The Cold War era (1946–1991)

The Cold War was the global confrontation after the Second World War between the West led by the USA and the socialist bloc led by the USSR (1946–1991). The superpowers never fought each other directly; they competed through the arms race, ideological struggle and local wars in the "Third World". Exams often ask for the dates of blocs and organisations, the sequence of crises, and causes and consequences.

§1. Causes and beginning of the Cold War

Causes:

1. Two different social systems and ideologies: market economy and liberal democracy versus a planned economy and one-party communist rule.
2. The establishment of Soviet-controlled regimes in Eastern Europe after the war.
3. The US monopoly on atomic weapons (until 1949) and both sides' drive to widen their spheres of influence.

• 1947 — the Truman Doctrine ("containment of communism") and the Marshall Plan — American economic aid to rebuild Europe. The USSR and its allies rejected it.
• 1948–1949 — the Berlin Blockade: the West supplied the city by an "airlift".

The world was thus split into two opposing military-political blocs — a bipolar system.

§2. The arms race, local wars and crises

The Korean War (1950–1953): North Korea (backed by the USSR and China) attacked South Korea (backed by the USA and UN forces); it ended in an armistice with the border roughly along the 38th parallel.
The space race:

Berlin and Cuba:

• August 1961 — the Berlin Wall was built and became the symbol of a divided Europe.
• October 1962 — the Cuban Missile Crisis: the USSR placed nuclear missiles in Cuba and the USA imposed a naval blockade. The world came to the brink of nuclear war. Khrushchev and Kennedy agreed that the USSR would remove the missiles, while the USA pledged not to invade Cuba and to withdraw its missiles from Turkey.
• Consequence: a Moscow–Washington "hotline" was set up, and in 1963 a treaty banned nuclear tests in three environments (atmosphere, outer space, under water).

The Vietnam War (direct US involvement 1964–1973): the USA backed South Vietnam; after the 1973 Paris Accords American troops left, and in 1975 Vietnam was united under communist rule.
Crises inside the socialist bloc: Hungary (1956) and the "Prague Spring" in Czechoslovakia (1968), both crushed by Warsaw Pact forces.

§3. Détente and renewed tension

• The 1970s — détente: the 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I); in 1975 the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe — inviolability of post-war borders and human rights.
• December 1979 — the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (until February 1989) ended détente; many Western countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
• Early 1980s — a new round of the arms race under US President Reagan.

§4. The wider world and the end of the Cold War

Decolonisation and new centres:

• 1947 — independence of India and Pakistan; 1948 — the State of Israel.
• 1 October 1949 — the People's Republic of China (Mao Zedong); from 1978 Deng Xiaoping's reforms — market elements and the "open door" policy.
• 1960 — the "Year of Africa": 17 African states became independent.
• The "economic miracles" of Japan and West Germany; the "Asian Tigers" (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong).
• 1957 — the Treaty of Rome: the European Economic Community, forerunner of the European Union.

The USSR: after Stalin's death (1953) came Khrushchev's "thaw", then "stagnation" under Brezhnev, and from 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev's "perestroika" and "glasnost".
The end:

1. 1987 — the treaty eliminating intermediate- and shorter-range missiles.
2. 1989 — the "velvet revolutions" in Eastern Europe; the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November; the Malta summit in December.
3. 3 October 1990 — German reunification.
4. 1991 — Comecon and the Warsaw Pact dissolved; in December the USSR collapsed.

Result: the bipolar world ended and the USA remained the only superpower; the former Soviet republics, including Uzbekistan, became independent.

§5. The Cold War and the Uzbek SSR

During the Cold War Uzbekistan was part of the USSR, so the global confrontation directly affected life in the republic. Exams sometimes ask you to link world events with the history of Uzbekistan.

• The economy: the arms race and the orientation of industry towards defence sectors weighed heavily on the Union budget. From Uzbekistan, meanwhile, the centre demanded above all cotton and other raw materials — cotton monoculture intensified and eventually led to the Aral Sea disaster.
• Diplomacy: the USSR used Tashkent as a "showcase city" in its relations with the countries of Asia and Africa. From 1968 Tashkent hosted the International Film Festival of Asian and African Countries.

• The Afghan war (1979–1989): Soviet troops entered Afghanistan through Central Asia, including through Termez, and were supplied the same way. Thousands of young men conscripted from Uzbekistan took part in the war; many were killed or came home disabled.

Why does it matter? The heavy burden of the Afghan war, economic hardship and environmental problems increased discontent with the centre in the republic. During perestroika these factors prepared the ground for a national awakening and, ultimately, for Uzbekistan’s independence in 1991. In this way the end of the Cold War and independence are closely linked topics.

Worked example

"Identify a consequence of the Cuban Missile Crisis."

1. The crisis itself: the threat of nuclear war caused by Soviet missiles in Cuba.
2. Afterwards both sides took steps to reduce the danger: the "hotline" and the 1963 partial nuclear test ban treaty.
3. So the correct answer is "the first agreements limiting nuclear tests", not "the building of the Berlin Wall" (the Wall went up before the crisis, in 1961).

Worked example

"Order: the Warsaw Pact; NATO; the Marshall Plan; the Fulton speech; the building of the Berlin Wall."

1. Fulton — 1946; Marshall — 1947; NATO — 1949; Warsaw Pact — 1955; Wall — 1961.
2. That is the answer. Remember: NATO is 6 years older than the Warsaw Pact — the Soviet bloc was responding to the West.

Worked example

"How long were Soviet troops in Afghanistan?"

1. Entry — late December 1979; withdrawal completed — 15 February 1989.
2. From late December 1979 to late December 1988 is 9 years.
3. Add roughly another 1.5 months: in total just over 9 years (about 9 years 2 months).

Check yourself

1. Who spoke of the "iron curtain", and when?

2. What was the aim of the Marshall Plan?

3. How did the Korean War end?

4. When was the Cuban Missile Crisis and who reached the agreement?

5. Which period does the Helsinki Final Act belong to?

6. When was Germany reunified?

7. When and between which states was the Tashkent Declaration signed?

8. When was the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan completed?

Common mistakes

• Swapping the dates of NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955).
• Confusing the year the Berlin Wall was built (1961) with the year it fell (1989).
• Putting the fall of the Wall (1989) and German reunification (1990) in the same year.
• Mixing up the first satellite (1957) and Gagarin's flight (1961).
• Placing the invasion of Afghanistan within détente (it ended détente).