Cold War's Impact on Non-Superpower Nations and Peoples

Introduction: Two Empires and a Global Stage

The Cold War was a period of escalating tension between two empires that sought to exert their power and influence on the world stage. In the West was the United States; in the East was Soviet Russia. While both promoted their own values and socio-economic and political systems, they shared a similar drive to expand their rule following the end of World War II, with each developing threatening postures near the other's borders — the U.S. forming NATO and the Soviets planting missiles in Cuba.

From the perspective of people who were not citizens of the U.S. or the Soviet Union, the economic, strategic, political, and cultural ambitions of the superpowers intersected with, and shaped, the lives of millions. For instance, the natives of the Marshall Islands got an up-close look at U.S. nuclear testing during Operation Crossroads, as depicted in Robert Stone's documentary Radio Bikini. Then there were the people of Indonesia, who suffered the killings of 1965–66, in which an anti-communist purge took the lives of half a million or more Indonesians. The Cold War was not merely a period of hostile rhetoric exchanged by world leaders: serious activities conducted behind the scenes affected people the world over as a result of the strained relationship between West and East and the drive to prepare for all-out war. The arms race and proxy wars were part of doing business in the post-war, Cold War period. This paper identifies and analyzes the central processes and outcomes of the Cold War from the perspective of people who were not citizens of the U.S. or the Soviet Union.

Nuclear Testing and the Marshall Islanders

The economic, strategic, political, and cultural ambitions of the superpowers were linked to their overriding aim for global dominance. The dividing line was the Berlin Wall in Europe, but the effects of these ambitions stretched well beyond Germany. Strategically, it was in the best interests of both imperial powers — the U.S. and the Soviets — to possess the most advanced warfare technology. That is why the arms race commenced, and why locations for testing bombs had to be found and used. And that is why the islanders of the Marshall Islands (Bikini Atoll) were removed from their home and relocated to a smaller island with an inadequate supply of water and food: they were simply in the way.

As Brown (2013) notes, they were not the only ones. Doctors in the U.S. were performing experiments using radiation on unwitting, uninformed, and non-consenting patients throughout the post-war period — indigent Black Americans, pregnant women, vulnerable children, and military personnel. No one was beyond the reach of experiments deemed necessary for the sake of science: "adding the accidentally exposed Marshall Islanders… and the purposely exposed American soldiers in field tests in Nevada, the toll of human subjects of radiation experiments mounts to the tens of thousands" (p. 251). The Marshall Islanders were never meant to be exposed to fallout — but since they were, American scientists proceeded to study its effects on them as well.

Operation Crossroads and Its Aftermath

Operation Crossroads had begun in 1946 — just one year after World War II ended. The Cold War had not even technically started yet, but America was already preparing for it. The strategy at Bikini Atoll was to maintain a Pacific site for strategic testing. The United Nations was involved in designating the Micronesian islands as a Strategic Trust Territory. The Bikini islanders suffered from starvation following their resettlement, and in the 1960s they were told they would be permitted to return to Bikini Atoll. However, the region remained highly radioactive and could not sustain life. Nonetheless, some islanders returned in 1972 despite the warnings. In 1986, the islanders were awarded nearly $100 million in damages.

This episode is one example of how the Cold War affected individuals who were not members of either empire involved in the conflict. As the documentary Radio Bikini (1988) shows, King Juda was left to watch the Americans detonate their bombs over his homeland — that was his reward for cooperating with the relocation of his people to an island that could not sustain them.

Conclusion: A Global Legacy of Inhumanity

The Cold War was not a war fought on the battlefield as World War I and World War II had been. The Vietnam War was one of its products; the arms race was another. The people of Bikini Atoll, Indonesia, Cuba, and the Middle East were all drawn into that conflict — as victims in most cases, but as consequential actors in the broader drama nonetheless. The story of how the United States destroyed Bikini Atoll and looked on approvingly while hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in Indonesia — all in the service of political hegemony and military supremacy — is a story of how the Cold War reshaped the world.

It is a story of inhumanity on a global scale, because the global powers were engaged in a duel for mastery over the minds and hearts of the world's peoples. The tragedy is that their methods were remarkably similar in practice, even when their stated ideals were different.

References

The Act of Killing. (2012). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tILiqotj7Y

Brown, K. (2013). Plutopia. Oxford University Press.

Hunt, M. (2015). The world transformed: 1945 to present. Oxford University Press.

Radio Bikini. (1988). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVwzhGtzDuI