The USSR as the Principal Aggressor in the Cold War - Essay Example

The USSR was the Principal Aggressor in the Cold War The era of strife, subsequent to World War II, between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the USSR is referred to as the Cold War. This period existed from the middle of the 1940s to the end of the 1980s. There was great rivalry between these two super powers and political ideology was greatly influenced by them. Democracy and capitalism were the fundamental tenets of the US and its allies whereas the Soviet bloc supported communism. The United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Japan and Canada were the principal allies of the United States. Some of the Soviet bloc countries were Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, East Germany and Romania. Subsequently, China and Cuba joined the Soviet bloc of countries. There were some countries like, India, which did not, joined with any of these groups and were termed as neutral or non aligned countries (Legvold, 2007). There was mutual mistrust and animosity between the United States and its allies on one hand and the USSR and its allies on the other, during the Cold War period. This period lasted until the late 1980’s and their main bone of contention was nuclear weapons. Wars were waged between their allies and these two superpowers never fought directly. The United States and the USSR had combined forces against Hitler in World War II. Afterwards differences cropped up between them in respect of the countries they had liberated from the Nazis (Why did the Cold War Start? , 2005). The United States, the United Kingdom and other allies of the US attempted to implement democratic governments, whose leaders would be chosen by the people of those countries. An accord to this effect was signed and it was known as the Atlantic Charter of 1941. In contrast to this, the USSR and its allies were desirous of implementing communism in the countries that they had liberated from the Nazis. This had brought about communist rule in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Any person who was not in favour of communism in these countries was incarcerated and a climate of terror prevailed. Stalin ensured that the various kinds of terror, which he employed in the USSR, were implemented in those countries (Why did the Cold War Start? , 2005). Bernard Baruch, who was an advisor to President Truman coined the term Cold War in April 1947. He confirmed the US stand of liberating countries from armed minorities and establishing democracy for such emancipated people. The period from 1945 to 1989 was witness to the strained relations, due to differences in ideology and political and economic issues, between the countries led by the US and the USSR (Cold War , 2005). In weapons technology the US had always remained ahead of all the other nations. In 1945, the US dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The USSR was able to produce a similar weapon only in 1949. In 1952 the US successfully tested a nuclear fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb, whereas the USSR could do so only in 1953. The US and the USSR experienced steadily deteriorating conditions, subsequent to the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution that supplanted the rule of the Tsars with that of the communists led by Lenin. The US had forayed into the 1918 Russian Civil War and had treated the communist government with disdain. In fact, it was only in the year 1933 that it recognized the USSR (Kaufman, 1999. P. 5). The USSR, which was a totalitarian regime, was no laggard in this demonstration of hostilities. It exhorted the people of the world to destroy capitalism and implement communism. The temporary alignment of forces in World War II was in order to defeat the Axis Powers, which were inimical to both the US as well as the USSR. After the war, the USSR maintained a strangle hold on Eastern Europe and threatened to subject Greece, Iran and Turkey to this dismal fate (Kaufman, 1999. P. 5). Even during the last days of World War II, several influential persons warned the US of the danger posed by the expansionist threats of the USSR and of the deep seated hatred that the Soviets harboured towards the free world in general and the US in particular. The US was the especial enemy of the USSR because of its wealth, freedom and undoubted excellence in innovation. This prompted the US President Harry Truman to adopt a policy of containment towards the USSR (Kaufman, 1999. P. 5). After the brutal rule of Stalin, the USSR had to expend quite some effort to recover from the extensive damage caused to the country and its people. The outside world was changing rapidly and at times in a manner that was incomprehensible to the Soviets. The inexorable march of science and technology in the Western World had provided NATO with a surfeit of superior quality nuclear weapons. This made Khrushchev to promote nuclear weapons and missiles. His opinion was that any military engagement that escalated into a full scale war would be settled by nuclear missiles (Mandelbaum, 1990. Pp. 7 - 19). In order to camouflage his dishonourable intentions, Krushchev publicly announced nuclear test bans and signed a number of treaties to this effect, while conducting periodic nuclear tests of more and more powerful nuclear weapons. The US proposed the Baruch Plan, which would have total control over nuclear material and facilities. The Soviets rejected it on the grounds that it would merely institute a US monopoly over nuclear energy. At this stage the US insisted upon the implementation of adequate safeguards in respect of nuclear weapons. The USSR proposed that all nuclear weapons should be destroyed and no new nuclear weapons should be manufactured. The US refused to accept this proposal because it would have to destroy its arsenal of such weapons, whereas the USSR, which did not possess such an arsenal, would have no corresponding reduction in weapons; in addition, there was no guarantee of compliance safeguards that was considered as essential by the US (Mandelbaum, 1990. Pp. 7 - 19). The Soviets agreed to the introduction of test bans on nuclear weapons, but were not in favour of joint verification. On the 1st of July, 1958, the US, UK and the USSR met in Geneva to work out the technical details for implementing and verifying test bans. However, a lot of differences arose between the Soviets and the others due to the development of new theories, which indicated that the verification processes specified in the test bans, were not definitive (Mandelbaum, 1990. Pp. 7 - 19). While this process of arriving at a decision regarding the test bans was in progress, due in no small measure to the efforts of the US President Kennedy, the Soviets declared that they would enter into a new treaty with East Germany. The purpose of this new agreement was to place Berlin in the clutches of the Warsaw Pact and nullify the measures taken by NATO to promote security in Central Europe. The Soviets constructed the Berlin Wall and announced the commencement of nuclear tests, which had been temporarily suspended during the test ban treaty negotiations. This incident clearly displays the naked aggression practised by the USSR during the Cold War (Mandelbaum, 1990. Pp. 7 - 19). The Soviets were notorious for blatantly conducting tests, while agreeing to moratoriums on tests. The US lost patience with this persistent USSR hypocrisy and refused to make any commitments before the conclusion of talks. The talks proved to be abortive and the US finally declared in January 1962 that the Geneva negotiations were at an end. The Soviets took advantage of US open handed dealing and managed to lie and continue the talks for 353 sessions, before the US realized the duplicity being practiced by them (Mandelbaum, 1990. Pp. 7 - 19). Another event that depicted Soviets aggressive measures during the Cold War was Khrushchev’s decision in May 1962 to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba, in order to curb the progress of the US weapons deployment programmes. This nefarious scheme of the Krushchev and Fidel Castro was discovered by the US and Kennedy announced on the 16th of October 1962 that any missile attack from Cuba would be deemed to have originated from the USSR and would be dealt with as such. In addition, Kennedy prevented any ship from entering Cuban waters and thereby prevented the further deployment of such missiles. The USSR developed cold feet and dismantled these missile installations in Cuba (Revelations from the Russian Archives COLD WAR: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, 1992). In the year 1955 troops of North Vietnam attacked South Vietnam. The former were supported and instigated mainly by the USSR to do so, in addition, the Chinese were also behind these brutal forces. The US fearing the spread of communism in Indo – China, deployed a large number of troops and the war lasted till the 1970’s. The USSR lent weapons to the North Vietnamese Troops and imparted training to them. In this manner the war was sustained for a very long time. The harm caused by the Soviet intervention was realized by the Vietnamese who are now quite eager to get into the good books of the US (Poroskov, 2005). The Six Day War of 1967 between Israel and Syria was aided and abetted by the USSR, which feared Israel’s nuclear capability and wished to demolish the Dimona nuclear reactor. In this war Israel proved its supremacy and expertise and emerged victor, much to the chagrin of the Arabs in general and the USSR in particular. The USSR was particularly inimical to Israel because of its proximity to the US (Schwatzman, 2007). The strong arm tactics adopted by the USSR are evident from the 1966 invasion of Czechoslovakia. The USSR had directed Czechoslovakia to enforce greater military integration with the Warsaw Pact. This was unpalatable to Czechoslovakia, which concentrated on effecting structural changes. This infuriated the Soviets and on the 20th of August 1968 a huge army of Warsaw Pact Forces, invaded Czechoslovakia. These troops were in the main Soviets. The airport was secured by them and a large number of An – 12 aircraft, transporting tanks and troops, landed in Czechoslovakia. This served to demonstrate to all the Soviet Bloc countries that the USSR was an aggressor who would be provoked to action at the least sign of disobedience (Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia , 2005). The USSR invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, as they feared that the mujahedeen would depose Amin and thereby reduce their influence in that country. Accordingly, they captured Kabul airport, mobilized three army divisions and sent in four motorized divisions. Amin was killed in the Soviet attack on his palace and Babrak Karmal was installed in his place as the president. The Afghans kept up a fierce war of attrition with US help. In the month of February 1988 Mikhail Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan. This process took a year for completion and in 1992 the mujahedeen assumed control of the country (Shroder, 2007). During the Cold War there was manipulation of information, secret activities by intelligence agencies and economic sanctions. These were intensified by signs of conflict around the world. The agreement to cut down arsenals by the US and the USSR in the late 1980s, containing Soviet influence in Eastern Europe, eased the tensions created by the Cold War. Officially the Cold War ended in December 1989. The Berlin Wall was demolished by Germans from the East Germany and West Germany, most of the East European Communist Countries were rebelling against communist rule, the Afghan War had severely depleted the economic reserves of the USSR and the collapse of the Soviet Union was imminent. These factors brought about the sudden demise of the cold war. The USSR ceased to exist as an entity and there was no further cold war. However, the fact remains that throughout this turbulent period, the Soviets vigorously attempted to create trouble for the US and its allies. On many occasions such aggression was without provocation from the US or its allies. Undoubtedly, the destruction of the USSR has proved to be a boon for world peace. References Cold War . (2005). Retrieved November 10, 2007, from In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/6416478Cold War Kaufman, B. I. (1999. P. 5). The Korean Conflict. Greenwood Press. Legvold, R. (2007). Cold War. Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD] . Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2007. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2008. Mandelbaum, M. (1990. Pp. 7 - 19). The Other Side of the Table: the Soviet approach to arms control. Council on Foreign Relations. ISBN: 0876090714. Poroskov, N. (2005, April 30). The USSR was actively involved in the war in Vietnam 30 years ago. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from Pravda: http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/363/15388_vietnam.html Revelations from the Russian Archives COLD WAR: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS. (1992). Retrieved November 9, 2007, from Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/colc.html Schwatzman, B. (2007, June 14). Book Fingers USSR as Culprit in Six-Day War. Retrieved November 9, 2007, from Jewish Exponent: http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/13263/ Shroder, J. F. (2007). Afghanistan . Microsoft® Student 2008 [DVD] . Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation. Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia . (2005, April 27). Retrieved November 9, 2007, from Global Security: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/czechoslovakia2.htm Why did the Cold War Start? . (2005). Retrieved November 10, 2007, from In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia including Atlas: http://www.credoreference.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6481022&secid=.1.-ESSAY Read More