The Second World War ended in 1945 World War, and former allies - the USA and the USSR were already preparing for a new war, this time a cold one.
March 5, 1946 Winston Churchill says famous speech in Fulton, which is considered the beginning cold war. Ironically, exactly seven years later, on March 5, 1953, the main enemy of the United States and the entire Western world, Stalin, would die. Whether it was just a coincidence or a sign is no longer important, but the fact remains.
Immediately after the end of World War II, the rules of warfare on the fronts of the Cold War were laid down. Propaganda weapons acquired a new value: if the nuclear bombs that the superpowers acquired were weapons of deterrence and could not be used, for obvious reasons, then propaganda became the only possible offensive weapon, which both sides used sometimes gracefully, and sometimes rather clumsily.
We have selected cartoons that may resonate with the present time and show the intensity of the struggle in those years. Cartoonists, of course, were at the forefront of this front, and the Krokodil magazine was one of the most powerful weapons of this war.
We will start with the Korean War, which few people remember today, but whose significance was no less than Vietnamese. In it, the two superpowers did not have a direct clash, but actively participated in the armed conflict, supplying weapons, specialists, and financing the warring parties. Of course, the parties accused each other of direct participation in the conflict, although both sides did not admit their participation.
It is interesting to note that America’s current “successes” in local conflicts in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan turn out to be based precisely on the Korean War. The conflict between North and South Korea from 1950 to 1953 is officially considered to be intranational, but in fact the two superpowers were widely involved. As you know, the result of this war was the division of the country into two parts, and the United States was forced to leave the North of the Korean Peninsula.
Both sides accused each other of the mass death of civilians and the destruction of peaceful objects.
Cartoonists paid a lot of attention to the work of the UN. Even then, the USSR constantly reproached the United States for manipulating the UN. Below is a cartoon inspired by a quote from Stalin’s conversation with a Pravda correspondent: “In essence, the UN is now not so much a world organization as an organization for Americans, acting to serve the needs of the American aggressors.”
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And that everything is dictated by capital from Wall Street.
And the US Congress, as a purely hostile institution, was portrayed quite ominously.
US allies were generally accused of not having their own position. Approximately the same situation is now developing in the European Union. This is especially obvious if we consider Europe’s position regarding sanctions against Russia.
Russia, both then and now, is concerned about the expansion of NATO and the emergence large quantity US military bases around the world. In 1952, the first wave of NATO expansion took place; two new countries, Greece and Turkey, joined the twelve founding countries. Since the founding of NATO, there have been six waves of expansion of this bloc.
Oil decided everything, both half a century ago and now. And the goals were always the same - control over oil in the Middle East.
Krokodil sometimes published cartoons from friendly magazines of the socialist camp, for example, the Polish magazine Shpilka. The cartoons in them were not so aggressive and offensive; they paid more attention to the economic situation of the United States. Admittedly, the template reflection of America's economic condition has been little different since then.
The USSR always pointed out that the United States, hiding behind the goals of spreading democracy, in fact, pursues other goals.
The parties, of course, accused each other of bias, of media bias, including unwillingness to see anything good in the other side. According to the USSR, the tone was set by media tycoons, including the media empire of William Hearst, which currently owns more than fifty newspapers, as well as the famous glossy magazines Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and many others.
Any excuse was used for propaganda. Centenary of the death of N.V. Gogol was used to the fullest, quotes from his works were used. Very interesting quote about Europe was posted on the main page of Krokodil.
And more quotes from Gogol and caricatures.
There have always been persons in history who are credited with a special role in the deterioration of relations in a particular country. Nowadays, few people remember who Harriman Averell was, about whom Stalin said that he bears some responsibility for the deterioration of relations between the USSR and the USA after World War II. He served as coordinator of the Marshall Plan from 1948 to 1950, from 1950 to 1951 - special assistant to President Truman for foreign affairs, and also as an industrialist. And here quotes from “dead souls” come in handy.
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Since the middle of the Second World War, the USA, USSR and Great Britain began large-scale work on the production of bacteriological weapons. In 1971, the Biological Weapons Convention was adopted. Bacteriological warfare is of a very specific nature. To spread contaminated material, feathers, insects, animals, and solutions are used, which for a cartoonist is an uncultivated field for plots.
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In general, the attitude towards the United States was not only hostile, but even disgusting.
As can be seen from the cartoons, both countries have reached unimaginable heights in demonizing each other. The best caricaturists worked on the images, creating memorable characters. The world has changed since then, but the approaches remain the same, but the tools have changed. Caricature, especially political caricature, has lost ground. The main tools have become TV and the Internet, which, as they say, “burn people’s hearts with words,” reinforcing this with visuals. Despite the fact that ominous images were created in the cartoons, it was an abstraction and a person could look at it from the outside. Today's instruments have achieved unprecedented naturalism and people are literally involved in propaganda.
And I would like to end the collection with a life-affirming drawing and a quote from the caption to this drawing “Army of Peace. You're trying in vain, gentlemen! We won’t let him offend!”
Scrolled through dusty pages"Crocodile" Boris Agatov
Brief background.On June 22, 1990, Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous point of contact between East and West Germany, was abandoned by the military, symbolizing the end of the Cold War, which had threatened the world with nuclear Armageddon since 1947. It was a very nervous period in human history, which we are on the verge of repeating today. Only 15 years have passed since the end of the Cold War, and those who previously advocated for the dismantling of the wall that separated the West from the “terrible” Soviets (as they called us) are today building a new one, but on the border of Russia and Ukraine. To prevent this from happening again, you should learn history and at least familiarize yourself with the monuments of this period.
10. MiG-15 and F-86.
MiG-15 and F-86 at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum.
These two aircraft were considered the best at one time, only one was built in the USA, the other in the USSR. They were the ones who faced off during Korean War, but even after its completion, debate about which fighter plane was the best still does not subside.
9. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).
The Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, which delivered a nuclear warhead, was first introduced by the USSR in 1959, but the US quickly responded with its own similar weapon. Since the missiles were capable of striking any point on Earth and could not be stopped, they were, are and will be an effective deterrent weapon. You don’t have to be very smart to realize the danger they posed and continue to pose. Undergoing continuous improvement, these missiles clearly express readiness for active actions, which was felt during the Cold War. Now such missiles are in use not only in Russia and the United States, but also in China and India. Given the increasing number of Third World countries capable of building such missiles and nuclear warheads, the relief many felt after the end of the Cold War was fleeting.
8. U-2.
US Air Force U-2 "Dragon Lady"
Designed by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson (the guy who designed the P-38, F-80, F-104 and SR 71), the Lockheed reconnaissance aircraft had super-long and thin wings that gave it a distinctive silhouette, making it a prominent symbol of the Cold War. war. When American pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, tensions between the US and the USSR reached a boiling point, and the US looked rather foolish when President Eisenhower lied and denied that the flight over the USSR had even taken place. Interestingly, this is one of the few military aircraft with a service life of over 50 years and is still in service.
7. Satellite.
An exact copy of Sputnik in the American national museum aviation and astronautics.
The West watched as the USSR beat the Americans in the space race by launching the world's first satellite in 1957, and the Americans themselves were annoyed that the Communists had beaten "free" people into space. The successful launch of Sputnik gave us television, radio, telephones and other forms of communication.
6. B-52 Stratofortress.
After entering service in 1955, 744 of these bombers were built. Incredibly, but American air Force still rely on them as one of their main weapons systems. Arguably the most iconic weapon of the Cold War, unlike its Soviet counterparts, the B-52 dropped thousands of (non-nuclear) bombs. This Cold War relic may be the greatest military bomber of all time, but it is worth noting that American bombers were used for their intended purpose when the Soviets were, and are, more of a deterrent weapon.
5. Checkpoint "Charlie".
Checkpoint Charlie, West Berlin side, August 1986.
Very famous place, where soldiers carefully checked documents, people and the contents of vehicles crossing the Berlin Wall when entering or leaving East Germany. This place became a historical symbol and remained standing after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Although it was only 1 of 9 Berlin border checkpoints, it is the one most remembered. The building is now a landmark and museum. For all intents and purposes, Checkpoint Charlie was on the front lines of the Cold War.
4. Cheyenne Mountain.
The 25-ton North Door is the main entrance to Cheyenne Mountain.
This tunnel complex, completed in 1966, is located deep in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. He had to become protected from external influences headquarters in case nuclear war. In size, it was a complex of fifteen three-story buildings, mounted on huge shock-absorbing springs, spread over an area of more than 5 acres. The headquarters was protected by 600 meters of granite and giant steel doors that were designed to withstand the explosion of a 30-megaton nuclear bomb in close proximity. This “underground city” has a reservoir and its own power plant. It is now used as a space monitoring station.
3. "Direct telephone line" Moscow-Washington.
"Red telephone" for emergency communication with Moscow in the US White House.
On display at the Jimmy Carter Museum.
A direct line of communication between the principled opponents was established in 1963. It was supposed to provide direct communication between the US President and the leader Soviet Union in times of crisis. The need for such a connection became apparent during the Cuban Crisis, and the line of communication is said to still be in operation today.
2. Hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb.
The weapons that appeared, first in the USA in 1952, and then in the USSR in 1953, had enormous potential. This type of weapon was more than 1000 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The threat of nuclear destruction hung over the world for almost 40 years and during the Cuban crisis in 1962 it became more than real. But because you read this article, it’s easy to guess that everything turned out okay.
1. Berlin Wall.
Graffiti on a wall from West Berlin, 1986.
Built by East Germany in 1961 to prevent East Germans from crossing over to the West, the wall was over 150 kilometers long and 4 meters high. It was “decorated” with barbed wire on top and came complete with soldiers and machine guns, 302 clock towers and 20 bunkers. The fall of this wall symbolized the end of the Cold War. It is believed that 200 defectors were shot and killed while attempting to climb it.
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The Cold War got its name due to the fact that an open military conflict between the USSR and the USA never happened. Both countries in short time took possession of nuclear power, it became a deterrent in the confrontation between the two superpowers. This marked the beginning of a never-ending arms race, as a result of which the economies of the opposing countries largely worked for their armies.
What are the symbols of the Cold War? There are quite a lot of them. For example, one of bright examples Superpower rivalry can be considered a struggle for the exploration of outer space. Every achievement of one side became a challenge for the other. The first artificial earth satellite, launched into orbit on October 4, 1957, became an outstanding achievement of the Soviet Union, a symbol of victory in the space race. An even greater success was achieved by Yuri Gagarin, who orbited the Earth on the Vostok-1 spacecraft on April 12, 1961. At the same time, US experts knew that the R-7 rocket that delivered Gagarin into orbit could also carry a nuclear warhead.
There were other victories of ours - photography reverse side Luna, the first Soviet Lunokhod. The answer was landing people on the moon. To be fair, it is worth noting that many skeptics still have great doubts about the reality of these flights.
It is also impossible not to mention the famous program star wars, creation of reusable spacecraft "Space Shuttle". The Soviet response was the space "Energia-Buran" - all of these are also vivid symbols of the Cold War. Enormous amounts of money were spent on their implementation, which largely did not pay for themselves. The confrontation between the superpowers became one of the most striking manifestations of the Cold War.
“Cold War”: The Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin Wall and other symbols of confrontation between the superpowers
The Cuban missile crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, can also be considered a symbol of confrontation. Fortunately, the USA and the USSR had enough prudence to sit down at the negotiating table and prevent the destruction of humanity. Some major wars 20th century: Korean, Vietnamese, Afghan wars were directly related to the confrontation between the USA and the USSR, which tried to promote their interests and expand influence in these regions.
Even sports have become an arena political struggle. The confrontation between two hockey teams, the USSR and Canada, was no less intense than the statements of politicians. Victory at any cost - the best must come first. Ideology was doing its job. Hockey battles, like any other sports record, were also viewed from a political point of view.
But the most striking symbol of the Cold War, of course, is Berlin. Like the Great Wall of China, it fenced off the world of capitalism from the world, dividing Berlin into two halves. The Berlin Wall became a visible embodiment of the irreconcilability of the two systems and the reluctance of the superpowers to make any compromises. With its destruction, the rapprochement between the USSR and the USA began - the thaw of the eighties.
Topical satirical cartoons by Kukryniksy and other artists in the Krokodil magazine.The post-war anti-American satire seems surprisingly modern, although few have been abroad. We learned about life in the USA from Voice of America radio broadcasts. But if in those days they laughed more at Soviet anti-American propaganda, then years later these cartoons are perceived completely differently.
Uncle Sam plays the UN chord.
“In essence, the UN is now not so much a world organization as an organization for Americans, acting at the service of the American aggressors.”
(From a conversation between Comrade I.V. Stalin and a Pravda correspondent).
“In American. This restaurant only serves one person."
The picture behind the empty tables depicts Healthcare, Schools, Arts, Libraries. The waiters carry dishes full of money to only one table, where a soldier sits with the word “War” written on his back.
“True American humor ended the moment Mark Twain died.” (From a report at a meeting of satirists and humorists).
Mark Twain (To Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn): - Let's get out of here, children! It's a bad joke here now!..
"In a Close Circle"
Uncle Sam decides the political affairs of small countries.
- Gentlemen! Europe is in danger! Peace threatens her from the East!
In the post-war years, a campaign for peace began in the USSR. On Soviet posters depicted doves as a symbol of peace, and staged peaceful demonstrations.
Victims of Hollywood.
Children are behind bars - this is what watching American films leads to, according to cartoonists!
Secular American family(judging by the films of Hollywood screenwriters). The father is a scoundrel, the mother is a boor, the niece is a drunkard, the brother is a degenerate.
Many cartoons have images American soldiers differ little from the images of the fascists. The typical image is a soldier with a weapon in his hands, killing civilians.
The leader of the country welcomes with open arms a man with “USA” written on his suitcase. Through huge rose-colored glasses, this man seems benevolent, but in fact he sneaks with bad intentions, in his eyes there is a fascist swastika.
Trade in sovereignty. In exchange for money, country leaders willingly divide states, placing them under American control. 
The abolition of slavery is still far away; racist protests against blacks are not uncommon on the streets.
New York Telephone Network.
A huge spider with the inscription “FBI” has woven its web around the entire city and controls the conversations of the entire population. Who then could believe that the FBI were actually weaving their networks and listening not only to American citizens, but even political leaders other countries?
Anti-American posters from the 1960s. look
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