“HUMANITIES V.F. PAVLOV LESSONS OF THE COLD WAR The article analyzes the causes, course and manifestations of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR 20 years after its end. Cold War..."
HUMANITARIAN SCIENCES
V.F. PAVLOV
LESSONS OF THE COLD WAR
The article analyzes the causes, course and manifestations of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR through
20 years after its completion.
Cold War – global geopolitical, economic and ideological
confrontation between the Soviet Union and its allies on the one hand, and the United States and its
allies - on the other, lasting from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s of the 20th century.
One of the main components of the confrontation was ideology. The deep contradiction between the capitalist and socialist models of the world order is the main cause of the Cold War. The two superpowers - winners of World War II - tried to rebuild the world according to their ideological principles. Over time, confrontation became an element of the ideology of the two sides and helped the leaders of military-political blocs consolidate allies around them “in the face of an external enemy.”
The expression “Cold War” was first used on April 16, 1947 by Bernard Baruch, adviser to US President Harry Truman, in a speech before the South Carolina House of Representatives57.
The internal logic of the confrontation required the parties to participate in conflicts and interfere in the development of events in any part of the world. The efforts of the USA and the USSR were aimed primarily at dominance in the military sphere. From the very beginning of the confrontation, the process of militarization of the two superpowers unfolded.
The USA and the USSR created their spheres of influence, securing them with military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
Although the USA and the USSR never entered into direct military confrontation, their competition for influence often led to the outbreak of local armed conflicts around the world.
The Cold War was accompanied by a conventional and nuclear arms race that continually threatened to lead to a third world war. Confrontation also took place with varying degrees of success in the area of space exploration. The formal beginning of the Cold War is considered to be March 5, 1946, when Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain, made a famous speech in Fulton (USA, Missouri), in which he put forward the idea of creating a military alliance of Anglo-Saxon countries to fight world communism. The USA and Great Britain were extremely concerned about the strengthening of the position and influence of the USSR after the end of World War II, both in Europe and throughout the world. They were frightened by the emergence of pro-communist governments in European countries.
W. Churchill stated: “... The facts are as follows: this, of course, is not the liberated Europe for which we fought. This is not what is necessary for permanent peace."58 A week later I.S. Stalin, in an interview with Pravda, put Churchill on a par with Hitler and said that in his speech he called on the West to go to war against the USSR.
On March 12, 1947, US President Harry Truman came up with a doctrine in which he defined the content of the emerging rivalry between the USA and the USSR as a conflict between democracy and totalitarianism.
If we ignore the usual Western rhetoric, the reason for the outbreak and development of the Cold War on a global scale was that the American administration realized the impossibility of destroying Russia by conventional military methods. Then, in the depths of the US state apparatus, plans began to be developed for a general psychological and propaganda war against the USSR, for which many billions of dollars were allocated.
Bernard Baruch coins the term “Cold War” 16 April 1947 [Electronic resource]. - Access mode:
http://www.history.com.
W. Churchill. World War II / Abbr. translation from English - Book 3, vol. 5–6. – M., 1991, – P. 574.
HUMANITARIAN SCIENCES
Defining the nature of this war, the NATO military-theoretical journal General Military Review frankly wrote: “The only way to win the third world war is to blow up the Soviet Union from within through subversive means and disintegration. The main method of war is to pit Russia against all other countries, the Russian people against the rest of the world, and within the country, pitting one population group against another.”59 The destruction of the spiritual values of Russians, the imposition of alien attitudes in life, the economic exhaustion of the USSR in the arms race, the mass training and introduction of agents of influence - this is the method of overseas specialists for the collapse of the USSR that was proposed to Western countries. It was stated very clearly and cynically in the last months of World War II by the future CIA director Allen Dulles: “The war will end, somehow everything will be settled and settled. And we will throw everything we have, all the gold, all the material assistance or resources, to fool and fool people. The human brain and people's consciousness are capable of change. Having sowed chaos there, we will quietly replace their values with false ones and force them to believe in these false values.How? We will find our like-minded people, our assistants and allies in Russia itself. Episode after episode, the grandiose tragedy of the death of the most rebellious people on earth, the final, irreversible extinction of their self-awareness, will play out. From literature and art, for example, we will gradually erase their social essence, wean artists, we will discourage them from engaging in depiction, studying the processes that occur in the depths of the masses. Literature, theater, cinema - everything will depict and glorify the basest human feelings. We will in every possible way support and raise the so-called artists who will plant and hammer into human consciousness the cult of sex, violence, sadism, betrayal, in a word, all immorality. We will create chaos and confusion in government management...
Honesty and decency will be ridiculed and will not be needed by anyone; they will turn into a relic of the past. Rudeness and arrogance, lies and deceit, drunkenness, drug addiction, animal fear of each other and shamelessness, betrayal, nationalism and enmity of peoples - we will instill all this cleverly and imperceptibly... We will thus undermine generation after generation... We will take on people from childhood and adolescence, we will always place the main emphasis on youth, we will begin to corrupt, corrupt, corrupt them. We will make spies and cosmopolitans out of them. This is how we will do it."60
April 4, 1949 The United States creates the military-political bloc NATO. In response, on May 14, 1955, the USSR organized the Warsaw Pact. It should be noted that the USSR and its allies were forced to constantly take retaliatory measures during the Cold War in order to protect themselves, achieve military and economic parity, maintain the balance of power and thereby ensure peace on earth for several decades.
The main manifestations of the Cold War were:
Education for many years of a bipolar world;
Acute political and ideological confrontation between the communist and Western liberal systems;
The creation of military (NATO, SEATO, CENTO, Warsaw Pact, etc.) and economic (EEC, ASEAN, CMEA, etc.) alliances by each of the parties;
Organization of a worldwide network of military bases of the USA and the USSR on the territory of foreign states;
Speeding up the arms race and military preparations;
Constantly emerging international crises (Berlin, Caribbean crises, wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan);
The unspoken division of the world into “spheres of influence”;
Support for opposition forces in countries of ideological adversary. The USSR financially supported communist and some left parties of the West and developing countries, stimulated the decolonization of dependent states;
In turn, the intelligence services of the USA and Great Britain supported anti-Soviet organizations in the USSR and in the countries of Eastern Europe (People's Labor Sosecrets of the Secret Services, USA, - M., 1973. - P. 293.
"Pravda", 03/11/1994
HUMANITARIAN SCIENCES
yuz), helped Solidarity in Poland, the Afghan Mujahideen and the Contras in Nicaragua;Information war in the media and radio;
Joseph Nye, professor at Harvard University (USA), speaking at the conference “From Fulton to Malta: How the Cold War Began and Ended” (Gorbachev Foundation, March 2005) pointed out the lessons that should be learned
To the West from the Cold War:
bloodshed as a means of resolving global or regional conflicts is not inevitable;
the presence of nuclear weapons among the warring parties and the understanding of what the world could become after a nuclear conflict played a significant deterrent role;
the course of development of conflicts is closely related to the personal qualities of specific leaders (Joseph Stalin and Harry Truman, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan);
military power is essential, but not decisive (the USA was defeated in Vietnam, and the USSR in Afghanistan); in the era of nationalism and the third industrial (information) revolution, it is impossible to control the hostile population of an occupied country;
in these conditions, the economic power of the state and the ability of the economic system to adapt to the requirements of modernity, the ability for constant innovation, acquire a much greater role;
A significant role is played by the use of soft forms of influence, or soft power, that is, the ability to achieve what you want from others without coercing (intimidating) them or buying their consent, but attracting them to your side. Immediately after the defeat of Nazism, the USSR and communist ideas had serious soft power potential, but most of it was lost after the events in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and this process continued as the Soviet Union used its military power.
What conclusions should Russians draw? At the last stage of the Cold War, when almost the entire top leadership of the USSR and an influential part of the intellectual elite went over to the enemy’s side, they managed to paralyze the consciousness and will of the majority of citizens, carry out the capitulation and disarmament of the USSR with lightning speed, and then divide the fabulous spoils they received. This is already a fact of history, and if we want to survive as a people, we need to learn a lesson from this fact.
According to the calculations of the great D.I. Mendeleev, by the end of the 20th century, 400 million citizens should have lived in Russia. Many in the last century predicted a great future for Russia. However, things turned out differently. Russians have survived two national catastrophes - 1917 and 1991, and now they are approaching a third. We are very close to the point of no return. In one century, Russia has experienced so many misfortunes and trials that it would be enough for ten nations.
The twenty years that have passed since the end of the Cold War have shown that in a unipolar world there is a place for Russia only in the margins; it is assigned the role of a raw material base for the West, which is consistently preparing for the dismemberment of the Russian Federation into dwarf principalities dependent on it.
A number of thorough Russian studies have shown that not everything from the Soviet project was implemented. Our society could not withstand the artificially created arms race, the betrayal of the top leadership of the USSR, and the agents of the influence of systemic economic crises organized by the fifth column. All this was aggravated by the long-term, difficult and still poorly understood cold war with the West. The Soviet project was suppressed, and the Soviet system in many of its manifestations was destroyed61.
It seems that we will raise Russia from its knees if we develop a new ideology, a new sphere of values that inspires the national idea, if we can introduce fundamental innovations into the consciousness of our fellow citizens: the spiritual is higher than the material; the general is higher than the personal; justice is above the law; the future is higher than the present and the past.
S.G. Kara-Murza, Soviet civilization. From the beginning to the present day. – M.: Algorithm, 2008.
HUMANITARIAN SCIENCES
We will be reborn if we draw serious conclusions from the experience of the Cold War, if we remember the words of V. Klyuchevsky: “History teaches nothing, but only punishes for ignorance of its lessons.”In conclusion, it is worth saying that the Cold War, as a civilizational war, did not end at all in principle with the defeat of the USSR. It has only moved to a new stage and is hiding behind new phraseology. Now the bogeyman of communism is no longer there, they say “Russian bear”, “Russian fascism”, “Russian mafia”. And the real subversive actions of the West against Russia are, perhaps, even more cruel than they were during the times of the USSR.
LITERATURE
1. Bernard Baruch coins the term “Cold War” 16 April 1947 [Electronic resource]. - Access mode:
http://www.history.com.
2. W. Churchill. World War II / Abbr. translation from English - Book 3, T. 5–6. – M., 1991, – P. 574.
3. Secrets of the US Secret Service. – M., 1973, – P. 293.
4. “Pravda”, 03/11/1994
5. S.G. Kara-Murza. Soviet civilization. From the beginning to the present day. – M.: Algorithm, 2008.
M.K. PAVLOVA
MATURITY AS AN INTEGRAL HUMAN QUALITY
AND THE FACTORS THAT DETERMINE IT
The article talks about the relationship between the concepts of “adulthood” and “maturity”, as well as the content of the concept of “maturity” and the main conditions for its formation and development.To lead the country out of the quagmire of the crisis that has gripped all aspects of its existence and its movement along the path of increasing material and spiritual potential, it is necessary to increase the level of professionalism of people engaged in all spheres of material and spiritual production, as well as targeted work on the moral, legal and cultural education of people at all levels.
The development of moral, legal consciousness and behavior, high skill of a teacher, doctor, turner, engineer, banker, manager and worker in any other field of work is the most important source of improving affairs in our state.
The problem of a person reaching the level of maturity has many aspects. Psychological science is called upon to show what a person who has reached the peak of his development is like, as well as what path he must overcome in order to rise to the highest possible level of development of his potential.
At the same time, to understand the complex synthesis of characteristics that is found in a person who has reached maturity, and to prove that this is truly a flourishing development is always an extremely difficult task. It is no less difficult to give a comprehensive answer to the question: what objective and subjective conditions must be created in order for the process of human formation to raise him to the highest level of maturity.
It should be emphasized that only an adult can achieve maturity. However, these two concepts: adulthood and maturity are not identical. A person, based on the number of years he has lived, can be considered an adult, but he can be considered physically mature only if his constitution, the state of functioning of all his organs and systems turn out to correspond to the statistically average indicators typical for a normal person of the age in question, or exceed them.
The relationship between psychological adulthood and a person’s psychological maturity is also not simple. If a person who has reached adulthood behaves in various situations in accordance with universal human norms, and basic universal human values have become his own values, then we can confidently speak about his psychological maturity. In cases where he observes some norms and grossly ignores others, proving this by his actions, it can be argued that psychologically he turns out to be only partially mature.
Similar works:
“STATE UNIVERSITY CATALOG OF PRODUCTS SERIALLY PRODUCED BY ENTERPRISES OF THE FEDERAL STATE BUDGETARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION “STATE UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION...”
“V.R. Bank, S.K. Semenov ORGANIZATION AND ACCOUNTING OF BANKING OPERATIONS Recommended by the UMO for education in the field of finance, accounting and world economy as a teaching aid for students studying in the specialty Accounting...”
“Fomin Aleksey Vladimirovich Dynamic equilibrium model of the pharmaceutical market 08.00.13 Mathematical and instrumental methods of economics Dissertation for the scientific degree of Candidate of Economic Sciences Scientific advisor Dr. Sc., Ph.D. Akopov Andranik Sumbatovich Moscow – 2013 Contents Introduction G...”
National economy (economics, organization and management of enterprises,..."
“References 1. R 50.1.028 2001. Information technologies for supporting the product life cycle. Functional modeling methodology:. Gosstandart of the Russian Federation, 2001. 48 p. Belskaya Elena Valerievna, Associate Professor of the Department of Finance and Management, Russia, Tula, Tula State University FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURA...”
“1 DECEMBER 16, 2014 BULLETIN OF THE BANK OF RUSSIA No. 111 (1589) CONTENTS information messages credit institutions Review of the state of the domestic market for cash foreign currency in October 2014 Order of the Bank of Russia dated December 10, 2014 No. OD-3455 Order of the Bank of Russia dated December 10, 2014 No. OD-3456 Order of the Bank of Russia dated December 10, 2014 No. OD-3457 Order of the Bank of Russia dated December 10, 2014...”
"INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL "INNOVATIVE SCIENCE" No. 2/2016 ISSN 2410-6070 large owners - growth of their wealth, business stability as a guarantee of income, increase in the value of assets; minority shareholders - immediate return on investments, ensuring their return; employee..."
2017 www.site - “Free electronic library - various documents”
The materials on this site are posted for informational purposes only, all rights belong to their authors.
If you do not agree that your material is posted on this site, please write to us, we will remove it within 1-2 business days.
“Science in modern society” - A scientific infrastructure has been created in the modern world. Alferov Zhores Ivanovich. Science in the modern world. Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov. Target. Certificate of awarding the Nobel Prize to M.A. Sholokhov. Science in modern society. More than 5 million people are engaged in scientific research around the world. Conclusion. Scientific facts.
“Scientific creativity” - Problems of European alchemy. Connection of patterns of thinking. Rutherford. Elements of the explained process. Basic errors of scientific thinking. Science and other forms of knowledge. Scientific creativity. Components of dialogue. Features of scientific creativity. The problem of Babylonian mathematics. Protoscience. Ancient Egypt.
“Subject of science” - Interrelation, interpenetration of various functions of science. The formation of science as a social institution dates back to the 17th-18th centuries. Generally significant features of modern science. The science. Theoretical insight into the essence of real phenomena. Plan for studying a new topic. Social function. The incompleteness of science contributes to the emergence of various scientific schools.
“Science and knowledge” - Form of knowledge. Science Philosophy. Two types of truth. Private knowledge. Verification. N. Copernicus. Postpositivism. Dialogue epistemology. The principle of motion in Aristotle's physics. Scientific and non-scientific knowledge. Falsification. Contemplative epistemology. Science and religion. Aristotle's scientific program. Scientific thinking.
"Science of Science" - Scientific discipline. Introduction Definition History Purpose What does science study? What do scientists study? The mechanism of adaptive inhibition. Trays Law 3.3. Assessing the effectiveness of the work of scientists and research teams. Scientific creativity The state and problems of Russian science (seminar). Law of exponential growth.
"Cognitive Science" - Sciences. Law of technical and humanitarian balance. Cognition is understood as the creation and processing of information. On the history of the issue (the symbolic stage of development of cognitive science). On the history of the issue (knowledge in philosophy). Human nature in cognitive sciences. Philosophical and scientific programs for research into human nature.
There are a total of 27 presentations in the topic
And the United States of America lasted for more than 40 years and was called the Cold War. The years of its duration are estimated differently by different historians. However, we can say with complete confidence that the confrontation ended in 1991, with the collapse of the USSR. The Cold War left an indelible mark on world history. Any conflict of the last century (after the end of World War II) must be viewed through the prism of the Cold War. This was not just a conflict between two countries.
It was a confrontation between two opposing worldviews, a struggle for dominance over the entire world.
Main reasons
The year the Cold War began was 1946. It was after the victory over Nazi Germany that a new world map and new rivals for world domination emerged. The victory over the Third Reich and its allies cost the whole of Europe, and especially the USSR, enormous bloodshed. The future conflict emerged at the Yalta Conference in 1945. At this famous meeting of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt, the fate of post-war Europe was decided. At this time, the Red Army was already approaching Berlin, so it was necessary to carry out the so-called division of spheres of influence. Soviet troops, seasoned in battles on their territory, brought liberation to other peoples of Europe. In the countries occupied by the Union, friendly socialist regimes were established.
Spheres of influence
One of these was installed in Poland. At the same time, the previous Polish government was located in London and considered itself legitimate. supported him, but the Communist Party, elected by the Polish people, de facto ruled the country. At the Yalta Conference, this issue was especially acutely considered by the parties. Similar problems were also observed in other regions. The peoples liberated from Nazi occupation created their own governments with the support of the USSR. Therefore, after the victory over the Third Reich, the map of the future Europe was finally formed.
The main stumbling blocks of the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition began after the division of Germany. The eastern part was occupied by Soviet troops, the Western territories were proclaimed, which were occupied by the Allies and became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. Infighting immediately began between the two governments. The confrontation ultimately led to the closure of the borders between Germany and the GDR. Espionage and even sabotage actions began.
American imperialism
Throughout 1945, the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition continued to cooperate closely.
These were acts of transfer of prisoners of war (who were captured by the Nazis) and material assets. However, the following year the Cold War began. The years of the first aggravation occurred precisely in the post-war period. The symbolic beginning was Churchill’s speech in the American city of Fulton. Then the former British minister said that the main enemy of the West is communism and the USSR, which personifies it. Winston also called on all English-speaking nations to unite to fight the “red infection.” Such provocative statements could not but cause a response from Moscow. After some time, Joseph Stalin gave an interview to the newspaper Pravda, in which he compared the English politician with Hitler.
Countries during the Cold War: two blocs
However, although Churchill was a private person, he only outlined the course of Western governments. The United States has dramatically increased its influence on the world stage. This happened largely thanks to the war. No combat operations took place on American soil (with the exception of Japanese bomber raids). Therefore, against the backdrop of devastated Europe, the States had a fairly powerful economy and armed forces. Fearing the outbreak of popular revolutions (which would be supported by the USSR) on their territory, capitalist governments began to rally around the United States. It was in 1946 that the idea of creating a military unit was first voiced. In response to this, the Soviets created their own unit - the ATS. It even got to the point where the parties were developing a strategy of armed struggle with each other. At the direction of Churchill, a plan for a possible war with the USSR was developed. The Soviet Union had similar plans. Preparations began for a trade and ideological war.
Arms race
The arms race between the two countries was one of the most significant phenomena that the Cold War brought. Years of confrontation led to the creation of unique means of warfare that are still in use today. In the second half of the 40s, the United States had a huge advantage - nuclear weapons. The first nuclear bombs were used back in World War II. The Enola Gay bomber dropped shells on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, practically razing it to the ground. It was then that the world saw the destructive power of nuclear weapons. The United States began to actively increase its stockpiles of such weapons.
A special secret laboratory was created in the state of New Mexico. Strategic plans for future relations with the USSR were built on the basis of nuclear advantage. The Soviets, in turn, also began to actively develop a nuclear program. The Americans considered the presence of charges with enriched uranium as the main advantage. Therefore, intelligence hastily removed all documents on the development of atomic weapons from the territory of defeated Germany in 1945. Soon a secret strategic document was developed, which envisaged a nuclear strike on the territory of the Soviet Union. According to some historians, variations of this plan were presented to Truman several times. Thus ended the initial period of the Cold War, the years of which were the least tense.
Union nuclear weapons
In 1949, the USSR successfully conducted the first tests of a nuclear bomb at the Semipalatinsk test site, which was immediately announced by all Western media. The creation of the RDS-1 (nuclear bomb) became possible largely thanks to the actions of Soviet intelligence, which also penetrated the secret test site in Los Alamossa.
Such a rapid creation of nuclear weapons came as a real surprise to the United States. Since then, nuclear weapons have become the main deterrent to direct military conflict between the two camps. The precedent in Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed the whole world the terrifying power of the atomic bomb. But in which year was the Cold War the most brutal?
Caribbean crisis
During all the years of the Cold War, the situation was most tense in 1961. The conflict between the USSR and the USA went down in history as its prerequisites existed long before. It all started with the deployment of American nuclear missiles in Turkey. The Jupiter charges were placed in such a way that they could hit any targets in the western part of the USSR (including Moscow). Such a danger could not go unanswered.
A few years earlier, a popular revolution began in Cuba, led by Fidel Castro. At first, the USSR did not see any promise in the uprising. However, the Cuban people managed to overthrow the Batista regime. After this, the American leadership declared that it would not tolerate a new government in Cuba. Immediately after this, close diplomatic relations were established between Moscow and Liberty Island. Soviet armed units were sent to Cuba.
Beginning of the conflict
After the deployment of nuclear weapons in Turkey, the Kremlin decided to take urgent countermeasures, since for this period it was impossible to launch atomic missiles at the United States from the territory of the Union.
Therefore, the secret operation "Anadyr" was hastily developed. The warships were tasked with delivering long-range missiles to Cuba. In October, the first ships reached Havana. The installation of launch pads has begun. At this time, American reconnaissance planes flew over the coast. The Americans managed to obtain several photographs of tactical divisions whose weapons were aimed at Florida.
Aggravation of the situation
Immediately after this, the US military was placed on high alert. Kennedy held an emergency meeting. A number of senior officials called on the President to immediately launch an invasion of Cuba. In the event of such a development of events, the Red Army would immediately launch a nuclear missile strike on the landing force. This could well lead to a worldwide conflict. Therefore, both sides began to look for possible compromises. After all, everyone understood what such a cold war could lead to. Years of nuclear winter were definitely not the best prospect.
The situation was extremely tense, everything could change literally at any second. According to historical sources, at this time Kennedy was even sleeping in his office. As a result, the Americans put forward an ultimatum - to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba. Then the naval blockade of the island began.
Khrushchev held a similar meeting in Moscow. Some Soviet generals also insisted not to give in to Washington's demands and, if necessary, to repel an American attack. The main blow of the Union could not have been in Cuba at all, but in Berlin, which was well understood in the White House.
"Black Saturday"
The world suffered the greatest blows during the Cold War on October 27, Saturday. On this day, an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flew over Cuba and was shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft gunners. Within a few hours, this incident became known in Washington.
The US Congress advised the President to launch an invasion immediately. The President decided to write a letter to Khrushchev, where he repeated his demands. Nikita Sergeevich responded to this letter immediately, agreeing to them, in exchange for a US promise not to attack Cuba and to remove missiles from Turkey. In order for the message to reach as quickly as possible, the appeal was made via radio. This is where the Cuban crisis ended. From then on, the tension in the situation began to gradually decrease.
Ideological confrontation
Foreign policy during the Cold War for both blocs was characterized not only by competition for control over territories, but by a tough information struggle. Two different systems tried in every possible way to show the whole world their superiority. The famous Radio Liberty was created in the USA, which was broadcast to the territory of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. The stated purpose of this news agency was to fight Bolshevism and communism. It is noteworthy that Radio Liberty still exists and operates in many countries. During the Cold War, the USSR also created a similar station that broadcast to the territory of capitalist countries.
Every significant event for humanity in the second half of the last century was considered in the context of the Cold War. For example, Yuri Gagarin's flight into space was presented to the world as a victory for socialist labor. Countries spent enormous resources on propaganda. In addition to sponsoring and supporting cultural figures, there was a wide agent network.
Spy games
The espionage intrigues of the Cold War were widely reflected in art. The secret services went to all sorts of tricks to stay one step ahead of their opponents. One of the most typical cases is Operation Confession, which is more like the plot of a spy detective story.
Even during the war, the Soviet scientist Lev Termin created a unique transmitter that did not require recharging or a power source. It was a kind of perpetual motion machine. The listening device was named "Zlatoust". The KGB, on Beria’s personal orders, decided to install “Zlatoust” in the US Embassy building. For this purpose, a wooden shield was created depicting the coat of arms of the United States. During the visit of the American ambassador, a ceremonial assembly was held at the children's health center. At the end, the pioneers sang the US anthem, after which the touched ambassador was presented with a wooden coat of arms. He, unaware of the trick, installed it in his personal account. Thanks to this, the KGB received information about all the ambassador’s conversations for 7 years. There were a huge number of similar cases, open to the public and secret.
Cold War: years, essence
The end of the confrontation between the two blocs came after the collapse of the USSR, which lasted 45 years.
Tensions between West and East continue to this day. However, the world ceased to be bipolar when Moscow or Washington stood behind any significant event in the world. In which year was the Cold War the most brutal, and closest to a “hot” one? Historians and analysts are still debating this topic. Most agree that this is the period of the “Cubicle crisis,” when the world was one step away from nuclear war.
The conference, organized on the initiative, became the first world-class forum on the history of the social and human sciences of the Iron Curtain era to be held in Russia. During the plenary session, eight sections and the final discussion, 42 researchers from leading universities and research organizations from twelve countries around the world made presentations. The conference was attended by scientists representing such humanities as history, economics, sociology, philosophy, philology, history and philosophy of science, history and philosophy of art, anthropology.
At the plenary session, David Engerman (Brandeis University, USA), a specialist in intellectual history and Soviet-American relations during the Cold War, made a presentation on the influence of Soviet and American expertise on the course of socio-economic development of India during the time of Jawaharnal Nehru. Paul Erickson (Wesleyan University, USA) described how, with the assistance of the Ford Foundation, the topic of values became the main subject of research in the post-war social sciences. Tomasz Glanz (Humboldt University of Berlin) gave a presentation on the situation in which the Prague Linguistic Circle found itself at the beginning of the Cold War, and how structuralism and semiotics became victims of the current political situation.
Modern researchers, no longer as confident as they were twenty years ago, talk about the impenetrability of the “Iron Curtain”. And part of the conference reports was devoted to examples of parallel development of ideas, cooperation and knowledge transfer on both sides.
For example, the section “Technocratic Positivism and Counter Movements” discussed humanistic trends in American and Russian psychology of the 50-60s of the 20th century, and similar trends in the development of American and Soviet secondary education in the late 1940s. The section “Scientific exchange and interaction” was devoted to the role of Polish scientists in the development of Third World research, the importance of Finland in scientific communication between the Soviet Union and the USA, various aspects of interaction between East and West in the course of Arctic research and global changes in the post-war period.
Modern researchers, no longer as confident as they were twenty years ago, talk about the impenetrability of the “Iron Curtain”.
Issues of the influence of game theory on economic science, alternative Western and Soviet views on the relationship between rational agents and markets, various aspects of the study of the culture of mathematical economics in the USSR became the subjects of discussion among participants in the parallel section “Economic Modeling in the West and the USSR.”
A separate section was devoted to the problems of analyzing everyday life in the Soviet Union through the eyes of American observers, scientific transfer and institutionalization of regional studies in Russia and Western Europe. It discussed the state of Slavic studies in the USA, Europe and the Soviet Union in the middle of the 20th century, the problems of studying Latin America in the USA against the backdrop of the struggle between science and politics during the Cold War.
The “geography” of research subjects turned out to be impressive, from the production of ethnographic facts by anthropologists in Peru at the beginning of the Cold War to the historiography of the peoples of the Volga and Urals. Participants presented different contexts of science research in their countries: science studies in Poland and Czechoslovakia, futurological and forecasting studies in Western and Eastern Europe, and a general view of the development of the history of science during the Cold War. A well-known historian of economic thought, Philip Mirowski (University of Notre Dame, USA), who was in America, gave a report on the development of decision-making theory during the Cold War via Skype conference.
According to the majority of participants, the conference successfully brought together specialists from different fields on one discussion platform. It is quite possible that, based on the established contacts, representatives of previously dissimilar research areas will be able to create joint interdisciplinary reports and innovative works.
Anastasia Shalaeva, especially for the news service of the HSE portal
13.1 Post-war development of the USSR (1945-1953).
13.2 Reforms N.S. Khrushchev (1953-1964).
13.3 Board of L.I. Brezhnev (1964-1982).
13.4 Perestroika 1985-1991
The post-war development of the USSR was decisively influenced by the Cold War. Participation in it forced us to spend huge amounts of money on the military-industrial complex, diverting it from the production of consumer goods. Against the backdrop of growing needs of the population, the shortage was the cause of growing discontent. The ideological treatment of the Soviet population, primarily the nomenklatura, by American propaganda led to the conviction of the ineffectiveness of the Soviet system and the need to break it.
13.1 Post-war development of the USSR (1945-1953)
The beginning of the Cold War. The end of World War II marked a new geopolitical reality. Two superpowers emerged on the world stage - the USA and the USSR. The United States was able to strengthen itself by becoming a global creditor. In addition, there were no military operations on American soil.
The USSR made a decisive contribution to the defeat of fascism, which ensured the growth of its popularity in the world. If in 1941 the USSR had diplomatic relations with only 26 countries, then in 1945 - with 52. In 1945, communists were part of the governments of 13 bourgeois states, including France and Italy. The Soviet army was a powerful force and was the largest in the world. The political influence of the USSR extended to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and eastern Germany.
However, the growing influence of the USSR worried the United States, which began against the Soviet Union "cold war"– confrontation between the USA and the USSR in the military-political, economic and ideological spheres.
The Cold War began on March 5, 1946 with the “Fulton speech” of former British Prime Minister W. Churchill. Speaking in Fulton in the presence of US President Henry Truman, W. Churchill announced the threat posed by the USSR.
In 1947, the ideas of W. Churchill were developed in the message of President G. Truman to the US Congress (“Truman Doctrine”). They identified two strategic objectives in relation to the USSR:
The minimum task is to prevent further expansion of the sphere of influence of the USSR and its communist ideology (“the doctrine of containing socialism”);
The maximum task is to do everything to force the USSR to withdraw to its former borders (“the doctrine of rejecting socialism”).
The doctrine defined specific measures to accomplish these tasks (Cold War program):
Providing economic assistance to European countries, making their economies dependent on the United States (“Marshall Plan”);
Creation of military-political alliances led by the United States;
Placement of US bases along Soviet borders;
Support for anti-socialist forces within the Soviet bloc countries.
In 1949, on the initiative of the United States, the military-political bloc NATO (North Atlantic Alliance Organization) was created, which, in addition to the United States, included Canada, England and a number of Western European states. Plans were being developed for military aggression against the USSR and the atomic bombing of Soviet territory. Only the successful test of the Soviet atomic bomb in 1949 stopped the implementation of these plans.
After Western countries began to pursue a Cold War policy towards the Soviet Union, the USSR began to strengthen and expand cooperation with socialist countries. In 1946-1948. The USSR contributed to the fall of the “popular front” coalition governments and the establishment of communist rule in their place in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Czechoslovakia (in Yugoslavia and Albania, communists came to power back in 1945). In these countries, reforms were carried out according to the Soviet model: nationalization, collectivization, etc.
Moscow's imposition of its political will had a material basis. Even during the famine that engulfed most of Soviet territory in 1946, the USSR supplied the allies with 2.5 million tons of grain. The countries of the “socialist camp” were provided with preferential loans, which amounted to. 3 billion dollars.
In 1947, the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties - the Information Bureau - was formed. It existed until 1956 and was designed to coordinate the actions of these parties to adopt joint resolutions. The USSR began to actively promote the communist movement in capitalist countries, contributed to the growth of the national liberation movement, and the collapse of the colonial system.
Relations between the USSR and the countries of the “socialist camp” were not always easy and simple. Thus, in 1948, relations between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia were severed due to personal contradictions of I.V. Stalin and the leader of the Yugoslav communists Josip Broz Tito.
In 1949, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) was created. It became the main channel of material assistance from the USSR to socialist countries. The CMEA included Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, East Germany, Cuba, Mongolia, and Poland. Romania, USSR, Czechoslovakia. In 1949, Albania joined the CMEA, but since the end of 1961 it has not participated in the activities of the organization. Since 1961, Yugoslavia has taken part in the activities of the CMEA on some issues.
The USSR began to pursue an active policy in Asia. Thus, the USSR helped ensure that a socialist revolution took place in China and the People's Republic of China was created - the PRC (1949).
In 1949, the first Berlin crisis broke out, resulting in the division of Germany. In May 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was created on the territory of the western occupation zones with its capital in Bonn. As a response, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was created in October 1949 in the Soviet occupation zone.
The first armed conflict of the Cold War was the Korean War (1950-1953). North Korea was supported in the war by the USSR, which helped with military equipment, and China, which sent in its troops. The United States took the side of South Korea, whose troops launched military operations on the territory of the peninsula. As a result, the war ended with the final division of Korea.
In 1955, the Eastern European part of these countries was united into a military-political union - the Warsaw Treaty Organization (WTO). It included Albania (withdrew in 1968), Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Romania, USSR, Czechoslovakia.
Social and political life. The transition to peaceful life required a reorganization of government. In September 1945, the state of emergency was lifted in the USSR and the State Defense Committee was abolished. In 1946, the Council of People's Commissars was transformed into the Council of Ministers, whose chairman was I.V. Stalin.
Victory in the Great Patriotic War raised hopes for a weakening of the repressive regime and an improvement in life. The generation of Soviet soldiers and officers, who had gone through the harsh school of war, felt relative independence and the importance of initiative, expected the democratization of public life. People were full of optimism, believing that the worst was behind them. Many peasants hoped for the dissolution of collective farms. The intelligentsia dreamed of the possibility of free creativity.
The outbreak of the Cold War led to a tightening of the political regime since 1946. The Stalinist leadership began to “tighten the screws” that had weakened in the previous years. In 1946, a large group of officers and generals were arrested. G.K. fell into disgrace. Zhukov, appointed to command first the Odessa Military District, and then the Ural Military District.
Former Soviet prisoners of war and civilians deported to Germany were subjected to “cleaning”; some of them ended up in camps. There was a fight against nationalist movements in Western Ukraine (“Ukrainian Insurgent Army”) and in the Baltic states (“Forest Brothers”)
In the summer of 1946, an ideological campaign against the creative intelligentsia began. Within its framework, there was persecution of the magazines “Leningrad”, “Zvezda”, representatives of the intelligentsia (A. Akhmatova, M. Zoshchenko, S. Eisenstein, S. Prokofiev, S. Shostakovich, etc.). They were accused of lack of patriotism, currying favor with the West, and lack of ideas in creativity.
In 1948, the fight against "cosmopolitanism"– a worldview that places universal human interests and values above the interests of an individual nation. Contacts with foreigners and marriages with them were prohibited. In 1948-1952. a trial was organized in the case of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.
Entire scientific fields, such as genetics and cybernetics, were declared bourgeois and banned, which slowed down the development of these areas of science in the USSR for decades. It was planned to ban quantum theory and the theory of relativity, but the need to have an atomic bomb saved physics.
At the end of Stalin's life (he turned 70 in 1949), the struggle for power between his comrades intensified. One of the groups (L.P. Beria, G.M. Malenkov, N.S. Khrushchev) managed to achieve organization in 1949-1952. “Leningrad affair”, as a result of which the very influential “Leningrad group” was destroyed. During it, current or former leaders of Leningrad were repressed, including Chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee N.A. Voznesensky (one of Stalin’s possible successors), Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR M.I. Rodionova and others.
In 1952-1953 fabricated “case of doctors” accused of plotting to assassinate Stalin and other Soviet leaders.
Despite the high-profile processes of the post-war period, their scale was incommensurate with the repressions of 1937-1938. There was no real protest against the existing regime; it continued to enjoy mass support. In October 1952, the 19th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) took place, renaming the party the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).
Socio-economic development. During the war years, a third of the national wealth of the USSR was lost. The western part of the country lay in ruins. Therefore, the main task in the field of economics in the first post-war years was the restoration of the national economy destroyed by the war and the transition to peaceful construction.
In this case, I had to rely only on my own strength. Reparations from defeated Germany amounted to only 4.3 billion dollars. He refused American assistance to the USSR under the Marshall Plan, because it implied the loss of part of sovereignty. The main sources of development were the redistribution of funds from the agricultural sector to industry, government loans, free labor of prisoners of war and prisoners. The unprecedented spiritual uplift of the people was also used.
Priority continued to be given to the development of heavy industry. Was carried out in a short time conversion industry - transfer to the production of peaceful products. During the fourth five-year plan (1946-1950), over 6.2 thousand industrial enterprises were restored and rebuilt. By 1947, industry had reached its pre-war level, and in 1950 it exceeded it by more than 70%.
In 1949, an atomic weapon was tested, and in 1953, a hydrogen bomb was tested.
In the field of agriculture, the first post-war five-year plan was not fulfilled. Considering the village as a source for industry, the country's leadership increased non-economic coercion of the collective farm peasantry. Social benefits available in the industrial sphere did not apply to him; peasants could not leave the village without the sanction of the authorities. The collective farm system was strengthened, labor discipline became stricter, and exorbitant taxes grew.
The situation in agriculture was complicated by the fact that in 1946, Ukraine, the Lower Volga region, the North Caucasus, and the central black earth regions were gripped by severe drought. The ensuing famine, according to some estimates, led to the death of 770 thousand people.
At the turn of the 1940-1950s. To better use technology and improve management of agriculture, small collective farms were consolidated. During 1950-1953 their number decreased from 255 to 94 thousand. Peasants settled on central estates, and small villages were liquidated.
As the factories were restored, new equipment was sent to the village, and the village was electrified. Despite the measures taken, the situation in agriculture remained difficult.
In 1947, the card system for food and industrial goods was abolished and a monetary reform was carried out in the form of denomination, which consisted of exchanging old money for new ones mainly in a ratio of 10:1.
Reductions in prices for consumer goods carried out for propaganda purposes also placed an additional burden on the peasantry, since they were carried out mainly by reducing purchase prices for agricultural products.
Loading...