Comtemporary History

¶ … Cold War

It is important to note from the onset that the Cold War was not essentially a war that involved conventional military weaponry. It was a war that largely involved the utilization of surrogates, propaganda, and economics -- it was a war of words. In that regard therefore, the Cold War was in basic terms the uneasy relationship that primarily developed between the U.S.S.R. And the U.S.A. after the end of the Second World War (Goff, et al. 2008). The Cold War was caused by a variety of factors. In this text, I will analyze two of the many events that may have, in one way or another, deepened the Cold War.

To begin with, the People's Republic of China-Soviet Union alliance "signed during the Moscow meetings between Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Zedong in February 1950, was one of the cornerstones of the early Cold War and one of the causes of the Korean War" (Hanhimaki and Westad, 2004, p.176). Having lasted for a period of three years, the Korean War effectively pushed or advanced the Cold War boundaries closer to what we could in this case refer to as a "Warm War." Indeed, as Hanhimaki and Westad (2004) further observe, the Cold War era's first 'hot' war came about after South Korea was attacked by North Korea in June 1950. It was after this invasion that the United Nations deemed it fit to act by amongst other things instituting 'police action' against those it deemed to be the aggressors. It is important to note that at in this case, although Russia and America did not engage in direct conflict, client states of both countries did indeed clash -- the American-backed south and the Russian-backed north.

Yet another event that in a way accelerated the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis. After the discovery of nuclear missiles in Cuba, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union spiked with the U.S. threatening to launch a military assault on Cuba if the missiles were not gotten rid of. It is instructive to note that the missiles in question had the potential of reaching the United States. As the U.S. was preparing for military action through the deployment of Polaris submarines as well as naval blockage of Cuba amongst other actions, the then leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, deemed it fit to ready Warsaw Pact forces for any eventuality. In the words of Philips (2001), it was during the standoff that "for the first time during the Cold War the U.S.A. And the Soviet Union faced each other in direct conflict" (p.105). The world waited with baited breath as tensions between the Soviet Union and the U.S. continued to increase. As Philips (2001) further points out, people from across the world followed the unfolding events carefully so as to see which country would be the first to concede, withdraw or surrender. It is for this reason that the Cuban Missile Crisis remains one of the events that contributed towards the further deepening of the Cold War.