The Economic Origins and Consequences of Cold War - Essay Example

The cold war The cold war The cold war can be described as the relationship that emerged fundamentally between the USSR and the USA after the end of World War 2.The cold war can also be termed as a situation of military and political tension after the Second world War that existed between powers within the Eastern Bloc(the USSR and allies) and the Western Bloc(the US and together with its NATO allies as well as others).International affairs would be dominated by the Cold War for years and several major crises such as Vietnam, Berlin Wall, and Cuban Missile Crisis took place. The most worrisome issue for many was the development of weapons of mass destruction. A conflict of very differing ideologies and beliefs-communism versus capitalism-each held with nearly religious passion, would form the foundation for an international power struggle-whereby each side vied for supremacy, utilizing every chance for expansion at any place in the world. This paper seeks to explore the economic origins and consequences of cold war (Harper, 2011). It is important to note that in 1945, the USSR was Russia post-1917-comprising of all the different nations that presently exist individually (Georgia, Ukraine etc), nevertheless, after the war they formed part of this vast state, up and until the crumpling of the USSR or Soviet Union. Logic would have it that as the USSR and USA fought together as allies during the Second World War their relationship would firmly flourish after the war. This, however, never occurred and therefore any appearance that these post-war powers were friends during the war was deceptive. Whereas the alliance between the USSR and USA had resulted in victory in Second World War, wartime cooperation implied glossing over several grave disparities between the 2 powers. From the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Soviet Union leaders had been stating that capitalism and communism would never coexist peacefully. Josef Stalin, starting from the 1930s, had attempted to broker some kind of understanding with USA and its allies (the West); however, this was merely because he saw Nazi Germany as the bigger threat. In fact after deciding that the West was not ready in cooperating with him; in 1939; he had his own agreement with Hitler. Nevertheless, this agreement was quickly swept under the carpet after Germany invaded the USSR 2 years later (Harper, 2011. Consequently, after the US in December 1941 entered the war; the then administration started encouraging Americans not to view the USSR as a threat, but instead as a partner for not only upholding peace in the postwar era, but also triumph over the Axis. Moreover, in the magazines and newspaper articles, Hollywood films and speeches, Americans were notified over and over again that even though Russian citizens had embraced a different kind of economic method, they were similarly devoted to democratic ideals as well as a stable, peaceful world order (Fink, 2014). This message, drilled from the beginning of 1942 to 1945, implied that after war USA was in for a rude shock. Thus, the agreements concerning the postwar world agreed at Potsdam and Yalta were quickly violated by the Soviets. After forcing the Germans out of Eastern Europe, the Soviets embarked on building puppet communist states all over the region, apparently disregarding their promises to facilitate free and fair elections there. The soviets having just emerged triumphant in a world war were bent on setting the pace for another (Fink, 2014).The new political set up led by Harry Truman saw this behavior as reminiscent of Hitler’s during the 1930s.Just like several statesmen of his time; Truman thought that the appropriate way of dealing with an international bully would be a plausible threat of force and “appeasement” would be a “dirty” word since it would result in new demands. In one of his famous quotes, Truman in 1945 claimed, “We have to get through the Russians. They do not know how to behave….We have to teach them how to behave.” Truman, therefore, decided on “containment” strategy which would see Soviets stopped-militarily if need be-from use of force to spread their ideology overseas. Indeed, containment would remain the US’s cornerstone foreign policy for the following 50 years. In fact, containment would assume several different forms and through his doctrine, Truman pledged to safeguard “free peoples” the world over via military and economic support, since according to him, “The Seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want.” Thus, the Marshall Plan offered billions of dollars especially for Western Europe’s economic recovery, lest, misery in Italy, Germany and France result in communist electoral triumphs in those states. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was an official military alliance in addition to being a clear message to USSR-that the US was ready to defend Western Europe. Eventually it would result to actual armed conflict in Korea. Walter Lippman, a journalist was a fierce as well as the most perceptive critic of containment strategy. Lippman claimed that the consequence would be a continuous “cold war” that may never entail an actual war but instead would continue draining American resources since the US was devoted to resisting communism anywhere it may appear. Actually, “Cold War” is the phrase that has come to describe the whole period starting from 1945 -1989 (Fink, 2014).The Soviet-US relations significantly improved during the mid 1980s and in October 1986 at a spectacular meeting in Iceland, Gorbachev projected a 50 percent lessening of the nuclear arsenals on every side, which for a moment looked as if an historic agreement was in the offing. Nevertheless, the summit did not succeed, because of various differences between the two sides. However, 8th December 1987 saw the signing of the International Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty which effectively eliminated a whole category of nuclear weaponry. Actually, the INF treaty became the first arms-control agreement to require a concrete reduction in terms of nuclear weapons rather than simply limiting their proliferation. Consequently, as the decade ended, most of the Eastern Bloc started collapsing; with the Hungarian administration taking down the barbed wire alongside its Austrian border and the West. The USSR did not react. With pressure mounting, especially from President Reagan urging, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”-The demolition of the Berlin wall was finally ordered by Gorbachev. Although travelling was not completely liberated, the Iron Curtain was beginning to unravel and on 10th of November 1987, one of the most renowned symbols of Cold War; the Berlin Wall crumbled. Before the year ended, all Eastern European nation leaders, except Bulgaria had been ousted through popular uprisings. Several of the Soviet republics by mid 1990 had affirmed their independence. Soviet Union continued experiencing turmoil and there were many attempts of overthrowing Gorbachev. Nevertheless, 8th December 1991 saw the cessation of the Soviet Union. The commonwealth of Independent State (C.I.S) was formed by Boris Yeltsin-the then president of Russian Republic. The Cold War was finally over after 45 years. Gorbachev, in December 1991, in his farewell speech indicating the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union was quoted as saying, “The threat of a world war is no more.” Whereas President George Bush, senior was on 28th January remark that, “By the grace of God, America won the Cold War.” The cold war led to numerous effects on society, both in the past and today. For instance, military spending was dramatically cut in Russia. The effect of this was quite huge since the military-industrial sector had formerly employed 1 out of every 5 Soviet adults. Thus, its dismantling resulted in hundreds of millions in the entire former USSR unemployed. In addition, when Russia in the 1990s started capitalistic economic transformations, it underwent a financial crisis as well as a recession far much severe than Germany and the US underwent throughout the Great Depression era. Whereas Russian economy has been growing since 1999, the living standards have generally worsened during the post-cold War era (Harper, 2014). The Cold War legacy continues to be a key factor in international affairs, and after the Soviet Union was dissolved, the post-Cold War era is generally referred to as unipolar with the US remaining as the sole superpower. The political role of the US was also defined during the Cold War and by 1989; the US had military alliances with fifty nations in addition to having 1.5 million troops deployed overseas in 117 nations. The Cold War, additionally, institutionalized a global obligation to permanent, enormous peacetime big-scale military funding of science as well as military-industrial complexes (Harper, 2014). US military expenditures during the Cold War era were approximated to be 8 trillion dollars, while almost 100,000 American troops lost their lives in the Vietnamese and Korean wars. Even though the loss of life amongst Soviet troops is hard to approximate, as an aspect of their gross national product, the Soviet Union’s financial cost far much higher than that of the US. Besides, the uniformed soldiers losing their lives, millions perished during the proxy wars of the superpowers around the world, most remarkably in Southeast Asia. Majority of the subsidies for domestic clashes and proxy wars came to an end alongside the Cold War; thus the frequency of ethnic wars, interstate wars, revolutionary wars and displaced persons and refugees crises has dropped dramatically since the end of the Cold War (Isaacs & Downing, 2008). Nevertheless, the Cold War conflict legacy is not erased easily since several of the social and economic tensions that were taken advantage of, so as to propagate the Cold War rivalry in regions of the 3rd world still remain acute. In addition, the state control breakdown in a number of regions formerly under the control of communist regimes has led to new ethnic and civil clashes, especially in former Yugoslavia. The end of Cold War, in Eastern Europe has led to the emergence of a period of economic prosperity as well as a big growth in the number of freethinking democracies, whereas in other regions of the world like Afghanistan, state failure accompanied independence (Fink, 2014). The Cold War led to the emergence of several legacies such as nuclear, radiation, security, military, institutional as well as economic. Availability of several nuclear legacies such as new nuclear energy and power technologies, as well as radiation use in the improvement of medical health and treatment, may be singled out from the era of the Cold War. Due to non-military and military exploitation of nuclear fission, some considerable high-level radiation involuntary exposures came about. Many considerable incidents of radiation-related catastrophes took place at civilian and military nuclear facilities and reactors leading to direct fatalities in addition to public and involuntary occupational exposures. Due to possible risk of international and national security, several nuclear-weapons nations have inherited considerable responsibilities in stabilizing and protecting their respective nuclear forces. In terms of military legacies, interior national-security postures still dictate behavior amongst independent countries. Thus, the former, super-powers are yet to formally consummate their step down from Cold War military equipoise. Tactical and strategic nuclear as well as conventional forces stay at degrees moderately high for a peacetime atmosphere. Localized tensions and conflicts have restored the previous bilateral disagreement. Apart from substantial measures of national defense like standing military as well as hardware and security forces, are different institutional frameworks of functionality and government that have less or nothing to do with security or military aspects, however, much to do with fundamental public risks and attitudes. In conclusion, the Cold War was merely an ideological war that never occurred. Its main weapon was propaganda and hearsay. Its end marked the end of an era of confusion and mistrust amongst the community of nations. The US emerged as the world’s sole superpower. References Fink,C. (2014). Cold War:An International History. New York,NY: WestView Press. Isaacs,J., Downing, T. (2008). Cold War. New York,NY: Abacus. John, H. (2011). The Cold War. New York,NY: Oxford University Press. Read More