Cold War Phase 1 before detente With cases in point of all the smaller countries who got caught up in the coldwar between US and USSR

2.  The Cold war lasted from 1945 (after WW2) to 1991
(the fall of USSR).
 It was ideological battle without any real confrontation
between the remaining superpowers post-WW2 namely
USA and USSR.
 The fight was between Capitalists of the Western Bloc
and Communists of the Eastern Bloc

4. There are three phases of cold war:
1) The maritime realm’s (Western bloc) ring of
containment along the near periphery of the Eurasian
realm (Eastern bloc).
2) Détente
3) Communist retreat from the maritime realm and the
waning of Soviet power

5.  A rigid, bipolar structure imposed on the world by USA
and USSR
 The world was divided into two geostrategic realms-
1) The Eurasian continent dominated by USSR
2) The maritime trade-dependent realm dominated by
USA
South Asia remained mostly neutral but under
continuous pressure. Only Pakistan became embroiled
in Cold War alliances.

6.  The Eastern bloc consisted of:
 Soviet inner heartland
 East Asia
 Central and eastern Europe
USSR’s influence in these regions had put it in a position
to threaten Western Europe and undermine North Atlantic
Alliance.
Also with its Communist Chinese and North Korean allies,
Moscow posed a major threat to Japan and US strategic
positions in Western Pacific.

7.  The trade dependent maritime realm came under the
influence of United States.
 From its intermediate position between two oceans of
Pacific and Atlantic, USA can reinforce its North Atlantic
European partners, cast a strategic net over South
America and provide military and economic cover for
Japan and other allies along the Pacific Rim.

8.  Saudi Arabia was a US client state and so were both
Israel and Lebanon.
 Sub-Saharan Africa was also a part of maritime realm.
 In the Pacific, US military power was firmly anchored in
South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Australia,
Thailand and New Zealand.

10.  NATO was created in 1949 by the United States,
Canada, and several Western European nations to
provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
 Warsaw Pact was the Communist counteraction to
NATO. It was signed in 1955 between the Soviet
Union and several Eastern European countries.

11.  In 1954, SEATO was formed in Bangkok under the
leadership of US, Britain and France. It contained
Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand and the
Philippines. It’s prime purpose was the containment of
communism in Southeast Asia.
 Baghdad Pact was created by USA, Pakistan, Turkey,
Iran, Iraq and Pakistan to create a northern regional
screen against the expansion of USSR.
 It became CENTO after Iran’s with drawl and disbanded
after with drawl of Iraq.

12.  The establishment of Soviet Zone in Germany in 1945
 The outbreak of the civil war in Greece in 1946
 The blockade of West Berlin in 1948 to 1949.

14. was an American foreign policy
created to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion during
the Cold War. It pledged to contain Soviet threats to
Greece and Turkey.
was an American initiative to aid
Western Europe, in which the United States gave over
$13 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western
European economies after the end of WW2.

15.  The major territorial objectives of USSR were Eastern
and Central Europe.
 Between 1945 to 1948, Moscow imposed Communist
Regimes upon the belt of Eastern and Central European
countries like Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary,
Poland, Albania.

16.  Greece civil war launched by Communist rebels failed.
 Pressuring Turkey failed as well.

17.  USSR withdrew forces from Northern Iran after British
and American forces were stationed in Southern Iran.
 But only due to extreme US, UN, British pressure and
Iran’s promise to grant oil concessions.
 Iran rid itself of communist regimes in the Kurdish and
Azerbaijani sectors that had been set up in 1945.

18.  Containment didn’t reach China because India and
Burma remained neutral. The revolution in North
Vietnam also kept containment out.
 India chose neutrality because:
1) Gandhi’s non-violence philosophy
2) Ideological differences with USSR
3) Fears of Chinese threat to India’s territorial integrity
4) Suspicions of US motives of strategic dominance and
imposition US-styled Capitalism in the world

19.  Burma maintained neutrality.
 It accepted People’s Republic of China but kept away
since it was itself strife with communist and tribal
rebellions.

20.  After independence from France, Indochina was divided
into North and West in 1954.
 In 1955, the West recognized South Vietnam’s Saigon
regime as legal government while North Vietnam started
receiving military and economic aids from USSR and
China.
 The Vietnam war that engulfed the great powers as well
as the Vietnamese rivals took place in phase 2.

21.  After independence from Dutch in 1949, Indonesia was
preoccupied with uniting its diverse people against the
local Communist party.
 President adopted a socialist and neutralist platform,
which fanned Western suspicions.

22.  Victory of Communists over Nationalists in 1949
extended the Eurasian continental Communist power to
the limits of East Asian mainland and was quickly
followed by Beijing's occupation of Tibet in 1950.
 US strengthened the containment policy when China
threatened to invade Taiwan and made a mutual
security pact with Taiwanese Nationalists to defend
Taiwan against outside attack.

23.  A boundary was established after a war between US
and China on the ground and in air combat, which also
involved Soviets.
 After a seesaw battle between US and USSR, Korea
was divided along the 38th parallel latitude.

24.  It had received independence in 1947 but continued to
house US military, naval and air bases.
 The threatened spread of communism to the Philippines
was halted in 1954, when indigenous Communist
guerillas were defeated by govt. forces.
 They regrouped and conducted campaign of terrorism
for the next decade until crushed by Philippine military
in 1969.
 They ceased to function in the following year.

25.  The expansion of USSR was facilitated by Moscow’s
buildup of nuclear capacity as well as by the rapid
rebuilding of its war-shattered heavy industry.
 Phase 1 came to an end in 1956 when Soviet nuclear
weapons development led to the establishment of a
balance of terror between the two superpowers.
 This period concluded with the start of Sino-Soviet
schism.