Cold war and Post-
Cold War World
Lecture by- Dr. Md. Zubair Ahmad
What is Cold War?
The Cold War is described by historian John Lewis
Gaddis as the “long peace”
Causes for cold War
• World War Two
• The world leaders responsible
• a clash between two competing economic and political systems
• Descending of iron curtain
• Bipolar distribution of military power
Phases of cold war
The Cold War spreads and deepens
• Containment Policy/ Truman Doctrine (1946)
• Announcement of Marshall Plan (June 1947)
Militarizing the Cold War (National Security Council Report 68)
• The founding of Peoples Republic of China (1949)
• Korean War (1950-1953)
• THE Vietnam War (1950s -1975)
• Space race between USA and USSR
• The Cuban missile crisis (1962)
The era of détente (1962-1979)
Arms control efforts
• These efforts led to the banning of most nuclear tests, outlawing military tests in space (1963)
• a ban on nuclear weapons proliferation (1968)
• a limitation on the number and type of Soviet and American intercontinental ballistic missiles (1972,
1979)
• and elimination of intermediate-range nuclear forces (INFs) (1987)
• the Helsinki Conference (1975)
• The squabble between USSR and China (1969)
• Deployment of surveillance systems and MAD weapons deterred the fighting
• Improving communication between Washington and Moscow, as in the establishment of a direct
teletype link called the Hotline in 1963
The end of détente 1979 and the commencement of new Cold War
Jimmy Carter’s human rights campaign
• USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan (1979)
• food embargo on USSR (1980)
• US boycott of Moscow Olympic Gaims (1980)
• election of Ronal Regan (1980)
• The heart of the tough US policy was a massive arms build-up. A $180-billion nuclear modernization program was begun in
which new land-based and sea-based missiles and long-range bombers were added to America’s arsenal.
• New intermediate-range nuclear missiles were subsequently deployed in Western Europe to counter similar Soviet weapons
• In 1983, Reagan also proposed a comprehensive antiballistic missile system called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
(nicknamed “Star Wars” by critics) to protect America’s homeland from nuclear attack.
• At first, the USSR responded in kind, continuing to deploy mobile intermediate-range missiles, building new long-range
missiles, and modernizing its nuclear submarine fleet.
• USSR also continued to assist pro-communist militants in Afghanistan, Angola, Kampuchea (Cambodia), and Ethiopia
• USSR broke off arms-reduction talks after American INF deployments began in Western Europe in November 1983
• cracks appeared in the USSR’s social and economic fabric that required dramatic repair. Isolated from currents of economic
The end of the Cold War
• On March 11, 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev assumed the reins of power of the Soviet communist party and became the president of USSR
• Gorbachev announced at the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1986 changes in USSR policy
• Perestroika – a program of economic, political, and social restructuring
• Glasnost – a policy of openness in public discussion that would enhance the legitimacy of Soviet institutions and the communist party
• `Domestic pressures were the incentive for Gorbachev to seek an end to the Cold War
• Gorbachev therefore set out to move Soviet thinking away from belief in the need for nuclear “superiority” toward acceptance of
“sufficiency.” He would reduce Soviet force levels, adopt an unprovocative conventional-force posture, and scale back Soviet global commitments
• By 1988, US arms build-up was producing alarming budget deficits, and increases in military spending were no longer assured of
congressional or public support
• Accommodative moves by both sides followed. Negotiations on intermediate and strategic nuclear weapons began early in 1985, and the
first summit meeting since 1979 between Soviet and American leaders was held in November. Additional summits followed.
• Major arms control agreements were reached and efforts were made to address old regional differences. Soviet troops withdrew from
Afghanistan, and civil war ended in Angola so that Cuban troops could leave that country
• The most dramatic example of Soviet–US cooperation followed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Presidents Gorbachev and
George H. W. Bush hastily arranged a meeting in Helsinki, Finland, and jointly condemned Saddam Hussein’s aggression
• The two then cooperated in passing UN resolutions demonstrating the global community’s resolve to reverse aggression.
• 1989, Within the year, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany, and other Eastern European countries had abandoned communist
rule and held democratic elections, thereby fulfilling the promise of Yalta four decades later.
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was opened that led to German reunification
• Collapse of the Soviet Union (1991)
• Post Cold War Developments and Emergence of Other Centers of Power
• Japan, European Union (EU) and Brazil, Russia, India, China
