The Cold War is the name for the state of tension and hostility in international relations that developed after World War II, primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union, but also between their allies. Although both America and the Soviet Union emerged victorious from World War II, the political differences between them soon grew into open but limited rivalry and hostility, which, despite the constant threat of war, never developed into a comprehensive military conflict. Until 1949, the world was roughly divided between pro-Western and pro-communist states. The allies of the two opposing sides fought wars on their behalf, like those in Korea (1950-1953) and Vietnam (1955-1975), while both America and the Soviet Union amassed vast arsenals of nuclear and other weapons. Attempts to reach an understanding between the two conflicting parties failed in the 1970s. By the late 1980s, America had surpassed the Soviet Union in allocating funds for nuclear weapons and pushed the Soviets toward financial ruin, leading to a series of arms reduction agreements in 1988 and 1991.
After 1985, the leadership of the Soviet Union wanted to reduce military costs and improve the living conditions of its citizens. In 1988, the Soviets withdrew their units from Eastern Europe. Without Soviet support, communist governments could not survive and, one by one, were replaced by democratically elected governments. The Berlin Wall, a symbol of the Cold War, was torn down in 1989, and the two German states merged into one state a year later. At that time, the Soviet Union was disintegrating, and in 1991 it was replaced by fifteen independent states. The fall of communism led to the end of the Cold War in 1991.
The Cold War was, above all, a political, economic and propaganda conflict, and only limited use of weapons. The term "cold war" was first used by Bernard Baruch, an adviser to US President Harry Truman, during a debate in the US Congress on April 16, 1947.
Significant events from the Cold War period
• Guatemala - America supported the counter-revolution in Guatemala in 1954 in order to overthrow the socialist government and set up a pro-American military junta.
• Vietnam War - In the war from 1955 to 1975, America supported South Vietnam, while the Soviet Union and China supported North Vietnam, the ultimate winner.
• Hungary - In 1956, Soviet tanks thwarted Hungary's attempt to withdraw from the pro-Soviet Warsaw Pact.
• Berlin Wall - In 1961, the communist government erected a wall in East Berlin to prevent its citizens from fleeing to the free West. The wall was torn down 28 years later, on November 9, 1989.
• Cuban Missile Crisis - On October 16, 1962, the Soviet Union deployed nuclear missiles in Cuba, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war before agreeing to remove them. That crisis lasted thirteen days.
• Prague Spring - In 1968, Soviet and other military units stifled an attempt to soften communist rule in Czechoslovakia. This prevented significant reforms carried out by Czechoslovak Prime Minister Aleksandar Dupcek.
• Chile - In 1973, a military leadership led by Augusto Pinochet, who enjoyed American support, overthrew President Salvador Allende, the first leader of an openly Marxist Latin American country, who was elected to the post in 1970.
• Afghanistan - The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to support the communist government there, leading to the severance of relations between America and the Soviet Union.
• Grenada - In 1983, US troops overthrew the left-wing (socialist) government of Grenada because of its growing ties to communist Cuba.
Berlin wall
After the Second World War, Germany was divided into four occupation zones. The capital Berlin, completely surrounded by the Soviet zone, as the seat of the Allied Control Council, was itself divided into four occupation zones, and the Soviet sector was by far the largest. Although the Allies intended to jointly rule Germany within the 1947 borders, the onset of Cold War tensions led to the French, British, and American zones uniting into the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, excluding the Soviet zone, which became the German Democratic Republic the same year. . Thus, the western part of Berlin belonged to the Allies, and the eastern part to the Soviets. The border between East and West Germany was closed in 1952, while it remained open only in Berlin. The idea of building the wall was put forward by the East German administration of Walter Ulbricht, and it was approved by the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. The wall was built with the intention of stopping the outflow of workers and improving the economic balance that was connected with the daily migration of a large number of professional and skilled workers between East and West Berlin, as well as to prevent escapes that had political and economic consequences for East Berlin. The wall effectively reduced emigration from 2.5 million between 1949 and 1961 to 5,000 between 1962 and 1989.
Construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961 and took place in four separate phases:
1) the original wire fence (1961),
2) improved wire fence (1962–1965),
3) concrete wall (1965–1975),
4) border wall "75" (1975-1989).
The wall was 155 km long and was built by East German soldiers and workers, not including the Soviets directly. The wall physically divided the city and completely surrounded West Berlin. There were eight border crossings between East and West Berlin that allowed West German citizens, West citizens and Allied personnel to cross into East Berlin, and East German citizens into West Berlin, provided they had special permits. On November 9, 1989, the demolition of the Berlin Wall began, which for 28 years was a symbol of the division of Europe after the Second World War and the ideological-political and military confrontation between East and West.
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