The end of the Second World War did not mean that the confrontation between the opposing political forces ended. On the contrary, after the victory over Nazi Germany, the preconditions were created for a confrontation between the capitalist West and the communist East. This confrontation was called the Cold War and continued until the collapse of the USSR.
Causes of the Cold War
What was the reason for such a long "cold" confrontation between the West and the East? There were deep and insoluble contradictions between the model of society represented by the United States of America and the socialist system at the head of which was the Soviet Union.
Both world powers wanted to strengthen their economic and political influence and become the undisputed leaders of the world community.
The United States was extremely unhappy with the fact that the USSR had established its influence in several countries of Eastern Europe. Now the communist ideology began to dominate there. Reactionary circles in the West feared that communist ideas would penetrate further to the West, and that the emerging socialist camp could seriously compete with the capitalist world in the economic and military spheres.
Historians believe that the beginning of the Cold War was the speech of the leading British politician Winston Churchill, which he delivered in March 1946 in Fulton. In his speech, Churchill warned the Western world against mistakes, bluntly speaking about the impending communist danger, in the face of which it is necessary to rally. The provisions expressed in this speech became a de facto call for the unleashing of a "cold war" against the USSR.
The course of the cold war
The Cold War had several climaxes. Some of them were the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty by a number of Western states, the war in Korea and the testing of nuclear weapons in the USSR. And in the early 60s, the world followed with concern the development of the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis, which showed that the two superpowers possess such powerful weapons that there will be no winners in a possible military confrontation.
Realization of this fact led politicians to the idea that the political confrontation and the buildup of arms should be brought under control. The desire of the USSR and the United States to strengthen their military power led to enormous budget spending and undermined the economies of both powers. Statistics suggested that both economies were unable to continue to maintain the pace of the arms race, so the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union eventually entered into an agreement on the reduction of nuclear aresenals.
But the Cold War was far from over. It continued in the information space. Both states actively used their ideological apparatuses to undermine each other's political power. Provocations and subversive activities were used. Each side tried in a winning light to present the advantages of its social system, while belittling the achievements of the enemy.
The end of the cold war and its results
As a result of the harmful effects of external and internal factors, by the mid-80s of the last century, the Soviet Union found itself in a deep economic and political crisis. The process of perestroika began in the country, which was essentially a course towards replacing socialism with capitalist relations.
These processes were actively supported by foreign opponents of communism. The disintegration of the socialist camp began. The culmination was the collapse of the Soviet Union, which in 1991 split into several independent states. The goal of the opponents of the USSR, which they had set several decades earlier, was achieved.
The West won an unconditional victory in the Cold War with the USSR, while the United States remained the world's only superpower. This was the main result of the "cold" confrontation.
Yet some analysts believe that the collapse of the communist regime did not bring about a complete end to the Cold War. Russia possessing nuclear weapons, although it has embarked on the capitalist path of development, still remains an annoying obstacle to the implementation of the aggressive plans of the United States, striving for complete world domination. The American ruling circles are especially irritated by the desire of the renewed Russia to pursue an independent foreign policy.
