13.1 Post-war development of the USSR (1945-1953).
13.2 Reforms of N.S. Khrushchev (1953-1964).
13.3 L.I. Brezhnev (1964-1982).
13.4 Perestroika 1985-1991
The Cold War had a decisive influence on the post-war development of the USSR. Participation in it forced to spend huge amounts of money on the military-industrial complex, diverting from the production of consumer goods. Against the backdrop of growing needs of the population, the deficit served as a cause of growing discontent. The ideological indoctrination by American propaganda of the Soviet population, primarily of the nomenklatura, led to the conviction that the Soviet system was ineffective and that it needed to be broken.
13.1 Post-war development of the USSR (1945-1953)
Beginning of the Cold War. The end of the Second World War fixed a new geopolitical reality. Two superpowers arose on the world stage - the USA and the USSR. The United States was able to strengthen itself by becoming a world creditor. In addition, in America fighting did not behave.
The USSR made a decisive contribution to the defeat of fascism, thereby ensuring the growth of its popularity in the world. If in 1941 the USSR had diplomatic relations with only 26 countries, then in 1945 - with 52. In 1945, the Communists were part of the governments of 13 bourgeois states, including France and Italy. The Soviet army was a powerful force and was the largest in the world. The political influence of the USSR extended to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and also eastern Germany.
However, the growing influence of the USSR worried the United States, which began against the Soviet Union. "cold war"- confrontation between the US and the USSR in the military-political, economic and ideological spheres.
The Cold War began on March 5, 1946, with the Fulton Speech by former British Prime Minister W. Churchill. Speaking in Fulton in the presence of US President G. Truman, W. Churchill announced the threat posed by the USSR.
In 1947, W. Churchill's ideas were developed in President G. Truman's message to the US Congress (the "Truman Doctrine"). They defined two strategic tasks in relation to the USSR:
The minimum task is to prevent further expansion of the sphere of influence of the USSR and its communist ideology (“the doctrine of containment of socialism”);
The maximum task is to do everything to force the USSR to withdraw to its former borders (“the doctrine of the rejection of socialism”).
The doctrine determined specific measures to fulfill these tasks (the Cold War program):
Providing economic assistance to European countries, making their economies dependent on the United States (“Marshall Plan”);
Creation of military-political alliances led by the United States;
Deployment of US bases along Soviet borders;
Support for anti-socialist forces within the countries of the Soviet bloc.
In 1949, at the initiative of the United States, the NATO military-political bloc (Organization of the North Atlantic Alliance) was created, which, in addition to the United States, included Canada, England and a number of states Western Europe. Plans were developed for military aggression against the USSR, the atomic bombing of Soviet territory. Only the successful test of the Soviet atomic bomb in 1949 stopped the implementation of these plans.
After the Western countries began pursuing a "cold war" policy towards the Soviet Union, the USSR began to strengthen and expand cooperation with the countries of socialism. In 1946-1948. The USSR contributed to the fall of the “popular front” coalition governments and the establishment of communist rule in their place in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia (in Yugoslavia and Albania, the communists came to power as early as 1945). In these countries, reforms were carried out according to the Soviet model: nationalization, collectivization, etc.
Moscow's imposition of its political will had a material basis. Even in the conditions of the famine that engulfed most of the Soviet territory in 1946, the USSR supplied the Allies with 2.5 million tons of grain. The countries of the "socialist camp" were granted preferential loans, which amounted to 1945-1952 in 1945-1952. 3 billion dollars.
In 1947, the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties, the Information Bureau, was formed. It existed until 1956 and was called upon to coordinate the actions of these parties for the adoption of joint resolutions. The USSR began to actively promote the communist movement in the capitalist countries, contributed to the growth of the national liberation movement, and the collapse of the colonial system.
The relations between the USSR and the countries of the "socialist camp" did not always develop easily and simply. So, in 1948, relations between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were severed due to personal contradictions of I.V. Stalin and the leader of the Yugoslav communists I. Broz Tito.
In 1949 the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) was established. It became the main channel for material aid from the USSR to the countries of socialism. The CMEA included Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, East Germany, Cuba, Mongolia, Poland. Romania, USSR, Czechoslovakia. In 1949, Albania joined the CMEA, but since the end of 1961, it has not participated in the activities of the organization. Since 1961, Yugoslavia has taken part in the activities of the CMEA on certain issues.
The USSR began to pursue an active policy in Asia. Thus, the USSR contributed to the socialist revolution in China and the creation of the People's Republic of China - the People's Republic of China (1949).
In 1949, the first Berlin crisis erupted, resulting in the division of Germany. In May 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its capital in Bonn was created on the territory of the western occupation zones. As a response, in October 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was created in the Soviet occupation zone.
The first armed conflict of the Cold War was the Korean War (1950-1953). North Korea in the war was supported by the USSR, which helped military equipment, and China, which sent its troops. The United States took the side of South Korea, whose troops launched military operations on the territory of the peninsula. As a result, the war ended with the final division of Korea.
In 1955, the Eastern European part of these countries was united in a military-political union - the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD). It included Albania (withdrew in 1968), Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland, Romania, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia.
Socio-political life. The transition to a peaceful life required a reorganization of management. In September 1945, the state of emergency was lifted in the USSR and the GKO was abolished. In 1946, the Council of People's Commissars was transformed into the Council of Ministers, with I.V. Stalin.
Victory in the Great Patriotic War gave rise to hopes for the weakening of the repressive regime and the improvement of life. The generation of Soviet soldiers and officers who went through the harsh school of war, who felt the relative independence and importance of the initiative, expected the democratization of public life. People were full of optimism, believing that the worst was left behind. Many peasants hoped for the dissolution of the collective farms. The intelligentsia dreamed of the possibility of free creativity.
The beginning of the "cold war" led to the fact that since 1946 there was a tightening of the political regime. The Stalinist leadership began to “tighten the screws” that had weakened in previous years. In 1946 a large group of officers and generals was arrested. G.K. was disgraced. Zhukov, appointed to command first the Odessa military district, and then the Urals.
Former Soviet prisoners of war and civilians deported to Germany were subjected to a "purge", some of them ended up in camps. There was a fight against nationalist movements in Western Ukraine ("Ukrainian rebel army”), in the Baltic States (“Forest Brothers”)
In the summer of 1946, an ideological campaign against the creative intelligentsia began. Within its framework, there were persecutions of the magazines "Leningrad", "Zvezda", representatives of the intelligentsia (A. Akhmatova, M. Zoshchenko, S. Eisenstein, S. Prokofiev, S. Shostakovich, etc.). They were accused of lack of patriotism, currying favor with the West, lack of ideas in creativity.
In 1948, the struggle began with "cosmopolitanism"- a worldview that puts universal human interests and values above the interests of an individual nation. Contacts with foreigners, marriages with them were forbidden. In 1948-1952. A trial was organized in the case of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.
Entire scientific areas, such as genetics and cybernetics, were declared bourgeois and banned, which slowed down the development of these areas of science in the USSR for decades. It was planned to ban quantum theory and the theory of relativity, but the need to have an atomic bomb saved physics.
At the end of Stalin's life (he turned 70 in 1949), the struggle for power between his associates intensified. One of the groups (L.P. Beria, G.M. Malenkov, N.S. Khrushchev) managed to achieve organization in 1949-1952. "Leningrad case", as a result of which a very influential "Leningrad group" was destroyed. During it, the current or former leaders of Leningrad were repressed, including the chairman of the State Planning Committee of the USSR N.A. Voznesensky (one of the possible successors of Stalin), Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR M.I. Rodionova and others.
In 1952-1953. fabricated "case of doctors" accused of plotting to assassinate Stalin and other Soviet leaders.
Despite the high-profile processes of the post-war period, their scale was incommensurable with the repressions of 1937-1938. There was no real protest against the existing regime; it continued to enjoy mass support. In October 1952, the 19th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks took place, renaming the party into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
Socio-economic development. During the war years, a third of the national wealth of the USSR was lost. The western part of the country lay in ruins. Therefore, the main task in the field of economics in the first post-war years was the restoration of the war-torn National economy and the transition to peaceful construction.
At the same time, they had to rely only on their own strength. Reparations from defeated Germany amounted to only 4.3 billion dollars. From American assistance to the USSR under the "Marshall Plan" refused, because. it meant the loss of part of the sovereignty. The main sources were internal sources of development - the redistribution of funds from the agricultural sector to industry, government loans, free labor of prisoners of war and prisoners. The unprecedented spiritual uplift of the people was also used.
Priority attention continued to be given to the development of heavy industry. In a short time was carried out conversion industry - transfer to the production of peaceful products. During the fourth five-year plan (1946-1950), more than 6.2 thousand industrial enterprises were restored and rebuilt. By 1947 the industry had reached the pre-war level, and in 1950 it exceeded it by more than 70%.
In 1949, an atomic weapon was tested, and in 1953, a hydrogen bomb.
In the field of agriculture, the first post-war five-year plan was not fulfilled. Considering the countryside as a source for industry, the country's leadership stepped up non-economic coercion of the collective farm peasantry. The social benefits that were available in the industrial sector did not apply to him, the peasants could not leave the village without the sanction of the authorities. The collective-farm system was strengthened, labor discipline became tougher, exorbitant taxes grew.
The state of affairs in agriculture was complicated by the fact that in 1946 Ukraine, the Lower Volga region, North Caucasus, the central black earth regions were engulfed by a severe drought. The famine that began, according to some estimates, led to the death of 770 thousand people.
At the turn of the 1940-1950s. In order to make better use of technology and improve the manageability of agriculture, small collective farms were enlarged. During 1950-1953. their number decreased from 255 to 94 thousand. Peasants settled on central estates, and small villages were liquidated.
As the factories were restored, new equipment was sent to the village, and the village was electrified. Despite the measures taken, the situation in agriculture remained difficult.
In 1947, the card system for food and industrial goods was abolished and a monetary reform in the form of a denomination was carried out, which consisted in exchanging old money for new money, mainly in a ratio of 10:1.
Price cuts for consumer goods, carried out for propaganda purposes, also placed an additional burden on the peasantry, since they were carried out mainly by reducing purchase prices for agricultural products.
13.2 Reforms of N.S. Khrushchev (1953-1964)
Changes in the top leadership of the country. After the death of I.V. Stalin (March 5, 1953), a short period of "collective leadership" began. G.M. became the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Malenkov. L.P. was appointed his first deputy. Beria, who headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs, merged with the Ministry of State Security. N.S. Khrushchev first served as secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, but in September 1953 he was elected to the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. A struggle for power developed between them. Khrushchev had the smallest chance of winning, but it was he who eventually became the leader of the country. What helped him win the fight was that he led the party - the main element of the political system.
In June 1953 L.P. Beria was accused of "anti-Party activities" and arrested. The capture group was led by Deputy Minister of Defense G.K. Zhukov. Already in December 1953, Beria was shot. In 1955 G.M. Malenkov was removed from the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers.
In the summer of 1957, Malenkov, Molotov and Kaganovich made an attempt to remove Khrushchev from the post of first secretary of the Central Committee. With the help of G.K. Zhukov, Khrushchev retained power, while Malenkov, Molotov and Kaganovich were accused of creating an anti-party group and removed from their posts. A few months later, Khrushchev "thanked" Zhukov by removing him from the leadership of the army. In 1958, Khrushchev also headed the Council of Ministers of the USSR, becoming the sole leader.
"Thaw". 1953-1964 got the name "thaw" since after the death of Stalin there was a liberalization of the political regime. Khrushchev headed for de-Stalinization- the process of overcoming the cult of personality and the elimination of the political regime created in the USSR during the reign of I.V. Stalin. It began to be carried out most actively in 1956, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU.
In 1956, the XX Congress of the CPSU took place, at which N.S. Khrushchev read out a report "On the cult of personality and its consequences." The report contained information about mass executions innocent people and the deportation of peoples in the 1930s-1940s. The reasons for the mass repressions were associated with the personality cult of I.V. Stalin, with negative traits of his character. The political system and the leadership that was in power and involved in the repressions turned out to be beyond criticism.
After the end of the congress with the report of N.S. Khrushchev was introduced to party organizations and non-party activists. The facts contained in the report aroused indignation and a desire to understand the reasons for the connivance of lawlessness on the part of party organs. Public condemnation of the cult of I.V. Stalin, the exposure of the crimes of the Stalinist regime caused profound changes in the public consciousness, destroyed the system of fear. A return to a repressive policy after this turned out to be impossible.
After the congress, the process began rehabilitation(restoration of rights) of repressed citizens and peoples who suffered in Stalin's time. The displaced peoples returned.
There were also negative moments. After the 20th Congress, the prestige of the Communist Party began to decline. The report marked the beginning of a split in the international communist movement.
The “thaw” itself was carried out inconsistently. Khrushchev did not allow great liberties. The CPSU fully retained the levers of ideological control. In 1958, a campaign was launched against B.L. Pasternak in connection with the award to him Nobel Prize for the novel Doctor Zhivago published in Italy.
In 1961, at the XXII Congress of the CPSU, a new, third Party Program was adopted. Proceeding from the erroneous thesis that socialism in the USSR had triumphed "completely and definitively," the program proclaimed the country's entry into a period of "widespread construction of communism." The program provided for the creation of communism by 1980.
At the XXII Congress of the CPSU, an important provision appeared in the Charter of the Party, according to which no one could hold an elected position in the Party for more than two consecutive terms, and the composition of the governing bodies must be updated by at least one third. If under Stalin the mass renewal of the managerial stratum took place through repressions, under Khrushchev it had to take place through elections.
At the turn of 1950-1960. The “thaw” was winding down, and the cult of personality of Khrushchev himself was growing. Ripe dissatisfaction with his policy due to the unsatisfactory results of the reforms.
Industrial management reforms. In August 1953 G.M. Malenkov came up with a program of economic reforms, the essence of which was the priority development of light and food industries (Group B) and agriculture. Plans G.M. Malenkov caused dissatisfaction with the leaders of heavy industry. There was a sharp struggle for power in the top party leadership, and this dissatisfaction with N.S. Khrushchev decided to use to weaken the position of his opponent. G.M. Malenkov was accused of a dangerous underestimation of the development of heavy industry, and he was removed.
The main attention was still paid to the production of means of production - group "A". By the beginning of the 1960s. the share of group "A" in the total volume of the national economy began to be 75%. The production of building materials, mechanical engineering, metalworking, chemistry, petrochemistry, and the electric power industry developed at an especially rapid pace.
In 1957, the ministries were abolished, and 105 economic councils were created instead. The essence of the reform was the transition from the sectoral to the territorial principle. The decentralization of industrial management significantly strengthened the economic role of the Union and Autonomous Republics, but at the same time made it difficult for all-Union ties, the coordination of enterprises located in different regions, and gave rise to a certain disunity.
The organization of economic councils gave some effect, then began to restrain production, since the petty tutelage of local leaders turned out to be worse than the petty tutelage of the branch ministries. In the early 1960s economic growth began to decline steadily.
The deteriorating economic situation prompted Khrushchev to embark on yet another major management reform. In 1962, according to the production principle, all the governing bodies were restructured from top to bottom. Party organizations, Soviets and executive committees were divided into industrial and rural ones. The division along the lines of production led to confusion, to an increase in the number of officials and a significant increase in administrative costs.
Reforms in agriculture. At the September (1953) plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, important decisions were made on the economic stimulation of agriculture. Purchasing prices for agricultural products increased depending on the type by 2-6 times. Taxes were reduced from private farms of peasants. Deliveries of tractors and agricultural machinery to the countryside have increased.
In 1954, the development of virgin lands began. About 300 thousand volunteers and a lot of equipment were sent to Kazakhstan and Western Siberia. These resources were detached from the old arable regions of Russia. In the early years, the virgin lands gave a good harvest. However, already in the late 1950s. soil erosion began, and crops fell.
In order to solve the fodder problem, the area under corn was increased by reducing the grain crops.
In 1953-1958. the increase in agricultural output amounted to 34% compared with the previous five-year period. However, since the late 1950s, as N.S. Khrushchev in power, there has been a turn to the old administrative methods of managing agriculture. The restriction of personal subsidiary plots began.
In 1958, the MTS was reorganized, instead of which repair and technical stations (RTS) appeared. Machine and tractor stations were liquidated, and their equipment had to be redeemed by collective farms at a high price and in a short time. This ruined many collective farms.
By the beginning of the 1960s. the food problem has escalated again. The government's decision to stimulate the development of animal husbandry by raising retail prices for meat and butter (1962) caused acute dissatisfaction among urban residents. Rallies and demonstrations of protest were held in a number of regions, a demonstration of workers and employees of Novocherkassk was suppressed by the troops. There were casualties.
Fearing a further increase in social tension, the party and state leadership for the first time in the history of Russia and the USSR went to the purchase of grain in the United States, which marked the beginning of the country's growing dependence on food imports. An indicator of the crisis in agriculture was the failure of the tasks of the 7-year plan (1959-1965): the actual growth of agricultural production over the years of the seven-year plan amounted to 15% instead of the planned 70%.
The science. High level Soviet science contributed to the emergence of nuclear energy. In 1953 the first hydrogen bomb was tested. In 1954, the first nuclear power plant was launched in the city of Obninsk near Moscow. In 1959, the first nuclear icebreaker "Lenin" appeared. Then the first nuclear submarines were built. The world's first passenger jet aircraft TU-104 appeared.
In 1957, under the leadership of S.P. Korolyov, the first artificial satellite was launched, and on April 12, 1961, the first man on the planet, Yu.A., flew into space. Gagarin.
However, in general, the leadership of the USSR failed to ensure the full implementation of the scientific and technological revolution, which engulfed all the developed countries of the world, which in subsequent years led to the country's technical lag in the most promising areas.
Social sphere. In 1956, a law on state pensions was adopted. In accordance with it, the size of pensions for certain categories of citizens increased by 2 or more times. Collective farmers received a state pension only in 1964. Tuition fees in schools and universities were abolished. The scale of housing construction has increased.
Foreign policy. In his foreign policy course, N.S. Khrushchev was guided by the principle of peaceful coexistence of the capitalist and socialist systems. But it was not always respected. Breakthroughs in relations with the West gave way to crisis situations.
In 1958, the first visit of the head Soviet state in the USA. In 1963, an agreement was concluded on the prohibition of nuclear weapons tests in three areas - in the atmosphere, in space, under water.
In 1961, the second Berlin crisis occurred, which resulted in the division of the city into West Berlin, surrounded by the famous berlin wall, and East Berlin, the capital of the GDR.
The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, which arose in connection with the deployment of Soviet missiles in Cuba, in close proximity to the United States, became especially acute, and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
To strengthen its positions in the countries of the socialist camp, the Soviet Union used all possible levers - from financial, economic and technical assistance to forceful pressure. In 1955, a military-political union of the socialist countries of Europe (except Yugoslavia) was created - the Warsaw Pact Organization. In 1956, the Soviet Union crushed an anti-communist uprising in Hungary. In the late 1950s relations between the USSR and the largest socialist country, China, sharply worsened, caused by ideological differences and a divergence of strategic interests of the two countries.
Much attention was paid to the development of relations with the states of the "third world" (developing countries) - India, Indonesia, Burma, Afghanistan, etc. Trying to ensure its influence in these countries, the Soviet Union assisted them in the construction of industrial facilities. During the reign of N.S. Khrushchev with the financial and technical assistance of the USSR in different countries around 6 thousand enterprises were built in the world.
In 1964, a conspiracy arose against Khrushchev, in which A.N. Shelepin, N.V. Podgorny, L.I. Brezhnev, V.E. Semichastny and others. At the October (1964) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, N.S. Khrushchev was accused of "voluntarism" and "subjectivism", removed from all posts and retired.
13.3 L.I. Brezhnev (1964-1982)
After the dismissal of Khrushchev, L.I. became the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Brezhnev (since 1966 - General Secretary, since 1977 - at the same time Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR). The post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was taken by A.N. Kosygin.
Both in character and intellect, Brezhnev did not possess the qualities of a leader of a great power, necessary for the implementation of a radical renewal of society. The unofficial "small" Politburo, which included Minister of Defense D.F. Ustinov, Minister of Foreign Affairs A.A. Gromyko, Secretary of the Central Committee M.A. Suslov, KGB Chairman Yu.V. Andropov, who determined domestic and foreign policy.
The basis of the course is "stability", which meant the rejection of any attempts at a radical renewal of society. Both the authorities and society are tired of the emergency conditions and constant tension in which the country lived for the previous half century.
political development. characteristic features political development of the country in the second half of the 1960s - the first half of the 1980s. became the centralization and bureaucratization of the administrative apparatus. The adopted resolutions on the further democratization of public life remained declarative.
Brezhnev's rule was a "golden time" for the bureaucracy. Under Stalin, she lived under constant fear of arrest; under the constant Khrushchev reorganizations, she also felt restless. After the death of Stalin and the removal of Khrushchev, the elite wanted a quiet life, confidence in tomorrow, wanted to protect themselves from personnel changes. Brezhnev was ideally suited to the role of spokesman for the interests of the bureaucracy.
The total number of managers by the end of Brezhnev's rule amounted to almost 18 million people (for 6-7 employees - one manager). The rapid growth of the bureaucracy was ensured by numerous benefits and privileges. To maintain such an apparatus by the mid-1980s. more than 40 billion rubles, or 10% of the budget, were spent annually.
By the beginning of the 1980s. in the management of the national economy alone, up to 200,000 various orders, instructions, and other by-laws accumulated, which regulated every step of business executives and fettered their initiative.
In 1977, a new USSR Constitution. It noted that a developed socialist society had been built in the USSR. Article 6 officially consolidated the position of the CPSU as the "core" of the Soviet political system, the "leading and guiding force" of a society of developed socialism. The most important task was proclaimed the formation and strengthening of a new international community - the Soviet people.
The ranks of the CPSU grew rapidly, reaching by the mid-1980s. 19 million people. The real power was concentrated in the apparatus, which reached almost 500 thousand people. Ordinary communists were removed from real participation in determining the policy of the party.
The clause on the turnover of personnel was excluded from the Party Charter, and control over the nomenklatura was weakened. The personnel "stagnation" began. The highest elite of the country since the 1970s. begins to reproduce itself more and more not at the expense of nominees from below, but through the selection and training of personnel in elite schools. These were the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Higher Party School, etc.
By the end of the 1970s. the top leadership of the country has turned into a real gerontocracy. By the end of Brezhnev's rule, the average age of Politburo members reached almost 70 years. The meetings of the Politburo, which made the most important political decisions, often lasted no more than 15-20 minutes. Brezhnev himself, who survived a serious illness in 1976, never recovered from it, and from the end of the 1970s. tried to move away from the leadership of the country, but his comrades-in-arms convinced him to stay. For them, he was the guarantor of the preservation of their own power.
The "stagnation" of the era of developed socialism became the heyday of nomenklatura privileges, which included state dachas, special rations, special treatment, etc. However, they could not be transferred to personal property and passed on to children. This caused a desire to change the system.
Such phenomena as nepotism, clanism, and corruption flourished. Abuse of official position, the desire to attach relatives to a "bread" position, to an elite university, etc., becomes an ordinary phenomenon.
Merging of the party-state apparatus with the shadow economy began. The scale of the latter was becoming more and more menacing. In the mid 1970s. shadow economy dealers alienated about a seventh of the income of workers, by the beginning of the 1980s. - 18%, by 1985 - 21%, and in 1989 - 25%.
Stagnation in the life of Soviet society in the 1970s - the first half of the 1980s. also touched upon the sphere of ideology. Criticism of Stalin was curtailed, references to the mass repressions of the 1930s and early 1950s were expelled from the pages of newspapers and magazines. ("neo-Stalinism"), the persecution of any manifestations of dissent intensified. Real life increasingly at odds with the official ideology.
From the mid 1960s. in the USSR, a dissident movement was formed (in translation " dissidents"- dissenters, dissenters). The dissidents demanded strict observance of human rights. The authorities used repressive measures against them (arrests, exile, placement in psychiatric hospitals, dismissal from work, expulsion from the party). Academician A.D. became the symbols of the human rights and dissident movement. Sakharov (exiled to Gorky) and writer A.I. Solzhenitsyn (deported abroad).
The dissidents organized the publication of books banned in the country abroad and their illegal distribution on the territory of the USSR (“ tamizdat"). There was a so-called uncensored press (" samizdat"). The activities of dissidents provided big influence on public opinion in the country and played a significant role in undermining the foundations of the Soviet state.
Economic development. The decline in the quality of the managerial layer also affected the economic development of the country.
In 1965, an economic reform was carried out under the leadership of A.N. Kosygin. In industry, the sectoral principle of management was restored, ministries were again formed instead of economic councils. Enterprises partially switched to self-financing: they still had at their disposal the profit from the sale of above-planned products. The enterprises could use this profit to develop production or stimulate the work of personnel.
According to the most important socio-economic parameters, the eighth five-year plan (1966-1970) was the best for post-war period. The volume of industrial production increased by 1.5 times, about 1900 large enterprises were built (including VAZ, KamAZ, Izhevsk Automobile Plant). However, the reform did not change the foundations of the economic mechanism, and many of its measures were curtailed due to the resistance of the bureaucracy.
Since the early 1970s economic growth rates began to decline: the growth rate of national income fell from 7.7% in the eighth five-year plan (1966-1970) to 3.8% in the eleventh five-year plan (1981-1985), the growth rate of labor productivity decreased.
The main trouble Soviet economy of this period was that it was almost not associated with scientific and technological progress. The industry continued to maintain an extensive character. The core of the economy remained fuel and energy and military industrial complexes. The share of enterprises of the military-industrial complex accounted for about 2/3 of the products of Soviet engineering.
Oil and gas production developed at an accelerated pace in Western Siberia. In 1980, the fuel and energy complex of the USSR provided 10% of world oil and gas production. Development of the regions of Siberia and Far East necessitated the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), the construction of which began in 1974.
As a result, stakes were placed on foreign purchases of industrial equipment, consumer goods and grain in exchange for the export of energy resources (primarily oil).
In agriculture, emphasis was also placed on economic levers - raising procurement prices, increasing capital investment, transferring collective farmers to guaranteed wages and pensions. The output of agricultural machinery increased, its quality improved. The electrification of agriculture was completed, chemicalization and melioration were carried out. Rural construction was carried out at a high pace, roads were built in the countryside, and gasification was carried out. Agrarian science developed, agriculture was saturated with specialists.
The programs for the development of the Non-Black Earth Region (1974) and the Food Program (1982) were large-scale.
The scourge of the national economy remained the diversion to "sponsorship" of the village during the harvesting campaign up to 20% of the entire active population of the country and huge, up to 30-40%, crop losses. Agriculture less and less able to cope with the tasks of food supply of the country. Since the 1970s meat, sausages, and in a number of regions - cheeses and dairy products more and more often fell into the deficit category.
Development of education. Since 1966, the transition began in the country high school for new educational plans and programs. They were characterized by: continuity in the study of the material from the 1st to the 10th grade, the beginning of the systematic teaching of systems of sciences (subject education) from the 4th grade. The preparation of high-quality textbooks, manuals and methodological guides for teachers was carried out. As a result, from the mid-1960s the transition to universal compulsory eight-year education was completed, and then within 10 years (by the mid-1970s) to universal secondary education.
Development of science. The most striking evidence of the flourishing of Soviet science is the achievements in space exploration. The USSR continued to study the moon with the help of spacecraft. In 1965, the far side of the Moon was photographed. An outstanding achievement was the delivery to Earth lunar soil and its further study. Soviet spacecraft reached the surface of the planet Venus and transmitted valuable information about its atmosphere to Earth. Outstanding discoveries were made in the field of plasma, quantum physics.
Social politics. In social policy, the emphasis was on the growth of the welfare of the population. Real income per capita for 1965-1975. grew by 46%, in 1976-1980. - by another 18%, in 1981-1985 - by 10%. Accordingly, the level of needs increased, which the Soviet industry was not able to satisfy. The shortage of goods was made up by imports, for which "petrodollars" were spent. But even in this case, the increased demands were not fully covered.
An important social achievement was the transfer of workers and employees to a five-day working week with two days off and paid vacation. Soviet people used free education, medical care, the state incurred large expenses for the maintenance of the housing stock.
The main achievement during this period was large-scale housing construction. Throughout the 1970s. more than 100 million sq. m. were introduced annually in the country. m of housing, which improved the living conditions of more than 107 million people. By the beginning of the 80s. 80% of families had separate apartments, and they were issued free of charge.
Foreign policy . From the late 1960s to the late 1970s. confrontation was replaced by a "détente" of international tension. The USSR signed agreements: on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (1968); the SALT-1 treaty with the USA (1972) on the limitation of anti-missile defense; the SALT-2 treaty (1979) on the limitation of medium-range missiles.
The culmination of "détente" was the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1975) in Helsinki, which was attended by 33 European countries, USA and Canada. The states undertook to observe the principles of sovereign equality, not to interfere in each other's internal affairs, to respect human rights, and to settle disputes peacefully.
In the early 1970s The United States recognized the existence of a military-strategic parity(equality) with the Soviet Union.
In relations with the socialist countries, the USSR continued the policy of "senior partner". In 1968, an uprising was suppressed in Czechoslovakia ("Prague Spring"), in which they wanted to build "socialism with a human face." Troops were brought into Czechoslovakia.
In the spring of 1969, an armed clash occurred with Chinese troops in the area of Damansky Island on the river. Ussuri.
In 1979, Soviet troops were sent to Afghanistan, the Soviet-Afghan war began (1979-1989). After the introduction of troops into Afghanistan, relations with Western countries deteriorated sharply. The US Senate refused to ratify the SALT-2 treaty signed with the USSR.
The aggravation of the international situation, the fall of the prestige of the USSR on the world stage were in close relationship with the growth of a general crisis in the administrative-command system.
Yu.V. Andropov and K.U. Chernenko. First half of the 1980s marked by frequent changes in the country's top leadership ("hearse race"). In November 1982, Brezhnev died. The new leader of the country was 68-year-old Yu.V. Andropov (1982-1984), who managed to distinguish himself by fighting corruption and strengthening labor discipline. After his death (February 1984), a seriously ill 72-year-old K.U. Chernenko (died March 1985). He didn't remember anything notable. Then the youngest, 54-year-old member of the Politburo M.S. was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee. Gorbachev.
13.4 Perestroika 1985-1991
In March 1985, 54-year-old M.S. became the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Gorbachev. The election of a relatively young, energetic leader reflected the desire of society and the political elite for long overdue changes. By that time, the technological backlog of the USSR from the USA, Western Europe, and Japan became obvious. By 1985, the growth rates of the Soviet economy had fallen to almost 3% per year. Stagnation in the economy was combined with high military spending. The economy was not able to satisfy the significantly increased level of claims of the population.
Gorbachev's reign is called "perestroika" because in 1985-1991. there was a large-scale reform that covered all spheres of the life of Soviet society. Restructuring is usually divided into three stages.
First stage(1985-1986) was characterized by attempts at major administrative reforms that did not affect the foundations of the system and were aimed at improving the socialist system.
In April 1985, a course was proclaimed to "accelerate" socio-economic development. It was planned to achieve acceleration due to scientific and technological progress, re-equipment of mechanical engineering, and activation of the human factor. The fight against corruption and violations of industrial discipline was launched. A campaign against "unearned" income has begun, there has been an introduction state acceptance- product quality control.
Immediately after the adoption of the course of acceleration, a serious rejuvenation of personnel in the highest echelon of power began. By the beginning of 1987, 70% of the members of the Politburo had been replaced, 60% of the secretaries of the regional party organizations, and 40% of the members of the Central Committee of the CPSU.
The social and political situation in the country has changed. Changes in this area began with the policy of openness. The censorship was lifted. This caused a wide surge of social activity.
At the same time, a number of problems arose, the consequences of which affected the fate of perestroika. In 1985 world oil prices fell sharply. Multibillion-dollar earnings from its exports have declined, making it impossible to buy food products, light industry products and high-tech equipment that the country lacks from abroad.
In 1985 began anti-alcohol campaign- a policy aimed at reducing the production, consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages. It caused serious damage to the financial system (according to the most minimal estimates, the budget lost 67 billion rubles), led to a catastrophic increase in substance abuse and home brewing. There were many poisonings. Sugar was in short supply. Vineyards were cut down. The shadow economy has grown, and the discontent of the population has intensified.
In April 1986, there was an accident on Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The liquidation of the consequences of this accident cost 14 billion rubles in 1986 alone, and required expenses even later.
In the foreign policy of the USSR, a new course was proclaimed, called "new political thinking". The central place in it was given to the priority of universal human values over class ones and the rejection of the principle of proletarian internationalism. The need for broad contacts between the USSR and all the countries of the world, regardless of their social system, was emphasized.
Second phase(1987-1988) perestroika was characterized by attempts to reform in the spirit of democratic socialism. Large-scale reforms began in all spheres of life in Soviet society.
In 1987, the "State Enterprise Law" was adopted. Enterprises were transferred to self-sufficiency and self-financing, received the right to foreign economic activity, the creation of joint ventures.
In 1988, the “Law on Cooperation” and the “Law on Individual Labor Activity” were adopted. The new laws opened the possibility for private activity in more than 30 types of production of goods and services.
In 1988, rural residents received the right to lease land for 50 years and fully dispose of their products. But these measures did not lead to a revival of the spirit of entrepreneurship among the peasants: by the summer of 1991, the tenants' farms had only 2% of cultivated land and 3% of livestock. The lack of equipment among the peasants and the desire of local authorities to suppress the peasant initiative also affected.
After some success due to the enthusiasm for renewal, the economic downturn began. Gorbachev announced that bureaucracy was the brake and set about reforming the political system. It was approved in the summer of 1988 at the XIX All-Union Party Conference.
The essence of the political reform was a clear division of responsibilities between party bodies and the Soviets, and the transfer of power from the CPSU to the Soviets. The Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, which elected the permanent Supreme Soviet, was proclaimed the supreme body of power.
In the second half of the 1980s. inter-ethnic contradictions escalated, separatist sentiments grew. Local elites strove for independence in order to manage economic resources and financial flows themselves. Against the background of the deteriorating economic situation, a protest arose in the form of national movements. In 1988, the Popular Fronts of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia were created, the goal of which was the separation of the Baltic republics from the USSR. Bloody clashes took place between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Third stage perestroika (1989-1991) is characterized by the fact that during this period there is a sharp destabilization of the situation in the country.
kept getting worse economic situation. Since 1988, agricultural production has noticeably declined, industrial production growth reached zero in 1989 and fell by 10% in the first half of 1991. The budget deficit in 1988-1989. reached 100 billion rubles. To meet the demand, the state introduced a card system and increased imports on a credit basis. By the end of 1991, the external debt of the USSR increased to almost 100 billion dollars.
Difficulties in the economy develop into a full-blown crisis. Empty store shelves become a symbol of the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. Perestroika euphoria in society is replaced by disappointment, uncertainty about the future and mass anti-communist sentiments. Since 1990, the main idea is no longer "the improvement of socialism", but the construction of democracy and a market economy of the capitalist type. Several programs for the transition to a market economy were developed. One of these was the utopian program "500 days", proposed by G.A. Yavlinsky.
Society was increasingly embraced by the effect of overthrow. Glasnost was transformed from an instrument of criticism and "improvement" of the socialist system into an instrument of its destruction.
The elections of people's deputies, held in the spring of 1989 on an alternative basis, showed a negative attitude towards candidates supported by the CPSU.
At the I Congress of People's Deputies (May-June 1989), M.S. was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Gorbachev. At the congress, a group of radical deputies formed a political opposition to the CPSU called the Interregional Deputy Group (MDG). Among the co-chairs of this group were A.D. Sakharov, B.N. Yeltsin, G.Kh. Popov and others.
At the III Congress of People's Deputies (March 1990), Article 6 of the Constitution was canceled, which secured the monopoly position of the CPSU in society. This opened up the possibility for the formation of a legal multi-party system in the USSR. At the same congress M.S. Gorbachev was elected the first president of the USSR.
In the spring of 1990, elections were held in the union republics for their own congresses of people's deputies. In the RSFSR, the oppositionists, who called themselves "democrats", won. At the I Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR (May-June 1990), B.N. was elected Chairman of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR. Yeltsin.
After Yeltsin came to power in Russia, the confrontation between the union and the Russian leadership sharply intensified. On June 12, 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR adopted the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the RSFSR, which proclaimed the independence of Russia and the supremacy of Russian laws over the all-Union ones.
Proclamation by Russia and others union republics independence raised the question of the continued existence of the Soviet Union. In April-May 1991, M.S. Gorbachev with the leaders of the union republics on the issue of a new union treaty. His project called for the creation of a democratic federation of equal Soviet sovereign republics. In this case single state would exist only formally. The signing of the agreement was scheduled for August 20, 1991.
To stop the ongoing collapse of the USSR, on August 19, 1991, part of the top party and state leadership tried to remove Gorbachev from power. A state of emergency was introduced in the country for a period of 6 months, rallies and strikes were prohibited. It was announced the creation of the State Emergency Committee - the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (August 19-21, 1991). It included the vice-president of the USSR G.I. Yanaev (head), Prime Minister of the USSR V.S. Pavlov, KGB Chairman V.A. Kryuchkov, Minister of Defense of the USSR D.T. Yazov and other representatives of the authorities. Troops were sent to Moscow.
From the very beginning, the participants of the GKChP behaved indecisively, and their actions were inconsistent. Active resistance to the GKChP was provided by the Russian leadership, headed by B.N. Yeltsin, who called on Muscovites to take to the streets. Not expecting such a reaction from the Russian authorities and residents of Moscow, on August 21, the members of the GKChP ceased their activities. On August 22, 1991 they were arrested.
The events of August 19-21 accelerated the collapse of the Soviet Union. On August 23, by his decree, B.N. Yeltsin banned the activities of the CPSU on the territory of Russia, which made the further existence of the USSR impossible. At the end of August, Ukraine announced the creation of independent states, and then other republics.
On December 8, 1991, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Belarus), the presidents of Russia (B.N. Yeltsin), Ukraine (L.N. Kravchuk) and Belarus (S.S. Shushkevich) announced the demise of the USSR. At the same time, the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States was proclaimed. (CIS).
On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned his presidency. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceased to exist.
Foreign policy. As problems in the country grow, foreign policy The USSR became more compliant. In 1989-1991 there was a surrender of positions to Western countries in order to obtain political and financial support. In February 1989, the withdrawal was completed Soviet troops from Afghanistan. M.S. Gorbachev announced the rejection of the policy of interference in the affairs of the allies in the Warsaw Treaty Organization. Soviet troops were also withdrawn from the countries participating in the ATS. As a result, the communist regimes in Eastern Europe collapsed. November 9, 1989 was destroyed by the Berlin Wall, a symbol of confrontation between the two systems. In 1990, the unification of East and West Germany took place.
In 1991, the CMEA and the Warsaw Treaty Organization ceased their activities. In July 1991, the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms (OSNV-1) was signed in Moscow. As a result of the "new political thinking", the positions of the USSR in the world were lost, the "cold war" ended
Planet Earth. |
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The collapse of the USSR |
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Opponents |
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ATS and CMEA: |
NATO and EEC: |
Albania (until 1956) |
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France (until 1966) |
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Germany (since 1955) |
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Cuba (since 1961) |
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Angola (since 1975) |
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Afghanistan (since 1978) |
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Egypt (1952-1972) |
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Libya (since 1969) |
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Ethiopia (since 1974 |
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Iran (until 1979) |
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Indonesia (1959-1965) |
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Nicaragua (1979-1990) |
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Mali (until 1968) |
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Cambodia (since 1975) |
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Commanders |
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Joseph Stalin |
Harry Truman |
Georgy Malenkov |
Dwight Eisenhower |
Nikita Khrushchev |
John Kennedy |
Leonid Brezhnev |
Lyndon Johnson |
Yuri Andropov |
Richard Nixon |
Konstantin Chernenko |
Gerald Ford |
Mikhail Gorbachev |
Jimmy Carter |
Gennady Yanaev |
Ronald Reagan |
Enver Hoxha |
George W. Bush |
Georgy Dimitrov |
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Vylko Chervenkov |
Elizabeth II |
Todor Zhivkov |
Clement Attlee |
Matthias Rakosi |
Winston Churchill |
Janos Kadar |
Anthony Eden |
Wilhelm Peak |
Harold Macmillan |
Walter Ulbricht |
Alexander Douglas-Home |
Erich Honecker |
Harold Wilson |
Boleslav Bierut |
Edward Heath |
Vladislav Gomulka |
James Callaghan |
Edward Gierek |
Margaret Thatcher |
Stanislav Kanya |
John Major |
Wojciech Jaruzelski |
Vincent Auriol |
Gheorghe Georgiou-Dej |
René Coty |
Nicolae Ceausescu |
Charles de Gaulle |
Klement Gottwald |
Konrad Adenauer |
Antonin Zapototsky |
Ludwig Erhard |
Antonin Novotny |
Kurt Georg Kiesinger |
Ludwik Svoboda |
Willy Brandt |
Gustav Husak |
Helmut Schmidt |
Fidel Castro |
Helmut Kohl |
Raul Castro |
Juan Carlos I |
Ernesto Che Guevara |
Alcide de Gasperi |
Mao Zedong |
Giuseppe Pella |
Kim Il Sung |
Amintore Fanfani |
Ho Chi Minh |
Mario Shelba |
Antonio Segni |
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Ton Duc Thang |
Adone Zoli |
Khorlogiin Choibalsan |
Fernando Tambroni |
Gamal Abdel Nasser |
Giovanni Leone |
Fawzi Selu |
Aldo Moro |
Adib ash-Shishakli |
Mariano Rumor |
Shukri al-Quatli |
Emilio Colombo |
Nazim al-Qudsi |
Giulio Andreotti |
Amin al-Hafez |
Francesco Cossiga |
Nureddin al-Atassi |
Arnaldo Forlani |
Hafez al-Assad |
Giovanni Spadolini |
Abdul Salam Aref |
Bettino Craxi |
Abdul Rahman Aref |
Giovanni Goria |
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr |
Chiriaco de Mita |
Saddam Hussein |
Chiang Kai-shek |
Muammar Gaddafi |
Lee Seungman |
Ahmed Sukarno |
Yoon Bo Song |
Daniel Ortega |
park chung hee |
Choi Gyu Ha |
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jung doo hwan |
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Ngo Dinh Diem |
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Duong Van Minh |
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Nguyen Khanh |
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Nguyen Van Thieu |
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Chan Van Huong |
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Chaim Weizmann |
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Yitzhak Ben-Zvi |
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Zalman Shazar |
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Ephraim Katzir |
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Yitzhak Navon |
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Chaim Herzog |
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Mohammed Reza Pahlavi |
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Mobutu Sese Seko |
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A global geopolitical, economic and ideological confrontation between the Soviet Union and its allies, on the one hand, and the United States and its allies, on the other, which lasted from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s.
One of the main components of the confrontation was ideology. The deep contradiction between the capitalist and socialist models is the main cause of the Cold War. The two superpowers - winners in the Second World War - tried to rebuild the world according to their ideological guidelines. Over time, confrontation became an element of the ideology of the two sides and helped the leaders of the military-political blocs to consolidate allies around them "in the face of an external enemy." A new confrontation required the unity of all members of the opposing blocs.
The term "cold war" was first used on April 16, 1947 by Bernard Baruch, adviser to US President Harry Truman, in a speech before the South Carolina House of Representatives.
The internal logic of the confrontation required the parties to participate in conflicts and interfere in the development of events in any part of the world. The efforts of the USA and the USSR were directed, first of all, to dominance in the military sphere. From the very beginning of the confrontation, the process of militarization of the two superpowers unfolded.
The US and the USSR created their own spheres of influence, securing them with military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Although the United States and the USSR never entered into a direct military confrontation, their rivalry for influence often led to outbreaks of local armed conflicts around the world.
The Cold War was accompanied by a race of conventional and nuclear arms that every now and then threatened to lead to a third world war. The most famous of these cases, when the world was on the brink of disaster, was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. In this regard, in the 1970s, both sides made efforts to "defeat" international tension and limit arms.
The growing technological backwardness of the USSR, along with the stagnation of the Soviet economy and exorbitant military spending in the late 1970s and early 1980s, forced the Soviet leadership to undertake political and economic reforms. The course of perestroika and glasnost announced by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985 led to the loss of the leading role of the CPSU, and also contributed to the economic collapse in the USSR. Ultimately, the USSR, burdened by the economic crisis, as well as social and interethnic problems, collapsed in 1991.
In Eastern Europe, communist governments, deprived of Soviet support, were removed even earlier, in 1989-1990. The Warsaw Pact officially ended on July 1, 1991, marking the end of the Cold War.
Story
Start of the Cold War
The establishment of Soviet control over the countries of Eastern Europe after the end of the Second World War, in particular the creation of a pro-Soviet government in Poland in opposition to the Polish government in exile in London, led to the fact that the ruling circles of Great Britain and the United States began to perceive the USSR as a threat.
In April 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the preparation of a war plan against the USSR. The assignment was preceded by conclusions that Churchill presented in his memoirs:
The plan of operation was prepared by the Joint Planning Staff of the British War Cabinet. The plan gives an assessment of the situation, formulates the goals of the operation, defines the forces involved, the directions of attacks by the troops of the Western allies and their probable results.
The planners came to two main conclusions:
- starting a war with the USSR, it is necessary to be prepared for a long and costly total war, and for a completely possible defeat;
- the numerical superiority of Soviet troops on land makes it extremely doubtful whether one of the parties can achieve victory by a quick route.
It should be pointed out that Churchill pointed out in comments on the draft plan presented to him that it was a "precautionary measure" for what he hoped was a "purely hypothetical case."
In 1945, the USSR presented territorial claims to Turkey and demanded a change in the status of the Black Sea straits, including recognition of the right of the USSR to create naval base in the Dardanelles.
In 1946, the Greek rebels became more active, led by the Communists and fueled by the supply of weapons from Albania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, where the Communists were already in power. At the London meeting of foreign ministers, the USSR demanded that it be granted the right to protectorate over Tripolitania (Libya) in order to secure a presence in the Mediterranean.
In France and Italy, the Communist parties became the largest political parties and the Communists entered the governments. After the withdrawal of the main part of the American troops from Europe, the USSR became the dominant military force in continental Europe. Everything favored the establishment of Stalin's complete control over Europe, if he wished it.
Part of the politicians of the West began to advocate the appeasement of the USSR. US Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace expressed this position most clearly. He considered the claims of the USSR justified and offered to go to a kind of division of the world, recognizing the USSR's right to dominate in a number of regions of Europe and Asia. Churchill took a different view.
The formal beginning of the Cold War is often considered March 5, 1946, when Winston Churchill (at that time no longer holding the post of Prime Minister of Great Britain) delivered his famous speech in Fulton (USA, Missouri), in which he put forward the idea of creating a military alliance of the Anglo-Saxon countries with purpose of fighting world communism. In fact, the aggravation of relations between the allies began earlier, but by March 1946 it intensified due to the refusal of the USSR to withdraw the occupying troops from Iran (the troops were withdrawn only in May 1946 under pressure from Great Britain and the United States). Churchill's speech outlined a new reality that the retired British leader, after assurances of deep respect and admiration for "the valiant Russian people and my wartime comrade Marshal Stalin", defined as follows:
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...From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain stretches across the continent. On the other side of the imaginary line are all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. (…) The communist parties, which were very small in all the eastern states of Europe, seized power everywhere and gained unlimited totalitarian control. Police governments predominate almost everywhere, and so far, apart from Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy anywhere. Turkey and Persia are also deeply alarmed and concerned about the demands that the Muscovite government is making of them. The Russians made an attempt in Berlin to create a quasi-communist party in their zone of occupation of Germany (...) If the Soviet government now tries to separately create a pro-communist Germany in its zone, this will cause serious new difficulties in the British and American zones and will divide the defeated Germans between the Soviets and the Western democracies. (…) The facts are as follows: this, of course, is not the liberated Europe for which we fought. This is not what is needed for permanent peace. |
Churchill urged not to repeat the mistakes of the 30s and consistently defend the values of freedom, democracy and "Christian civilization" against totalitarianism, for which it is necessary to ensure close unity and rallying of the Anglo-Saxon nations.
A week later, JV Stalin, in an interview with Pravda, put Churchill on a par with Hitler and stated that in his speech he called on the West to go to war with the USSR.
1946-1953: the beginning of the confrontation
On March 12, 1947, US President Harry Truman announced his intention to provide Greece and Turkey with military and economic assistance in the amount of $400 million. At the same time, he formulated the objectives of US policy aimed at helping "free peoples who resist attempts at enslavement by an armed minority and external pressure." Truman in this statement, in addition, defined the content of the beginning rivalry between the US and the USSR as a conflict between democracy and totalitarianism. This is how the Truman Doctrine was born, which became the beginning of the transition from post-war cooperation between the USSR and the USA to rivalry.
In 1947, at the insistence of the USSR, the socialist countries refused to participate in the Marshall Plan, according to which the United States provided economic assistance to countries affected by the war in exchange for the exclusion of the Communists from the government.
The efforts of the USSR, in particular Soviet intelligence, were aimed at eliminating the US monopoly on the possession of nuclear weapons (see the article Creating the Soviet atomic bomb). On August 29, 1949, the first nuclear bomb tests were carried out in the Soviet Union at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. American scientists from the Manhattan Project had previously warned that over time the USSR would definitely create its own nuclear potential - nevertheless, this nuclear explosion had a stunning effect on US military-strategic planning - mainly because US military strategists did not expect that they would have to lose their monopoly so soon. At that time, it was not yet known about the successes of Soviet intelligence, which managed to penetrate Los Alamos.
In 1948, the United States adopted the "Vandenberg Resolution" - the official refusal of the United States from the practice of non-alignment with military-political blocs outside the borders of the Western Hemisphere in peacetime.
Already on April 4, 1949, NATO was created, and in October 1954 the FRG was admitted to the Western European Union and NATO. This step caused a negative reaction from the USSR. In response, the USSR set about creating a military bloc that would unite the Eastern European countries.
In the late 1940s, repressions against dissidents intensified in the USSR, who, in particular, were accused of “worshiping the West” (see also the article Fighting Cosmopolitanism), and a campaign was launched in the United States to identify communist sympathizers.
Although the USSR now also had a nuclear capability, the United States was far ahead in terms of both the number of charges and the number of bombers. In any conflict, the United States would easily be able to bomb the USSR, while the USSR could hardly retaliate.
The transition to the large-scale use of jet fighter-interceptors somewhat changed this situation in favor of the USSR, reducing the potential effectiveness of American bomber aircraft. In 1949, Curtis LeMay, the new commander of the US Strategic Air Command, signed a program to completely transition bomber aircraft to jet propulsion. In the early 1950s, the B-47 and B-52 bombers began to enter service.
The most acute period of confrontation between the two blocs (the USSR and the USA with their allies) fell on the years of the Korean War.
1953-1962: on the brink of nuclear war
With the onset of Khrushchev's "thaw", the threat of a world war receded - this was especially characteristic of the late 1950s, which culminated in Khrushchev's visit to the United States. However, the events of June 17, 1953 in the GDR, the events of 1956 in Poland, the anti-communist uprising in Hungary, and the Suez crisis fall within the same years.
In response to the numerical increase in Soviet bomber aircraft in the 1950s, the United States created around major cities a fairly strong layered air defense system, involving the use of interceptor aircraft, anti-aircraft artillery and ground-to-air missiles. But at the forefront was still the construction of a huge armada of nuclear bombers, which were intended to crush the defensive lines of the USSR - since it was considered impossible to provide effective and reliable protection for such a vast territory.
This approach is firmly rooted in strategic plans United States - it was believed that there was no reason for particular concern as long as the US strategic forces surpassed the overall potential of the Soviet Armed Forces with their power. Moreover, according to American strategists, the Soviet economy, destroyed during the war years, was hardly capable of creating an adequate counterforce potential.
However, the USSR quickly created its own strategic aviation and tested in 1957 an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) R-7 capable of reaching the United States. Since 1959, mass production of ICBMs began in the Soviet Union. (In 1958, the United States also tested its first Atlas ICBM). From the mid-1950s, the United States began to realize that in the event of a nuclear war, the USSR would be able to launch a retaliatory counter-value strike against American cities. Therefore, since the late 1950s, military experts have recognized that an all-out nuclear war between the United States and the USSR is becoming impossible.
The scandal with the American U-2 spy plane (1960) led to a new aggravation of relations between the USSR and the USA, which peaked in the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and the Caribbean Crisis (1962).
1962-1979: "Detente"
The ongoing nuclear arms race, the concentration of control of Western nuclear forces in the hands of the United States, and a number of incidents with nuclear weapons carriers have caused increasing criticism of US nuclear policy. Contradictions in the principles of managing nuclear weapons in the NATO command led to the withdrawal of France in 1966 from participation in the formation of the armed forces of this organization. On January 17, 1966, one of the largest incidents with nuclear weapons occurred: after a collision with a tanker aircraft, a US Air Force B-52 bomber made an emergency release of four thermonuclear bombs over the Spanish village of Palomares. After this incident, Spain refused to condemn the withdrawal of France from NATO and limited the military activities of the US Air Force in the country, suspending the Spanish-American agreement of 1953 on military cooperation; negotiations to renew this treaty in 1968 ended in failure.
Regarding the competition of the two systems in space, Vladimir Bugrov noted that in 1964, Korolev's main opponents managed to create the illusion with Khrushchev that it was possible to land on the moon before the Americans, according to the scientist, if there was a race, then between the chief designers.
In Germany, the coming to power of the Social Democrats led by Willy Brandt was marked by a new "Eastern policy", which resulted in the Moscow Treaty between the USSR and the FRG in 1970, which fixed the inviolability of borders, the rejection of territorial claims and declared the possibility of uniting the FRG and the GDR.
In 1968, attempts at democratic reforms in Czechoslovakia (Prague Spring) caused the military intervention of the USSR and its allies.
However, Brezhnev, unlike Khrushchev, had no penchant for risky adventures outside the well-defined Soviet sphere of influence, nor for extravagant "peaceful" actions; The 1970s passed under the sign of the so-called "détente of international tension", the manifestations of which were the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki) and the joint Soviet-American flight into space (the Soyuz-Apollo program); At the same time, treaties on the limitation of strategic arms were signed. This was largely determined by economic reasons, since the USSR already then began to experience an increasingly acute dependence on the purchase of consumer goods and food (for which foreign currency loans were required), while the West, during the years of the oil crisis caused by the Arab-Israeli confrontation, was extremely interested in the Soviet oil. In military terms, the basis of "detente" was the nuclear-missile parity of the blocs that had developed by that time.
On August 17, 1973, US Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger put forward the doctrine of a “blinding” or “decapitating” strike: defeating enemy command posts and communication centers with medium and shorter range missiles, cruise missiles with laser, television and infrared targeting systems. This approach assumed a gain in "flight time" - the defeat of command posts before the enemy had time to decide on a retaliatory strike. The emphasis on deterrence has shifted from the strategic triad to medium and short-range weapons. In 1974, this approach was enshrined in key US nuclear strategy documents. On this basis, the United States and other NATO countries began the modernization of forward base systems (Forward Base Systems) - American tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Western Europe or off its coast. At the same time, the United States began to create a new generation of cruise missiles capable of hitting given targets as accurately as possible.
These steps raised fears in the USSR, since the forward-based US assets, as well as the "independent" nuclear capabilities of Great Britain and France, were capable of hitting targets in the European part of the Soviet Union. In 1976, Dmitry Ustinov became the Minister of Defense of the USSR, who was inclined to take a tough response to US actions. Ustinov was not so much in favor of building up the ground grouping of conventional armed forces, but in favor of improving the technical fleet Soviet army. The Soviet Union began to modernize medium and shorter range nuclear weapons delivery vehicles in the European theater of operations.
Under the pretext of modernizing the obsolete RSD-4 and RSD-5 (SS-4 and SS-5) complexes, the USSR began to deploy medium-range RSD-10 Pioneer (SS-20) missiles on the western borders. In December 1976, the missile systems were deployed, and in February 1977 they were put on combat duty in the European part of the USSR. In total, about 300 missiles of this class were deployed, each of which was equipped with three independently targetable multiple warheads. This allowed the USSR to destroy NATO's military infrastructure in Western Europe in a matter of minutes - control centers, command posts and, especially, ports, which, in the event of war, made it impossible for American troops to land in Western Europe. At the same time, the USSR modernized the general-purpose forces stationed in Central Europe - in particular, it modernized the Tu-22M long-range bomber to a strategic level.
The actions of the USSR caused a negative reaction of the NATO countries. On December 12, 1979, a double decision was made by NATO - the deployment of American medium-range and shorter-range missiles on the territory of Western European countries and at the same time the beginning of negotiations with the USSR on the issue of euro-missiles. However, the negotiations stalled.
1979-1986: a new round of confrontation
A new aggravation came in 1979 in connection with the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan, which was perceived in the West as a violation of the geopolitical balance and the transition of the USSR to a policy of expansion. The aggravation peaked in the fall of 1983, when Soviet forces Air defense shot down a South Korean civilian airliner, on board, according to media reports, there were about 300 people. It was then that US President Ronald Reagan called the USSR an "evil empire."
In 1983, the United States deployed Pershing-2 medium-range ballistic missiles on the territory of Germany, Great Britain, Denmark, Belgium and Italy, 5-7 minutes from targets on the European territory of the USSR, and air-launched cruise missiles. In parallel, in 1981, the United States began the production of neutron weapons - artillery shells and warheads of the Lance short-range missile. Analysts speculated that these weapons could be used to repel the offensive of the Warsaw Pact troops in Central Europe. The United States also began developing a space-based missile defense program (the so-called star wars»); both of these large-scale programs were extremely disturbing to the Soviet leadership, especially since the USSR, which maintained nuclear-missile parity with great difficulty and stress for the economy, did not have the means to adequately rebuff it in space.
In response, in November 1983, the USSR withdrew from the Geneva talks on Euromissiles. Yury Andropov, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, announced that the USSR would take a number of countermeasures: it would deploy operational-tactical nuclear launch vehicles on the territory of the GDR and Czechoslovakia and push Soviet nuclear submarines closer to the US coast. In 1983-1986 Soviet nuclear forces and the missile attack warning system were on high alert.
According to available data, in 1981, the Soviet intelligence services (KGB and GRU) launched Operation Nuclear Missile Attack (Operation RYAN) - monitoring the possible preparation of NATO countries for the start of a limited nuclear war in Europe. The alarms of the Soviet leadership were caused by the NATO exercises "Able archer 83" - in the USSR they feared that, under their cover, NATO was preparing to launch "Euromissiles" against targets in the Warsaw Pact countries. Similarly, in 1983-1986. military analysts of the NATO countries feared that the USSR would launch a preemptive "disarming" strike on the bases of the "Euromissiles".
1987-1991: Gorbachev's "new thinking" and the end of the confrontation
With the coming to power of Mikhail Gorbachev, who proclaimed "socialist pluralism" and "the priority of universal human values over class values", the ideological confrontation quickly lost its sharpness. In the military-political sense, Gorbachev initially tried to pursue a policy in the spirit of the "détente" of the 1970s, proposing programs to limit weapons, but rather hard bargaining over the terms of the treaty (meeting in Reykjavik).
However, the development of the political process in the USSR towards the rejection of communist ideology, as well as the dependence of the USSR economy on Western technologies and loans due to a sharp drop in oil prices, led the USSR to make wide concessions in the foreign policy sphere. It is widely believed that this was also due to the fact that the increased military spending as a result of the arms race became unsustainable for the Soviet economy, but a number of researchers argue that the relative level of military spending in the USSR was not excessively high.
In 1988, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan began. The fall of the communist system in Eastern Europe in 1989-1990. led to the liquidation of the Soviet bloc, and with it - to the actual cessation of the Cold War.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union itself was in deep crisis. The central authorities began to lose control over the union republics. Ethnic conflicts broke out on the outskirts of the country. In December 1991, the final disintegration of the USSR took place.
Manifestations of the Cold War
- Acute political and ideological confrontation between the communist and Western liberal systems, which engulfed almost the entire world;
- creation of a system of military (NATO, Warsaw Treaty Organization, SEATO, CENTO, ANZUS, ANZUK) and economic (EEC, CMEA, ASEAN, etc.) unions;
- creation of an extensive network of military bases of the USA and the USSR on the territory foreign countries;
- forcing the arms race and military preparations;
- a sharp increase in military spending;
- recurring international crises (Berlin crises, Caribbean crisis, Korean War, Vietnam War, Afghan war);
- the tacit division of the world into “spheres of influence” of the Soviet and Western blocs, within which the possibility of intervention was tacitly allowed in order to maintain a regime that was pleasing to one or another bloc (Soviet intervention in Hungary, Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, the American operation in Guatemala, the overthrow of the anti-Western organized by the United States and Great Britain government in Iran, the US-sponsored invasion of Cuba, the US intervention in the Dominican Republic, the US intervention in Grenada);
- the rise of the national liberation movement in colonial and dependent countries and territories (partly inspired by the USSR), the decolonization of these countries, the formation of the "third world", the Non-Aligned Movement, neo-colonialism;
- waging a massive "psychological war", the purpose of which was to promote their own ideology and way of life, as well as to discredit the official ideology and way of life of the opposite bloc in the eyes of the population of "enemy" countries and the "third world". For this purpose, radio stations were created that broadcast to the territory of the countries of the “ideological enemy” (see the articles Enemy Voices and Foreign Broadcasting), the production of ideologically oriented literature and periodicals was financed on foreign languages, the injection of class, racial, national contradictions was actively used. The first main department of the KGB of the USSR carried out the so-called "active measures" - operations to influence foreign public opinion and the policy of foreign states in the interests of the USSR.
- support for anti-government forces abroad - the USSR and its allies provided material support to communist parties and some other leftist parties in Western and developing countries, as well as national liberation movements, including terrorist organizations. Also, the USSR and its allies supported the movement for peace in the countries of the West. In turn, the US and British intelligence agencies supported and took advantage of such anti-Soviet organizations as the People's Labor Union. The US has also secretly provided material assistance to Solidarity in Poland since 1982, and also provided material assistance to the Afghan Mujahideen and the Contras in Nicaragua.
- reduction of economic and humanitarian ties between states with different socio-political systems.
- boycotts of some Olympic Games. For example, the United States and a number of other countries boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. In response, the USSR and most socialist countries boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Lessons from the Cold War
Joseph Nye, professor at Harvard University (USA), speaking at the conference “From Fulton to Malta: How the Cold War Began and Ended” (Gorbachev Foundation, March 2005), pointed out the lessons to be learned from the Cold War:
- bloodshed as a means of settling global or regional conflicts is not inevitable;
- a significant deterrent role was played by the fact that the warring parties had nuclear weapons and an understanding of what the world could become after nuclear conflict;
- the course of development of conflicts is closely related to the personal qualities of specific leaders (Stalin and Harry Truman, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan);
- military power is essential, but not decisive (the US was defeated in Vietnam, and the USSR in Afghanistan); in the era of nationalism and the third industrial (information) revolution, it is impossible to control the hostile population of the occupied country;
- under these conditions, the economic power of the state and the ability of the economic system to adapt to the requirements of modernity, the ability to constantly innovate, acquire a much greater role.
- a significant role is played by the use of soft forms of influence, or soft power, that is, the ability to get what you want from others without forcing (intimidating) them and without buying their consent, but by attracting them to your side. Immediately after the defeat of Nazism, the USSR and communist ideas had serious potential, but most of it was lost after the events in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and this process continued as the Soviet Union used its military power.
Memories of the Cold War
Museums
- The Cold War Museum is a military history museum and a museum and entertainment complex in Moscow.
- The Cold War Museum (UK) is a military history museum in Shropshire.
- The Cold War Museum (Ukraine) is a naval museum complex in Balaklava.
- The Cold War Museum (USA) is a military history museum in Lorton, Virginia.
Medal "For Victory in the Cold War"
In early April 2007, a bill was introduced in both houses of the US Congress to establish a new military award for participation in the Cold War ( Cold War Service Medal), backed by a group of Democratic senators and congressmen led by current US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The medal is proposed to be awarded to all those who served in the armed forces or worked in US government departments from September 2, 1945 to December 26, 1991.
As Hillary Clinton stated, “Our victory in the Cold War was only possible because of the willingness of millions of Americans in uniform to repel the threat posed by the Iron Curtain. Our victory in the Cold War was a huge achievement, and the men and women who served at that time deserve to be commended."
Congressman Robert Andrews, who introduced the bill in the House of Representatives, said: “The Cold War was a global military operation, extremely dangerous and sometimes deadly for the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who participated in this campaign. The millions of American veterans who served around the world to help us win this conflict deserve a unique medal in recognition and respect for their service."
In the United States, there is an Association of Cold War Veterans, which also demanded from the authorities recognition of their merits in the victory over the USSR, but only managed to achieve the issuance of certificates from the Ministry of Defense confirming participation in the Cold War. The Veterans Association has issued its own unofficial medal, the design of which was developed by the leading specialist of the US Army Institute of Heraldry, Naidin Russell.
The greatest role was played by military-technical factors that directly affected the policy of the USSR and the USA. None of the great powers managed to create an absolute superiority of forces, which would become a source of confidence in military victory in the event of a direct conflict. In the initial period of the Cold War, the United States had a monopoly on nuclear weapons, but had no more reliable means of delivering them than heavy bombers, vulnerable to Soviet weapons. air defense. In addition, in the potential Eurasian theaters of operations, the USSR would have an advantage in conventional weapons. With the advent of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons in the USSR, and then ballistic missiles, although the United States had an advantage in their number until the end of the 1960s, the territories of both great powers became vulnerable to nuclear strikes. With the achievement of quantitative equality (parity) in strategic arms, the rivalry has embraced a different side - their qualitative improvement. The formulas for orderly rivalry took some time to develop. On the initial stage"cold war", the chronological framework of which was determined by the period 1947-1953, both sides proceeded from a very high degree the likelihood of a military clash with each other. Both the USSR and the USA sought as soon as possible to include in the orbit of their influence all countries whose fate and choice had not yet been determined, and at least to prevent the expansion of the opponent's sphere of influence.
The Berlin crisis of 1948 - Germany and its capital - Berlin were divided into zones of occupation by the USA, Great Britain, France, the USSR. After the monetary reform in the western part of the country, the USSR closed communication with the eastern part, hoping to solve the problem through negotiations, hoping that in this situation the Western countries would make concessions on the German issue. However, the US categorically ruled out negotiations from a position of weakness.
The blockade was broken with the establishment of an air bridge with West Berlin, through which food was supplied to the city. The command of the US troops in Germany did not rule out the emergence of a direct military conflict if the USSR tried to interfere with these deliveries. War in Korea, 1950-1953 The second conflict that brought the USSR and the USA to the brink of a direct confrontation. A similar impasse developed in Indochina, where France, having lost direct control over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, sought to maintain a pro-Western dictatorial regime in Vietnam.
The national liberation forces, which adopted a communist orientation, were assisted by China and the USSR. French troops suffered heavy defeats. By 1954, it became clear that neither side was capable of achieving military success. Caribbean crisis of 1962 and its significance. The most acute conflict of the Cold War was the Caribbean Crisis of 1962. The victory in 1959 in Cuba of the revolutionary movement led by F. Castro, and his choice of a course of cooperation with the USSR caused concern in Washington. In Moscow, on the contrary, the appearance of the first ally in the Western Hemisphere was greeted as a sign of coming changes in favor of the USSR in Latin America. The confidence of the Soviet leaders that the United States would somehow try to overthrow the regime of F. Castro, the desire to change the balance of power in their favor, prompted them to deploy medium-range missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba, capable of reaching most American cities. This step, taken in secret not only from the world community, but also from its own diplomats, became known to the US government thanks to aerial reconnaissance. He was seen as posing a mortal threat to American interests. The retaliatory measures (imposing a naval blockade of Cuba and preparing for preemptive strikes against Soviet bases on the island) brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. The settlement of the conflict became possible thanks to the restraint and common sense shown by US President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader N.S. Khrushchev. Zagladin N.V. The World History: XX century. Textbook for schoolchildren of 10-11 grades. Second edition. M .: LLC "Trading and Publishing House" Russian word-- PC, 2000
Any of the above conflicts, in which, on the one hand, the countries of the Western bloc were involved, and on the other, the USSR and its allies, could lead to major military actions. This was especially dangerous because of the large number of scientific discoveries and their application in the military industry.
The Cold War, which lasted from 1946 to 1989, was not an ordinary military confrontation. It was a struggle of ideologies, different social systems. The very term "cold war" appeared among journalists, but quickly became popular.
Causes
It seems that the end of the terrible and bloody World War II should have led to world peace, friendship and unity of all peoples. But the contradictions among the allies and the victors only intensified.
The struggle for spheres of influence began. Both the USSR and the Western countries (led by the USA) sought to expand "their territories".
- Westerners were frightened by communist ideology. They could not even imagine that private property would suddenly become state property.
- The United States and the USSR did their best to increase their influence by supporting various regimes (which sometimes led to local wars around the world).
There was no direct confrontation. Everyone was afraid to press the "red button" and launch nuclear warheads.
Main events
Speech in Fulton as the first "swallow" of the war
In March 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill blamed the Soviet Union. Churchill said that he was engaged in active world expansion, violating rights and freedoms. At the same time, the British Prime Minister called on Western countries to repulse the USSR. It is from this moment that historians count the beginning of the Cold War.
The Truman Doctrine and "Containment" Attempts
The United States decided to start "containment" of the Soviet Union after the events in Greece and Turkey. The USSR demanded territories from the Turkish authorities for the subsequent deployment of a military base in the Mediterranean. This immediately alerted the West. The doctrine of the American President Truman marked the complete cessation of cooperation between the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.
Creation of military blocs and division of Germany
In 1949, a military alliance of a number of Western countries- NATO. After 6 years (in 1955) the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe united in the Warsaw Treaty Organization.
Also in 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany appeared on the site of the western zone of occupation of Germany, and the German Democratic Republic appeared on the site of the eastern one.
Chinese Civil War
The civil war in China in 1946–1949 was also a consequence of the ideological struggle between the 2 systems. China after the end of World War II was also divided into 2 parts. The northeast was under the control of the People's Liberation Army of China. The rest were subordinate to Chiang Kai-shek (leader of the Kuomintang Party). When peaceful elections failed, war broke out. The Chinese Communist Party won.
Korean War
Korea also at that time was split into 2 zones of occupation under the control of the USSR and the USA. Their henchmen are Kim Il Sung in the north and Lee Syngman in the south of Korea. Each of them wanted to take over the whole country. A war broke out (1950-1953), which, apart from huge human losses, did not lead to anything. The borders of North and South Korea have not changed much.
Berlin Crisis
Most hard years Cold War - early 60s. It was then that the whole world was on the brink of nuclear war. In 1961, Soviet Secretary General Khrushchev demanded that US President Kennedy radically change the status of West Berlin. The Soviet Union was alarmed by the activity of Western intelligence there, as well as the "brain drain" to the West. There was no military clash, but West Berlin was surrounded by a wall - the main symbol of the Cold War. Many German families found themselves on opposite sides of the barricades.
Cuban Crisis
The most intense conflict of the Cold War was the crisis in Cuba in 1962. The USSR, in response to the request of the leaders of the Cuban revolution, agreed to deploy medium-range nuclear missiles on Liberty Island.
As a result, any town in the US could be wiped off the face of the earth in 2-3 seconds. The United States did not like this "neighborhood". I almost got to the “red nuclear button”. But even here the parties managed to agree peacefully. The Soviet Union did not deploy missiles, and the United States guaranteed Cuba not to interfere in their affairs. American missiles were also withdrawn from Turkey.
The policy of "détente"
The Cold War did not always proceed in an acute phase. Sometimes tension was replaced by "detente". During such periods, the US and the USSR entered into important agreements to limit strategic nuclear weapons and missile defense. In 1975, the Helsinki Conference of 2 countries was held, and the Soyuz-Apollo program was launched in space.
A new round of tension
The entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan in 1979 led to a new round of tension. The United States in 1980-1982 waged a set of economic sanctions against the Soviet Union. The installation of regular American missiles in European countries has begun. Under Andropov, all negotiations with the United States ceased.
Crisis of the socialist countries. perestroika
By the mid-1980s, many socialist countries were on the verge of a crisis. Less and less aid came from the USSR. The needs of the population grew, people sought to travel to the West, where they discovered a lot of new things for themselves. The consciousness of people has changed. They wanted change, a life in a more open and free society. The technical lag of the USSR from the countries of the West was intensifying.
- Understanding this, the General Secretary of the USSR Gorbachev tried to revive the economy through "perestroika", give the people more "glasnost" and move on to "new thinking".
- The communist parties of the socialist camp tried to modernize their ideology and move on to a new economic policy.
- The Berlin Wall, which was the symbol of the Cold War, has fallen. The unification of Germany took place.
- The USSR began to withdraw its troops from European countries.
- In 1991, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved.
- The USSR, which did not survive the deep economic crisis, also collapsed.
Results
Historians argue about whether to link the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR. Nevertheless, the end of this confrontation occurred as early as 1989, when many authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe ceased to exist. Contradictions on the ideological front were completely removed. Many countries of the former socialist bloc became part of the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance
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