 15, 1989, the last Soviet soldier left Afghanistan. For the Soviet Union, the Afghan war ended that day.

Thus, the world was divided into two camps: capitalist and socialist. In both, so-called collective security systems - military blocs - were created. In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - NATO, was created, which included the United States, Canada and the countries of Western Europe. In May 1955, the Warsaw Pact was signed. It included (at the time of signing) Albania (Later (in 1968) it denounced the Treaty), Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Romania, the USSR, Czechoslovakia. The polarization of the world has ended, and the created coalitions, led by their leaders, began to fight for influence in the countries of the third world.

Almost 40 years have passed from the first armed conflict in Korea (1950-1953) to the last one on the Lao-Thai border (1988). During this time, the fiery arc of the Soviet-American confrontation encircled almost all the continents of the planet from East Asia to Latin America, from South Africa before Central Europe. During this time, millions of people died in numerous wars, dozens of states were drawn into them, some of which have not been settled to this day. Afghanistan, Korea, Indochina, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Cuba, the countries of the Horn of Africa, etc. - in all these conflicts, we somehow find both the "boney hand of American imperialism" and the "aggressive impulses of the evil empire" - in the form of weapons and money , advisers and instructors, "volunteers" and military contingents.

4. Outcomes and consequences of the Cold War

The Cold War, being primarily a phenomenon of world politics, nevertheless seriously influenced domestic life. The black-and-white vision of the world gave rise to a sense of wariness in relation to the outside world and created a craving for artificial internal cohesion in the face of an external enemy. Dissent came to be seen as subversive. In the USA, this resulted in massive violations of civil rights and freedoms, and in the USSR, it helped to strengthen the totalitarian features of the regime. At the same time, in Western countries, the Cold War provided an incentive to end social reforms with the aim of creating a "welfare state" - it was seen as a barrier to the penetration of the ideas of communism.

The Cold War forced huge funds to be directed to armaments, the best engineers and workers worked on new weapon systems, each of which depreciated the previous one. But this race also gave rise to unprecedented scientific discoveries. It stimulated the development of nuclear physics and space research, created the conditions for the powerful growth of electronics and the creation of unique materials. The arms race ultimately bled the Soviet economy dry and reduced the competitiveness of the American economy. At the same time, Soviet-American rivalry had a favorable effect on the restoration of the economic and political positions of West Germany and Japan, which became the front line of the struggle against communism for the United States. The rivalry between the USSR and the USA made it easier for the peoples of the colonial and dependent countries struggle for independence, but also turned this emerging “third world” into an arena of endless regional and local conflicts over spheres of influence.

In other words, the Cold War had a profound and multifaceted impact on the post-war world history. This impact cannot be overestimated. But could the Cold War have been avoided?

Its emergence is largely due to the peculiarities of the results of the Second World War. It led to the fact that only two powers remained in the world, the power of which turned out to be sufficient to start and maintain global rivalry for a long time. The rest of the great powers, for various reasons, were unable to do so. The USSR and the USA in this sense became not just great powers, but superpowers. This bipolarity, the bipolarity of the world, thus, became the result of the war, and it could not but give rise to rivalry. Participation in this rivalry is not just different states according to them historical experience, geographical location, economic, social and political system, but also different worldviews could not but give it particularly sharp forms, forms of an ideological conflict reminiscent of religious wars in the Middle Ages.

So it is difficult to imagine a situation where the Cold War could have been avoided.

Conclusion

Having considered the causes of the Cold War, the course of its events and its results, I achieved the goals and objectives I had set.

Analyzing the events that served as the prologue of the Cold War, I found out for myself the reasons for biopolarity and the growing confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States.

The diplomatic history of the creation and use of atomic weapons, if we take it in the context of inter-allied relations, was a prelude to a long confrontation between the two powers that found themselves in the power of countries before mutual extermination and found the means of combating it in accumulation beyond all reasonable limits stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

The atomic bomb gave confidence to the United States. The USSR, until 1949, carried out events in politics in which two lines were observed:

1) concentrated efforts on the creation of Soviet atomic weapons, to eliminate the US monopoly.

2) another line of the party and state apparatus of the USSR on the issue of nuclear weapons was of a propaganda nature. Not possessing nuclear weapons, the USSR began to conduct propaganda against the use of these deadly weapons. But after 1949 the situation changed, Stalin began to consider the atomic bomb as the main weapon in a possible third world war.

W. Churchill's speech in Fulton, the "Truman Doctrine", and later the "Marshall Plan", testify that the policy of the West was aimed at confrontation with the USSR. Churchill announced the creation of a contender for world domination Anglo-American military alliance.

The main goal of the "Marshall Plan" was to stabilize the socio-political situation in Western Europe, to involve Western Germany in the Western bloc and reduce Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. The "Marshall Plan" itself and the sharply negative reaction to this plan from the USSR were an important step towards the split of Europe, to confront socio-political coalitions, and then this split was already formalized into military-political blocs, thus, more and more bipolarity clearly acquired its outlines.

The psychological atmosphere created as a result of the Berlin crisis served to create a Western alliance directed against the USSR. In May 1949, the constitution of a separate West German state was adopted - Federal Republic Germany. In response, the USSR in October 1949 created a second state in its zone - the German Democratic Republic. Two hostile blocs confronted each other on the same continent; each of these two forces now owned one of the parts of defeated Germany.

The Berlin crisis was, on the whole, an unsuccessful policy of the USSR to prevent the implementation of separate actions by the Western powers in the German question. Of course, the measures that the USSR took in the summer of 1948 created a very dangerous situation In the centre of Europe. But the then leadership of the USSR considered these measures as defensive.

In the course of this work, I realized that the Cold War at that time was inevitable not only due to geopolitical and ideological factors, but also due to the fact that the mentality of the leaders of that time in the United States and the USSR was not ready to accept the realities of the post-war world, faced by the two powers. And it is this unwillingness to accept reality post-war period and adapt to them determined the form of sharp and tough military-political confrontation that the Cold War took.

So, I found out that the causes of the Cold War were:

1) the existence of two superpowers;

2) the struggle for the division of the world between them;

3) the presence of atomic weapons.

The existence of two centers of power simultaneously initiated two global processes: the struggle of the superpowers to divide the world into spheres of influence and the desire of all other countries to rare exception, to join one of the superpowers themselves, to use its economic and political power to ensure their own interests.

The result of this was the inevitable formation of a bipolar geopolitical system based on an irresistible antagonism between the superpowers. Such antagonism presupposes the use of force, including military force. But in the case of the Soviet-American confrontation, atomic weapons became a powerful deterrent from the very beginning.

The more I think about the Cold War, the more pointless it seems to me to try to assess the degree of guilt of the parties. The Second World War brought the international community into terrible chaos. With countries shattered, European allies exhausted, colonial empires in turmoil and in the process of disintegration, gaping holes appeared in the global power structure. The war left only two states - America and Soviet Russia - in a state of political, ideological and military dynamism, making them capable of filling this vacuum. Moreover, both these states were based on opposite, antagonistic ideas. Neither knew exactly what the other intended to do. That is why Truman was not going to share the secrets of creating an atomic bomb, but rather wanted to use the atomic monopoly in order to influence the USSR. The Soviet Union, led by Stalin, having emerged victorious from the war, did not want to put up with the role of a minor power, Stalin wanted to force the United States to reckon with whom, for this purpose berlin crisis. And all the subsequent events that served as a prologue to the Cold War arose from both sides as a reaction of self-defense. In the current situation, none of us should be surprised by the results. What would be truly amazing to me would be if there were no Cold War.

List of used literature

1. Ismailova S.T. Encyclopedia for children V.5, part 3. History of Russia XX century. – M.: Avanta +, 1996.

2. Danilova A.A. Russia and the world: study book by history. In 2 parts. Part II. - M.: VLADOS, 1994

3. Ostrovsky V.P., Utkin A.I. History of Russia XX century. 11th grade: Textbook. - M .: Bustard, 1995

4. A.A. Recent history of the XX century. Textbook for basic school. – M.: UGO, 1995.

5. Krivosheev M.V., Khodyakov M.V. History of Russia: A guide for passing the exam. - M .: Yurayt-publishing house, 2005

6. Dmitrienko V.P., Esakov V.D., Shestakov V.L. The history of homeland. XX century 11kl.: A manual for secondary schools. – 2nd edition. – M.: Bustard, 1998.

7. Lelchuk V. C., Pivovar E. I. The USSR and the Cold War. M., 1995.

8. Orlov A.S., Georgiev V.A. History of Russia from ancient times to the present day. Textbook. - M .: "Prospect", 1999

9. Reader by recent history T.3 part 1. - M., 1974

10. Utkin A. "World Cold War", M .: Eksmo 2005

11. Bezborodova A.B. Russian history: modern times(1945-1999). Textbook for high schools. - M .: Olimp, AST Publishing House, 2001

12. Trofimenko G. A. USA: politics, war, ideology. Moscow, 2001.

13. Kosarev A.I. History of state and law foreign countries: Textbook for universities. - M .: Publishing house NORMA, 2002.

Holodnaya voyna (1946-1989 ... present)

In short, the Cold War is an ideological, military and economic confrontation between the two strongest powers of the 20th century, the USSR and the USA, which lasted 45 years - from 1946 to 1991. The word "war" is conditional here, the conflict continued without the use of military forces, but this did not make it less severe. Speaking briefly about the Cold War, the main weapon in it was ideology.

The main countries of this confrontation are the Soviet Union and the United States. The USSR from its very inception caused concern in Western countries. The communist system was the extreme opposite of the capitalist one, and the spread of socialism to other countries caused extremely backlash West and USA.

Only the threat of capture Nazi Germany Europe forced the former fierce opponents to become temporary allies in the Second World War. France, Great Britain, the USSR and the USA created an anti-Hitler coalition and fought together with German troops. But the conflicts were forgotten only for the duration of the war.

After the end of the bloodiest war of the 20th century, a new redistribution of the world into spheres of influence between the major victorious countries began. The USSR extended its influence to Eastern Europe. The strengthening of the Soviet Union caused serious concerns in England and the United States. The governments of these countries already in 1945 were developing plans to attack their main ideological enemy. The British Prime Minister, William Churchill, who hates the communist regime, made an open statement in which he stressed that military superiority in the world should be on the side of the Western countries, and not the USSR. Statements of this kind caused increased tension between the Western countries and the Soviet Union.

In short, the Cold War began in 1946, just after the end of World War II. Churchill's speech in the American city of Fulton can be considered its beginning. It showed the true attitude of the Western allies towards the USSR.
In 1949, the West creates a NATO military bloc in order to protect against possible aggression from the USSR. The Soviet Union with the allied countries also forms in 1955, in contrast to Western countries its military alliance - the Warsaw Pact Organization.

The main participants in the conflict - the USSR and the USA did not enter into hostilities, but their policies led to the emergence of many local conflicts in many regions of the world.
The Cold War was accompanied by intensified militarization, an arms race and ideological war. How fragile the world is under such conditions was shown by the Caribbean crisis that occurred in 1962. A real war was barely averted. After him, the USSR came to an understanding of the need for disarmament. Mikhail Gorbachev, starting in 1985, pursued a policy of establishing more trusting relationship with Western countries.

The confrontation between the two superpowers, in which their allies also participated, was not a war in literally of this concept, the main weapon here was ideology. For the first time, the expression "" was used in his article "You and the Atomic" by the famous British writer George Orwell. In it, he accurately described the confrontation between invincible superpowers that possess atomic weapons, but agreed not to use them, remaining in a state of peace, which, in fact, is not peace.

Post-war prerequisites for the start of the Cold War

After the end of the Second World War before the allied states-participants Anti-Hitler coalition got up global issue forthcoming struggle for the world. US and UK concerned military power USSR, not wanting to lose its leadership positions in global politics began to perceive the Soviet Union as a future potential adversary. Even before the signing of the official German surrender in April 1945, English government began to develop plans for a possible war with the USSR. In his memoirs, Winston Churchill justified this by saying that at that time Soviet Russia, inspired by a hard and long-awaited victory, has become a deadly threat to the entire free world.

The USSR was well aware that the former Western allies were planning a new aggression. European part The Soviet Union was depleted and destroyed, all resources were involved in the reconstruction of cities. Possible new war could become even more protracted and require even greater expenses, which the USSR would hardly have coped with, unlike the less affected West. But the country could not show its vulnerability in any way.

Therefore, the authorities of the Soviet Union invested huge funds not only in the reconstruction of the country, but also in the maintenance and development of the communist parties in the West, seeking to expand the influence of socialism. Besides Soviet authorities put forward a number of territorial demands, which further intensified the confrontation between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain.

Fulton speech

In March 1946, Churchill, speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, USA, gave a speech that in the USSR came to be considered a signal to start. In his speech, Churchill explicitly called on all Western states to unite for the coming fight against the communist threat. It is worth noting the fact that at that time Churchill was not the Prime Minister of England and acted as a private person, but his speech clearly outlined the new foreign policy of the West. It is historically believed that it was Churchill's Fulton speech that gave impetus to the formal beginning of the Cold War - a long confrontation between the USA and the USSR.

Truman Doctrine

A year later, in 1947, American President Harry Truman, in his statement known as the Truman Doctrine, finally formulated foreign policy tasks USA. The Truman Doctrine marked the transition from post-war cooperation The United States and the USSR to open rivalry, which was called in the statement of the American president a conflict of interests between democracy and totalitarianism.