CLIL CLIL CLIL hystory HISTORY THE COLD WAR AND THE BIRTH OF THE INTERNET The Cold War: a general outline The Cold War: a general outline The Cold War was a long period of tension between two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, and their respective allies, over political, economic and military issues, and was often described as a struggle between capitalism and communism. In Europe, this meant the US-led West and NATO on one side and the Soviet-led East and Warsaw Pact on the other. In reality, the two countries never declared war on each other but fought indirectly in proxy wars, the arms race and the space race. The Cold War began soon after the end of World War Two in 1945 and ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The proxy wars, fought between other countries where each side received support from a different superpower, include the Korean War (1950-1955), the Vietnam War (1961-1975) and the Soviet Afghanistan War (1979-89). The United States and the Soviet Union also tried to fight the Cold War by demonstrating their power and technology. One example was the Arms Race, where each side tried to have the best weapons and the most nuclear bombs. The idea behind this was that possessing a large stock of weapons would prevent the other side from ever attacking. Another was the Space Race, where each side tried to show, through its space missions, that it had the best scientists and technology. Key Facts The first time the superpowers acted as enemies was during the Berlin Blockade. Post-war Germany was divided into four parts and occupied by the former Allies, and Berlin, situated in the Soviet zone, was similarly divided. Stalin enforced a blockade of Berlin in order to get renegotiation of the division of Germany, but the US and their allies responded with the Berlin Airlift. For eleven months, supplies were flown into Berlin via Allied aircraft, and the blockade ended in May 1949. Stalin died in 1953 and the new leader, Kruschev, began a process of de-Stalinisation. In May 1955, he formed the Warsaw Pact and signed an agreement with the Allies to leave Austria and make it neutral. In 1956, the inability of the communist government of Hungary to answer the internal call for reform gave birth to the Budapest Uprising. As a consequence, the Soviet Red Army occupied the city and put a new government in charge. The West was highly critical but, distracted by the Suez Crisis, did nothing to help. The Egyptian President Nasser, who had taken control of Egypt in 1954, had been refused the money previously promised by the US and British to build the Aswan Dam, because of Egypt s political ties with the Soviet Union. As a consequence, Egypt seized control of the Suez Canal. In 1958 Kruschev offered concessions in return for a united, neutral Germany, but a Paris summit for talks failed when Russia shot down a US U-2 spy plane flying over its territory. Kruschev pulled out of the summit and disarmament talks. 168