The end of World War II did not mean that the confrontation between hostile political forces ceased. On the contrary, after the victory over Nazi Germany, prerequisites were created for a confrontation between the capitalist West and the communist East. This confrontation was called the Cold War and lasted until the collapse of the USSR.
Causes of the Cold War
What was the reason for such a long "cold" confrontation between West and East? There were deep and insoluble contradictions between the model of society represented by the United States of America and the socialism system led by the Soviet Union.
Both world powers wanted to strengthen their economic and political influence and become the undisputed leaders of the world community.
The United States was extremely unhappy that the USSR had established its influence in several countries of Eastern Europe. Now there began to dominate the communist ideology. The reactionary circles of the West feared that communist ideas would penetrate further into the West, and that the socialist camp formed could seriously compete with the capitalist world in the economic and military spheres.
The beginning of the Cold War, historians consider the speech of the leading English politician Winston Churchill, which he delivered in Fulton in March 1946. In his speech, Churchill warned the Western world against mistakes by directly speaking about the impending communist danger, in the face of which it is necessary to unite. The provisions expressed in this speech became a de facto call for the outbreak of the Cold War against the USSR.
Cold War
The Cold War had several climaxes. One of them was the signing by a number of Western states of the North Atlantic Treaty, the war in Korea and the testing of nuclear weapons in the USSR. And in the early 60s, the world watched with alarm the development of the so-called Caribbean crisis, which showed that the two superpowers possess such powerful weapons that there will be no winners in a possible military confrontation.
Awareness of this fact led politicians to the idea that political confrontation and arms buildup should be brought under control. The desire of the USSR and the USA to strengthen their military power led to tremendous budget spending and undermined the economy of both powers. Statistics suggested that both economies were not able to continue to maintain the pace of the arms race, so the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union ultimately concluded an agreement to reduce nuclear arsenals.
But the Cold War was far from over. She continued in the information space. Both states actively used their ideological apparatuses to undermine each other's political power. The provocations and subversive activities were used. Each side tried to present the advantages of its social system in a winning light, while belittling the adversary’s achievements.
