Beginning of the Cold War.

cold war dulles plan

The ideological confrontation, muted on both sides during the Second World War, did not disappear, the contradictions between the two systems - capitalist and socialist - persisted and became stronger, the more countries were drawn into the orbit of Soviet influence. The open rejection of a different socio-economic system was aggravated by a completely new nuclear factor, which gradually came to the fore. Even during the Second World War, the United States became the owner of the secret of nuclear weapons. The US nuclear monopoly continued until 1949, which irritated the Stalinist leadership. It was these objective reasons that created the background against which the appearance of specific reasons that led to the beginning of the "cold war" did not take long to appear.

The biggest controversy is the question of who started the Cold War - the Soviet Union or the United States. Proponents of opposing points of view bring more and more evidence of their correctness, but the dispute in this case, apparently, is not resolved by the number of arguments "for" and "against".

It is important to understand the main thing: both countries were aimed at increasing their influence, sought to expand its scope as much as possible and, up to the Caribbean crisis, believed that this goal justified any means, even the use of weapons of mass destruction. There are many facts both from the Soviet side and from the side of the former coalition allies, testifying to the strengthening of mutual disagreements.

So, in 1945, the head of the Sovinformburo A. Lozovsky informed V.M. Molotov about the "campaign to discredit the Red Army" organized in the United States and Great Britain, that "every fact of the indiscipline of the Red Army soldiers in the occupied countries is exaggerated and angrily commented on in a thousand ways."

The Soviet ideological machine, initially set up for counter-propaganda, gradually moved on to forming the image of a new enemy. Stalin spoke of "the aggressive aspirations of imperialism" on February 9, 1946, in a speech to the voters. This change of mood in the Soviet leadership was caught by US Chargé d'Affaires ad interim D. Kennan, who on February 26, 1946 sent to Washington a secret document that went down in history under the name "Kennan's long telegram". The document noted that the Soviet government, "being immune to the logic of reason, is very sensitive to the logic of force." So gradually both sides "exchanged blows", "warmed up" before the decisive battle.

The key event from which historians count the "cold war" was W. Churchill's speech. After it, the last hopes of even the appearance of allied relations collapsed and an open confrontation began. March 5, 1946, speaking at the American Fulton College in the presence of US President G. Truman, W. Churchill said: "I do not believe that Soviet Russia wants war. She wants the fruits of war and the unlimited spread of her strength and her doctrines" .

W. Churchill pointed to two main dangers threatening the modern world: the danger of a monopoly on nuclear weapons of a communist or neo-fascist state and the danger of tyranny. By tyranny, W. Churchill understood such a system in which "state power is exercised indefinitely either by dictators or narrow oligarchies acting through the mediation of a privileged party and political police ..." and in which civil liberties are significantly limited.

The combination of these two factors made, according to W. Churchill, necessary the creation of a "fraternal association of peoples speaking the English language"to coordinate actions primarily in the military field. The former Prime Minister of Great Britain justified the relevance of such an association by a significant expansion of the sphere of Soviet influence, thanks to which the "iron curtain descended on the continent", the growth of the influence of communist parties in Europe, far exceeding their numbers, the danger of creating a pro-communist Germany, the emergence of communist fifth columns around the world, acting on instructions from a single center. In conclusion, Churchill made a conclusion that determined global world politics for many decades: "We cannot afford to rely on a slight superiority in forces, thereby creating a temptation to try forces."

Churchill's speech, hitting Stalin's table, caused an outburst of indignation. On March 13, the day after the publication of the speech in Izvestia, Stalin gave an interview to a correspondent of Pravda, in which he noted that, in fact, Mr. Churchill was now in the position of warmongers. He and his friends, Stalin said, are strikingly reminiscent in this respect of Hitler and his friends. Thus, the return shot was fired, the "cold war" began.

The ideas of the retired British prime minister were developed and detailed in February 1947 in President G. Truman's message to the US Congress and were called the "Truman Doctrine". The "Truman Doctrine" contained specific measures that were supposed to at least prevent the expansion of the Soviet sphere of influence and the spread of communist ideology ("the doctrine of the containment of socialism"), and, under favorable circumstances, return the USSR to its former borders ("the doctrine of the rejection of socialism"). Both the immediate and long-term tasks required the concentration of military, economic and ideological efforts: European countries were asked to provide large-scale economic assistance, to form a military-political alliance under the leadership of the United States and to place a network of US military bases near the Soviet borders, to support opposition movements in Eastern Europe.

The economic component of the "Truman Doctrine" was developed in detail in the plan of the US Secretary of State J. Marshall in the same 1947. initial stage VM Molotov was invited to take part in the discussion of the Marshall Plan. However, the provision of economic assistance to the United States was associated with certain political concessions from Moscow, which was absolutely unacceptable for the leadership of the USSR. After the demand for the Soviet government to retain freedom in spending the allocated funds and independently determine economic policy was rejected by the West, the USSR refused to participate in the "Marshall Plan" and put direct pressure on Poland and Czechoslovakia, where the plan aroused interest.

The United States provided colossal economic assistance to Europe ravaged by the war - for 1948-1951. European countries received a total of 12.4 billion dollars of investment. The logic of ambitious behavior aggravated the already heavy economic burden of the Soviet Union, which was forced to invest heavily in the countries of people's democracy in the name of its ideological interests. By the middle of 1947, two types of foreign policy orientation had finally taken shape in Europe: pro-Soviet and pro-American.

With the undoubted influence and authority of the communists in post-war Europe, they managed to come to power and form their own governments only in Yugoslavia and Albania. AT Eastern Europe the process of establishing communist regimes was much more complicated than it was previously presented in historiography. The establishment of the communists in power in these countries went through two main stages.

The first stage covered the period from the end of the war to the middle of 1947, when the main model state structure there was the so-called "people's democracy", which was based on the concept of "national paths to socialism". The term "people's democracy" was supposed to demonstrate the difference both from the "old democracy" (bourgeois) and from the Soviet form of political power. The concept of "national paths to socialism" was based on the recognition of a gradual progressive movement towards a new system through evolutionary development and not revolution. This evolutionary process was to be oriented toward civil peace and broad interclass alliance, excluding civil war and the dictatorship of the proletariat. In the economy, the Soviet practice of forcible expropriation of private property, which was supposed to be gradually transformed into public property, was completely denied. In general terms, this concept was formulated by the President of Czechoslovakia, E. Beneš, declaring that a new era of “resolute struggle for a new social and economic structure, the transition from bourgeois democracy to popular democracy. " Such a "soft" model was also beneficial for the USSR, which received a significant expansion of its sphere of influence and, along with this, could demonstrate that it does not impose its system on anyone by force.

But the "cold war" made significant adjustments to Moscow's relations with the "people's democracy" countries. The communist movement, led by Moscow, was included in the process of confrontation and became one of its leading forces. From the middle of 1947 the situation in Europe changed - the communists lost their positions in France, Italy and Finland, the communist resistance was defeated in Greece. The Stalinist leadership began to "float away from under its feet" and it took a course to speed up the revolutionary process.

The Cold War revived the logic of the pre-war confrontation between Stalin and Hitler, which in the communist movement meant a return to the idea of ​​a "united front" against imperialism, and in fact - the restoration of the Stalinist understanding of internationalism as loyalty to the USSR, the subordination of the countries of the socialist bloc to Soviet foreign policy. Fearing to lose its positions and striving with all its might to protect Eastern Europe from American influence, Moscow forced socio-economic and political transformations in these countries.

The second stage of relations is characterized by the establishment of such regimes in Eastern Europe, when the Soviet model of development was recognized as the only acceptable one. The process of the fall of the coalition governments of the "popular front" and the establishment of communist rule began. The communist government was formed in November 1946 in Bulgaria. In January 1947, the communist B. Bierut became president of Poland. From August 1947 to February 1948 similar regimes were established in Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia.

The transition to a single Soviet model of development was supposed to be facilitated by an international closed political structure - the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (Cominform), created in September 1947 and existed until 1956. The first blow, devastating in strength, was dealt to the concept of "national paths to socialism." At the very first meeting of the Cominform in September 1947 in Poland, the strategy of the communists in relation to democratic blocs and political allies was revised. The slightest deviation from the Soviet model came to be seen by Moscow as separatism and a potential threat to reduce the sphere of Soviet influence. The creation of the Cominform meant a transition to a strict unification of the communist ideology, a complete rejection of the concept of "national paths to socialism", the replacement of "people's democracy" by the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Recently opened documents show that at the turn of 1947-1948. the Stalinist leadership was preparing to accuse the leaders of the communist parties in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland of ignoring the Marxist-Leninist theory, hostile attitude towards the USSR, liquidationist policy in the organizational building of the Communist Party, and loyalty to the kulak. However, at the very beginning of this hard line, Stalin unexpectedly encountered resistance from the Yugoslav communists.

Moscow was especially annoyed by the idea of ​​the Yugoslav leader Tito to create a Balkan federation (a union of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria). Stalin suspected Tito of striving for a leadership role in the Balkans, which, in his opinion, could cause a weakening of the USSR's position there. At the Soviet-Bulgarian-Yugoslav meeting on February 10, 1948, Stalin demanded that the process of creating a federation be transferred to a channel acceptable to the USSR. Tito did not agree with the Stalinist model of a federal structure and did not want to submit to Moscow's crude dictates.

"Rebellion on the ship" Stalin tried to suppress the hands of the Cominform, which in June 1948 issued a resolution on the situation in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. The CPY was accused of departing from the Marxist-Leninist ideology, of slandering the USSR and the CPSU (b), and the Yugoslav communists were asked to change their leaders if they did not admit and correct their "mistakes". The events of the spring and summer of 1948 led to the rupture of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia in October 1949. Economic sanctions were applied against Yugoslavia.

The finale of the drama came on November 29, 1949, when the Cominform published a resolution entitled "The Yugoslav Communist Party is in the power of assassins and spies." Real anti-Yugoslav propaganda was launched in the USSR. The newspapers branded "the fascist clique of Tito-Rankovich". Tito himself was depicted with an ax in his hands, from which the blood of the Yugoslav communists flows.

After the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict, the countries of "people's democracy" were left with no options: either unquestioning obedience to Moscow's dictates, or complete political and economic isolation. Stalin demanded an exact repetition of the Soviet model of development, without any amendments "to local conditions." Copying the Soviet practice of socialist construction caused a wave of repressions in 1949-1952, which was organized by the secret services with the direct participation of advisers from Moscow. All party functionaries who advocated national features of building socialism were removed from leadership, sent to prison, and shot. Thus, the countries of the "people's democracy" turned into countries of the "socialist camp", with the laws of the center binding on them and party discipline. The use of the term "camp" perfectly accurately reflected the oppressive, oppressive atmosphere in the relationship between Moscow and the countries that built socialism according to the Soviet recipe. Only in the early 1960s did this concept in the political lexicon gradually begin to be replaced by the "socialist commonwealth".

Naturally, Moscow's imposition of its political will had a material basis. Even under conditions of famine, which in 1946 engulfed most of the territory of Moldova and Ukraine, the USSR delivered 2.5 million tons of grain to Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. Economic assistance was transferred to solid ground as a result of the provision of concessional long-term loans to the countries of the "socialist camp", which amounted to 1945-1952. 3 billion dollars.

Under the conditions of severe polarization in the international arena, the actual emergence of pro-American and pro-Soviet blocs, the struggle for influence on countries that have not yet declared one or another orientation, the countries of the so-called "third world", has acquired particular importance. It is customary to include among them young independent states that have freed themselves from colonial or other dependence.

After World War II, the national liberation movement unfolded with particular force on the Asian continent. In 1945-1948. sovereignty is given to Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Burma and Ceylon, which is considered to be the first stage in the collapse of the colonial system.

The Soviet Union used all available means of influencing the national liberation movement and including it in the orbit of its influence. Material and military-political support were actively used. The political parties that were in opposition to the pro-Western forces in the country became channels for such assistance. So, for example, in Iran, occupied during the war by Soviet and British troops, the USSR supported the People's Party of Iran (the Tudeh Party), the separatism of the Kurds and Azerbaijanis. The strengthening of the Soviet position in Iran for Moscow was associated with the conquest of political power by the Tudeh party and the creation of a pro-Soviet regime there. In December 1945, the separatists, relying on Soviet assistance, proclaimed the Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan and the Kurdish People's Republic in the northern provinces of Iran. This caused a sharp aggravation in Soviet-British relations. The British brought an additional military contingent into the northern provinces of Iran, suppressed the Kurdish and Azerbaijani separatists. There was no official reaction to the complete fiasco in Iran from Stalin, who did not want to get involved in a regional conflict.

Throughout the post-war years, the national liberation movement was a channel of Soviet influence on the countries of the "third world", and the young independent states themselves often became "pawns" in the global geopolitical game, acted as an arena of confrontation between the Soviet and American blocs, which often resulted in armed confrontation.

The struggle between the USSR and the USA for strengthening their influence became most acute in Korea and Vietnam. After the end of World War II in the Asia-Pacific region, Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation and divided into Soviet and American zones. In the northern part of the country, which ended up in the Soviet administrative zone, a "people's democratic revolution" began with the support of Moscow: new authorities were created - people's committees under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea and its leader Kim Il Sung; in 1946, a land reform, nationalization of industry, and other transformations were carried out. In September 1948, the formation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was proclaimed. Simultaneously with these events, an American military administration had been functioning in the southern part of Korea since the autumn of 1945, which was not going to give up its positions in Korea. Here, in 1948, the government of South Korea was established, headed by the American protege Lee Syngman. A hotbed of direct confrontation between systems arose, called in modern historiography "the phenomenon of divided peoples."

China also fell into the sphere of Soviet influence. A strong communist party, founded here in the 1920s and actively supported by the Comintern, was defeated in 1927 by the Western-oriented national Kuomintang party. The Communists launched a guerrilla war against the Kuomintang and established strongholds in remote rural areas. Since 1931, Japan began to fight for the subjugation of all of China, which was largely hampered by the military and material assistance of the Soviet Union. After the defeat of the Kwantung Army in 1945, Northeast China, occupied by the Japanese, was liberated. China was engulfed in a civil war between the communists led by Mao Zedong and the troops of the Kuomintang. With active Soviet assistance, the communists won. On October 1, 1949, the Chinese People's Republic(PRC), and on February 14, 1950, an agreement on friendship, alliance and mutual assistance was signed between it and the USSR. Stalin considered the victory of the revolution in China and the building of socialism there according to the Soviet model as a key condition for the victory of socialism throughout the world, and therefore spared neither effort nor means to help the Chinese communists, and also made significant concessions on all controversial issues. Thus, the USSR provided China with a one-percent loan in the amount of $300 million, transferred to the PRC government free of charge the rights to the former CER for 25 years. ahead of time the expiration of the contract, he left the port of Dalniy (Dalian) and withdrew his military forces from the joint Soviet-Chinese base Port Arthur, transferring all property and facilities to the Chinese side. A "great friendship" was proclaimed between the USSR and China for all eternity.

After the war, the world was actually redistributed, two main poles of attraction were formed, and a bipolar geopolitical model was formed. At a meeting of the Cominform in November 1949, in the report of M.A. Suslov, it was stated that on the one hand there is an aggressive and bloody imperialism, pursuing a policy of violence against the peoples, preparing for a war against the USSR, on the other, the progressive USSR and its allies.

Churchill spoke most definitely about the nature of Soviet foreign policy, calling it "Soviet imperialism" and emphasizing the close connection between the foreign policy aspirations of the Soviet Union and the communist idea. He noted that after the war, "Russian imperialism and communist doctrine did not see and did not set limits to their progress and striving for final domination." Having accepted Lenin's idea of ​​a "world revolution", the pragmatic politician Stalin gradually transformed it into the concept of the steady expansion of the "socialist camp", spheres of influence in the "third world" under the slogans of proletarian internationalism, rallying peace fighters, etc. Along with consistent, realistic actions to expand the Soviet bloc and the zone of influence in the Third World, Moscow's post-war ambitions sometimes went beyond sober calculation. So, the most odious example, difficult to explain from the point of view of common sense, can be considered Stalin's demands in the summer-autumn of 1945, doomed to failure from the very beginning. These are demands for a change in the regime of the Black Sea straits, the return of the Kars and Ardagan districts to the USSR, which became Turkish in 1921, the participation of the USSR in the management of Tangier (Morocco), as well as statements of interest in changing political regimes in Syria, Lebanon, a number of Italian colonies in Africa . Forced at the request of Stalin to implement these absurd initiatives in the international arena, V.M. Molotov later recalled: "It was difficult to come up with such demands then. But to scare them - they scared them hard."

One way or another, but by the beginning of 1949 the "socialist camp" was ideologically united on the basis of subordination and strict discipline. In all countries, programs for building socialism according to the Soviet version were approved, and their cooperation was consolidated within the framework of the CMEA. Two communist regimes emerged in the Asia-Pacific region. The revolution in China ended victoriously. The influence of the USSR in the countries of the "third world" has increased significantly. The measures taken by the United States and its allies were already announced in Churchill's Fulton speech, they only needed to be formalized in international law.

On April 4, 1949, at the initiative of the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, which determined the international legal basis for the military-political alliance of the pro-American bloc. This alliance was called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO (from the English North Atlantic Treaty Organization - NATO). NATO included the USA, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canada, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, in 1952 Turkey and Greece. Within the framework of NATO, a unified military command of the participating countries was created, which became the basis of the first military bloc of states in the post-war world. The creation of NATO makes it possible to talk about the transition of confrontation from the ideological and political sphere to the military one, which qualitatively changed the international situation and led to a significant aggravation of international tension.

The only sphere of allied relations in 1945-1949. the joint administration of Germany remained, therefore it was in the German question that the confrontation manifested itself most sharply. The Soviet Union adhered to the position of the territorial integrity of the German state. This position was caused by two main factors: the threat of revanchist sentiment in the western occupation zones, which had an economically rich Ruhr basin, and the desire to receive reparation payments from the government of a united Germany in full. As V.M. Molotov, Stalin was practically confident in the victory of the German communists and did not give up hope of extending Soviet influence throughout Germany.

In a radically changed international situation, the politics of the German question has become the main way of confrontation for the West. From January 1, 1947, the process of merging the Allied occupation zones began: during 1947, the British and American zones were merged, and in the summer of 1948 the French zone was attached to them. The reform of the monetary system in June 1948 in West Germany and its inclusion in the sphere of economic assistance under the "Marshall Plan" laid the economic foundation for the division of the territory of the German state. The last desperate attempt to put pressure on the former allies was the economic blockade of West Berlin (the allied occupation sectors of the capital of Germany, which was entirely in the Soviet zone). In the spring of 1949, the USSR tried to block the delivery of food to West Berlin, but to no avail - the Americans delivered all the means of life support for the population by air. Stalin's proposal to lift the blockade of West Berlin in exchange for abandoning the idea of ​​creating a West German state was ignored.

In May 1949, an agreement was signed between the high commissioners of the western occupation zones on the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany with its capital in Bonn, the Constitution was adopted and government bodies of the FRG were formed. As a response, in October 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was created in the Soviet occupation zone.

The confrontation between the two systems made open military confrontation quite real. The danger of this trend was aggravated by the nuclear factor. Until 1949, the only power that possessed nuclear weapons was the United States, which turned them into the main means of pressure on the USSR. In the summer of 1946, the United States submitted the Baruch Plan to the UN, which proposed the establishment of an international system of control over atomic energy.

A special international organization, the real leadership of which turned out to be the United States. If the Baruch plan was adopted, it would be possible to consolidate the US monopoly on developments in the field of nuclear energy. The USSR came up with a counter-initiative and submitted to the UN a convention on the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons, proposing not to use them under any circumstances, to ban their production and storage, and to destroy all their stocks. The UN Security Council was supposed to monitor compliance with the convention. The Baruch plan was rejected by the USSR, and the convention for the prohibition of nuclear weapons by the United States. The aggravation in the international legal plane of the issue of atomic energy and nuclear weapons served as the beginning of the era of "nuclear diplomacy", an arms race in the international arena.

The United States, in preparing its military-strategic plans, proceeded from the readiness to use nuclear weapons against the USSR. Among these plans, the most famous was the Dropshot plan (1949), which outlined the primary goals of nuclear bombing of the cities of the Soviet Union.

The US monopoly on nuclear weapons put the USSR in a rather difficult position and forced the country's leadership to pursue two main lines. The first, official line was to ensure that, regardless of any difficulties, create Soviet nuclear weapons and eliminate the US nuclear monopoly. The efforts of the Soviet military-industrial complex were crowned with success. A TASS statement dated September 25, 1949 stated that the secret of the atomic bomb was no more. Thus, the US nuclear monopoly was eliminated. The confrontation became thermonuclear.

While not yet in possession of nuclear weapons, the USSR activated the second, propaganda line. Its essence was to demonstrate in every possible way the desire to agree with the United States on the prohibition and destruction of nuclear weapons. Was this wish sincere? Did the Soviet leadership consider such negotiations real? Most likely not. Another thing is important - this propaganda line responded to the desire of the Soviet people to live in peace, and official propaganda in this case coincided with the peace movement both in the USSR and abroad.

In 1947, at the initiative of the USSR, a resolution of the UN General Assembly was adopted condemning any form of propaganda aimed at creating or intensifying a threat to peace. Against the backdrop of a broad international discussion of the threat of world war in August 1948, on the initiative of prominent scientists and cultural figures, an international peace movement arose, which held its first congress in April 1949 in Paris. Representatives of 72 countries took part in the congress, the Standing Committee of the World Peace Congress headed by the outstanding French physicist F. Joliot-Curie was created, and International Peace Prizes were established. This social movement absolutely coincided with the official foreign policy line of the Soviet Union, so the USSR provided constant assistance to the peace movement.

It also assumed an organized character inside the country, uniting with all the might of the Soviet propaganda machine - in August 1949, the first All-Union Peace Conference was held in Moscow and the Soviet Committee for the Defense of Peace was created. The entire adult population of the USSR (115.5 million people) put their signatures under the Stockholm Appeal, adopted in March 1950 by the session of the Standing Committee of the World Peace Congress. The appeal demanded an unconditional ban atomic weapons"as a weapon of intimidation and mass destruction of people." The signatories demanded "the establishment of strict international control over the execution of this decision," and the first use of atomic weapons against any country was declared a "crime against humanity."

At the official diplomatic level, in June 1950, the USSR declared its readiness to cooperate with the legislatures of other countries in implementing the proposals of the supporters of peace, and on March 12, 1951, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Law on the Protection of Peace, according to which propaganda of war was declared the gravest crime against humanity.

The apogee of the confrontation was the war in Korea (June 25, 1950 - July 28, 1953), during which the struggle between the USSR and the USA for influence in Asia turned into an open military confrontation that threatened to develop into world war. In the Korean War, North Korea (DPRK) fought against pro-American South Korea. On the side of the DPRK, Chinese volunteers took part in the hostilities, and from the end of November 1950, several Soviet air divisions on aircraft with Korean identification marks, air defense formations. The Americans fought on the side of South Korea under the UN flag. The Soviet government provided the DPRK with military and material assistance: it supplied the Korean army with tanks, aircraft, ammunition, and medicines. Several Soviet ground divisions were prepared to be sent to Korea. Military operations took place with varying success. The US landing in the rear of the North Korean army in September 1950 and the massive bombing of the capital of the DPRK Pyongyang in July 1952 played the greatest role militarily. Nevertheless, neither side managed to achieve a decisive strategic advantage, and on July 28, 1953 peace was established, but the country remained divided into two states.

The confrontation between the blocs came to a dangerous point during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the autumn of 1962. The United States began to deploy missiles with nuclear charges in Turkey, Italy and the FRG, organizing their military bases there. The United States also tried to overthrow the Castro regime by organizing an amphibious landing in the Playa Giron area in April 1961.

Under the threat of losing power, Castro in the spring of 1962 obtained from the Soviet leadership the recognition of Cuba as a socialist country. The admission of Cuba into the "socialist camp" imposed obligations on the USSR, primarily in the military-strategic field, related to the defense of the territory of the "island of freedom." The United States continued to develop plans for a military invasion of the island.

Therefore, in the spring of 1962, the USSR began to secretly equip its military base in Cuba, carrying out a top-secret transfer of people and medium-range missiles. This made it possible, while defending the socialist transformations in Cuba, at the same time to keep Washington at gunpoint. The retaliatory step of American President D. Kennedy was the naval blockade of Cuba and the demand for the immediate withdrawal of Soviet missiles from the island. Not only the troops of the USSR and the USA, but also the formations of NATO and the Department of Internal Affairs were brought to full combat readiness.

Intensive negotiations began between Khrushchev and Kennedy, as a result of which a saving compromise was reached: the USSR took out missiles from Cuba, and the USA - from Turkey and Italy; America also guaranteed the security of Cuba and the Castro regime.

Of particular discussion is the question of which side prevailed as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The literature presents a wide range of opinions. It seems that it is necessary to separate the political and military results of past events. If in the political sense the United States gained an advantage and new evidence of "Soviet expansionism", then militarily the withdrawal of American missiles from the territory of Turkey and Italy was an undoubted success for the USSR. If the propaganda effect was obvious, the US military agreements and concessions in Turkey and Italy were kept secret. This development of events led to further confrontation between the USSR and China, since it gave Mao Zedong a pretext to speak of a "criminal conspiracy" between Soviet revisionism and American imperialism.

On a number of points, Mao's views were shared by Castro, who believed that Khrushchev had betrayed him when he made concessions to the Americans and "exchanged" their missiles in Turkey and Italy for his own in Cuba. However, the main and indisputable significance of the Caribbean crisis was to prove the impossibility of using nuclear missiles to achieve political goals. The Cuban Missile Crisis marked the end of the first period of the Cold War, when it could escalate into an armed conflict.

After the crisis, a gradual process of removing the sharp confrontation in relations between the USSR and the USA began. An important step in this direction was the signing of a treaty banning tests of atomic weapons in the atmosphere, space and under water, which took place in August 1963 in Moscow. The assassination of Kennedy in November 1963 and the resignation of Khrushchev in October 1964 slowed down the development of this process.

Thus, the analysis of historical events in the period under review allows us to conclude that both the leadership of the United States and the USSR were equally guilty of unleashing the Cold War at its first stage, which not only did not try to reduce it, but also strengthened in every possible way by conducting appropriate ideological propaganda.

Of great scientific interest is the so-called Allen Dulles plan, which will be discussed further in this paper.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR by the people's democracies. At the final stage of the Second World War, the Red Army entered the countries of Eastern Europe. They began to be called the countries of people's democracy. The Stalinist policy with its methods of violence began to be applied there even before the end of the war. Europe after World War II.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR Iron Curtain. Already in May 1945, a few days after the end of the war in Europe, Churchill telegraphed Truman that an iron curtain had descended over the Soviet front. "Iron Curtain" (American propaganda poster).

THE BEGINNING OF THE "COLD WAR" March 5, 1946 in Fulton (USA). The beginning of the Cold War is considered to be the speech of the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, which he delivered on March 5, 1946 in Fulton (USA). In his speech, Churchill warned the world against the growing threat of communism. Winston Churchill's speech at Fulton (March 5, 1946). "Churchill scares the world with the threat of communism."

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR March 12, 1947 On March 12, 1947, US President Harry Truman addressed Congress with a proposal to provide assistance to all countries threatened by communist expansion. Truman Doctrine. These principles have become the fundamental provisions of the so-called. Truman Doctrine. Text of the Truman Doctrine. Harry Truman is the 33rd President of the United States.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR The Marshall Plan. One of the first measures to implement the Truman Doctrine was the Marshall Plan. It got its name from the estate of the then US Secretary of State George Marshall. Signing of the Marshall Plan (1948). George Marshall.

THE BEGINNING OF THE "COLD WAR" The essence of the Marshall Plan was to provide the countries of Europe in 1948-1952 with dollars to restore the destroyed economy. The countries of Eastern Europe, under pressure from the USSR, refused American assistance. European states that received US aid under the Marshall Plan.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR January 1949 Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). In January 1949, the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe established the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). Mutual economic aid instead of US aid is the meaning behind the name of this organization. CMEA member countries (as of 1980).

BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR April 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created. This bloc was created primarily to protect its members. Signing of the North Atlantic Treaty.

THE BEGINNING OF THE COLD WAR May 1955 The Warsaw Pact Organization. In May 1955, the Warsaw Pact Organization was created. It was a military-political union under the auspices of the USSR. By 1955, the confrontation between East and West had finally taken shape. Thus, by 1955, the confrontation between East and West was finally formed. Signing of the Warsaw Pact.

KOREAN WAR (1950 - 1953) The Korean War ended in 1953. In three years of fierce fighting, more than Koreans, Chinese and about Americans died. Each side declared its victory. The final stage of the Korean War.

The Suez Crisis (1956) October 1956 In October 1956, Israeli troops invaded Egypt and began to rapidly approach the Suez Canal. Soon, English and French troops were introduced into the territory of Egypt. November 6, 1956 However, on November 6, 1956, an armistice was signed through the mediation of the United Nations. In 1957, Israeli troops left the territory of Egypt. The Suez Canal became the legal property of Egypt. Suez Crisis (1956).

BERLIN CRISIS (1961) In 1955, Western countries recognized the FRG, and the USSR recognized the GDR. The German authorities did not recognize the GDR and declared that they would break off relations with the country that did this (an exception was made only for the USSR). In 1958, Moscow demanded the withdrawal of the former allies from West Berlin.

CARIBBEAN (CUBAN) CRISIS (1962) In January 1959, the regime of dictator Batista was overthrown in Cuba. The rebels came to power, led by Fidel Castro, who in his policy was guided by the USSR. The United States began to finance the struggle of Cuban emigrants against the Castro regime. Dictator Batista. Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev.

THE CARIBBEAN (CUBAN) CRISIS (1962) In the summer of 1962, Washington became aware of the deployment of Soviet medium-range missiles in Cuba. Map of Cuba showing locations of Soviet medium-range missiles. Photograph of a Soviet missile base in Cuba taken by an American reconnaissance aircraft.

CARIBBEAN (CUBAN) CRISIS (1962) In response to the deployment of Soviet missiles, US President Kennedy announced the introduction of quarantine around Cuba. The quarantine was intended to prevent the delivery of weapons to Cuba. The USSR dismantled the missiles in November 1962, and the United States ended the blockade of Cuba. Meeting of the President of the United States with the commander of the US Air Force. Meeting of the US President with Soviet diplomats.

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) In 1945, Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In 1946, a war began between France and Vietnam, which lasted 8 years. French Indochina. Ho Chi Minh. Fight with the participation of French paratroopers (1952).

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) In 1954, ceasefire agreements were signed in Geneva in Indochina. In Vietnam, actually two states were formed, which began to fight against each other. In this struggle, North Vietnam was supported by the USSR, and South - by the United States. North and South Vietnam on the eve of the start of the Vietnam War.

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) The reason for the US entry into the war was the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964. March 1965 In March 1965, the first American units arrived in Vietnam. Incident in the Gulf of Tonkin (August 1964). American landing in Vietnam (March 1965).

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) The US entry into the war caused a wave of pacifist sentiments in the US itself and sharp condemnation from the USSR and its allies. Anti-war activists and military police (Washington, October 1967). "Put an end to the aggression in Vietnam!" (Soviet propaganda poster).

VIETNAM WAR (1965 - 1973) January 7, 1973 On January 7, 1973, agreements were signed in Paris to end the Vietnam War. They also provided for the withdrawal of American troops. Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam unified in 1976. The state became known as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Signing of agreements in Paris (January 1973).

THE ERA OF DETECTION The 1970s went down in the history of the Cold War as a period of détente in international tensions. In 1972, in Moscow, the leaders of the USSR and the United States signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and the Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Arms (SALT-1). Signing of the ABM and SALT-1 Treaties (Moscow, 1972).

The Era of Detente 1975 The Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe In 1975, the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe was signed in Helsinki, which guaranteed the inviolability of European borders and laid the foundation for the development of cooperation in various fields of life. Brezhnev signs the so-called. Helsinki Accords. Participants of the Helsinki meeting.

THE ERA OF DEFEET 1979 SALT-2 Treaty In 1979, the leaders of the USSR and the USA signed the SALT-2 Treaty, according to which they pledged to reduce the number of nuclear weapons carriers. Due to the fact that the USSR sent its troops into Afghanistan, the United States refused to ratify this treaty. Signing of the SALT-2 Treaty (Vienna, June 7, 1979).

THE END OF THE COLD WAR (1985-1991) Mikhail Gorbachev. Edward Shevardnadze. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the new Soviet leader. Eduard Shevardnadze was appointed as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Soviet leadership set out to improve relations with the West. Mikhail Gorbachev was the leader of the USSR in 1985-1991. Eduard Shevardnadze - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR.

THE END OF THE COLD WAR (1985-1991) Meetings between the heads of the USSR and the USA became regular. Four circles of problems were discussed at them: disarmament; regional conflicts; human rights; bilateral relationship. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan during negotiations.

END OF THE COLD WAR (1985-1991) In the late 1980s, the USSR withdrew its troops from Afghanistan and agreed to the unification of Germany. Relations with the West began to improve. Conclusion Soviet troops from Afghanistan (February 1989). German unification (October 1990). 46

Lesson Objectives: contribute to the formation of a holistic view of the development of international relations after the Second World War and lead students to a conclusion about the causes and consequences of the ideological confrontation between the USSR and the USA, called the "cold war"; to promote the development of cognitive skills to search for the necessary information in historical sources, to name the characteristic features of events and phenomena, to explain the meaning of the most important concepts, to state judgments about the cause-and-effect relationships of historical facts, to determine and explain one's attitude and assessment of the most significant events. To promote the orientation of the personality of students towards democratic values ​​in interpersonal and interstate relations, revealing the negative socio-political and moral-psychological consequences of intolerance, hostility, distrust, aggressiveness, characteristic of society during the years of the Cold War.

Basic concepts: cold war, bipolar world, confrontation, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, arms race.

Main dates: 1946-beginning of the Cold War, 1949 - Formation of NATO, 1955 - Formation of the Department of Internal Affairs, March 5, 1946 - Churchill's speech in Fulton, 1947 - Truman Doctrine.

Equipment: map of Europe, portraits of Stalin, Truman, Churchill, documents (excerpt from Churchill's speech in Fulton, table "NATO countries, Warsaw Pact countries").

During the classes.

1. Organizational moment.
2. Learning new material.
Introduction by the teacher. It's over. The Second World War is the most cruel, the bloodiest in the history of mankind. Let's think about how relations between the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition could develop after the war?
- cooperation or rivalry?
The topic of today's lesson is "Foreign Policy: Cold War". What can be the conclusion?
Former allies took the path of confrontation, or confrontation.
As an epigraph for our lesson, I chose the words of the Russian poet E. Yevtushenko.
“Our honeymoon with the Allies quickly ended. The war united us, but the victory divided us. (1990)

Let's define the objectives of the lesson.
Lesson plan (named by students):

1. Causes of the Cold War.
2. The concept of Cold War.
3. Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan.
4. Features of the Cold War.

1) Task. In the course of my story, try to highlight the causes of the Cold War.
Historians, both domestic and foreign, argued a lot about international relations before and after the Second World War. The works of Western historians have repeatedly said that before the war and immediately after it, the West was too patient with the aggressive Soviet Union. This patience is running out.
What was the situation before the war? The only undisputed economic and political leader was the United States of America.
An interesting historical fact. In the early 1930s, there was no Soviet Union in the geography atlases in the United States, in its place there was only a blank spot.
And now, after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union becomes a superpower; and the West was not ready for this.
The Americans and the British were afraid of the Soviet army - the most powerful in the world. The new position of the USSR prompted it to expand its borders, the desire to strengthen its position in the world.
Let's call causes of the cold war:

1. clash of interests between two great powers.
2. US quest for world domination.
3. "Export" of communism.

2) The starting point in the Cold War is considered to be the speech of the former British Prime Minister W. Churchill, which he delivered in the presence of the American President Truman on March 5, 1946. in Fulton, the president's hometown.
Exercise. Read an excerpt from Churchill's speech (see appendix) and answer the questions.
Please note: Churchill's speech does not mention the need for open confrontation.
Now let's try to define:
The Cold War is a period of confrontation or confrontation between the two superpowers - the USSR and the USA.

3) The Truman Doctrine. "Marshall Plan".
In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was developed - a program of measures to "save Europe from Soviet expansion." One of the manifestations of the new US course was the Marshall Plan. Exercise. After reading the text of the textbook on p. 271 (285), write out
1. The goals of the Truman Doctrine, its essence.
2. The main content of the Marshall Plan.
3. Determine the attitude of the Soviet Union towards these programs.
The purpose of the Truman Doctrine is to prevent further expansion of the sphere of influence of the USSR and communist ideology ( doctrine of containment of socialism); force the USSR to go back to its former borders (the doctrine of the rejection of socialism).
Contents of the Truman Doctrine:
- large-scale economic assistance to European countries;
- creation of a military-political bloc;
- deployment of a network of US military bases near the Soviet borders (Greece, Turkey);
- support for internal opposition in Eastern Europe;
- if necessary, the use of armed force.
Marshall Plan -(on behalf of the US Secretary of State) - providing assistance to European countries.
THE USSR - categorically opposed to this US policy, the Soviet leadership declared these measures a call to war against the USSR.

4. Summing up, we highlight the characteristic features of the historical period called the "cold war" (drawing up a diagram on the board)
1) Arms race (message by Katya Solovieva)
2) Creating an image of the enemy
3) The split of the world (work with the map): look at document No. 2 (see appendix) - mark on the map the countries that were part of the opposing blocs - the world has become bipolar. (2 world systems - capitalist and social.)
4) military conflicts (message).
Why is the cold war dangerous?
The Cold War lasted from 1946 to 1991, almost until the collapse of the USSR. Why didn't it develop into a "Hot" war?

The term "cold war" was first used by the famous English writer George Orwell on October 19, 1945, in the article "You and the Atomic Bomb" in the British weekly Tribune. In an official setting, this definition was first voiced by adviser to US President Harry Truman Bernard Baruch, speaking before the South Carolina House of Representatives on April 16, 1947. Since that time, the concept of "cold war" has been used in journalism and gradually entered the political lexicon.

Strengthening influence

After the end of World War II, the political situation in Europe and Asia changed dramatically. Former allies in the fight against Nazi Germany - the USSR and the USA - looked differently at the further structure of the world. The leadership of the Soviet Union provided serious assistance to the liberated countries of Eastern Europe, where the communists came to power: Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Many Europeans believed that replacing the capitalist system, which was going through hard times, with a socialist one would help quickly restore the economy and return to normal life. In most Western European countries, the proportion of votes cast during elections for the communists was between 10 and 20 percent. This happened even in such countries, alien to socialist slogans, as Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Sweden. In France and Italy, the communist parties were the largest among the other parties, the communists were part of the governments, they were supported by about a third of the population. In the face of the USSR, they saw not the Stalinist regime, but, above all, the force that defeated the "invincible" Nazism.

The USSR also considered it necessary to support the countries of Asia and Africa that had freed themselves from colonial dependence and embarked on the path of building socialism. As a result, the Soviet sphere of influence on the world map expanded rapidly.

disagreement

The United States and its allies viewed the future in a very different way. world development, they were annoyed by the growing importance of the USSR on the world stage. The United States believed that only their country - the only power in the world at that time that possessed nuclear weapons - could dictate its terms to other states, and therefore they were not satisfied that the Soviets were striving to strengthen and expand the so-called "socialist camp".

Thus, at the end of the war, the interests of the two largest world powers entered into an irreconcilable contradiction, each country sought to extend its influence to a greater number of states. A struggle began in all directions: in ideology, in order to attract as many supporters as possible to their side; in an arms race to speak to opponents from a position of strength; in the economy - to show the superiority of their social system, and even, it would seem, in such a peaceful area as sports.

It should be noted that at the initial stage, the forces that entered into confrontation were not equal. The Soviet Union, which bore the brunt of the war on its shoulders, emerged from it economically weakened. The United States, on the contrary, largely thanks to the war turned into a superpower - in economic and military terms. During the years of World War II, the United States increased industrial capacity by 50%, and agricultural production by 36%. US industrial production, excluding the USSR, surpassed the production of all other countries of the world combined. In such circumstances, the United States considered the pressure on its opponents completely justified.

Thus, the world was actually divided in two in accordance with social systems: one side led by the USSR, the other led by the United States. Between these military-political blocs, the Cold War began: a global confrontation, which, fortunately, did not reach an open military clash, but constantly provoked local military conflicts in various countries.

Churchill's Fulton speech

The starting point or signal for the beginning of the Cold War is considered to be the famous speech of former British Prime Minister W. Churchill in Fulton (Missouri, USA). On March 5, 1946, speaking in the presence of US President G. Truman, Churchill announced that "the United States is at the pinnacle of world power and is opposed by only two enemies -" war and tyranny ". Analyzing the situation in Europe and Asia, Churchill stated that the Soviet Union was the cause of "international difficulties", since "no one knows what Soviet Russia and its international communist organization intend to do in the near future, and whether there are any limits to their expansion" . True, the prime minister paid tribute to the merits of the Russian people and personally to his "military comrade Stalin", and even reacted with understanding to the fact that "Russia needs to secure its western borders and eliminate all possibilities of German aggression." Describing the current situation in the world, Churchill used the term "iron curtain", which descended "from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, across the entire continent." The countries to the east of it, according to Churchill, became not only objects of Soviet influence, but also of growing control from Moscow ... The small communist parties in all these Eastern European states “are grown to a position and strength that greatly exceed their numbers, and they are trying to achieve totalitarian control in everything. Churchill declared about the danger of communism and that "in a large number of countries communist "fifth columns" have been created, which work in complete unity and absolute obedience in carrying out directives received from the communist center.

Churchill understood that the Soviet Union was not interested in a new war, but noted that the Russians "craved the fruits of the war and the unlimited expansion of their power and ideology." He called on the “fraternal association of English-speaking peoples,” that is, the United States, Great Britain and their allies, to repulse the USSR, not only in the political but also in the military sphere. He further noted: “From what I saw during the war in our Russian friends and associates, I conclude that they admire nothing more than strength, and they respect nothing less than weakness, especially military weakness. Therefore, the old doctrine of the balance of power is now unfounded.”

At the same time, speaking about the lessons of the past war, Churchill noted that “there has never been a war in history that could have been easier to prevent by timely action than one that had just devastated a huge area on the planet. Such a mistake cannot be repeated. And for this it is necessary, under the auspices of the United Nations and on the basis of the military strength of the English-speaking community, to find mutual understanding with Russia. The maintenance of such relations during many, many years of peace must be ensured not only by the authority of the UN, but by the entire power of the United States, Great Britain and other English-speaking countries, and their allies.

This was blatant hypocrisy, since back in the spring of 1945 Churchill ordered the preparation of the Unthinkable military operation, which was a war plan in the event of a military conflict between Western states and the USSR. These developments were met with skepticism by the British military; They weren't even shown to the Americans. In comments on a draft submitted to him, Churchill indicated that the plan was "a preliminary sketch of what, I hope, is still a purely hypothetical possibility."

In the USSR, the text of Churchill's Fulton speech was not fully translated, but was retold in detail on March 11, 1946 in a TASS report.

I. Stalin became aware of the content of Churchill's speech literally the next day, but, as often happened, he preferred to pause, waiting for what kind of reaction to this speech would follow from abroad. Stalin gave his answer in an interview with the Pravda newspaper only on March 14, 1946. He accused his opponent of calling on the West to go to war with the USSR: “In fact, Mr. in English, something like an ultimatum: acknowledge our dominance voluntarily, and then everything will be in order - otherwise war is inevitable. Stalin put W. Churchill on a par with Hitler, accusing him of racism: “Hitler began the cause of unleashing the war by proclaiming the racial theory, announcing that only people who speak German represent a full-fledged nation. Mr. Churchill begins the business of unleashing war also with racial theory, arguing that only nations that speak the English language are full-fledged nations, called upon to decide the fate of the whole world.

Truman Doctrine

In 1946–1947 The USSR stepped up pressure on Turkey. From Turkey, the USSR sought to change the status of the Black Sea straits and provide territory for the location of its naval base near the Dardanelles to ensure security and unhindered access to the Mediterranean Sea. Also, until the spring of 1946, the USSR was in no hurry to withdraw its troops from the territory of Iran. An uncertain situation also developed in Greece, where there was a civil war, and the Albanian, Bulgarian and Yugoslav communists tried to help the Greek communists.

All this caused extreme discontent in the United States. President G. Truman believed that only America is capable of promoting progress, freedom and democracy in the world, and the Russians, in his opinion, “do not know how to behave. They are like an elephant in a china shop.”

Speaking on March 12, 1947 in the US Congress, Harry Truman announced the need to provide military assistance to Greece and Turkey. In fact, in his speech, he announced a new US foreign policy doctrine, which authorized US intervention in the internal affairs of other countries. The reason for this intervention was the need to resist the "Soviet expansion".

The Truman Doctrine assumed the "containment" of the USSR throughout the world and meant the end of cooperation between the former allies who defeated fascism.

Marshall Plan

At the same time, the "cold war front" ran not only between countries, but also within them. The success of the left forces in Europe was obvious. In order to prevent the spread of communist ideas, in June 1947, US Secretary of State George Marshall presented a plan to help European countries to restore the destroyed economy. This plan was called the "Marshall Plan" (the official name of the European Recovery Program is the "Program for the Recovery of Europe") and became an integral part of the new US foreign policy.

In July 1947, representatives of 16 Western European countries gathered for a meeting in Paris to discuss the amount of assistance for each country separately. Together with representatives of Western Europe, representatives of the USSR and the states of Eastern Europe were also invited to these talks. And although Marshall declared that “our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, despair and chaos,” the help, as it turned out, was not disinterested. In exchange for American supplies and loans, European countries pledged to provide the United States with information about their economies, supply strategic raw materials, and also prevent the sale of "strategic goods" to socialist states.

For the USSR, such conditions were unacceptable, and he refused to participate in the negotiations, forbidding the leaders of the Eastern European countries to do so, promising them, in turn, preferential loans from his side.

The Marshall Plan began to be implemented in April 1948, when the US Congress passed the law "On Economic Cooperation", which provided for a four-year (from April 1948 to December 1951) program of economic assistance to Europe. Assistance was received by 17 countries, including West Germany. The total amount of appropriations amounted to about 17 billion dollars. The main share went to England (2.8 billion), France (2.5 billion), Italy (1.3 billion), West Germany (1.3 billion) and Holland (1.1 billion). West Germany, financial assistance under the Marshall Plan was provided simultaneously with the collection of indemnities (reparations) from it for material damage caused to the victorious countries in World War II.

Formation of CMEA

Eastern European countries that did not participate in the Marshall Plan formed a group of states of the socialist system (except for Yugoslavia, which occupied an independent position). In January 1949, six countries of Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the USSR and Czechoslovakia) united into an economic union - the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). One of the main reasons for the creation of the CMEA was the Western countries' boycott of trade relations with the socialist states. In February, Albania joined the CMEA (it left in 1961), in 1950 - the GDR, in 1962 - Mongolia and in 1972 - Cuba.

Creation of NATO

A kind of continuation of Truman's foreign policy was the creation in April 1949 of a military-political alliance - the North Atlantic bloc (NATO), led by the United States. Initially, NATO included the United States, Canada and Western European countries: Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and France (withdrew from the bloc's military structures in 1966, returned in 2009). Greece and Turkey (1952), the Federal Republic of Germany (1955) and Spain (1982) later joined the alliance. The main task of NATO was to strengthen stability in the North Atlantic region and counter the "communist threat". (The Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe created their own military alliance - the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD) - only six years later, in 1955). Thus, Europe was divided into two opposing parts.

German question

The division of Europe had a particularly hard effect on the fate of Germany. At the Yalta Conference in 1945, a plan was agreed upon for the post-war occupation of Germany between the victorious countries, to which, at the insistence of the USSR, France joined. According to this plan, after the end of the war, the east of Germany was occupied by the USSR, the west - by the USA, Great Britain and France. The capital of Germany - Berlin - was also divided into four zones.

West Germany in 1948 was included in the scope of the Marshall Plan. Thus, the unification of the country became impossible, since different parts of the country formed different economic systems. In June 1948, the Western Allies unilaterally carried out a monetary reform in West Germany and West Berlin, abolishing old-style money. The whole mass of old Reichsmarks poured into East Germany, which forced the USSR to close the borders. West Berlin was completely surrounded. The first serious conflict arose between the former allies, called the Berlin Crisis. Stalin wanted to use the situation with the blockade of West Berlin to occupy the entire German capital and extract concessions from the United States. But the United States and Great Britain organized an air bridge to connect Berlin with the western sectors and broke the blockade of the city. In May 1949, the territories located in the western zone of occupation were united into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), with Bonn as its capital. West Berlin was becoming an autonomous self-governing city linked to the FRG. In October 1949, another German state, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was created in the Soviet zone of occupation, with East Berlin as its capital.

End of US nuclear monopoly

The Soviet leadership understood that the US, which possessed nuclear weapons, could afford to speak with it from a position of strength. Moreover, unlike the United States, the Soviet Union emerged from the war economically weakened and, therefore, vulnerable. Therefore, accelerated work was carried out in the USSR to create its own nuclear weapons. In 1948, a nuclear center was established in the Chelyabinsk region, where a plutonium production reactor was built. In August 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested a nuclear weapon. The United States lost its monopoly on atomic weapons, which sharply tempered the ardor of American strategists. The famous German researcher Otto Hahn, who discovered the process of fission of the atomic nucleus, having learned about the testing of the first Soviet atomic bomb, remarked: “This is good news, since the danger of war has now been significantly reduced.”

It must be admitted that the USSR was forced to allocate colossal funds to achieve this goal, which caused serious damage to the production of consumer goods, agricultural production and the socio-cultural development of the country.

Dropshot Plan

Despite the creation of atomic weapons in the USSR, the West did not abandon plans to deliver nuclear strikes against the USSR. Such plans were developed in the United States and Great Britain immediately after the end of the war. But only after the formation of NATO in 1949 did the United States have a real opportunity to fulfill them and they proposed another, already more ambitious plan.

On December 19, 1949, NATO approved the Dropshot plan ("Dropshot") "to counter the alleged Soviet invasion of Western Europe, the Middle East and Japan." In 1977, his text was declassified in the USA. According to the document, on January 1, 1957, the start of a large-scale war of the forces of the North Atlantic Alliance against the USSR was supposed to begin. Naturally, "due to an act of aggression by the USSR and its satellites." In accordance with this plan, 300 atomic bombs and 250 thousand tons of conventional explosives were to be dropped on the USSR. As a result of the first bombing, 85% of industrial facilities were to be destroyed. The second stage of the war was to be followed by an occupation. NATO strategists divided the territory of the USSR into 4 parts: the Western part of the USSR, Ukraine - the Caucasus, the Urals - Western Siberia - Turkestan, Eastern Siberia - Transbaikalia - Primorye. All these zones were divided into 22 sub-zones of responsibility, where NATO military contingents were to be deployed.

Expansion of the socialist camp

Immediately after the start of the Cold War, the countries of the Asia-Pacific region turned into an arena for a fierce struggle between supporters of the communist and capitalist paths of development. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was proclaimed in Beijing, the capital of China.

With the creation of the People's Republic of China, the military-political situation in the world changed radically, as the communists won in one of the most populous states in the world. The socialist camp has moved significantly to the east, and the West could not but reckon with the vast territory and powerful military potential of socialism, including Soviet nuclear missile weapons. However, subsequent events showed that there was no unequivocal certainty in the alignment of military-political forces in the Asia-Pacific region. For many years, China has become the "favorite card" in the global game of two superpowers for dominance in the world.

Growing confrontation

In the late 1940s, despite the difficult economic situation in the USSR, the rivalry between the capitalist and communist blocs continued and led to a further buildup of armaments.

The opposing sides sought to achieve superiority both in the field of nuclear weapons and in their means of delivery. In addition to bombers, rockets became such means. A nuclear-missile arms race began, which led to extreme strain on the economies of both blocs. Enormous funds were spent on defense needs, the best scientific personnel worked. Powerful associations of state, industrial and military structures were created - military-industrial complexes (MIC), where the most modern equipment was produced, which worked primarily for the arms race.

In November 1952, the United States tested the world's first thermonuclear charge, the explosion power of which was many times greater than the atomic one. In response to this, in August 1953, the world's first hydrogen bomb was detonated in the USSR at the Semipalatinsk test site. Unlike the American model, the Soviet bomb was ready for practical use. From that moment until the 1960s. The United States overtook the USSR only in the number of weapons.

Korean War 1950-1953

The USSR and the USA were aware of the danger of a war between them, which forced them not to go into direct confrontation, but to act "bypassing", fighting for the world's resources outside their countries. In 1950, shortly after the victory of the Communists in China, the Korean War began, which became the first military clash between socialism and capitalism, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear conflict.

Korea was occupied by Japan in 1905. In August 1945, at the final stage of World War II, in connection with the victory over Japan and its surrender, the United States and the USSR agreed to divide Korea along the 38th parallel, assuming that to the north of it the Japanese the troops will surrender to the Red Army, and to the south the surrender will be accepted by American troops. Thus, the peninsula was divided into northern - Soviet, and southern, American, parts. The countries of the anti-Hitler coalition believed that after a while Korea should be reunited, but under the conditions of the Cold War, the 38th parallel essentially turned into a border - an "iron curtain" between North and South Korea. By 1949, the USSR and the USA withdrew their troops from the territory of Korea.

Governments were formed in both parts of the Korean peninsula, northern and southern. In the south of the peninsula, with the support of the United Nations, the United States held elections in which a government led by Syngman Rhee was elected. In the north, Soviet troops handed over power to the communist government led by Kim Il Sung.

In 1950, the leadership of North Korea (People's Democratic Republic of Korea - DPRK), referring to the fact that South Korean troops invaded the DPRK, crossed the 38th parallel. The armed forces of China (called "Chinese volunteers") fought on the side of the DPRK. The USSR provided direct assistance to North Korea, supplying the Korean army and "Chinese volunteers" with weapons, ammunition, aircraft, fuel, food and medicine. Also, a small contingent of Soviet troops took part in the hostilities: pilots and anti-aircraft gunners.

In turn, the United States passed a resolution through the UN Security Council calling for the necessary assistance to South Korea and sent its troops there under the UN flag. In addition to the Americans, the contingents of Great Britain (more than 60 thousand people), Canada (more than 20 thousand), Turkey (5 thousand) and other states fought under the UN flag.

In 1951, US President Harry Truman threatened to use atomic weapons against China in response to Chinese aid to North Korea. The Soviet Union also did not want to concede. The conflict was resolved diplomatically only after Stalin's death in 1953. In 1954, at a meeting in Geneva, the division of Korea into two states was fixed - North Korea and South Korea. At the same time, Vietnam was divided. These sections have become a kind of symbol of the split of the world into two systems on the Asian continent.

The next stage of the Cold War is 1953-1962. Some warming, both in the country and in international relations, did not affect the military-political confrontation. Moreover, it was at this time that the world repeatedly stood on the brink of nuclear war. The arms race, the Berlin and Caribbean crises, events in Poland and Hungary, ballistic missile tests… This decade was one of the most intense in the 20th century.

Course work

Cold War: The Allen Dulles Plan

cold war plan dulles

Introduction

In historical literature long time the prevailing position was that the "cold war" was a hostile political course that the governments of the Western powers began to pursue in relation to the USSR and other socialist countries after the end of the war. This definition not only reduced all the events of the Cold War exclusively to foreign policy, but also, as it were, put the Soviet Union in a deliberately defensive position.

Today it is already quite clear that the USSR was not only a participant in this "battle of the giants", was no less responsible for the confrontation "on the verge" of a nuclear explosion, but in a number of cases went on the offensive, delivering preemptive strikes.

Another important circumstance is that in practice the cold war was much broader than the foreign policy sphere. Aggressive foreign policy had to have and had appropriate support in the internal political course - in the militarization of the economy, in the conduct of an ideological war, the most significant role in which was played by the formation of an "image of the enemy" by both sides.

An atmosphere of suspicion and spy mania became an integral part of public life: in the United States, since 1953, a "witch hunt" was launched - the anti-communist activity of the McCarthy Senate Commission, and in the USSR - a struggle against cosmopolitanism and "crooking before the West."

Therefore, we can say that the Cold War became a form of existence in the post-war world, the essence of which was the ideological confrontation between the pro-Soviet and pro-American blocs. All other spheres - foreign policy, military-technological, cultural - were in strict dependence on the degree of confrontation.

The Cold War continued until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the radical change in the geopolitical situation in the early 1990s.

In his work, the author tends to believe that it is customary to single out two main stages of the "cold war" - before and after the Caribbean crisis of 1962. If before the Caribbean crisis, the leadership of the USSR and the USA considered the transition to open hostilities ("hot war") as reality, then after 1962 a common understanding gradually began to come of the impossibility of resolving contradictions with the help of military force.

One of the most controversial issues of the Cold War period among researchers is the "Alain Dulles Plan" - a plan for conducting an ideological war against the USSR. Until now, it is not clear whether such a document existed at all and how it influenced its course.

An in-depth study and analysis of the events that took place during the years of the Cold War is very relevant, since this largely determines in which direction our country will develop further.

All of the above determines the objective relevance of this problem.

Object of research: confrontation between the USA and the USSR at the first stage of the Cold War.

Subject of research: goals, content, existence of the "Dulles Plan" and its impact on the course of the "cold war".

The purpose of the work: to characterize the first stage of the Cold War, analyze the goals and content of the Dulles Plan, identify the main arguments for and against the existence of this document and its impact on the course of the Cold War.

Work tasks:

1. Describe the causes and essence of the Cold War.

2. To study the course of the Cold War at the first stage (in the period from 1947 to 1962).

3. Identify the main milestones of the Cold War.

4. To characterize the plan of Allen Dulles and identify its main goals in conducting an ideological struggle against the USSR.

5. To analyze the main arguments of researchers for and against the existence of the "Dulles Plan".

The chronological scope of the study includes the period from 1947 to 1962.

Historiography:

A lot of works are devoted to this topic, I managed to study in some detail the Cold War, the Dulles plan, as well as various opinions, statements, and judgments about it.

The article of A. Dulles himself “CIA vs. KGB: the art of espionage” was taken into work. The information presented in this article served as the main source in the work. Allen Dulles, director of the CIA in the 1950s and 1960s, when the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was going on, knew better than anyone else about the intricacies of the struggle between the KGB and the CIA and about what methods the KGB used in the political arena of the world, where they clashed in a duel two social systems - communism and capitalism. The book tells about the brightest episodes from the rich history of world espionage. In his essay, Dulles defines the strategy and tactics of the state, clearly states his position to us. Having studied his article, we can talk about the main problems of the topic chosen by the author. Dulles A. CIA vs. KGB: The Art of Spying. M.: Center-Polygraph, 2000.- 381 p.

The book of Cline R. "The CIA from Roosevelt to Reagan" also served as a source. Thanks to the collected material about the operations of the CIA, based on this work, the author did a great job of studying various aspects of the Dulles plan and since Cline worked in American intelligence from the first days of its existence and was Deputy Director of the CIA, we received quite extensive and reliable information. Cline R. CIA from Roosevelt to Reagan. New York: Liberty Publishing House, 1988.- 186 p.

The works of the following authors made a great contribution to the work. For example, the conversation of Bobkov F.D. and Ilyinsky I.M., published in the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, under the title "The World is War" helps us to give us arguments confirming the Dulles plan. Bobkov F.D., Ilyinsky I.M. Peace is war: Conversation by I.M. Ilyinsky with F.D. Bobkov // Moskovsky Komsomolets, 2007. No. 43. P.5.

Derevyanko A.P. and Natalia A.Sh., in their textbook on the history of Russia, which was also used, highlights the problems of the socio-economic and political development of the country, considers domestic and foreign policy, culture. The manual allowed us to successfully understand and continue writing the work. Derevyanko A.P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Velby, Prospekt Publishing House, 2006. 384 p.

Drozdov Yu.I. The book "Notes of the Chief of Illegal Intelligence" contains journalistic articles that analyze the socio-political situation in our country from the beginning of the 90s of the last century to the present day. Drozdov Yu.I. Notes of the head of illegal intelligence. - M .: Zertsalo, 1999. 256 p.

To consider the causes, essence and course of events of the Cold War, I was especially helped by the works of Zagladin N.V., the textbook History of Russia and the world in the twentieth century. Zagladin N.V. History of Russia and the world in the twentieth century: Textbook. - 4th ed. - M .: OOO "TID" " Russian word"- RS", 2005. 480 p.

Zlobin N.V., from his works, an article from the journal issues of history was used, along the way of strengthening the Cold War, we studied the international politics of rival countries. Zlobin N.V. On the path of strengthening the "cold war" // Questions of history. 2000. No. 9. pp.18-20.

Ivanyan E.A., his encyclopedia of Russian-American relations of the 18th-20th centuries, introduced us to the Dulles plan, in the course of working on the book the author used a large number of documents and sources that did not previously appear in the works on this period. Ivanyan E.A. Encyclopedia of Russian-American relations of the 18th - 20th centuries. M.: Zertsalo, 2001. 597 p.

Bezborodov A.B. "History of Russia: the latest time (1945-1999)", this textbook traces the history recent years the existence of the Soviet Union, it allowed us to comprehend the history in a deeper and more detailed way in the period of interest to us. History of Russia: modern times (1945-1999): Textbook for universities / Ed. A.B. Bezborodova - M .: "Olympus"; Publishing house AST, 2001. 428 p.

Kochukov's article in the Krasnaya Zvezda magazine is also of interest, "Allen Dulles - the war after the war", the article focuses on the personality of Allen Dulles, but in addition, from the article we acquire new knowledge, details regarding this topic. Kochukov A. Allen Dulles - the war after the war // Krasnaya Zvezda, 10/28/2004. C.4.

The work of Leikin A.Ya. is used. "Milestones of Russian History", in his book we consider the relationship of the USSR with other countries during the Cold War, it also contains some information about the Allen Dulles plan itself. Leikin A.Ya. Milestones of Russian history. - St. Petersburg: Piter, 2004. 570 p.

Khlobustov O. M., article “Is the Dulles Plan a Fake?”. The author presents us with a plan that is nothing more than a project that was not approved by the US leadership at that time, thanks to this article, a lot was analyzed and taken into work. Khlobustov O.M. Unknown Andropov. - M.: Zertsalo, 2009. 420 p.

Shironin V.S., “Under the hood of counterintelligence”, this book is the first frank story about the secret springs of perestroika, the secret activities of the CIA and other Western special services against our country, the secret mechanisms of the destruction of the USSR and the collapse of the State Security Service of Russia. Shironin V.S. Under the hood of counterintelligence. - M .: Vershina, 1996. 240 p.

Yakovlev N. N., "The CIA against the USSR", a propaganda book written at the request of the KGB of the USSR to form a certain public opinion in the USSR in the 70-80s of the twentieth century. The author used information about the methods of the CIA, which are practiced in the USSR. Yakovlev N.N. CIA against the USSR. - M.: Zertsalo, 2010. 380 p.

"Cold War": causes, beginning, essence and course of events

cold war dulles plan

The ideological confrontation, muted on both sides during the Second World War, did not disappear, the contradictions between the two systems - capitalist and socialist - persisted and became stronger, the more countries were drawn into the orbit of Soviet influence. The open rejection of a different socio-economic system was aggravated by a completely new nuclear factor, which gradually came to the fore. Even during the Second World War, the United States became the owner of the secret of nuclear weapons. The US nuclear monopoly continued until 1949, which irritated the Stalinist leadership. These objective reasons created the background against which the appearance of specific reasons that led to the start of the Cold War did not take long to appear Zagladin N.V. History of Russia and the world in the twentieth century: Textbook. - 4th ed. - M .: TID LLC "Russian Word" - RS, 2005. P.215. .

The biggest controversy is the question of who started the Cold War - the Soviet Union or the United States. Supporters of opposing points of view give more and more evidence of their correctness, but the dispute in this case, apparently, is not resolved by the number of arguments “for” and “against”.

It is important to understand the main thing: both countries were aimed at increasing their influence, sought to expand its scope as much as possible and, up to the Caribbean crisis, believed that this goal justified any means, even the use of weapons of mass destruction. There are many facts both from the Soviet side and from the side of the former coalition allies, testifying to the strengthening of mutual disagreements.

So, in 1945, the head of the Sovinformburo A. Lozovsky informed V.M. Molotov about the “campaign to discredit the Red Army” organized in the USA and Great Britain, that “every fact of the indiscipline of the Red Army soldiers in the occupied countries is inflated and angrily commented on in a thousand ways” Derevyanko A.P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Velby, Prospect Publishing House, 2006. P.102. .

The Soviet ideological machine, initially set up for counter-propaganda, gradually moved on to forming the image of a new enemy. Stalin spoke of the "aggressive aspirations of imperialism" on February 9, 1946, in a speech to the voters. This change of mood in the Soviet leadership was caught by US Charge d'Affaires D. Kennan, who sent a secret document to Washington on February 26, 1946, which went down in history under the name "Kennan's long telegram." The document noted that the Soviet government, "being immune to the logic of reason, is very sensitive to the logic of force." So gradually, both sides "exchanged blows", "warmed up" before a decisive battle.

The key event from which historians count the Cold War was W. Churchill's speech. After it, the last hopes of even the appearance of allied relations collapsed and an open confrontation began. On March 5, 1946, speaking at the American Fulton College in the presence of US President G. Truman, W. Churchill said: “I do not believe that Soviet Russia wants war. She wants the fruits of the war and the unlimited spread of her strength and her doctrines” Zlobin N.V. On the path of strengthening the "cold war" // Questions of history. 2000. No. 9. P.18. .

W. Churchill pointed to two main dangers threatening the modern world: the danger of a monopoly on nuclear weapons of a communist or neo-fascist state and the danger of tyranny. By tyranny, W. Churchill understood such a system in which "state power is exercised indefinitely either by dictators or by narrow oligarchies acting through the mediation of a privileged party and political police ..." and in which civil liberties are significantly limited.

The combination of these two factors made, according to W. Churchill, necessary the creation of a "fraternal association of English-speaking peoples" to coordinate actions primarily in the military field. The former Prime Minister of Great Britain justified the relevance of such an association by a significant expansion of the sphere of Soviet influence, thanks to which the “iron curtain descended on the continent”, the growth of the influence of communist parties in Europe, far exceeding their numbers, the danger of creating a pro-communist Germany, the emergence of communist fifth columns around the world, acting on instructions from a single center. In conclusion, Churchill made a conclusion that determined global world politics for many decades: “We cannot afford to rely on a slight superiority in strength, thereby creating a temptation to test our strength” Derevianko A.P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Velby, Prospect Publishing House, 2006. P.103. .

Churchill's speech, hitting Stalin's table, caused an outburst of indignation. On March 13, the day after the publication of the speech in Izvestia, Stalin gave an interview to a correspondent of Pravda, in which he noted that, in fact, Mr. Churchill was now in the position of warmongers. He and his friends, Stalin said, are strikingly reminiscent in this respect of Hitler and his friends. Thus, the return shot was fired, the Cold War began.

The ideas of the retired British prime minister were developed and detailed in February 1947 in President G. Truman's message to the US Congress and were called the "Truman Doctrine". The “Truman Doctrine” contained specific measures that were supposed to at least prevent the expansion of the Soviet sphere of influence and the spread of communist ideology (“the doctrine of the containment of socialism”), and, under favorable circumstances, return the USSR to its former borders (“the doctrine of the rejection of socialism”). Both the immediate and long-term tasks required the concentration of military, economic and ideological efforts: European countries were asked to provide large-scale economic assistance, to form a military-political alliance under the leadership of the United States and to place a network of US military bases near the Soviet borders, to support opposition movements in Eastern Europe.

The economic component of the "Truman Doctrine" was developed in detail in the plan of US Secretary of State George Marshall in the same 1947. At the initial stage, V.M. Molotov was invited to take part in the discussion of the "Marshall Plan". However, the provision of economic assistance to the United States was associated with certain political concessions from Moscow, which was absolutely unacceptable for the leadership of the USSR. After the demand for the Soviet government to retain freedom in spending the allocated funds and independently determine economic policy was rejected by the West, the USSR refused to participate in the Marshall Plan and put direct pressure on Poland and Czechoslovakia, where the plan aroused interest.

The United States provided colossal economic assistance to Europe ravaged by the war - for 1948-1951. European countries received a total of 12.4 billion dollars of investment. The logic of ambitious behavior aggravated the already heavy economic burden of the Soviet Union, which was forced to invest heavily in the countries of people's democracy in the name of its ideological interests. By the middle of 1947, two types of foreign policy orientation had finally formed in Europe: pro-Soviet and pro-American A.B. Bezborodova - M .: "Olympus"; AST Publishing House, 2001. P. 198. .

With the undoubted influence and authority of the communists in post-war Europe, they managed to come to power and form their own governments only in Yugoslavia and Albania. In Eastern Europe, the process of establishing communist regimes was much more complex than historiography had previously portrayed. The establishment of the communists in power in these countries went through two main stages.

The first stage covered the period from the end of the war to the middle of 1947, when the so-called “people's democracy” was the main model of the state structure, which was based on the concept of “national paths to socialism”. The term "people's democracy" was supposed to demonstrate the difference both from the "old democracy" (bourgeois) and from the Soviet form of political power. The concept of "national paths to socialism" was based on the recognition of a gradual progressive movement towards a new system through evolutionary development, and not revolution. This evolutionary process was to be oriented toward civil peace and broad interclass alliance, excluding civil war and the dictatorship of the proletariat. In the economy, the Soviet practice of forcible expropriation of private property, which was supposed to be gradually transformed into public property, was completely denied. In general terms, this concept was formulated by the President of Czechoslovakia, E. Beneš, declaring that a new era of "resolute struggle for a new social and economic structure, the transition from bourgeois democracy to people's democracy" Derevyanko A.P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Velby, Publishing House Prospekt, 2006. P.104. . Such a “soft” model was also beneficial for the USSR, which received a significant expansion of its sphere of influence and, along with this, could demonstrate that it did not impose its system on anyone by force.

But the "cold war" made significant adjustments to Moscow's relations with the "people's democracy" countries. The communist movement, led by Moscow, was included in the process of confrontation and became one of its leading forces. From the middle of 1947 the situation in Europe changed - the communists lost their positions in France, Italy and Finland, the communist resistance was defeated in Greece. The Stalinist leadership began to “float under the feet” and it headed for speeding up the revolutionary process Zagladin N.V. History of Russia and the world in the twentieth century: Textbook. - 4th ed. - M .: TID LLC "Russian Word" - RS, 2005. P.224. .

The Cold War revived the logic of the pre-war confrontation between Stalin and Hitler, which in the communist movement meant a return to the idea of ​​a “united front” against imperialism, and in essence, the restoration of the Stalinist understanding of internationalism as loyalty to the USSR, the subordination of the countries of the socialist bloc to Soviet foreign policy. Fearing to lose its positions and striving with all its might to protect Eastern Europe from American influence, Moscow forced socio-economic and political transformations in these countries.

The second stage of relations is characterized by the establishment of such regimes in Eastern Europe, when the Soviet model of development was recognized as the only acceptable one. The process of the fall of the coalition governments of the "popular front" and the establishment of communist rule began. The communist government was formed in November 1946 in Bulgaria. In January 1947, the communist B. Bierut became president of Poland. From August 1947 to February 1948 similar regimes were established in Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia.

The transition to a single Soviet model of development was supposed to be promoted by an international closed political structure - the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (Cominform), created in September 1947 and existed until 1956. The first blow, crushing in strength, was dealt to the concept of "national paths to socialism. At the very first meeting of the Cominform in September 1947 in Poland, the strategy of the communists in relation to democratic blocs and political allies was revised. The slightest deviation from the Soviet model came to be seen by Moscow as separatism and a potential threat to reduce the sphere of Soviet influence. The creation of the Cominform meant a transition to a strict unification of the communist ideology, a complete rejection of the concept of "national paths to socialism", the replacement of "people's democracy" by the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Recently opened documents show that at the turn of 1947-1948. the Stalinist leadership was preparing to accuse the leaders of the communist parties in Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland of ignoring the Marxist-Leninist theory, hostile attitude towards the USSR, liquidationist policy in the organizational building of the Communist Party, and loyalty to the kulak. However, at the very beginning of this hard line, Stalin unexpectedly encountered resistance from the Yugoslav communists A.P. Derevyanko, N.A. Shabelnikov. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Welby, Prospekt Publishing House, 2006. P.109. .

Moscow was especially annoyed by the idea of ​​the Yugoslav leader Tito to create a Balkan federation (a union of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria). Stalin suspected Tito of striving for a leadership role in the Balkans, which, in his opinion, could cause a weakening of the USSR's position there. At the Soviet-Bulgarian-Yugoslav meeting on February 10, 1948, Stalin demanded that the process of creating a federation be transferred to a channel acceptable to the USSR. Tito did not agree with the Stalinist model of a federal structure and did not want to submit to Moscow's crude dictates.

"Rebellion on the ship" Stalin tried to suppress the hands of the Cominform, which in June 1948 issued a resolution on the situation in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. The CPY was accused of departing from the Marxist-Leninist ideology, of slandering the USSR and the CPSU (b), and the Yugoslav communists were asked to change their leaders if they did not admit and correct their “mistakes”. The events of the spring - summer of 1948 led to the rupture of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia in October 1949. Economic sanctions were applied against Yugoslavia.

The finale of the drama came on November 29, 1949, when the Cominform published a resolution entitled "The Yugoslav Communist Party is in the power of assassins and spies." Real anti-Yugoslav propaganda was launched in the USSR. The newspapers branded "the fascist clique of Tito-Ranković". Tito himself was depicted with an ax in his hands, from which the blood of the Yugoslav communists flows.

After the Soviet-Yugoslav conflict, the countries of "people's democracy" were left with no options: either unquestioning obedience to Moscow's dictates, or complete political and economic isolation. Stalin demanded an exact repetition of the Soviet model of development, without any amendments "to local conditions." Copying the Soviet practice of socialist construction caused a wave of repressions in 1949-1952, which was organized by the secret services with the direct participation of advisers from Moscow. All party functionaries who advocated national features of building socialism were removed from leadership, sent to prison, and shot. Thus, the countries of the “people's democracy” turned into countries of the “socialist camp”, with the laws of the center and party discipline binding on them. The use of the term "camp" accurately reflected the oppressive, oppressive atmosphere in the relationship between Moscow and the countries that built socialism according to the Soviet recipe. Only in the early 1960s, this concept in the political lexicon began to be gradually replaced by the "socialist commonwealth" Zlobin N.V. On the path of strengthening the "cold war" // Questions of history. 2000. No. 9. P.18. .

Naturally, Moscow's imposition of its political will had a material basis. Even under conditions of famine, which in 1946 engulfed most of the territory of Moldova and Ukraine, the USSR delivered 2.5 million tons of grain to Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. Economic assistance was transferred to solid ground as a result of the provision of concessional long-term loans to the countries of the "socialist camp", which amounted to 1945-1952. 3 billion dollars Leikin A.Ya. Milestones of Russian history. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2004. P.187. .

In the context of severe polarization in the international arena, the actual emergence of pro-American and pro-Soviet blocs, the struggle for influence on countries that have not yet declared one or another orientation, the countries of the so-called "third world", has acquired particular importance. It is customary to include among them young independent states that have freed themselves from colonial or other dependence.

After World War II, the national liberation movement unfolded with particular force on the Asian continent. In 1945-1948. sovereignty is given to Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Burma and Ceylon, which is considered to be the first stage in the collapse of the colonial system.

The Soviet Union used all available means of influencing the national liberation movement and including it in the orbit of its influence. Material and military-political support were actively used. The political parties that were in opposition to the pro-Western forces in the country became channels for such assistance. So, for example, in Iran, occupied during the war by Soviet and British troops, the USSR supported the People's Party of Iran (the Tudeh Party), the separatism of the Kurds and Azerbaijanis. The strengthening of the Soviet position in Iran for Moscow was associated with the conquest of political power by the Tudeh party and the creation of a pro-Soviet regime there. In December 1945, the separatists, relying on Soviet assistance, proclaimed the Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan and the Kurdish People's Republic in the northern provinces of Iran. This caused a sharp aggravation in Soviet-British relations. The British brought an additional military contingent into the northern provinces of Iran, suppressed the Kurdish and Azerbaijani separatists. To the complete fiasco in Iran, there was no official reaction from Stalin, who did not want to get involved in a regional conflict, Zagladin N.V. History of Russia and the world in the twentieth century: Textbook. - 4th ed. - M .: TID LLC "Russian Word" - RS, 2005. P.229. .

Throughout the post-war years, the national liberation movement was a channel of Soviet influence on the countries of the "third world", and the young independent states themselves often became "pawns" in the global geopolitical game, acted as an arena of confrontation between the Soviet and American blocs, which often resulted in armed confrontation.

The struggle between the USSR and the USA for strengthening their influence became most acute in Korea and Vietnam. After the end of World War II in the Asia-Pacific region, Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation and divided into Soviet and American zones. In the northern part of the country, which ended up in the Soviet administrative zone, with the support of Moscow, a "people's democratic revolution" began: new authorities were created - people's committees under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea and its leader Kim Il Sung; in 1946, a land reform, nationalization of industry, and other transformations were carried out. In September 1948, the formation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was proclaimed. Simultaneously with these events, an American military administration had been functioning in the southern part of Korea since the autumn of 1945, which was not going to give up its positions in Korea. Here, in 1948, the government of South Korea was established, headed by the American protege Lee Syngman. A hotbed of direct confrontation of systems arose, called in modern historiography the “phenomenon of divided peoples” Zagladin N.V. History of Russia and the world in the twentieth century: Textbook. - 4th ed. - M .: TID LLC "Russian Word" - RS, 2005. P.230. .

The same fate befell Vietnam. Even during the Japanese war, the August Revolution of 1945 took place here and the pro-Soviet Democratic Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed. In 1945-1946. in the south of the country, French troops launched military operations, trying to regain influence in their former colony. On the occupied territory, the French created the state of Vietnam, where a communist partisan movement unfolded, which continued until 1954. Thus, as a result of ideological and military-political confrontation, hotbeds of international tension developed, where the “cold war” could at any moment develop into a “hot” Derevyanko A. P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Velby, Prospect Publishing House, 2006. P. 115. .

China also fell into the sphere of Soviet influence. A strong communist party, founded here in the 1920s and actively supported by the Comintern, was defeated in 1927 by the Western-oriented national Kuomintang party. The Communists launched a guerrilla war against the Kuomintang and established strongholds in remote rural areas. Since 1931, Japan began to fight for the subjugation of all of China, which was largely hampered by the military and material assistance of the Soviet Union. After the defeat of the Kwantung Army in 1945, Northeast China, occupied by the Japanese, was liberated. China was engulfed in a civil war between the communists led by Mao Zedong and the troops of the Kuomintang. With active Soviet assistance, the communists won. On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was proclaimed, and on February 14, 1950, an agreement on friendship, alliance and mutual assistance was signed between it and the USSR. Stalin considered the victory of the revolution in China and the building of socialism there according to the Soviet model as a key condition for the victory of socialism throughout the world, and therefore spared neither effort nor means to help the Chinese communists, and also made significant concessions on all controversial issues. Thus, the USSR provided China with a one-percent loan in the amount of $300 million, transferred the rights to the former CER to the government of the PRC free of charge, left the port of Dalniy (Dalian) 25 years ahead of the expiration date of the contract, and withdrew its military forces from the joint Soviet-Chinese base Port Arthur , transferring all property and facilities to the Chinese side. For eternity between the USSR and China was proclaimed "great friendship".

After the war, the world was actually redistributed, two main poles of attraction were formed, and a bipolar geopolitical model was formed. At a meeting of the Cominform in November 1949, in the report of M.A. Suslov, it was stated that on the one hand there is an aggressive and bloody imperialism, pursuing a policy of violence against the peoples, preparing for a war against the USSR, on the other, the progressive USSR and its allies Russia: modern times (1945-1999): Textbook for universities / Ed. A.B. Bezborodova - M .: "Olympus"; Publishing house AST, 2001. S.207. .

Churchill spoke most definitely about the nature of Soviet foreign policy, calling it "Soviet imperialism" and emphasizing the close connection between the foreign policy aspirations of the Soviet Union and the communist idea. He noted that after the war, "Russian imperialism and communist doctrine did not see and did not set limits to their progress and desire for final domination." Having accepted Lenin's idea of ​​a "world revolution", the pragmatic politician Stalin gradually transformed it into the concept of the steady expansion of the "socialist camp", spheres of influence in the "third world" under the slogans of proletarian internationalism, rallying peace fighters, etc. Along with consistent, realistic moves to expand the Soviet bloc and Third World zone of influence, Moscow's post-war ambitions sometimes went beyond sober calculation. Thus, the most odious example, difficult to explain from the point of view of common sense, can be considered Stalin's demands in the summer-autumn of 1945, doomed to failure from the very beginning. These are demands for a change in the regime of the Black Sea straits, the return of the Kars and Ardagan districts to the USSR, which became Turkish in 1921, the participation of the USSR in the management of Tangier (Morocco), as well as statements of interest in changing political regimes in Syria, Lebanon, a number of Italian colonies in Africa . Forced at the request of Stalin to implement these absurd initiatives in the international arena, V.M. Molotov later recalled: “It was difficult then to make such demands. But to scare - they scared hard ”Zlobin N.V. On the path of strengthening the "cold war" // Questions of history. 2000. No. 9. P.20. .

One way or another, but by the beginning of 1949 the "socialist camp" was ideologically united on the basis of subordination and strict discipline. In all countries, programs for building socialism according to the Soviet version were approved, and their cooperation was consolidated within the framework of the CMEA. Two communist regimes emerged in the Asia-Pacific region. The revolution in China ended victoriously. The influence of the USSR in the countries of the "third world" has increased significantly. The measures taken by the United States and its allies were already announced in Churchill's Fulton speech, they only needed to be formalized in international law.

On April 4, 1949, at the initiative of the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed, which determined the international legal basis for the military-political alliance of the pro-American bloc. This alliance was called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO (from the English North Atlantic Treaty Organization - NATO). NATO included the USA, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canada, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, in 1952 Turkey and Greece. Within the framework of NATO, a unified military command of the participating countries was created, which became the basis of the first military bloc of states in the post-war world. The creation of NATO allows us to talk about the transition of confrontation from the ideological and political sphere to the military one, which qualitatively changed the international situation, led to a significant aggravation of international tension Derevyanko A.P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Velby, Prospect Publishing House, 2006. P. 137. .

The only sphere of allied relations in 1945-1949. the joint administration of Germany remained, therefore it was in the German question that the confrontation manifested itself most sharply. The Soviet Union adhered to the position of the territorial integrity of the German state. This position was caused by two main factors: the threat of revanchist sentiment in the western occupation zones, which had an economically rich Ruhr basin, and the desire to receive reparation payments from the government of a united Germany in full. As V.M. Molotov, Stalin was practically confident in the victory of the German communists and did not give up hope of extending Soviet influence throughout Germany.

In a radically changed international situation, the politics of the German question has become the main way of confrontation for the West. From January 1, 1947, the process of merging the Allied occupation zones began: during 1947, the British and American zones were merged, and in the summer of 1948 the French zone was attached to them. The reform of the monetary system in June 1948 in West Germany and its inclusion in the sphere of economic assistance under the "Marshall Plan" laid the economic foundation for the division of the territory of the German state. The last desperate attempt to put pressure on the former allies was the economic blockade of West Berlin (the allied occupation sectors of the capital of Germany, which was entirely in the Soviet zone). In the spring of 1949, the USSR tried to block the delivery of food to West Berlin, but to no avail - the Americans delivered all the means of life support for the population by air. Stalin's proposal to lift the blockade of West Berlin in exchange for abandoning the idea of ​​creating a West German state was ignored.

On May 23, 1949, an agreement was signed between the high commissioners of the western occupation zones on the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany with its capital in Bonn, the Constitution was adopted and government bodies of the FRG were formed. As a response, in October 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) N.V. Zagladin was created in the Soviet occupation zone. History of Russia and the world in the twentieth century: Textbook. - 4th ed. - M .: TID LLC "Russian Word" - RS, 2005. P.241. .

The confrontation between the two systems made open military confrontation quite real. The danger of this trend was aggravated by the nuclear factor. Until 1949, the only power that possessed nuclear weapons was the United States, which turned them into the main means of pressure on the USSR. In the summer of 1946, the United States submitted the Baruch Plan to the UN, which proposed the establishment of an international system of control over atomic energy.

All types of activities (research and production) related to nuclear energy were to be controlled by a special international organization, the real leadership of which was in the United States. If the Baruch plan was adopted, it would be possible to consolidate the US monopoly on developments in the field of nuclear energy. The USSR came up with a counter-initiative and submitted to the UN a convention on the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons, proposing not to use them under any circumstances, to ban their production and storage, and to destroy all their stocks. The UN Security Council was supposed to monitor compliance with the convention. The Baruch plan was rejected by the USSR, and the convention on the prohibition of nuclear weapons by the United States. The aggravation of the issue of atomic energy and nuclear weapons in international legal terms marked the beginning of the era of "nuclear diplomacy", an arms race in the international arena. A.B. Bezborodova - M .: "Olympus"; Publishing house AST, 2001. S.214. .

The United States, in preparing its military-strategic plans, proceeded from the readiness to use nuclear weapons against the USSR. Among these plans, the most famous was the Dropshot plan (1949), which outlined the primary targets for the nuclear bombardment of cities in the Soviet Union.

The US monopoly on nuclear weapons put the USSR in a rather difficult position and forced the country's leadership to pursue two main lines. The first, official line was to ensure that, regardless of any difficulties, create Soviet nuclear weapons and eliminate the US nuclear monopoly. The efforts of the Soviet military-industrial complex were crowned with success. A TASS statement dated September 25, 1949 stated that the secret of the atomic bomb was no more. Thus, the US nuclear monopoly was eliminated. The confrontation became thermonuclear.

While not yet in possession of nuclear weapons, the USSR activated the second, propaganda line. Its essence was to demonstrate in every possible way the desire to agree with the United States on the prohibition and destruction of nuclear weapons. Was this wish sincere? Did the Soviet leadership consider such negotiations real? Most likely not. Another thing is important - this propaganda line responded to the desire of the Soviet people to live in peace, and official propaganda in this case coincided with the peace movement both in the USSR and abroad.

In 1947, at the initiative of the USSR, a resolution of the UN General Assembly was adopted condemning any form of propaganda aimed at creating or intensifying a threat to peace. Against the backdrop of a broad international discussion of the threat of world war in August 1948, on the initiative of prominent scientists and cultural figures, an international peace movement arose, which held its first congress in April 1949 in Paris. Representatives of 72 countries took part in the congress, the Standing Committee of the World Peace Congress headed by the outstanding French physicist F. Joliot-Curie was created, and International Peace Prizes were established. This social movement absolutely coincided with the official foreign policy line of the Soviet Union, so the USSR provided constant assistance to the peace movement.

It also assumed an organized character inside the country, uniting with all the might of the Soviet propaganda machine - in August 1949, the first All-Union Peace Conference was held in Moscow and the Soviet Committee for the Defense of Peace was created. The entire adult population of the USSR (115.5 million people) put their signatures under the Stockholm Appeal, adopted in March 1950 by the session of the Standing Committee of the World Peace Congress. The appeal demanded an unconditional ban on atomic weapons "as a weapon of intimidation and mass destruction of people." The signatories demanded "the establishment of strict international control over the implementation of this decision", and the first use of atomic weapons against any country was declared a "crime against humanity" Derevianko A.P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Velby, Prospect Publishing House, 2006. P.133. .

At the official diplomatic level, in June 1950, the USSR declared its readiness to cooperate with the legislatures of other countries in implementing the proposals of the supporters of peace, and on March 12, 1951, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted the Law on the Protection of Peace, according to which propaganda of war was declared the gravest crime against humanity.

The apogee of the confrontation was the war in Korea (June 25, 1950 - July 28, 1953), during which the struggle between the USSR and the USA for influence in Asia turned into an open military confrontation that threatened to escalate into a world war. In the Korean War, North Korea (DPRK) fought against pro-American South Korea. On the side of the DPRK, Chinese volunteers took part in the hostilities, and from the end of November 1950, several Soviet air divisions on aircraft with Korean markings, air defense formations. The Americans fought on the side of South Korea under the UN flag. The Soviet government provided the DPRK with military and material assistance: it supplied the Korean army with tanks, aircraft, ammunition, and medicines. Several Soviet ground divisions were prepared to be sent to Korea. Military operations took place with varying success. The US landing in the rear of the North Korean army in September 1950 and the massive bombing of the capital of the DPRK Pyongyang in July 1952 played the greatest role militarily. Nevertheless, neither side managed to achieve a decisive strategic advantage, and on July 28, 1953 peace was established, but the country remained divided into two states History of Russia: modern times (1945-1999): Textbook for universities / Ed. A.B. Bezborodova - M .: "Olympus"; Publishing house AST, 2001. S.215. .

The confrontation between the blocs came to a dangerous point during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the autumn of 1962. The United States began to deploy missiles with nuclear charges in Turkey, Italy and the FRG, organizing their military bases there. The United States also tried to overthrow the Castro regime by organizing an amphibious landing in the Playa Giron area in April 1961.

Under the threat of losing power, Castro in the spring of 1962 obtained from the Soviet leadership the recognition of Cuba as a socialist country. The admission of Cuba to the "socialist camp" imposed obligations on the USSR, primarily in the military-strategic field, related to the protection of the territory of the "island of freedom". The United States continued to develop plans for a military invasion of the island.

Therefore, in the spring of 1962, the USSR began to secretly equip its military base in Cuba, carrying out a top-secret transfer of people and medium-range missiles. This made it possible, while defending the socialist transformations in Cuba, at the same time to keep Washington at gunpoint. The retaliatory step of American President D. Kennedy was the naval blockade of Cuba and the demand for the immediate withdrawal of Soviet missiles from the island. Not only the troops of the USSR and the USA, but also the formations of NATO and the Department of Internal Affairs were brought to full combat readiness.

Intensive negotiations began between Khrushchev and Kennedy, as a result of which a salutary compromise was reached: the USSR exported missiles from Cuba, and the USA from Turkey and Italy; America also guaranteed the security of Cuba and the regime of Castro Derevianko A.P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Velby, Prospect Publishing House, 2006. P. 138. .

Of particular discussion is the question of which side prevailed as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The literature presents a wide range of opinions. It seems that it is necessary to separate the political and military results of past events. If in the political sense the United States gained an advantage and new evidence of "Soviet expansionism", then militarily the withdrawal of American missiles from the territory of Turkey and Italy was an undoubted success of the USSR. If the propaganda effect was obvious, the US military agreements and concessions in Turkey and Italy were kept secret. This development of events led to further confrontation between the USSR and China, as it gave Mao Zedong a reason to talk about the "criminal conspiracy" of Soviet revisionism and American imperialism. A.B. Bezborodova - M .: "Olympus"; Publishing house AST, 2001. S.213. .

On a number of points, Mao's views were shared by Castro, who believed that Khrushchev had betrayed him when he made concessions to the Americans and "exchanged" their missiles in Turkey and Italy for his own in Cuba. However, the main and indisputable significance of the Caribbean crisis was to prove the impossibility of using nuclear missiles to achieve political goals. The Caribbean crisis marked the end of the first period of the Cold War, when it could escalate into an armed conflict.

After the crisis, a gradual process of removing the sharp confrontation in relations between the USSR and the USA began. An important step in this direction was the signing of a treaty banning tests of atomic weapons in the atmosphere, space and under water, which took place in August 1963 in Moscow. The assassination of Kennedy in November 1963 and the resignation of Khrushchev in October 1964 slowed down the development of this process Derevianko A.P., Shabelnikova N.A. Russian history. 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: TK Welby, Prospekt Publishing House, 2006. P.136. .

Similar Documents

Allen Welsh Dulles as one of the organizers of the extensive intelligence and espionage and sabotage activities of the United States of America. General characteristics of the Dulles plan, consideration of features. Acquaintance with the achievements of the Cold War ideologist.

presentation, added 02/09/2014


The study of the main events of the confrontation between the two armed superpowers: the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Background to the beginning and results of the Cold War. Description of the political situation in the second half of the twentieth century.

abstract, added 03/11/2014


The Cold War and its Causes. The Dulles plan (US goals in the war against Russia). Propaganda and ideology of the warring parties, the confrontation of the superpowers in the field of culture and sports. NATO vs. ATS. Positions of the USSR and the USA in the Korean conflict and the Caribbean Crisis.

abstract, added 01/12/2011


Events of the post-war foreign policy of the Soviet Union. The beginning of the "cold war" between the USSR and the USA and the reasons for its occurrence. Creation of a bloc of socialist countries with the aim of encircling the territory of the USSR with friendly countries. Creation of systems of unions in Europe.

presentation, added 09/01/2011


The main reasons for the aggravation of the confrontation between the USSR and the USA. Expansion of the Soviet sphere of influence. Afghanistan and ideological contradictions. The positions of the superpowers during the period of escalation of confrontation. The position of the United States of America, a new stage in the arms race.

term paper, added 03/12/2015


The Beginning of the Cold War in Russian Historiography. Stages of the evolution of the image of America in the USSR in the period 1946-1953. The Great Patriotic War and features of propaganda. The image of America at the stage from Victory to Fulton: prerequisites for the post-war image of the enemy.

term paper, added 04/08/2010


Prerequisites for the emergence of the Peloponnesian Union, which included almost all the policies of the Peloponnese, except for Argos and, in part, Achaia. The main military forces of the union. Causes of the war between him and Athens. The Peloponnesian War - its course and the conclusion of peace.

abstract, added 05/20/2008


Relations between the USSR and the USA during the Cold War. Causes and main events of the Cold War period, summarizing its results. Conventional and nuclear arms race. Warsaw Pact or Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance.

abstract, added 09/28/2015


Preparing Germany for War. Plans and actions of A. Hitler regarding the Soviet Union. Actions and decisions of the Soviet Union. The main reason for Stalin's inaction in the face of a military threat. Reasons for the surprise attack of Germany on the Soviet Union.

abstract, added 03/02/2011


Results of the Great Patriotic War for the Soviet Union. The defeat of fascism, the international authority of the country. Development of norms of international law and peaceful coexistence. Ways to restore the economy. The tightening of the Stalinist regime, the cold war.