The Cold War in Europe and Asia – A comparison

The aftermath of the Second World War saw the formation of a bi-polar world, with the United States and the Soviet Union dominating their respective hemispheres. Both the powers were equipped with nuclear arsenal and any direct confrontation could have led to the destruction of the species. In this atmosphere where the stakes are very high, most of the strategic advantage is won through diplomacy and applying political pressure. This variety of wielding power has come to be known as the Cold War, where advantages were won or lost through tactful diplomacy as against the use of force. The implications of the Cold War were not confined to the partners and allies of the two superpowers. Given the scale of their economies, the superpowers sought to dominate other nations wherever they can, either through ideological coercion on military intervention. Hence, Europe and Asia were also polarized to balance the two sides. Many independent nation states were forced to choose sides between the capitalist democracy of the Western world and the communist soviets of the Eastern world. So, although they were not the central players in the tussle for world domination, many countries in the European and Asian continents aligned themselves with one of the existing dominant powers. The rest of the essay will explore the nature of these affiliations and the essential differences between the situation in Europe and Asia. History will show that the European nations after Second World War were divided geographically as well as ideologically as belonging to the western democratic bloc or the eastern communist bloc. Long-time partner and a trusted lieutenant of the United States, namely Great Britain, is the leading representative of this western coalition. Other nations that aligned with the United States were Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, etc. The countries of Eastern Europe were imposed with communist governments and hence came under the influence of the Soviet Union. Some of them were Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belarus, etc. Germany was deemed a key prize in the spoils of the Second Great War and so its reigns were bitterly contested. In the end both superpowers had to strike a compromise and divide Germany into their respective halves. This event was a key flashpoint in the years immediately following the end of the War. In the western hemisphere, the peak cold war confrontation manifested in the form of the Cuban Missile crisis. It was the year 1961, under the leadership of President John F. Kennedy; the world came perilously close to a deadly confrontation between the two major powers. The Soviet Union was under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. Lying only 145 km from the coast of the USA, Cuba had always been of concern to the United States (America still maintains a naval base there to the present day at Guantanamo). The relations between the two nations took a U-turn with the onset of the communist revolution in 1959. Fidel Castro’s consequent rise to power made Cuba a real and present danger. The pressing concern for the United States was the potential symbolic threat that a communist neighbor would prove to be. The fiasco that was the Bay of Pigs invasion, intended to dispel and if possible eliminate Castro, was an affair of big embarrassment for the Kennedy Administration. This further strained the diplomatic relations between the two countries. At this juncture Castro was left with little option but to strengthen relations with the Soviet Union. It benefited the Soviet Union to respond to Cuba’s call for protection, as setting up a base so near the American coast was of strategic importance. The events of these fortuitous days for mankind unraveled in the backdrop of the cold war. The 50’s were a period of economic and technological advancement for both superpowers. Paralleling this prosperity was the escalating ideological conflict between democracy and communism. The tense couple of weeks that would later be called the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest this planet came to complete annihilation. Soviet missiles with capabilities to wipe out all major cities in eastern United States were positioned just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. A last minute command from Khrushchev to soviet ships heading to Cuba saved the planet from a potential Armageddon. On the Asian continent, the underdeveloped region of Indo-China proved to be the key cold-war battleground. The Vietnam War is also known as the second of the Indochina Wars. It was waged between the late 1950’s and the mid 1970’s. The lush forested terrain of the Vietnamese country side was the battleground for much of the war. The force of the North Vietnam, which was basically oriented towards communism, was seen as a threat by the American government. It believed that left uncontrolled, the spread of communism would usurp the democratic South Vietnam as well. Hence, the American government decided to send troops in support of South Vietnam and retain its democratic government. This wider context of the war made it one of the tense phases of the Cold war period. The United States, the sole aggressor in the Vietnam War, was forced to draw back its troops as a result of the failed military campaign as well as mounting pressure from its general public. Hence, it could be asserted that the causes that led to the American defeat were multifold. Some of the salient ones include the inability to understand the foreign primitive culture of the Vietnamese and underestimating their military organization skills. The growing unrest of the American public over the number of casualties and the ambiguity of the American motive were also important reasons. The guerilla warfare technique proved too difficult for the G.I.s to tackle. The growing lack of discipline and commitment of the American troops was another key reason for the defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War. Alongside the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962, the Vietnam War was another important flashpoint during the cold war period where the two superpowers came very close to mutual destruction. In the Far Eastern Asia, China to be more precise, communism was taking firm roots. Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the Soviet Union had found a willing ally to propagate communist ideology. Although the United States tried several diplomatic maneuvers to undermine the links between the two communist Asian neighbors, the efforts were to prove futile. First of all, the geographic location of China had put it outside the American sphere of influence. Secondly, China had developed a strong military, unaffected by the turmoil of the Second World War, which made any direct confrontation with it a tough proposition. Japan, on the other hand, was recovering from the disastrous consequences of the Atomic bomb attacks and chose not to attract further trouble by remaining neutral in the Cold War period. Elsewhere in Asia, the long confrontation between the United States and U.S.S.R. backed proxies in Afghanistan had frustrated and weakened the latter. During the 1980’s the U.S.S.R. was going through a severe economic slump as well. At this juncture, the Soviet Union was no more in a position to strengthen its war machinery, which gave its rival undisputed advantage, bringing an end to the Cold War. The deteriorating economic conditions stirred the people of the Soviet Union to openly demonstrate against their government’s failure, which by the late 1980’s had reached abysmal levels. People from the communist bloc nations were making desperate attempts to flee to countries in Western Europe. Likewise, people from East Germany were attempting to escape to the more prosperous West Germany in order to avail of better economic and social prospects. The upper echelons of the Soviet government were facing tremendous pressure to act decisively and quickly. The only option left was to dismantle the Union and open the countries to political and economic reforms. Bringing down the Berlin Wall in 1990 was the symbolic act that ushered in a new post-cold war era in the world. The ascent to power of Ronald Reagan was to prove crucial in the lead up to the end of the cold war. Ronald Reagan devised a grand defense strategy, popularly called the Star Wars initiative. The implementation of this strategy would give the United States a decisive advantage over their superpower rival. The Soviet Union on the other hand neither had the resources nor the political will to respond to this threat – due mainly to their uncertain economy and growing domestic unrest. Thus, Reagan’s brain child, the Star Wars initiative, proved an important factor in putting an end to the Soviet Union. In Michael Gorbachev, the Soviet Union had a reformist and practical leader. He saw the folly of continuing the cold war efforts and drafted policies facilitating a transfer to more democratic and capitalistic forms of government.

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