Remarks on the Cold War by David Johnstone, spring 2011
For much of history, campaigns were waged and battles fought because one group wanted something that another group had, such as land, resources, things. World War II was fought to stop an advancing Nazi Germany (and Japan); not because the Germans were Nazis (they had been Nazis for years with little more than a few complaints) but because the German’s tried to take things that were not theirs.
During WWII, the Soviets and Americans were on the same side against a common enemy (Germany, and kind of Japan), but they were by no means allies. Neither really trusted the other: The Soviets questioned the level of Allied support and the Allies considered taking Moscow after securing Berlin. This lack of trust was inevitable considering the set of ideals on what would become the opposing sides of the Cold War. The Soviet Union had adopted a kind of Marxism and blamed capitalism for all the world’s evils, while America was booming thanks to that same capitalism the Soviets so feared. Because of their polar opposite ideological principles, the Americans feared Soviet communism as much as the Soviets feared western capitalism.
Once the war was over and their mutual enemy had been defeated, there remained two world powers: the USA and the USSR; vastly different in their perspectives, yet equally threatening to each other. The ensuing power struggle, unlike prior territorial conflicts, was a battle of philosophies that spread around the world. This global tension, dubbed the Cold War, was traditionally dated from the end of WWII to the fall of the Soviet Union; although, it could be argued that the real tensions began with the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 when communism declared an irreconcilable enemy in world capitalism. The actual end point of the Cold War is just as debatable. Who was responsible for the end and, indeed, did it even end at all? Between, for example, 1945 and 1990, the Cold War spread far beyond the two superpowers; making it not only a global struggle, but also an influence on global societies and culture.
After 1945, Germany proved to be the litmus test for Soviet intentions. It was in Germany where the post-WWII Soviet Union and Allies confronted just how much they could trust each other...and it did not take long before the Russians broke that trust. Twice the Russians tried to take a divided Germany by isolating their portion of Berlin. The first time, the allies were able to thwart Russian intentions via the Berlin Airlift, the airlifting of food and supplies to a sector of Berlin that had been blockaded by the Russians. The Russians eventually realized the futility of their blockade, and tensions kind of eased. The second attempt by the Soviet Union to resolve the issue of Berlin was not only more “successful,” but it yielded one of the most powerful icons of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall. Those who witnessed its construction could never imagine such a barrier being built; those born later could hardly imagine a world without it. The wall and all it symbolized became a tangible symbol of the physical division between communism and democracy, between oppression and freedom.
The Cold War played out like a chess match on a global scale between the United States and the Soviet Union with each side working to influence countries throughout the world to take sides so that either the US or the USSR would gain the greatest strategic advantage. The Soviets held territory in Eastern and Central Europe that had been taken during the advance on Berlin at the end of WWII, and Russia used it as a buffer for its western border. Working to gain his own advantage, US president Truman, in true capitalist fashion, offered economic support for free European nations to continue resisting communism, hoping freedom would spread eastward to the Soviet-controlled states. Not to be outdone, the Soviets countered this Truman Doctrine with their own Molotov Plan, providing increased support to their communist satellite countries to resist the temptations of capitalism.
The US and USSR wanted nothing more than the collapse of the other, but neither was willing to engage the other directly because of the build-up of nuclear weapons by each side which all but guaranteed mutually assured destruction (MAD). Instead, the battle between communism and freedom was fought in proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam, Ethiopia, El Salvador and Afghanistan) and by battles for economic and ideological influence (Middle East and North Africa). The boiling point was reached during the Cuban missile crisis...not only was it the moment when the Cold War could have turned white hot, but it was also the moment when the Soviets faced off with America and the Soviets blinked.
The Cold War not only dominated global politics for decades, it also had a profound impact on the culture of everyone involved in it. The 1960’s saw the emergence of an anti-war movement in the United States that inspired music, books and philosophies and that carried on to future generations. Movies and television programs of the 1980’s were a common medium for anti-communism and hyper-Americanism where the popular theme was to beat the Russians, be it by covert military operation or in the boxing ring. While the US and USSR avoided direct military engagement, other fields of battle took the place of soldiers: olympic hockey players faced off on the ice; and sitting across from each other at an actual chess board, an American defeated a Soviet chess hero and greatly wounded Soviet pride. The race to reach outer space and the Moon were also huge sources of national pride, fueled by the Cold War rivalry that made every new challenge a race to beat the other. From James Bond to Bobby Fisher, Bob Dylan to Rocky Balboa, the Cold War was immeasurably influential on popular culture, not just in the United States, but around the world.
Something not to be overlooked is the profound influence of television on duration and understanding of the Cold War. Unlike WWII where radio broadcasts or movie news reels were censored to ensure the most positive influence, television brought the war home. Citizens were seeing war and politics in a way they never had before. For the first time they saw it as it was, not as it was presented. The images and words coming from the television set each night were enough to stir opinions and protests to the point that they influenced the path of history.
Since the USSR officially dissolved on December 25, 1991, there has been much debate about just how the Cold War ended. Was Ronald Reagan the hero? What about Margaret Thatcher? Mikhail Gorbachev? Some have even speculated that Pope John Paul II was key. Quite simply, they were all responsible. The Soviet Union was already plagued by internal problems by the time Reagan and Gorbachev stepped in to seal the fate of the Soviet Union.
The bigger question should be: Did the Cold War really end? Think about it. If the Cold War was not about one country versus another country over territory, but instead a battle of philosophies involving many countries, then when did one philosophy defeat the other and everyone become liberated? The answer is that it did not happen. The other big communist threat, China, is still communist and continues to pose a continuing, perhaps greater threat to the free world. China is positioning itself economically to yield significant leverage over the United States; the Chinese military is investing in more and more offensive weaponry and is engaged in multiple cyber-attacks on US government installations.
What about Russia? Under Gorbachev, the country became an overnight ally enjoying McDonald’s Big Macs and Levi jeans. Now, the depths of that friendship is not so clear. President Vladimir Putin was an old-school KGB operative and continues to play old school politics. Russia’s choice in partners must also give the US pause for concern, for just as the Russian-Cuban relationship was a threat, so does one wonder about the relationship between Russia and Venezuela...a Russian military installation in Venezuela is no better than one was in Cuba. And for the true conspiracy theorists, there are reports that Iraq’s missing WMD’s sought during the Second Gulf War were transported to Syria with Russian assistance; again, giving the US reason to question Russia’s true intentions. The USSR may not exist and there may not be many TV movies about nuclear war anymore, but the chess match between capitalism and communism never reached a checkmate, it has only taken a intermission.