The Cold War
Following the Second World War, we had a period in history called the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the United States had been on the same side during the war, but after the war they became rivals. Both countries wanted to rule the world in their own way, and had opposing ideologies. This resulted in a war between East and West where the authorities resorted to espionage in an attempt to find out what their rivals were doing. The United States and the Soviet Union have never used weapons against each other, but have come close on several occasions.
The Cold War
The Cold War between the superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union was a war of ideology between these two superpowers and their allies. A race started where both sides were producing and buying weapons and military equipment to frighten the other. The goal was to seem better both in terms of their army and their weapons.
Stor russisk kanon foran en blå himmel med hvite skyer.
Communism versus capitalism
The United States and the Soviet Union had different views on how the world should be governed. The US and other Western countries wanted democracy and capitalism. The capitalists owned a lot and hired many to work for them. Any profits went to the owners. The state’s control of the economy was minimal, but they were supposed to give social services such as health, schools and defence. In a society like this, the gap between the owners and the workers can become very big.
Communism was the opposite of capitalism. They believed that no one should own too much, and that everyone should have equal opportunities for work. People should not have to be worn out from hard work while a few people become rich off their work. Communist countries were often ruled by one party that harmed and suppressed other political opponents. After the Second World War, the Soviet Union began to spread communism around the world.
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En sort silhouette står med ryggen til oss og ser på et amerikansk og et sovjetisk flagg.
The Berlin Wall
A few years after the Second World War had ended, Germany was split into two parts: East Germany and West Germany. A tall wall was raised in the capital city Berlin in 1961. The wall was built to split the city into two separate parts. This wall became a symbol of the Cold War. The borders were heavily guarded and many people lost their lives trying to flee from the East to the West.
📷 The Berlin Wall in the 1960s
Sort hvitt bilde av en person som går langs Berlinmuren
A balance of terror
Both the US and the Soviet Union gained a lot of weapons, including atomic bombs, but both countries were afraid that a war would wipe out both countries. This is called a balance of terror, meaning that both countries have threatened to wipe out the other.
The Iron Curtain spreads across Europe
In order to be stronger, both the United States and the Soviet Union entered into pacts with allied countries, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact respectively. As a result an invisible iron curtain was laid on Europe dividing it into two, with the Western part that supported democracy and capitalism, and the Eastern part that was ruled by the Soviet Union and communism.
Kjettinger som henger som et teppe.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
The US and Western countries created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. Three years later, Turkey became a member, and then NATO was able to block the Soviet fleet in the Black Sea. This led to an escalation of the Cold War. NATO still plays an important part in the world, not least after Ukraine was attacked by Russia in February 2022.
📷 Finland’s foreign minister Pekka Haavisto, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde
Finlands utenriksminister Pekka Haavisto, Natos generalsekretær Jens Stoltenberg og Sveriges utenriksminister Ann Linde
The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a former security and military alliance between the Soviet Union and the communist countries of Eastern Europe. This was different from the Western countries alliance, the Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Warsaw Pact ended in 1991.
Kart med medlemslandene til Warszawapakten.
The Korean War
Korea, which had been a Japanese colony, was divided between the United States and the Soviet Union after the Second World War. The Soviet Union ruled the North of the country and the United States the South.
Fear of communism
The Soviet Union wanted North Korea to become a communist state, but America feared that communism would spread. Relations between North and South Korea became very tense. North Korea’s dictator Kim Il Sung got support to attack South Korea from Stalin in the Soviet Union and Mao in China. The United States provided military support in South Korea to make the soldiers able to hold their ground.
Truce
The Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953, ended in a truce, but tensions remain high between North and South Korea. Today, North Korea is the most closed-off country in the world and still ruled by a dictator.
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To soldater står på hvert sitt koreanske flagg og ser på hverandre med kikkert på hver sin side av grensen mellom Nord- og Sør-Korea.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuba is an island located close to the United States in the Caribbean Sea. Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba in 1959 after the Cuban Revolution. He was a communist and made sure that the state took control of the national banks, industry and plantations. The US didn’t like this and started a trade blockade. This meant that no Americans could sell to or buy goods from Cuba.
The Soviet Union provides support
As a result of this, Cuba started to work in partnership with the Soviet Union. Because of Cuba’s closeness to the US harbours, Americans became very nervous that the Soviet Union would use the island as a base for a war against them.
Almost a nuclear war
The Americans placed missiles in Turkey and Italy. When the Soviet Union discovered this, they sent nuclear missiles to Cuba. The US president said that if these missiles were not removed, the US would go to war against Cuba. This conflict is known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it could quickly have escalated into a nuclear war. The whole world held its breath! It looked like a war would happen for a long time, but in the end, the missiles were removed. The whole world breathed a sigh of relief, for now …
📷 American spy photo of the Soviet missile base in Cuba
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Sort hvitt flyfoto av sovjetiske rakettbaser på Cuba på 1960-tallet.
The Vietnam War
Vietnam had been a French colony, but was occupied by Japan during the Second World War. After the war, a war of liberation took place which ended with Vietnam being split into two parts. This happened in 1954. France ruled the South, whilst North Vietnam became communist. The United States was afraid that communism would spread, so they sent American soldiers to support the anti-communists in South Vietnam.
The Vietnam War was one of the worst wars since the Second World War. America lost this war in the end, and over a million people on both sides lost their lives.
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Tre amerikanske helikoptere flyr over vietnamesisk jungel i solnedgang.
China
Mao Zedong was the leader of China. China was a communist country and in February 1950, it formed a friendship and put in place a 30-year defence pact with the Soviet Union. But, in 1956, relations between the two countries went bad and they split ways in 1961. Mao wanted China to become an industrial superpower.
Statue av Mao Zedong der han løfter høyre arm opp mot den blå himmelen.
Disarmament
Around 1980, the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union changed. Mikhail Gorbachev, who was the leader of the Soviet Union at the time and US President Ronald Regan agreed on a disarmament (removal of military and weapons). Gorbachev started a reform policy characterised by openness and restructuring.
📷 President Ronald Regan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev sign the INF Treaty, the first real disarmament treaty, at the White House in 1987.
Countries secede from the Soviet Union
The Berlin Wall, which had been the border between East and West Germany, was torn down in 1989, making Germany one country again. At the same time, several countries that were part of the Soviet Union at the time wanted to secede and govern themselves. The Soviet Union became smaller and Russia took on the role as the superpower.
Is the Cold War really over?
The original Cold War was considered to have come to an end in 1990, but with the war in Ukraine, we may be heading into a new era of Cold War.
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Den amerikanske president Ronald Reagen og den sovjetiske generalsekretær Mikhail Gorbatsjov underskriver en nedrustningsavtale i 1987.
Sources:
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