Summary
Highlights
The Cold War is defined as a state of hostility characterized by ideological struggle rather than open warfare, specifically between the United States and the Soviet Union. The primary cause was the conflicting ideologies of democratic capitalism (US) and authoritarian communism (Soviet Union). Both ideologies were universalizing, meaning they sought to spread their systems globally, leading to inevitable conflict between the two superpowers.
Mutual mistrust fostered the Cold War. After World War II, agreements for free elections in Central and Eastern European countries were violated when Joseph Stalin kept these nations under Soviet control, establishing them as communist buffer zones. This was seen by the US as a breach of self-determination. Further antagonism arose from the division of Germany into occupation zones, with Eastern Germany becoming a communist satellite state, leading Winston Churchill to declare an “iron curtain” had fallen across Europe.
The Cold War's implications extended globally, especially interacting with decolonization. As new states emerged, the US and the Soviet Union competed to influence them, viewing them as pawns in their ideological struggle. This pressure was often unwelcome, leading to the formation of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1955. Led by Indonesian president Sukarno, this movement brought together 29 African and Asian heads of state, representing newly independent nations that refused to be controlled by either superpower, aiming for an alternative to the existing world orders. However, these nations also strategically leveraged the Cold War rivalry to gain resources for their own development, for example, Indonesia receiving aid from the Soviet Union while suppressing its own Communist party.