Cold War – Overview and Timeline
The Cold War was an ideological battle between Communism and Capitalism, the East vs the West and the resulting struggle for ideological influence and power in the world.
This web publication brings you the full story of the Cold War in vivid detail. Packed with fascinating documentary films, images, maps, graphs, supported with facts and figures from the most authoritative resources, it explains the Cold War as never before and provides an enlighting view of the most defining conflict of the past hundred years.
Although historians had closed the Cold War chapter, it vehemently lashed back with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, we know not only that the Cold War was never gone, but also that understanding it is key to preserving a safe future.
In this web publication, we closely follow the chronology of Cold War events as portrayed in the documentary essay embedded above, titled The entire history of the cold war explained, and produced by the Life Guide. The essay offers a remarkable overview of nearly 100 years of cold war history, condensed into 86 minutes of superbly researched narration supported by a collage of archive footage and music. Divided into 26 comprehensive chapters, the essay is a great starting point for a rapid overview of the highlights of the cold war era. Yet, to create the ultimate work of Cold War reference, we have bundled each chapter below in a comprehensive timeline linked to the best documentary films and most authoritative resources for an in-depth exploration of the subject. The result is a work unequaled in quality and imagination, a masterly overview of the endlessly absorbing story of the iconical clash between Capitalism and Communism, the free world and the oppressed world.
Table of Contents
Carl Marx
& the Birth of Communism
Officially the Cold War began with the Truman Doctrine in 1947. But to really understand the Cold War we have to go back to Carl Marx and his Communist Manifesto, which is the most celebrated pamphlet in the history of the socialist movement. He also was the author of the movement’s most important book, Das Kapital. These writings and others by Marx and Engels form the basis of the body of thought and belief known as Marxism.
1848
germany
Class Struggle
The Industrial Revolution
In the 19th century a great industrial revolution had swept over the world introducing machine tools, steam power and new manufacturing processes that would transform the western nations into the most powerful on earth. For those able to control these technological breakthroughs, wealth and prosperity awaited but it would come at the expense of the workers who faced poor health, terrible working conditions and poverty.
The german economist and philosopher Carl Marx (Who Was Carl Marx) took note of the growing divide between rich and poor. He believed that economic inequality would lead to a class struggle in which workers, long exploited by the rich, would rise up to replace capitalism with communism. He defined communism as a system where the means of production would be commonly owned, thereby diminishing the extremes of wealth and poverty.
The Industrial Revolution completely changed the world's social and environmental landscape. Mechanized agriculture brought about a dramatic increase in agricultural efficiency. The result was a massive increase in food production, feeding a rising population and allowing it to expand from 1 billion in 1800 to about 2 billion in 1900. Conversely, the efficiency combined with population growth caused mass unemployment, which saw unemployed agricultural workers moving away from the fields and into the factories to help drive the industrial revolution. Cities boomed, natural land turned into farming land and social structures were obliterated.
Due to technological success, in the early 1900s, the world was spinning out of control, demanding new political power structures.
Between 1820 and 1920, over 34 million people migrated to the USA, primarily Europeans. They sailed for America due to the collapse of the old agricultural order in their area, to escape (in the case of the Irish) famine of the 1840s, escape persecution, or better themselves economically. Although the USA itself had some serious internal issues (the civil war), the vastness of the 'new' country and its dedication to its founding principles (liberty, equality and justice for all) represented a land of opportunity, a new life free from the chains of the past.
In the 19th century Russia emerged as one of the great European Powers. Its role in the defeat of Napoleon's revolutionary France had left it the largest military power on the continent and greatly reinforced the prestige of the Tsars. Yet, Russia's international status was compromised by economic backwardness and several subsequent military failures (Crimean War, Japan). In 1853, 45 per cent of the adult male population were serfs, similar to the middle ages.
Capitalism
Since the breakup of feudalism, the economic system of the Western World was dominated by capitalism, also called free market economy, in which most means of production are privately owned and production is guided and income distributed largely through the operation of markets.
Uprisings against Capitalism
In 1848 Europe was shaken by a series of workers uprisings, which erupted as a result of various factors, including high unemployment, low wages and the dissolution of social structures due to the Industrial Revolution. Many of these uprisings were greatly influenced by the theories of Carl Marx. Although the uprisings were squashed, labour movements emerged strong.
Communist Manifesto
Marx viewed history as a series of class struggles that would ultimately lead to the end of Capitalism and the arrival of an ideal, classless society without private property and free from exploitation. He published his beliefs in Communist Manifesto.1History - the definitive visual guide, Page 335, ISBN: 978 1 4053 1809 9, DK
World War I shifted world wide power relationships, shook up established social order and led to revolts and revolutions. Centuries old monarchies collapsed in Russia, Germany, Austria and Hungary. Parliamentary democracies were established, with mixed success, in many places.
The USA profited most from the war, replacing Great Britain as the dominant world power, and it sought to bring peace to Europe based on the principle of of the right to national self-determination.
However, the most momentous change proved to be the Russion Revolution. The founding of the USSR in 1922 created support for the communist ideology that would influence the internal development of the whole world 2Visual History of the World, Page 438, ISBN: 978-07922-3695-5, National Geographic.
The Bolshevik Revolution
Communism would eventually appear in Russia where decades of discontent and horrendous failures in WWI would lead to the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Led by Vladimir Lenin the Bolsheviks would establish a one-party state or dictatorship of the proleteriat. With Lenin at its head this dictatorship would safeguard the revolution with any means possible, including military action and terror.
1917
Soviet Union
1917 - 1922: Peace, Land and bread. all power to the soviets
The Birth of the Soviet Union
World War I did not go well for Russia. By 1917, having sustained enormous losses on the battlefield and with the war effort creating high prices and food shortages, resentment towards the Tsar increased. In April 1917, Lenin returned from exile to Petrograd. Convinced that the collapse of Capitalism, as predicted by Carl Marx, was imminent, he supervised the revolution with the rallying cry: “Peace, land and bread”, and “all power to the Soviets” After civil war, Lenin and his the Bolshevik Red Army turned out victorious and absolute military and political power was established. The economy was nationalized and political opponents outlawed. In 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was created, commonly known as the USSR or Soviet Union.
After Lenin's death, Joseph Stalin became the leader of the USSR. As the absolute ruler, he built an empire on a framework of ruthless terror, justifying it in the name of political faith. Through it, he willed his government, his party, the Russian people, and even his family. Historian's estimated that the number of people killed by Stalin's regime was 20 million or higher.3Wikipedia
The excellent BBC documentary Stalin inside the terror details the life of Stalin and his rise to power. It tries to understand how a once principled man could transform into one of histories most evil despots.
Stalin's Image in the Inter-war period.
In the 1920s and 30s in Western Europe and the US, there was little awareness of Stalin's terror reign. Few people knew about the Gulag camps, the persecutions, and the Ukraine famine, killing millions. Across Europe, many people viewed Stalin and the communism he stood for as a viable political solution to the problems on earth.
This cartoon - entitled "moral persuasion" - appeared in the British satirical magazine Punch in 1920. A weak Rabbit representing the League Nations stares into the eyes of a strong evil predator representing international strive (i.e war). It means the League is to weak to be able to prevent war. All it can do is to try and persuade the snake with its sweet eyes.
The League of Nations
The United States profited most from WWI, replacing Great Britain as the dominant world power, and it sought to bring peace to Europe based on the principle of the right to national self-determination and economic liberalization. Immediately after the war, in follow up of the Versailles Treaty, President Woodrow Wilson encouraged creating a collective security organization, The League of Nations, that would manifest these principles and could deter aggressors and prevent the outbreak of another war. However, Wilson's grand vision would soon fall to ruin with his own Nation, the United States, refusing to join the League.
Congress voted against membership of the League because:
- it believed that the League of Nations would be an expensive deal for the US
- The UK had more voting power
- Being an immigration country, it wanted it to be as neutral as possible.
The Soviet goal of communist world revolution stirred up fears of left-wing communist uprisings by broad sections of the populace in the unstable European democracies of the postwar period. In response, new right-wing fascist faction gained strength everywhere. Although these varied greatly from country to country, they all had a military nationalist, radical anti-democratic and anti-communist position in common. Against the backdrop of the world wide Great Depression (watch Stories of the Great Depression), these movements soon gained absolute power in Germany and Italy.
The Great Depression of the 1930s and a collapse in international trade shook the economic and political stability in the world. Unemployment soared in the USA and Europe, specifically in Germany, allowing Hitler to rise to power on the resentment of the Versailles Treaty and the promise of revitalization.
Unemployment 1930s
The Soviet goal of communist world revolution stirred up fears of left-wing communist uprisings by broad sections of the populace in the unstable European democracies of the postwar period. In response, new right-wing fascist faction gained strength everywhere. Although these varied greatly from country to country, they all had a military nationalist, radical anti-democratic and anti-communist position in common. Against the backdrop of the world wide Great Depression (watch Stories of the Great Depression), these movements soon gained absolute power in Germany and Italy.
The Second
World War
The atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended WWII, and were also the weapons that caused the Cold War
1939 -45
World Wide
USA versus the USSR
Ideological Archenemies fighting together to defeat Nazism for opposing reasons
World War I did not go well for Russia. By 1917, having sustained enormous losses on the battlefield and with the war effort creating high prices and food shortages, resentment towards the Tsar increased. In April 1917, Lenin returned from exile to Petrograd. Convinced that the collapse of Capitalism, as predicted by Carl Marx, was imminent, he supervised the revolution with the rallying cry: “Peace, land and bread”, and “all power to the Soviets” After civil war, Lenin and his the Bolshevik Red Army turned out victorious and absolute military and political power was established. The economy was nationalized and political opponents outlawed. In 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was created, commonly known as the USSR or Soviet Union.