Cold war

Cold War


History of the Cold War
Origins
1947–1953
1953–1962
1962–1979
1979–1985
1985–1991

For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation).

The Cold War was the period of conflict, tension and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies from the mid-1940s until the early 1990s. Throughout the period, the rivalry between the two superpowers was played out in multiple arenas: military coalitions; ideology, psychology, and espionage; military, industrial, and technological developments, including the space race; costly defense spending; a massive conventional and nuclear arms race; and many proxy wars.
The term "Cold War" was introduced in 1947 by Americans Bernard Baruch and Walter Lippmann to describe emerging tensions between the two former wartime allies.[1]
There never was a direct military engagement between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union, but there was a half-century of military buildup, and
political battles for support around the world, including significant
involvement of allied and satellite nations.
Although the U.S. and the Soviet Union had been allied against Nazi Germany,
the two sides differed on how to reconstruct the postwar world even
before the end of the Second World War. Over the following decades, the
Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world, as the
U.S. sought the "containment" of communism and forged numerous alliances to this end, particularly in Western Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
There were repeated crises that threatened to escalate into world wars but never did, notably the Korean War (1950-1953), the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), and the Vietnam War (1964-1975). There were also periods when tension was reduced as both sides sought détente. Direct military attacks on adversaries were deterred by the potential for massive destruction using deliverable nuclear weapons.
The Cold War drew to a close in the late 1980s following the launching of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's reform programs, perestroika and glasnost. The Soviet Union consequently ceded power over Eastern Europe and was dissolved in 1991.

Gorbachev ended the cold war and set the first steps for the new democracies in Eastern Europe. Although many ex-soviets blame him for ending the USSR empire, it's interesting he still has a political career in Russia...One funny question: what would happen if Gorbachev came to power in Russia?!

The problem with Garbachev is that he did not want USSR to colapse and to let the ex-soviet republic to leave Mother Russia, he wanted to try to make some reforms, but I guess the comunism can't be reformed.

That why many russians are blaming him and that's why he left Russia and went in USA

Unfortunately (or not), the chinese are the best example that communism can be reformed. It might very well be that their system could spread all over the world, especially after this crisys. Let's not forget they are not hit so hard, just yet. Anyway, I think their idea of society could be a step forward: a hard nucleus represented by communism, surrounded by many layers of capitalism.
They let the economy grow on capitalist principles, but they have the good old communist principles at heart. Maybe the chinese have really found the secret of a just society, after all. I saw once a documentary on Discovery about China and the moderator ended by saying that this a true irony of history, namely that the biggest communist state (the greatest was USSR ) should become the greatest capitalist power.
Anyway, it's a wonder the soviets didn't find first the chinese solution.
Why did they let themselves fall so bad at the end of the Cold War?
I believe the answer lies with Gorbachev, again.
His mistake (our fortune?) was that he gave hope and freedom instead of bread and bullets like the chinese (remember Tienanmen Square?)
This lead to the dissolution of not only the eastern bloc, but to the USSR itself. He was a man of the Providence, like few in history: hitler and stalin being the most recent examples.

What might the world look like if it hand't been for Hitler?

We can safely assume Greater Romania still existed, hard to believe the USSR would have moved alone against the western powers and their allies (Ro included, let's remember the USSR didn't dare show us the ultimatum until France capitulated).

What might the world look like if it hadn't been for Stalin ? Well, the soviets could very well lose the war (like the french did and remember the brits had Churchill) and that alone might have had consequences impossible to evaluate now. It was then one crazy man against the other and one crazy system against the other. We should be gratefull that the lesser crazy won, maybe there is a God after all.

What might the world look like if it hadn't been for Gorbachev ?
We on Prut's right bank might praise Ceauchesku right now (or his memory), and the world would certainly look very different....Gorbachev should have a statue in any capital of Eastern Europe ... at least...