Cold War: An Overview

By Burleigh Hendrickson

The aftermath of World War Two shifted the global balance of power
and created a bi-polar world led by two competing superpowers:
The United States (US) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR). We call this global competition the Cold War.
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Cold War: An Overview
Burleigh Hendrickson

What was the Cold War?

The destruction of World War II reduced many European
cities to rubble. It also led world leaders to seek new ways
to protect against future attacks. While the United States
and the Soviet Union had worked together to defeat the
Axis powers, their partnership quickly turned to a 50-year-
long confrontation. They disagreed about how to rebuild
Europe, and their efforts to increase their own security
often conflicted. This fierce conflict is called the “Cold
War” since the two superpowers never directly engaged in
combat (“hot war”). Instead, they increased their military
capabilities, tried to expand their global influence, and
undermined the other’s way of life in the eyes of the world.
While the United States believed in a capitalist system of
free markets and multiple political parties, the Soviet
Union was founded on a communist system controlled by a
centralized state and a single political party.

The Cold War came down to some basic differences

between the world-views of the United States and the
Soviet Union. Communist societies believed in
redistributing wealth (taking from the rich and giving to the Map of Cold War military alliances. The Eastern Soviet “Warsaw
poor) and promoted workers and state-run economies. Pact” areas are in red, and the Western NATO areas are in blue.
These resulted in low unemployment rates but sometimes CC BY-SA 3.0
led to the unequal distribution of consumer goods. They
also viewed organized religion as dangerous. The US
capitalist system let free markets determine the production
and distribution of goods, and promoted freedom of
religion. This led to more productivity but often created
massive economic inequalities. Both sides also used
propaganda to paint a negative picture of their enemies.
From 1945 until the collapse of the USSR in the 1990s,
these two nations competed for global influence in the
areas of military, economics, politics, and even culture.

Three key features defined the Cold War: 1) the threat of

nuclear war, 2) competition over the allegiance (loyalty)
of newly independent nations, and 3) the military and
economic support of each other’s enemies around the
world. The United States showed its global military
dominance when it dropped two atomic bombs on Japan
to end the war. This act prompted the USSR to seek
nuclear technology to discourage American aggression.
The United States held other advantages as well. Having
entered World War II late in the conflict, it lost far fewer Map of Iron Curtain dividing the Eastern Bloc and USSR from
soldiers and civilians. The USSR lost 8-10 million soldiers Western Europe. The black dot in Germany represents the
(25 million including civilians) yet the United States division between East and West Berlin. By Semhur,
CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Cold War: An Overview
Burleigh Hendrickson

lost 300,000 in the war. While the Soviet Union faced a devastating invasion, most of the United States emerged
unscathed from the war. Finally, the US economy expanded during the war as it made profits selling weapons and
supplies to the Allied forces.

A divided Europe
After a long history of enemy invasions, Soviet leader
Josef Stalin wanted to expand its territory and build a
buffer between the Soviet Union and Europe. He also
wanted control in Central and Eastern European
countries that the Soviets had helped liberate. As a
result, Stalin quickly established strong communist
parties that took power in Central and Eastern Europe
(the Eastern Bloc). They took orders from the USSR.
Meanwhile, the United States provided over $12 billion
in aid for rebuilding Western European nations who
agreed to open trade.

This divided Europe, breaking trade networks and

splitting communities between East and West. These
economic divisions spread to separate military alliances
in each zone. This further divided Europe along an
imaginary line called the Iron Curtain. Travel and cultural
exchange across the Iron Curtain became increasingly
difficult. It separated previously connected communities
and created new ones living either under a communist or
capitalist system.

Germany became a Cold War battleground. East and West

Germany had separate governments and capital cities.
Families were separated based solely on where the lines
were drawn. The city of Berlin became a microcosm
(small-scale representation) of the Cold War, with British,
French, and Americans controlling West Berlin while
the Soviets controlled East Berlin. To prevent defections
(people leaving one state for another), the communists
built the Berlin Wall in 1961. It divided the city. They set up West Berliners lift up babies to meet family members living across
checkpoints to control border crossings. At some points, the wall in East Berlin. By the CIA, public domain.
guards even had orders to kill unarmed East Germans
seeking to cross illegally. The wall became the most
important symbol of the Cold War.

The Cold War heats up around the world

The Cold War started in Europe. From 1945 to 1953, the USSR expanded its influence by creating the Eastern Bloc
across states like Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Stalin set up puppet communist governments that he could
control. He repressed anyone who resisted. The United States likewise began to meddle in the affairs of foreign
nations where it feared communist regimes would gain control. This became known as a policy of containment.
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Burleigh Hendrickson

In the 1950s, competition had spread to the Middle East, Asia, and
Latin America, with each side trying to establish control. By the
1960s, the Cold War reached Africa. Many former colonies
achieved independence from European empires (decolonization).
These new nations sided with the Americans or Soviets to
receive economic and military aid. Both superpowers supported
dictatorships that came to power through violence and repressed
their societies—all to gain an edge in the global Cold War.

Some of the most important Cold War conflicts took place in Asia.
Communists took power in China in 1949, and the Americans
feared other countries would soon follow. In 1953, Korea had been
divided into two zones, with a communist government in the North
and an American-leaning government in the South. To contain the
spread of communism to South Korea, the US sent troops. The
Chinese responded by sending their own troops to the border.
The war killed nearly 5 million people but ended in a stalemate,
leaving a divided Korea that remains today.

Perhaps no conflict illustrates the policy of containment better

than Vietnam. Like Korea, Vietnam was divided into a communist
north and pro-West south. To contain the communist north, the
United States invaded in the 1960s. The Soviet Union sent money A 1962 comic showing Stalin controlling puppets in
and weapons to the communist forces. By 1975, with the help of Europe and Asia. By Manhhai, CC BY 2.0.
the Soviets and China, a small, poor nation defeated the strongest
military superpower in the world. Over 58,000 Americans died in
the conflict. The war divided Americans who were for or against
the war. The US intervention in Vietnam exposed the hypocrisy of
US policies that claimed to promote self-determination, and it
inspired other small nations to determine their own futures.

After the Vietnam War, Cold War tension briefly decreased. The
Americans’ defeat in Vietnam, the threat of nuclear war, and new
Soviet leadership led to open discussions between the sides. But
much like the Americans had in Vietnam, the USSR intervened
in Afghanistan in the 1980s. It wanted to ensure the victory of a
communist-leaning group and sent troops to assist them. Just
as North Vietnam received aid and military assistance from the
USSR, the United States backed Soviet enemies in Afghanistan
with money and weapons. Ultimately, the USSR was equally
unsuccessful, and US-backed forces emerged victorious. After
much infighting, Islamic extremists called the Taliban claimed
power in the region, thanks to American aid.

Two Americans protest the Vietnam War in Kansas,

1967. Public domain.

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Cold War: An Overview
Burleigh Hendrickson

The end of the Cold War

The Cold War finally ended in the 1990s. The USSR
could no longer keep up with US military spending.
Meanwhile, economic problems in the Eastern Bloc
meant that goods were in short supply. To keep
citizens from revolting, the new Soviet leader,
Mikhael Gorbachev, proposed reforms to stimulate
communist economies. The economic reforms were
known as perestroika, or “restructuring.” He also
relaxed restrictions on freedom of expression, a
policy called glasnost, or “openness.” These reforms
were too little too late.

In 1989, the most iconic symbol of the Iron Curtain,

the Berlin Wall, which divided the German city, was
torn down by Germans on both sides seeking to unify
Germany. Similar waves of anti-communism spread
throughout the Eastern Bloc. The end of the Cold War
was marked by the disintegration of the USSR into
over a dozen independent nations.

Fear of a nuclear war likely prevented direct

combat between the Americans and the Soviets.
Though they did not engage in all-out warfare, the
two superpowers supported many of each other’s
enemies in combat. They created a bi-polar system
of global power that forced other nations to choose
sides and ripped communities apart. The economic
troubles created by the Soviet war in Afghanistan left
the USSR unable to maintain control of the Eastern
Bloc. Once self-determination was possible in the
1990s, many Eastern European countries chose a
different path. They elected non-communist parties
and joined the European Union. Outside of Europe, East and West Germans call for unification of the country and the
communists in places like Cuba and China have removal of the Berlin Wall in the fall of 1989. By Sue Ream, CC BY 3.0.
remained in power while other nations removed pro-
US dictators. Whichever path nations have chosen
since the collapse of the USSR, the Cold War has left
a major imprint.

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Cold War: An Overview
Burleigh Hendrickson

Burleigh Hendrickson
Burleigh Hendrickson is a Visiting Assistant Professor in French and Francophone Studies at Dickinson College. He holds a
PhD in world history from Northeastern University, and taught survey courses in the history of globalization at Boston College.
He has published several peer-reviewed articles on transnational political activism in the Francophone world.

Image credits
Map of Cold War military alliances. The Eastern Soviet “Warsaw Pact” areas are in red, and the Western NATO areas are in
blue. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1253599
Map of Iron Curtain dividing the Eastern Bloc and USSR from Western Europe. The black dot in Germany represents the division
between East and West Berlin. By Semhur, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iron_Curtain_map.svg
West Berliners lift up babies to meet family members living across the wall in East Berlin. By the Central Intelligence Agency,
public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Berliners_-_Flickr_-_The_Central_Intelligence_Agency_(6).jpg
A 1962 comic showing Stalin controlling puppets in Europe and Asia. By Manhhai, CC BY 2.0. https://www.flickr.com/
photos/13476480@N07/16582118896/in/photostream/
Two Americans protest the Vietnam War in Kansas, 1967. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vietnam_
War_protesters.jpg
East and West Germans call for unification of the country and the removal of the Berlin Wall in the fall of 1989. By Sue Ream,
CC BY 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BerlinWall-BrandenburgGate.jpg

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