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The most visible aspect of the Cold War was the Berlin Wall - the Wall the Communists built between East and West Germany. The Wall changed this. It did stop the flow of people West, although heart rending sights of small numbers of people braving the increasingly lethal dangers of the Wall moved West Germans.
President Kennedy visited Berlin in 1962 to demonstrate American resolve in this vulnerable outpost of freedom. The most dangerous point of the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviert Union secretly began installing balistic missles in Cuba capable of hitting Atlantic coast American cities. A major development in the Cold War was the split between the Soviets and Chinese in 1964. There were efforts to pursue detente during the 1970s. Vietnam is the most controversial war in American history. Even after several decades the debate over the war continues. American Presidents Kennedy and Johnson committed American combat troops primarily as part of a Cold War commitment to fighting Communism. The reality in Vietnam was much more complex. American officials failed to perceive the nationalist dimensions of the War. The developing fissures in the Communist world were also not appreciated. Perhaps the most serious miscalculation was the military assessment of the ability of North Vietnam to resist American military power. The Indonesian military in 1965 overthrew the Sukarno regime claiming that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was planning an uprising. The actual plans of the PKI are still murky, but over 1 million Indonesians were killed by the military
for expected PKI sympathies. It was one of major attrocities of rhe 20th century. Another major even more radical change occurred during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), one of the most violent and tragic episodes in modern Chinese history. It was inspired by China's leader Mao Tse Tung and known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Mao thought that the Chinese people were losing their revolutionary zeal. He thus conceived of a cultural revolution to destroy once and for all the culture of pre-Communist China. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, after years of struggle, defeated the Cambodian military and seized the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. What followed was one of the most sinister and senseless acts of genocide ever committed by a government on its own people. The Soviets invaded and occupied Afghanistan in 1979. Unlike the other major conflicts in world history, in the end the Cold War was not settled by force of arms. It was the example of the West, especially the success of free market economics and political democracy that defeated Communism. [Mandelbaum] The Soviets in Western Europe used the growing pasifist movement in Western Europe to promote isarmament--disarmaament of the West. Stalin once asked mockingly how many divisions the Pope had. In fact the entire edifice of Stalinist in Eastern Europe began to unravel in Poland. The two principal forces were the
Polish Catholic Church and an illegal free trade union movement--Solidarity. Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev played a central role in ending the Cold War. The Soviet economy was clearly failing. With a faltering economy, the Soviets could not successfully compete with America and the West. Gorbachev sought to
rationalize the Soviet system through Glasnost and Perestroika. The relaxation of the police state role and the openness that he sought in effect destroyed the Soviet Union and its Eastern European Empire. Gorbachev was unwilling to use the instruments of state security to suppress the people of Eastern Europe and the nationalities within the Soviet Union. In the end the Soviet Union itself collapsed in 1991. This was not Gorbachev's intention, but he inadvertently launched a new undivided and much freer Europe. [Hitchcock] Ronald Reagan envisioned a smaller Government, a greater America. At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore "the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism." It is difficult to assess to what extent this stress or the internal weakness of the Soviet system resulted in its demise. Probably a combination of the
two. Some view Reagan as genial, but poorly informed and unengaged. Others credit him with the destruction of Soviet Communism.
Historians have generally not given President Eisenhower the credit he deserves. This may be in part because the press depicted him as an amiable, but bumbling figure. We have severe reservations concerning Ike's leadership on the Civil Rights movement, but on foreign affairs and strategic thinking he was an unsung genius. [Geeenstein] There were those at the time of the Korean War who wanted to put America on a war footing, an enormously expensive proposition. Rather Ike made two major decissions. First he decided to limit a costly conventional buildup and instead persue must less costly nuclear deterence. Secondly he decided to play on America's strength--science. The weapon systems which now give America military dominance (nuclear subs, missles, nuclear carriers, and other have their genesis in the Eisenhower years. [P. Taubmam] The Soviet Union on the other hand decided to continue massive militsry spending which placed the much smaller Soviet economy under great stress. [Reed] Eisenhower approach was to deter the Soviets with military expenditures that did not over burden the American economy and rely on the inherent strengths of the West to undermine the Soviet Union.
President Eisenhower wanted to mke sure that there would never again be another Pearl Harbor. Given the closed Soviet society, he placed great emphasis on aerial surveilance. He authorized overflights of Soviet territory with B-47 bombers, in effect an act of war. He launched the U-2 program which provided surveillamnce at such high altitudes that the planes could not be shot down. Delays in the missle program led to him authorizing U-2 overflights even though the Soviets were rapidly upgrading their air defense systems. The Soviet efforts to shoot down a U-2 was costly. Migs would shadow the U-2 at their maximum alditude. As the Soviets would fire off missles at the U-2, several migs were shot down. Finally the U-2 flown by Frances Gary Powers was shjot down. He was eventully exhanged for a Soviet master spy. More importantly Khrushchev used the incident to wreck the Paris summit. Eisengower had hoped to end his presidency with steps toward disarment and a reduction of tensions.
The most visible aspect of the Cold War was the Berlin Wall - the Wall the Communists built between East and West Germany. Until 1961, East Berliners and other East Germans could take a subway car to flee to West Berlin and on to West Germany. The number of East Germans fleeing to the West was an embarrassment to the Communists who after all claimed to be creating workers' paradises. The glaring differences between the vibrant economic life of Berlin and the gray, drudgery of a Communist People's Republic was particularly apparent. The number of trained professionals in particular threatened the economy of East Germany. The Wall changed this. It did stop the flow of people West, although heart rending sights of small numbers of people braving the increasingly lethal dangers of the Wall moved West Germans. President Kennedy visited Berlin in 1962 to demonstrate American resolve in this vulnerable outpost of freedom. He told Berliners. "There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin. Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us." The Wall effectively separated Germans for nearly 30 years. Once completed only small numbers succeeded in crossing it. Many died in the process.
The most dangerous point of the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviert Union secretly began installing balistic missles in Cuba capable of hitting Atlantic coast American cities. American surveillance photographs detected the missle sites and President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to prevent further
deliveries. The President considered an invasion if the Soviets did not remove the missles. This was the closest the two sides came to nuclear war. American stategists were astounded that Khrushchev would take such a risk. Khrrushvhev later claimed in his memoirs that it was to protect Cuba. Many scholars dismiss this as a cover story. Khruschchev was a high-stake gambler, but not demented. His peasant shrewdness in the end led him to back down. [Tauubman] We know now that the world came much closer to a nuclear exchange than was no at the time. Russian forces in Cuba had tacticl nuclear weapons and probably would have used them if the Unitd states had invaded. Also U.S. destroyers assigned to the blockade were forcing Soviet submarnes around Cuba to the surface. Two of the submarines involved came very close to using nuclear-tipped torpedos. Either action could have very possibly resulted in full-scale nuclear exchange.
An interesting topic is what life was like in the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This includes approximately four decadeds, more than half of the span of the Soviet Union. The first decade included the beginning of the Cold War and the rule by Stalin. Stalin died (1953) and was repudiated by the 20th Party Congress (1956). This ended Stalinism, but what followed was periods of relative liberalism and conservative reaction. Even so there was never a teturn to Stalinist Terror. While this meant change the underlying political reality was that the Soviet system did not trust the people. Governernt was retained in the hand of Party aparatchecks which the public had no role in choosing. Economically there were improvements. The life style of the acerahe citizen improved substantially in the 1950s and 60s. His living circimstances, access to consumer goods and diet improved through the 1960s. After that there was little improvement and Soviet citizens had libing conditions far below that of Western Europe. This was not altogether apparent to Soviet citizens, except for people in the Baltics--especially the Estonians who had the cgreatest access to Western media. Despite the imprivements, living conditions were poor. There were longlines at food stores and the choice and quality of both food and consumer conditions was far below that of Western Europe.
Agriculture remained a major weakness with poor yields. Industry was hearalded as a great sucesss, but the inefficenes of Soviet industry did not become generally apparent until the fall of the Soviet Union and manufacturers had to compete with foreign companies. These inefficeines were of course the reason that living standards during the Soviet era were so faer below Western Europe. The comparison with Western Europe is the best insex because both Russia and SWestern Europe has well educated populations. Most urban residents lived in aparment blocks. There were many reports of shody construction and poor maintenance. Most people did not have private cars. Health care was free, but in many ways poor. There wee high levels of alcoholism and life spans were below European levels and unlike the West, not improving. Travel was limited even with the Soviet Union. Some citizens were able to take cacations, usually through work place/factory arrangenments. The Soviers put considerable emphasis on education. Educational standards were high, but had a high political content. Access to higher education was based on a mixture of ability and political reliability.
The Space Race is generally viewed as a minor footnote to thecCold War. The Soviet failure in the race to the moon, however, signaled a basic weakness in the Soviet System. The Soviets carried out a remarkable transformation of their economy from a agfrarian to an industrial society. As a result, they were able to resist the NAZI miltry onslaught armed with the weapons produced by German science and industry. The T-34 tank is generally regarded as the superior tank of the War. In the early years of the Cold War the Soviets competed well. The Mig-15 in Korea was comparable to the American Sabre . The Space Race, however, signalled a major change in the world econnomy from the industrial to the information age. Here the Soviet system seemed unable to cope. Seemingly with a huge emphasis on sceince and enhineering in the schools, the Soviet should have competed well. But the infleibility of the Soviet command economy was unable to compete with the American market economy. Nor did the closed Soviet system prove condusive for science. Thus throughout the 1960s and 70s the Soviets in terms of technology fell further and further behind America, depite enormous spending that increasingly stressed Soviet society. [Reed]
There were efforts to pursue detente during the 1970s.
Vietnam is the most controversial war in American history. Even after several decades the debate over the war continues. American Presidents Kennedy and Johnson committed American combat troops primarily as part of a Cold War commitment to fighting Communism. The reality in Vietnam was much more complex. American officials failed to perceive the nationalist dimensions of the War. The developing fissures in the Communist world were also not appreciated. Perhaps the most serious miscalculation was the military assessment of the ability of North Vietnam to resist American military power. The role of the American press is one of the most intensely debated aspects of the War. President Nixon's strategy in withdrawing from Vietnam had also been intensely debated. The war was waged at great human and material cost. The impact on the American economy was significant. There was also a powerful impact on American culture and society.
The Indonesian military in 1965 overthrew the Sukarno regime claiming that the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was planning an uprisinbg. The actual plans of the PKI are still murky. American officials had wanted Sukarno replaced for some time, but observers disagree as to the level of CIA involvement. It is known that the CIA turned over hundreds of names to the military. [Prados] Some believe that the CIA involvement was much greater. Amnesty Intermnational estimates that over 1 million Indonesians were killed by the military for expected PKI sympathies. It was one of major attrocities of rhe 20th century.
Another major even more radical change occurred during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), one of the most violent and tragic episodes in modern Chinese history. It was inspired by China's leader Mao Tse Tung and known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Mao
thought that the Chinese people were losing their revolutionary zeal. He thus conceived of a cultural revolution to destroy once and for all the culture of pre-Communist China. Major Chinese traditions such as respect for one's elders and the value of scholarship in particular were attacked. Children were often forced to renounce their own parents. Mao sought to reinvigorate party cadre with a revolutionary commitment, to replace many in positions of rank and privilege who were not sufficiently inspired, to punish the cadre for the criticisms that were lodged against Mao's disastrous Great Leap Forward experiment, and to continue attacks against the intelligentsia who he thought were not sufficiently committed to the Revolution. Important leaders including Peng Zhen to Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping who were not sufficiently loyal to Mao suffered during the Cultural Revolution, now just as the intelligentsia and those who hadn't embraced Mao's grand plan. Mao's power reached unprecedented levels during this period in a xenophobic and often irrational cult of personality, symbolized by a Little Red Book consisting of his quotations, ubiquitous buttons that bore his portrait, and statues virtually deifying him that were raised near any buildings of social significance throughout China. The attacks on people made during the Cultural Revolution were all done in Mao's name. Red Army style uniforms became very popular for boys.
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, after years of struggle, defeated the Cambodian military and seized the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975. What followed was one of the most sinister and senseless acts of genocide ever committed by a government on its own
people. The Khmer Rouge's first step was to force all the inhabitants of Phnom Penh no matter what their age or health into the country to work in labour camps. Their goal was to create a Cambodian state of pure communism. One step to achieve that goal was to eliminate all class enemies, meaning virtually every Cambodian with any kind of education. Not only were the adults killed, but also their children. Some were killed outright in infamous prisons and the work camps. Others died of starvation and overwork. The Khmer Rouge killed an estimated 2 million Cambodians, 30 percent of the country's population. The Khmer Rouge closed all the normal institutions of a modern country, including banks, hospitals, schools, and stores. Temples and any exercise of religion was banned. Everyone had to work in the
fields for 12-14 hours daily. Children were separated from their parents so that they could be better indoctrinated. The children were recruited as soldiers or worked in mobile work gangs.
Czechoslovakia was the first country seized by the NAZIs. It was liberated by the Allies, but fell into the Soviet ares of control. A soviet inspired coup
imposed a Stalinist state (1948). After the 20th Party Congress (1956), the capricious nature of Stalinist terror was regularized, but Czechoslovakia and the other Soviet Eastern Europeans satellites contunued to be governed as a police state, strictly controlling people's lives. Fear gradually diminished and social and artistic freedoms increased in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s. This led to increasing discussion of political freedom. The Prague Spring (Pražské jaro) refers to a brief period of political reform and liberalization began in Czechoslovakia (1968). It is a term first coined in the West, but adopted by the Czechs themselves. It in part refers back to the Springtime of Peoples--the Revolutions of 1848. Czech Communistl leader Alexander Dubcek who came to power January 5, 1968 initiated a series of liberal reforms. Dubchek replaced hard-line leader Antonin Novotny as First Secretary of the Czech Communist Party. Dubcek was a relatively unknown Slovak Communist. Dubchek and his associates Novotny loyalists. Novotny finally resigned (March 28, 1968). Ludvik Svoboda who had served as Defense Minister became the new Czech president. A new government under Oldrich Cernik was appointed (April 8). Dubcek argued along with Western European Communists believed that Communism was not synonmamous with repressive police state rule. The Sovietswere unsettled by both the directon and speed of the reform program. In the end, the Soviet settled the debate--with Red Army tanks. The Prague Spring ended with and the invasion of 650,000 Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops (August 20, 1968). Only Romania refused to join the Soviets. Dubcek was arrested and transported to Moscow.
The Cold War was fought on many different planes. Every 4 years began a predictable comparison of Soviet and American medal tallies. The juding in some areas was suspect. In addition the Soviets turned there atheletes into professionals in all but name. East Germany became a sports powerhouse. We now know that the East Germans were giving steroids to their athletes and drugs to youthful athletes to delay normal development. One area of special interest to the Soviets. Perhaps the greatest chess match of all time became a Cold War event==the contest between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer (1972). Staged in Reykjavik, Iceland, the KGB insisted on testing Spassky's chair to be sure the CIA was not trying to drug him. The Soviets were shocked when after Fisher lost the first came and defaulted the second in the end defeated Spassky. The fact that Amerca with little chess tradition defeated russia's famed master is what was so shocking. [Edmonds and Eidinow]
Many Soviet officals assumed that their Communist system would create a technological giant and gradually out produce Ameica and the West. At the dawn of the Spance age when the Soviets launched Sputnik (1956) numerous analysts descrived the huge Soviet commitment to science including training many more engineers in numerous sciebntific fields than America. America's victory in the space rave to the moon was a shock as well as continued American leadership in most scirntific fields. Given the extent of Soviet Government support the lack of sciebtific achievement has to be considered a great failiure of Communism. The Soviets had for years conducted espionage programd to acquire Western technology. The KGB created a new section called Directorate T to acquire Western technology. The covert arm to steal high value technology was Line X. This effort successdfully obtained techhnology on aviation, computers, metalurgy, radar, semicomputers, and other areas. The United States had no idea as to the effectivness of the Soviet effort until French President François Mitterand offered President Reagan information obtained from a Soviet secretly opposed to the regime--Col. Vladimir Vetrov who worked for Directorate T evaluating the information that had been obtained. Vetrov turned over the names of more than 200 Directorate T agents. The CIA came up with a way of defearing the Soviet operation which was authorized by Preside Reagan. Vetrov provided Directorate T's technology priorities. The CIA then surepticiously provided defective softwear that was used in a gas pipeline. The result was perhaps the most massive non-nuclear explosion in history. Not only did it disrupt a major project designed to generate hard-currency earnings, but the Soviets were put in a position of having to reassess the technology acquired through Directorate T--a costly undertaking. [Reed]
Unlike the other major conflicts in world history, in the end the Cold War was not settled by force of arms. It was the example of the West, especially the success of free market economics and political democracy that defeated Communism. [Mandelbaum] Basically in the competition with America and the West the Soviets simply went broke. Soviet authors see the 1970s and early 80s as the Era of Stanation. The Soviets looked at it as stagnation. The economic decline was essentially a market reaction. The laws of economics can only be defied for so long. The Stalinist system created large segments of the economy that was not economic. Siberia for example was developed on the foundation of slave labor--the Gulag. When the steady stream of slave labor ended, the economic underpinings of the Siberian economy colapsed. Russia today struggles with the continuing consequences of the Soviet economy.
The Helsinki agreement was signed in 1975. Many in the human rights community greeted it with skepticism if not open cynicism. They argued that the Soviets had obtained their political objectives of non-interferemce and would simply ignore the provisions of the Agreement which addressed human rights. This certainly was what the Soviets thought that ghey had achieved. Something entirely unexpected occurred. The human-rights provisions resulted in the creation of Helsinki Watch committees throughout the Soviet Union and the Eastern European satellites. This inspired dissent which developed into important movements that gradually represent major challenges to Communism. Natan Sharansky argues that dissent was not possible under Stalin. The cost of dissent was death. tHat is why there was no notable dissentwers during the Stalinist era. Once the cost od dissent became less draconian, a human rights movement could develop. [Sharansky and Dermer] The movement took various forms in different countries. In Czechoslovakia Charter 77 was created which launched a human rights campaign beginning with a declaration signed by 243 intellectuals, journalists, and reform communists who had been purged during the 1968 Soviet intervention.
Ronald Reagan envisioned a smaller Government, a greater America. At the end of his two terms in office, Ronald Reagan viewed with satisfaction the
achievements of his innovative program known as the Reagan Revolution, which aimed to reinvigorate the American people and reduce their reliance upon Government. He felt he had fulfilled his campaign pledge of 1980 to restore "the great, confident roar of American progress and growth and optimism." Overall, the Reagan years saw a restoration of prosperity, and the goal of peace through strength seemed to be within grasp. Reagan also challenged the Soviet Union which he called the Evil Empire. President Reagan's role as well as that of the United States in the collapse of the Soviet system his a controversial issue among scholars. Reagan's policies of military expansion and pursuit of a missile shield stressed the Soviet system. Rapid advances in American tevhnology were another key factor as well as the success of Western capitalism. It is difficult to assess to what extent this stress or the internal weakness of the Soviet system resulted in its demise. Some scholars believe that internal pressures within the Soviet system itself were the key factors. Probably a combination of the two and a ange of other factors played a role. Some view Reagan as genial, but poorly informed and unengaged. Others credit him with the destruction of Soviet Communism.
The United States through NATO deployed the Pershing intermediate range nuclear missiles in West Germany during the 1970s and '80s. The deployment was controversial. Some Europeans believed that the American nuclear shield over West Germany was bluff and that America would never endanger its cities by resonding to a Soviet Union attack with a nuclear attack. While some Europeans felt safer with the Pershings deployed in Europe, others did not. As fear of the Soviets subsided in the 1970s and 80s, many Europeans began to fear nuclear weapons more than a Soviet invasion. Ban the Bomb protests began to attract rising support, esopecially among the younger generation. The Soviets and the Western Communist Parties strongly supported this movement. The Communist goal was Western disarmament, not global disarmament. There were disarmament marches in Eastern Europe, but their demands were aimed at America and its NATO allies, not the Soviet nucklear buildup. The during the height of the Ban the Bomb movement in Western Europe deployed a new generation of the mobile SS-20 missiles. This was an especially provocative step as their mobility made them difficult to detect and monitor, increasing the potential danger of a first strike. The United States and NATO in response bregan replacing the Pershing 1A with the Pershing II in Germany. The response was wide-spread public opposition throughout Europe, including some of the largest and most volotile Ban the Bomb demonstratioins throughout Europe. President Reagan and Chancellor Kohl wree villified by the protestors. Even so this was the beginning of the end of the nuclear arms race. The Soviet SS-20 deployment had been costly and the only result was the deployment of a new generation of American missles which put even more Soviet cities in danger. Soviet leaders finally concluded that further development of nuclear weapons to achieve superority ober the West was fruitless and self-defeating. After the Pershing II deployment, Soviet negotiators began to talk seriously about real reductions in nuclear weapons.
Stalin once asked mockingly how many divisions the Pope had. In fact the entire edifice of Stalinist in Eastern Europe began to unravel in
Poland. The two principal forces were the Polish Catholic Church and an illegal free trade union movement--Solidarity.
Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev played a central role in ending the Cold War. The relaxation of the police state role and the openness that he sought in effect destroyed the Soviet Union and its Eastern European Empire. Gorbachev was unwilling to use the instruments of state security to suppress the people of Eastern Europe and the nationalities within the Soviet Union. In the end the Soviet Union itself collapsed in 1991. This was not Gorbachev's intention, but he inadvertently launched a new undivided and much freer Europe. [Hitchcock]
As the Soviet elite became increasingly aware of the faltering economy. they were onfronted with a new challenge--Starwars. The American Strategic Defebnse Inititive terrified Soviet leaders. [Reed] American success would mean a fundamental cghange in the srtegic ballance. They also realized that America had emerged victorious in every technolgical race with the Soviet Union. The military was already consuming the Soviet economy and competing in SDI meant huge additional expenses.
The Soviet economy was clearly failing. This was a shock to the new generation of Soviets. They had been brought up to beloeve that that a socialist economy was an advanced stage of economic development, so how could they fail in an economic competition. The very ide threatened the ideologic underpinnings of Soviet society. With a faltering economy, the Soviets could not successfully compete with America and the West. Gorbachev sought to rationalize the Soviet system through Glasnost and Perestroika.
Geneneral-Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev had embarked on reforms of the Soviet Union and wanted to reduce military spending. Gorbachev between 1985 and 1990, sought to reform Soviet society by introducing perestroika (Russian, “restructuring”) of the economy and glasnost (Russian, “openness”) in political and cultural affairs. He augmented the authority of the Soviet presidency and transferred power from the Reagan and other Americans were unsure what to make of the new Soviet Sectretary General. Gorbachev wanted to reduce military spending to address pressing domestic problems. He also did not believe that the Soviet economy would permit the Sovits to match the Americans in another arms race. Here the American matching of SS-20s with Pershings IIs in Europe appears to have been a major factor in convincing Gorbachev to reach an accomodation with the West.
Just as the Soibviet Union brgan to unravel in Poland, the Soviet Union began to didsolve in Estonia. Stalin occupied Estonia in 1940 and the country suffered under the Stalimnist persecutions. It was in Estonia the men, women, and children faced down bully boys with authmatic weapns. The Soiets could have destroyed the independence movement just as had been done in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czecgoslovakia. Here Gorbachev hadthe humanity that would not permit him to give the order,
The Cold War for all practical purposes end with the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and the Communist satellite governments in Eastern Europe. The process of course began in Poland. Poland was the largest of the satellite countries with a long border with East Germany. Once the Communist Government fell in Poland, the continuation of a Communist police state in East Germany became untenable. As East German crowds converged on the Wall, German Communist officials wanted to use foirce to supress them. Gorbechov made it clear, however, that the Soviet Army in Germany would not support such actions. As a result, the East Germans surged through the check points in the Wall and crowds on both sides wre soon commenced desmantling the Wall. Other Communist Governments also soon fell. Most collapsed peacefully, exccept in Romania where Nikolai Cesecasneu ordered his security forces to fire on surging crowds. He was executed a few days later after a perfunctory trial. The capstone to the end of the Cold War was the disolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.
American uthors, especially those toward Presiden Reagan, tend to stress the American role in Cold War. The American role was clearly important if not critical. The European role should not be dimissed. Here there were several important contributions. The resistance of the Polish people to Communism was critical. The Pope plyed an important role.
Soviet hardliners in an effort to stop the spiraling reforms and the disolution of the Soviet Union. They arrested Gorbechev. The coup plotters. however. were faced down by Yeltsin and the Russian people in front of the Russian Parliament. In the turmoil the military commanders unplugged the nuclear briefcase.
Some authors have suggested that the tragedy of the soviet super-submarine Kursk, named after the World War II tank battle, was the final episode of the Cold War. The submarine sank because a poorly maintained torpedo exploded within the sub. (The Soviets were using a very dangerous form of propulsion based on hydrogen peroxide, a technology dicontinued by the American and Royal Navies because of its inherent dangers.) The Kursk tragedy occurred because the Russian Navy, poorly funded, was not able to properly maintain the fleet. Another example of this was that their deep-sea resue capability was limited. The Riusian Admirals followed the established Soviet pattern, first claiming that there was no real problem and then that the problem was under contol. A mother who complined to loudly at a public meeting had a hyperdermic needle thrust into her thigh. Then they claimed that the Americans had sunk the Kursk. The admirals in charge first did not ask for needed foreign assistance and then when it arrived delayed using it--all vestages of the lingering Cold War mentality. Some of the crew of the Kursk as well as other Soviet sailors were well aware of the saftey defincies--yet they went to sea as part of what they preceived to be their patriotic duty.
Russia today is a very different state than the Soviet Union. Te terrible attrcitities of the Stalinist era no longer occur. It is not, however, a Western democracy. The West's concern with Islamic Fundamentalistrs, perhaps better called Islamo-Fascists, have taken the focus off Russia. There is concern that Russia was headed toward a Fascist state. Post-Cold War Russia has many similarities with post-World War I Germany. Tghere are prevalent attitudes toward race and nationalism in Russia that are troubling. There are also prevalent attitudes that Russia has a right to cintrol political trends in neigboring countries. It is unclear at this time where President Putin is taking Russia. It seems clear now that Putin is moving Russia toward an authritarian state, just how authoritarian we are not sure. Just how auhoritative is unclear. His suppression of independent media is troubling as is his suppression of oposition political parties and an independent judiciary. Some authors contend that he sees economic integration with the West as essential. But yet he seems to believe that Russia requires a different political and social political structure than the West.
Deutscher, Issac. Deutscher is Trotsky's biographer.
Edmonds and Dvid and John Eidinow. Gray, William Glenn. Germany's Cold War: The Global Campaign to Isolate East Germany, 1949-69 (University of North Carolina), 251p.
Harrison, Hope. George Washington University. Library of Congress Panel, March 5, 2003.
Greenstein. The Hidden Hand of the Presidency.
Hitchcock, William I. The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent (Doubleday), 513p. This is a thought provoking,
well researched book. He has gained access to never before used Soviet archives. We do not agree with all of his conclusions. The author
in many instances, for example, tends to explain Soviet actions as response to American policies rather than the inherent nature of brutal
regime.
Hudson, G.F. The Hard and Bitter Peace: World Politics Since 1945 (Praeger: New York, 1967), 319p.
Kennan, George. Foreign Affairs.
Mandelbaum, Michael. The Ideas that Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy, and Free Markets in the 21st Century.
Prados, John. Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby (Oxford Unicersity, 2003), 380p.
Reed, Thomas C. At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War (Ballantine Books: 2004).
Sharansky, Natan and Ron Dermer. The Case for Democracy: The Power of Democracy to Overcome Tyranny and Terror (2004).
Stafford, David. Spies beneath Berlin (Overlook), 211p.
Taubman, William. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (Norton), 876p.
Taubmamn, Philip. Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage.
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