Power and Politics
S. Chambers/R. Hansen
29 September 2014
Cold War—1947-1989 CE
Cold war: why did it happen, when did it end, and what was the international system like after it? what was it?
Baltic States under strict Soviet control after the Second World War.
The term Cold War was first used in the 14th century to describe a conflict between Muslims and Christians in Spain; it was later coined by the famous American journalist Walter Lippman in the 1940s.
The Cold War was a period of entrenched, ideological opposition, between the East Bloc—the Soviet Union and its allies—and the West Bloc—the United States and its allies—in which both sides did everything to undermine one another, short of outright military conflict.
As the age of empire came to its precipice in 1945 CE, the Cold War ensued and lasted for decades, to about 1989 CE. The Second World War heralded a new international system that was not based on empire; it was based on the diametrically opposed binaries of the East Bloc and West Bloc, which defined the international system for decades thenceforth.
the stakes
On 08 August 1945, the United States released atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
For those individuals that grew up during the Cold War, the threat of nuclear war was constant.
Cold war chronology: the dates yalta conference: 04—11 february, 1945
Decided on the post-war division of Europe; the Cold War was not meant to occur.
The great powers agreed on the unconditional surrender of Germany; the division of Germany into four zones of occupation; free and fair elections in Poland, the Baltic states, and eastern Europe; the war criminals would be punished; and Europe would be divided into two spheres of influence thence.
potsdam conference: 17 july—02 august 1945
Participants were the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom and they agreed to work together.
Germany would be deindustrialized, democratized, demilitarized, decartelized, and