Background of Cold War

1.
2. There wre of Moscow on Eastern Europe was so much more than the
pressure of Washington on Western Europe. -Reasons to establish NATO,
original aim, erly years of alliance NATO is a military alliance consisting of
United States, Canada, and 14 other Western countries. Formed in 1949,
NATO was set up largely to discourage an attack by the Soviet Union on the
non-Communist nations of Western Europe. After World War II ended in 1945,
an intense rivalry had developed between Communist countries, led by the
Soviet Union, and non-Communist nations, led by the United States. NATO
was established not only to discourage Communist aggression but also to
keep the peace among former enemies in Western Europe. In World War II,
for example, Italy and Germany had fought most of the other countries that
later became NATO members. In forming NATO, each member country agreed
to treat an attack on any other member as an attack on itself. Militarily, the
United States was-and still is-the alliance's most powerful member, in part
because of its large supply of nuclear weapons. The NATO countries believed
that the Soviet Union would not attack Western Europe if Soviet leaders
thought such an attack would trigger war with the United States. NATO's policy
is known as deterrence because it is designed to deter (discourage) an attack.
With cooperation between East and West fading, the NATO Member States
moved quickly to consolidate stability in Western Europe in order to combat
the spread of communism. In 1950 the United States took began to solidify the
defensive capability of NATO members by authorizing the expenditure of
almost one billion dollars for military upgrades. Institution building continued
well into the later stages of the 1950’s for NATO. On 6 May 1955, West
Germany, despite strenuous objections from the USSR, joined NATO. As a
result, two weeks later the USSR, joined by Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania, formed the Warsaw Pact to
counter the perceived threat from NATO. Why and how Warsaw Pact
established? The political and military alliance of the Soviet Union and East
European socialist states, known as the Warsaw Pact, was formed in 1955 as
a counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), created in
1949. During much of its early existence, the Warsaw Pact essentially
functioned as part of the Soviet Ministry of Defense. In fact, in the early years
of its existence the Warsaw Pact served as one of the Soviet Union's primary
mechanisms for keeping its East European allies under its political and military
control. The Soviet Union used the Warsaw Pact to erect a facade of collective
decisions and actions around the reality of its political domination and military
intervention in the internal affairs of its allies. At the same time, the Soviet
Union also used the Warsaw Pact to develop East European socialist armies
and harness them to its military strategy and security policy. Berlin crises and
its consequences During the 1950s a steady outflow of refugees from the
Soviet occupation zone to the West consisted primarily of young people of
working age. By 1950 some 1.6 million had migrated to the western zones.
Between 1950 and 1961, the refugee flow continued at a rate of 100,000 to
200,000 annually. Workers were attracted by the economic opportunities open
to them in West Germany, and in the early 1950s, they and their families
formed the majority of emigrants. By the late 1950s, a growing proportion of
those leaving were professional people and students whose skills were sorely
needed for internal development. In November 1958, Soviet Premier
Khrushchev issued an ultimatum giving the Western powers six months to
agree to withdraw from Berlin and make it a free, demilitarized city. At the end
of that period, Khrushchev declared, the Soviet Union would turn over to East
Germany complete control of all lines of communication with West Berlin; the
western powers then would have access to West Berlin only by permission of
the East German government. The United States, Great Britain, and France
replied to this ultimatum by firmly asserting their determination to remain in
West Berlin and to maintain their legal right of free access to that city. In 1959
the Soviet Union withdrew its deadline and instead met with the Western
powers in a Big Four foreign ministers' conference. Although the three-month-
long sessions failed to reach any important agreements, they did open the
 door to further negotiations and led to Premier Khrushchev's visit to the United
States in September of 1959. At the end of this visit, Khrushchev and
President Eisenhower stated jointly that the most important issue in the world
was general disarmament and that the problem of Berlin and "all outstanding
international questions should be settled, not by the application of force, but by
peaceful means through negotiations." During the early months of 1961, the
government actively sought a means of halting the emigration of its population
to the West. By the early summer of 1961, East German President Walter
Ulbricht apparently had persuaded the Soviets that an immediate solution was
necessary and that the only way to stop the exodus was to use force. This
presented a delicate problem for the Soviet Union because the four-power
status of Berlin specified free travel between zones and specifically forbade
the presence of German troops in Berlin. In June 1961 Premier Khrushchev
created a new crisis over the status of West Berlin when he again threatened
to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany, which he said, would end
existing four-power agreements guaranteeing American, British, and French
access rights to West Berlin. The three powers replied that no unilateral treaty
could abrogate their responsibilities and rights in West Berlin, including the
right of unobstructed access to the city. As the confrontation over Berlin
escalated, on 25 July President Kennedy requested an increase in the Army's
total authorized strength along with increasse in the active duty strength of the
Navy and the Air Force.

2. Nordic Balance During the Cold War period, the security policy of the Nordic
countries was based on what Arne Olav Brundtland had called nordic balance. After
the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the East-West confrontation, this
concept has been reformulated, among other factors, by the decision taken by
Sweden and Finland to renounce their traditional policies of neutrality and their
joining the European Union. The creators of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1948/49 had
a vision of an obliging co-operation against insecurity in Europe: co-operation
between independent states sharing common values, respect for pluralist democracy,
individual liberty and the rule of law. This was overtaken by events, and NATO was
established in 1949 as an instrument of peace and security for defending Western
Europe in close co-operation with the two North American states. The Northern areas
became a central element in the tense relations between East and West during the
cold war. It was of decisive importance to Norway to engage the Western powers in
the defence of Norway and keep sufficient Western backing in the relationship with
great eastern neighbour. -iron curtain, who introduced this concept, nordic balance
role Iron Curtain describes the political division between the east and west and it was
possibly first mentioned by Winston Churchill's reference to Stalin's control over
eastern Europe at the end of Second World War. Winston Churchill gave this speech
at Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri, after receiving an honorary degree. With
typical oratorical skills, Church introduced the phrase "Iron Curtain" to describe the
division between Western powers and the area controlled by the Soviet Union. Nordic
Balance and the role it has played in history is an excellent introduction to the study
of Soviet policy in Scandinavia. The 'Nordic Balance' meant that the NATO
membership of Norway, Denmark, and Iceland and was balanced by Finland's
security relationship with Russia, while Sweden's armed neutrality acted as a buffer
between the Eastern and Western spheres of influence. The concept embodied a
tacit recognition by all parties that this balance was stable and that attempt to tilt it
would meet a corresponding reaction from the other side. -Iceland's Security Policy
Today, Iceland's security policy is based on Iceland's defence agreement with the
United States of 1951 and on co-operation in multilateral security organisations.
Iceland is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and
participates in the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for Security and Co-
operation in Europe (OSCE). The countries of Europe and North America are bound
together by close ties and their interests are therefore closely connected. - Soviet
domunation of eastern europe in the cold war As Russia drove back Hitler's troops at
the end of the war it occupied as much territory as it could in eastern Europe. The
west was worried by what it saw as Russian aggression, and believed that Stalin was
trying to spread communism throughout Europe. Although they had been allies in the
fight against Hitler, the west was now deeply suspicious of Russia. By 1948 the
Soviets had installed left-wing governments in the countries of eastern Europe that
had been liberated by the Red Army. The Americans and the British feared the
permanent Soviet domination of eastern Europe and the threat of Soviet-influenced
communist parties coming to power in the democracies of western Europe. The
Soviets, on the other hand, were determined to maintain control of eastern Europe in
order to safeguard against any possible renewed threat from Germany, and they
were intent on spreading communism worldwide, largely for ideological reasons. The
Soviets did not permit or allow any uprisals or critics against the system and used
power against those who were the opponents to Soviets in eastern european
countries. The Soviet domination of Eastern Europe suggested to American
policymakers that some counterweight was necessary to prevent the Soviet regime
from gaining greater influence in, or direct control over, the devastated countries of
Western Europe. - Yugoslavia and Finland As one of the founders of the non-aligned
movement, Tito’s Yugoslavia enjoyed a high level of international prestige. Its citizens
were allowed freedom of travel and in comparison with most of the other countries in
the Eastern block, Yugoslavs, whether Serb, Croat, Macedonian or Slovene, were
proud of their country’s status and achievements. Tito’s communist regime brought
unity, stability and relative prosperity to Yugoslavia. His break with Stalin and advent
of the cold war placed Yugoslavia in a favored position between two great powers.
Yugoslavia became eligible for loans from the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.)
and eligible for membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
and entry into association agreements with the European Community (EC) and the
European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Britain's wartime Prime Minister, Winston
Churchill, coined the term the 'Iron Curtain' to describe the boundary between
eastern and western Europe. An Iron Curtain existed between Finland and the Soviet
Union, too. The prevailing political climate in the world discouraged any Finnish
initiatives raising the subject of returning the areas ceded under the Paris Peace
Treaty. The Cold War dragged on for a long time. Finland maintained a neutral policy
and remained an onlooker. Although there were no official negotiations about return
of the ceded areas, there were some unofficial discussions between heads of state.
At about the time the Baltic states became independent, Finland entered into a
Cross-border Agreement with Russia that replaced the post-war Treaty of Friendship,
Cooperation and Mutual Assistance. The new agreement included an assurance that
Finland had no unresolved territorial claims on Russia. In this context, Finland's
foreign policy makers ignored signs that indicated a possible willingness on the part
of Russia to negotiate about returning Karelia to its rightful owner.

3. Nuclear Weapons Possession of nuclear weapons was almost always considered

as the mean to act more effectively in [peacetime] international relations rather than
the mean of defense against an imminent threat. Since 1945, the United States has
had one unquestioned military advantage on the world scene: its clear superiority in
nuclear weapons. There was a short moment in 1949 when it seemed this advantage
was seriously challenged by the U.S.S.R., but the U.S. soon pulled ahead again.
After secretly developing atomic bomb technology in the Manhattan Project during
the early Forties, atomic bombs are dropped by the United States on the Japanese
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands and forcing the
Japanese to surrender in World War II. These atomic bombs are the first nuclear
weapons used in warfare, thus pressuring the world powers, namely Russia, to rush
to develop their own nuclear weapons in order to match the strength of the U.S. This
arms race becomes a foundation of the Cold War. -nuclear warhead Part of a missile,
projectile, torpedo, rocket or other munition which contains nuclear system, high
explosive system, chemical or biological agents or inert materials intended to inflict
damage. - delivery system The military vehicle (e.g., ballistic airplane, submarine) by
which a nuclear weapon would be delivered; most warheads have been designed for
specific delivery systems (analogous to "carrier"). - ballistic missile A missile that is
guided during powered flight and unguided during free flight when the trajectory that
it follows is subject only to the external influences of gravity and atmospheric drag. -
anti ballistic missile Anti-ballistic missile system is an indispensable hardware and
software for TMD. Wilkening categorizes TMD "by the altitude at which they make
their intercepts. Systems that intercept targets above altitudes of 80-100 km are
called exoatmospheric defences. Those that intercept below this altitude are
endoatomspheric defences. - second strike capability If a nation is subjected to a
nuclear attack, it is presumed that the initial targets would be its own nuclear
weapons facilities. A second strike capability means that the nation should have
enough weapons and have them deployed in a manner that enough of them survive
the initial attack and can be used for a retaliatory attack. Thus the weapons that
make up the second strike capability could be missiles that are launched from mobile
launchers that are constantly on the move. Or they could be missiles launched from
nuclear submarines which can stay submerged for long periods of time and are
therefore difficult to locate and destroy. - Mutual Assured Destruction Mutual Assured
Destruction means that if one side launches ballistic missiles at the other, the other
side would have no choice but to launch its own ballistic missiles at the competing
side. Obviously, millions of people would be killed in a matter of minutes in both
countries. -missile defence system Missile defence system is being designed against
short-range ballistic missiles and advanced cruise missiles fired from any direction. -
France left NATO's central command in 1966 Spain's political, military and media
bosses have begun a sustained campaign on the need to end Spain's "exceptional"
position in the Alliance. This campaign was reinforced when, in December 1996,
Paris' ailing conservative government announced that France too wished to become
part of the unified command system. Spain's 1986 decision not to join the unified
command was the result of the last massive mobilisation in the country's transition
from fascism to parliamentary democracy. France left the integrated command in
1966, when General de Gaulle decided that the country would instead develop its
independent nuclear capacity, cornerstone of his "Great Power" ambitions. -
Ostpolitik West Germany's relations with the East European states had virtually
stagnated since the establishment of the Hallstein Doctrine in the mid-1950s. In
1970, in an attempt to lessen tensions in Europe, Willy Brandt and his minister for
foreign affairs, Walter Scheel, agreed to negotiate with the communist bloc. For the
first time since 1948, the top politicians of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)
and the German Democratik Republic (GDR) held talks, with Brandt and the East
German prime minister, Willi Stoph, meeting in Erfurt in East Germany and Kassel in
West Germany. Although the talks produced no concrete results because Brandt
refused to recognize the GDR as a sovereign state, communication lines were
reopened. After coordinating policy goals with the United States, the FRG also
entered negotiations with the Soviet Union on a treaty normalizing relations, in which
both countries renounced the use of force. The FRG agreed to make no territorial
claims, and it recognized de facto the Oder-Neisse border and the border between
the FRG and the GDR. FRG negotiators, however, insisted that such agreements did
not alter the West German position on future reunification of country and that the
responsibilities of the Four Powers in Germany remained unchanged by the treaty.
They also linked the signing of the treaty to a Soviet promise to open talks on
normalizing the Berlin situation. After the Soviet Union had agreed to these
conditions, the Treaty of Moscow was signed in August 1970. The agreement opened
the road to negotiations with other countries of the Soviet bloc. Willy Bradnt was the
first to mention this concept. -Detante Political and economic struggle between the
capitalist, democratic Western powers and the Soviet Union after World War II. The
Col