The following is completely hand-played.
First of all, I want to tell you one thing-neither the United States nor the Soviet Union has any empty attempt to compete for world hegemony-the politicians of both countries are pragmatic people.
First of all, the time period of the Cold War-which is also the focus of academic debate-is relatively easy to distinguish the different stages of the Cold War.
But the most crucial issue is to determine the start and end time of the cold war-there is no small academic controversy on this point.
There are several views on the definition of the beginning time of the cold war.
1943 Tehran conference-basically defined the sphere of influence.
1945 the end of world war ii-the collapse of the axis countries, the significance of the us-Soviet alliance disappeared.
1946 Churchill's iron curtain speech-from the three poles of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union to the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union
Truman Doctrine was put forward in March 1947-the United States formally intervened in the traditional sphere of influence of Britain-Greece and Turkey.
1949 Berlin crisis-the partition of Germany and the establishment of NATO.
The time mark of the end of the cold war also has the following statement.
1989 drastic changes in eastern Europe
1990 Berlin Wall collapses-Iron Curtain disappears.
The disintegration of the Soviet Union
To explain the cold war, you must understand why it broke out-this is actually very complicated, and I hope to explain it to you with the views of many historical schools, some of which may be different from textbooks.
Let me give a few simple examples of both sides (I often write cold war papers, which are too familiar)
First of all, at the Postan Conference (1945), Stalin promised to hold elections in Poland and other Eastern European countries, but Stalin did not hold fair elections. This has caused a series of conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. However, Stalin reached a percentage agreement with Churchill in 1944, and he thought his behavior was in line with the agreement.
After the war, the Soviet Union violated the 1943 agreement and failed to withdraw its troops from Iran in time. Instead, it tried to force the Iranian government to accept the unequal treaties, which caused dissatisfaction between Britain and the United States. The influence of the Soviet Union on the Greek guerrillas made Churchill feel that the British Empire was unable to safeguard the interests of the Balkans. He hoped to introduce the United States-so he went to Truman's hometown to give a speech-which led Truman to put forward the Truman Doctrine in 1947-and asked for huge assistance ($400 million) to Greece and Turkey to prevent the threat of totalitarianism (the Soviet Union was not explicitly pointed out).
The United States later adopted the Marshall Plan in 1948 to provide economic assistance to Western Europe and sell American products to prevent the Soviet Union from infiltrating into Western Europe.
The Soviet Union was also invited to participate in the plan, but was asked to provide economic data and was rejected. Stalin immediately established the Economic Mutual Assistance Association (COMEC) and the Workers' Intelligence Bureau in Eastern Europe to counter the United States.
Moreover, for the Soviet Union, the control of Eastern Europe involves the security of the Soviet Union. After being invaded by Germany twice, the Soviet Union urgently needs a buffer zone.
One of the core issues of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union is the German issue, although the Postan Conference divided Germany into four occupied areas. But Stalin himself wanted Germany to remain neutral (just like Austria) because the western countries occupied the industrial areas in Germany. However, there was a conflict with the United States. Stalin created the Berlin crisis, hoping to urge the United States to compromise through air blockade, and the result ended in failure. Subsequently, the United States directly established the West German government, and Stalin supported East Germany as a response-leading to the establishment of 1949 NATO.
After the establishment of NATO, it directly put into actual combat on the Korean peninsula, which reflected the containment strategy of the United States (first put forward by Cannan in The Power of the Dragon). The two sides directly started the proxy war. 1955, the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact, and Europe was completely split into two armed groups.
The above are some events, and the reasons are analyzed in detail below.
First, after World War II, Germany, a traditional European power, and Japan in Asia were defeated, and the strength of the British Empire was weak, resulting in a power vacuum in Europe and Asia. However, the United States is far from the main battlefield of World War II and has little loss. Russia defeated Germany and occupied Eastern Europe, with high prestige. These two countries became superpowers, took the opportunity to fill the vacuum and broke out.
Second, the ideology of the United States and the Soviet Union is different. Stalin wants to export his ideology, and the United States wants to establish a global free trade system.
Third, there is a big gap between the two countries on security issues. Russia's occupation of eastern Europe is a fear of Germany's future rearmament, hoping for a buffer, but it is considered an expansion. The Soviet Union thinks that North Korea's attack on South Korea is an internal problem, and the United States thinks it is an international problem.
Fourth, after the war, the US military-industrial complex helped stir up troubles and create a sense of crisis for its own benefit, and used Stalin's paranoia to maintain US military spending and make profits for itself.
Having said that, you may feel a little confused.
The bipolar pattern is the result of the Second World War (also the result of the contraction of British power, which should have been a three-pole pattern)
The bipolar pattern is only one of the reasons for the outbreak of the cold war-the word hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union is not a strict historical term.
Because during the cold war, the two sides did not really try to seize the so-called hegemony.
The purpose of the United States, as I have explained before, is to maintain free trade.
The Soviet Union needs to maintain its own security.
Therefore, the Soviet leadership did not destroy the United States or replace its power and ambition-as Kennan said in his "Long Power"-the United States occupied three industrial bases in Japan, Western Europe and North America, while the Soviet Union had only one, so it could not defeat the United States.
Therefore, the United States only adopted a containment strategy against the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union also adopted a conservative approach-it did not really support the Greek opposition or the opposition in Western Europe.
So in the first stage of the cold war (if we think that 1945 started), 1945- 1953.
leader
Truman (1945- 1953), Eisenhower (1953)
Stalin in the Soviet Union (1945- 1953)
At this stage, I have discussed the reasons for the outbreak of the cold war.
1953 was chosen as the ending because Stalin died and the Korean War ended.
At this stage, the United States has an absolute advantage. Economically, the United States accounts for almost half of the global GDP and has huge gold reserves.
The United States has a huge nuclear force-the Soviet Union did not possess nuclear weapons until 1949.
In Europe, the United States used Marshall Plan and Berlin Crisis Plan to establish NATO and realize the fortress of Western Europe. At the same time, the successful use of Yugoslavia's contradictions slowed down the Soviet Union's expansion in Southeast Europe.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that 1953 the United States successfully staged a coup in Iran, which led Iran, a country with a long-term influence of only half that of Russia, to completely fall to the United States.
In Asia, the United States supports France's return to Indochina Peninsula, and the Netherlands controls Indonesia. The Korean War also successfully saved South Korea-the Soviet Union was generally on the defensive, which made the United States lay a nail in Northeast Asia with traditional forces.
Phase II 1953- 1969
leader
Eisenhower (1953- 196 1), Kennedy (196 1- 1963), Jefferson (1963-/kloc)
Soviet Khrushchev, Brezhnev
This stage represents that the conflict between the two sides has entered a new situation-it emerged from Eisenhower's large-scale revenge.
The United States began to try to use its technological and economic advantages to contain it, and at this stage, both sides had to deal with the obstacles of separatist forces within the group
The Soviet Union faced the group chaos after Stalin's denial-after Khrushchev's secret report, problems appeared in East Germany and Poland one after another-the most serious ones were the Hungarian crisis in 1956 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
The United States is also facing 1956 French and British invasion of Egypt-the United States began to intervene in the Middle East.
The British and French colonial empires began to disintegrate on a large scale-after Charles de Gaulle came to power, France started the military system of NATO.
China is more hostile to the Soviet Union.
On the other hand, the Soviet Union began to surpass the United States in two short editions: nuclear weapons and navy-1957 The successful satellite launch marked that the Soviet Union was almost neck and neck with the United States in technology.
Khrushchev's confidence has greatly increased. 196 1 year, the second Berlin crisis broke out, 1962, the sum of all fears, Cuba-forced the United States to make some concessions-the Soviet Union began to infiltrate into the traditional sphere of influence of the United States.
At this stage, the Soviet Union began to expand in the third world-the Middle East, Africa and even South America.
However, the cost of global confrontation between the two sides is very high-maintaining huge expenses, the United States is deeply involved in the Vietnam War-the Soviet Union hopes to ease the dilemma of dealing with the United States and China at the same time-and the Soviet Union hopes to legalize its borders in Eastern Europe.
Eventually led to relaxation.
1945- 1969 is also called the first cold war.
The third stage of mitigation is mitigation 1969- 1979.
Americans Nixon (1968- 1974), Carter (1974- 1977) and Reagan (1977- 1979).
Soviet Brezhnev
At this stage, the United States was mired in the Vietnam War, the Soviet Union expanded globally, and nuclear weapons began to surpass the United States.
Pragmatic Nixon began to conduct pragmatic diplomacy-for example, 1972 visited China.
The United States and the Soviet Union started a series of disarmament negotiations and even issued the Helsinki Declaration.
It can be said that the cold war has eased to some extent.
In addition, the strength of Japan and western Europe began to recover, and international issues became more complicated from the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1973 the first oil crisis hit the western economy hard, and large-scale high inflation began to appear. The United States began to withdraw its troops from Vietnam-at this stage, the Soviet Union began to occupy the "advantage" of a certain situation.
West Germany recognized Poland's border, and the eastward expansion of the Soviet border also gained legal status-the Soviet Union achieved many achievements at this stage.
However, after the ideological leader Reagan came to power, the situation changed-Reagan stopped the negotiations on the grounds that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, and the Cold War broke out again.
The fourth stage of the second cold war 1979- 1985
Soviet leader Brezhnev (to 1982), andropov, cernenco.
Reagan, USA
After the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan, the Reagan administration began to substantially increase military spending to fully compete with the Soviet Union.
Reagan's Star Wars plan marked the climax of the Cold War.
For the first time, the Soviet Union also publicly acknowledged that military spending had increased significantly.
However, the United States began to gain the upper hand in the Middle East, successfully solved the problems of Egypt and Israel, and the Soviet Union lost Egypt, an important regional ally.
Although Iran's 79-year changes have caused the United States to lose an important ally, its fundamentalism has had a greater impact on the Soviet Union, which began to face pressure in Central Asia, paving the way for its future disintegration.
The fifth stage of the disintegration of the Soviet Union 1985- 199 1
Soviet leader Gorbachev
Reagan Bush, USA
At this stage, the Soviet Union's economic problems began to appear and entered a stagflation state-and the sharp drop in oil prices caused a heavy blow to the Soviet Union.
The unfavorable progress of the war in Afghanistan and the instability in Eastern Europe led Gorbachev to decide to adopt a "new thinking"-a global retreat.
Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan, Cuba, Vietnam and Eastern Europe.
Then eastern Europe changed dramatically, and then the Soviet Union disintegrated.
In fact, the American economy did not fundamentally improve, and it was not until the Clinton era that the economy recovered-it was the Soviet Union that lived and died.
Europe and Japan are becoming stronger.
Strictly speaking, the United States and the Soviet Union paid a huge price in the Second Cold War and the fourth stage, and Europe, Japan and China benefited more.
The pattern of bipolar confrontation has a great influence on the world, which is also the first time in history.
The cold war led to the spread of two subcultures-two ideologies, and further promoted the spread of nationalism.
The confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union has strengthened global trade ties (within the two major alliances), and the country's strength has begun to decline-for example, South Korea, NATO members have relatively given up some military strength.
The confrontation in Europe has promoted the integration of Western Europe and the establishment of the future European Union.
Japan was able to rise economically in the cold war-the large-scale orders and industrial diffusion effects of the cold war promoted the economic development of some countries in Southeast Asia.
The Soviet Union pursued Leninism, supported African national movements and disintegrated the colonial system for hundreds of years.
The deeper influence of the Cold War, I have two original articles for your reference.
All men are created equal? The fate of the Viking heir, the Hu Kan Empire.
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(The Crisis of Primitive Long Civilization —— A Brief Introduction to the New World Order (I) and (II)
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The above is completely original by myself. I hope everyone can give me extra points.
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