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The Soviet Union and the United States, after World War II, began a military competition that led to the buildup of massive nuclear arsenals. Although both countries did not want a nuclear war, they continually built up their offenses to counteract one another. Before the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union lived with questions about how the other would react in a nuclear showdown. After the Cuba Crisis, both countries, sure that the other was determined to prevent a nuclear holocaust, made stronger efforts to prevent the use of atomic weapons. Although they did not give up their Cold War objectives, the two powers focused on conventional military methods, rather than nuclear tactics.
The Soviet Union, after the completion of World War II, wished to expand the buffer zone between itself and the Western world. In addition to the original Polish territory, the USSR established communism in Rumania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. The Kremlin felt that The United States was going to try to spread its capitalist ideals into all of Europe and eventually, the Soviet Union itself. Ironically, the United States saw the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe as the beginning of a plan to spread Communism throughout the world. This misconception was the beginning of the Cold War.
Churchill summed up the conflict from a Western perspective on March 5, 1946 at the University of Fulton. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain had descended across the continent. Beyond that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in many cases increasing measure of control from Moscow. (Johnson 436) The first United States anti-Communist action was, in 1947, to begin providing economic aid to countries pressured by outside powers. In 1949, Western powers formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), designed to counter Soviet expansion and military operations. The nuclear arms race between Eastern and Western powers began when the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan in 1945.
Russia became a nuclear power in 1949, and Britain followed in 1952. For the next decade, these three countries raced one another to develop bigger, more powerful nuclear weapons. The United States successfully detonated a Hydrogen bomb in 1952 and the Soviet Union followed suit one year later. By 1963, the Soviet Union had tested a 50 megaton bomb, with 2, 500 times the destructive power of the bomb used by the United States on Hiroshima.
In 1963, with the world beginning to realize the environmental repercussions of continued nuclear testing and the danger to humanity in the event of a nuclear confrontation, the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union created a nuclear test ban treaty. Under the new terms testing was only allowed underground; banned above ground and in space. Also in 1963, a direct telephone line was installed between the White House and the Kremlin, designed to prevent an all out war in case of unintentional action at either end. On June 26, 1950, Communist assisted North Korea crossed the 38 th parallel and began an invasion of Western assisted South Korea. President Truman felt that the attack was another example of a Communist objective to takeover the globe, and therefore, assigned General Douglass MacArthur to push the North Koreans back across the border. Although not initially successful, the United States soon forced the North Koreans across the 38 th parallel into North Korea.
The United States began its own offensive into North Korea, until the Peoples Republic of China began sending military support. With hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops, assisted by Soviet military equipment, pouring across the border, the United States was pushed across the border and back into South Korea. In 1953, a treaty was signed, ending the war and maintaining the 38 th parallel as the boundary between the two countries. However, after the war, over two million Koreans were killed, wounded or missing. Unlike the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the threat of a nuclear confrontation as part of the Korean War was remote and therefore both sides did not take extreme measures to prevent a military conflict.
Both the United States and the eastern Communist powers did not stop the tension from escalating into warfare. After the confrontation in Korea, the United States adopted a policy known as containment, designed to quickly respond to any Communist offensive throughout the world. However, the USSR saw containment as another Western attempt to destroy Communism. Therefore, Russia created its own policy to retaliate against any United States containment. In response, the United States created new military alliances in the Middle East, with the Central Treaty Organization, and in Asia, with the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.
It also offered financial and military support to any country that might suffer from a Communist offensive. Joseph Stalin died in 1953, and after a long conflict for power, in 1956, Nikita Khrushchev gained control of the USSR. His first objectives were to remove Western influence from Berlin, and to compete with the United States for control of third world and middle eastern countries. This led to Soviet support of Fidel Castro s revolution in Cuba, paving the way for the Missile Crisis of 1962. The world was now in a position where complete destruction would arise in the event of a global military conflict.
Both sides knew the ramifications of a nuclear war and were prepared to take steps to prevent it from happening. However, to keep a balance of power, both countries continued developing better nuclear weapons and placing them closer to one another. The United States was opposed to the Communist revolution in Cuba. The Soviet Union had created a satellite country within 90 miles of the Florida coast. President Kennedy, in a public address stated that if Cuba were to become an offensive military base of significant capacity for the Soviet Union, then the [United States] will do whatever must be done to protect its own security and that of its allies (Blum 78) Khrushchev, in response, offered full assurances that Cuba would not be used offensively against the United States. However, the Soviet Union felt that the U.
S. was going to try and invade Cuba, and therefore secretly wanted to build up its defenses. On October 15, 1962, a reconnaissance flight over Cuba revealed the first evidence of a military buildup. Although inconclusive the evidence was enough to prove that Khrushchev himself had lied to Kennedy and to the United States concerning the Cuban situation. The missiles that were present at that time were not operational, which somewhat eased Kennedy s situation. However, he was still pressed with a difficult decision.
If Kennedy were to back away, he was sure that Khrushchev would take West Berlin. If Kennedy were to try to bargain, he thought Khrushchev would insist on the removal of American missiles from Turkey and Italy, compromising European safety for American safety. There was also the possibility of an invasion, but Kennedy, along with many others, felt that an invasion had the greatest chance of causing a nuclear war. (Blum 80) Before deciding on a course of action, Kennedy ordered more surveillance of the Cuban island, to determine the actual threat. The new reconnaissance data showed three IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile) sites being constructed and other MRBM (Medium Range Ballistic Missile) sites, storing approximately 40 missiles. This new data further ruled out an air attack, as the sites were spread throughout the island, and would be difficult to effectively destroy.
The CIA estimated that the arsenal in Cuba had the destructive power to destroy the Southern United States. In order to avoid entanglement in the United Nations, which would have given the Soviet Union time to complete its missile installations, Kennedy addressed his solution to the crisis directly to the American people. Good evening, my fellow citizens This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. Acting the defense of our security I have directed that the following initial steps be taken: First: To halt this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated Second: I have directed the continued and increased close surveillance of Cuba and its military buildup.
Third: It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union. Finally: I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate a reckless and provocative threat to world peace and stable relations between our two nations We have no wish for war with the Soviet Union-for we are a peaceful people who desire to live in peace with all other peoples Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right. (Thompson 270) Kennedy realized that a naval blockade was an act of war, but decided it was the method least likely to provoke the Russians. He moved the U. S. naval fleet very near Cuba to allow Soviet ships adequate time to change course away from the island. Of the ships that did not, only those potentially carrying missiles or launching equipment were sent away.
In response to the United States s actions, Khrushchev agreed to stop shipments of nuclear weapons to Cuba and demanded that Kennedy lift the blockade. Kennedy responded, The existing threat was created by the secret introduction of offensive weapons into Cuba, and the answer lies in the removal of such weapons, (Time). Khrushchev again tried to compromise, saying that the Soviet Union would remove its missiles from Cuba only if the United States would remove its missiles from Turkey. Again, Kennedy refused the offer.
No more than Kennedy did Khrushchev want to push the crisis to nuclear war. (Blum 87) and without further diversions, agreed to all of Kennedy s conditions. He said that all nuclear warheads would be removed from Cuba and sent back to the Soviet Union. Khrushchev also agreed to allow United Nations weapons inspectors confirm that the missiles had been removed. At the end of the crisis, no country could claim a victory.
However, in thinking of the future, Kennedy s brother Robert stated, If it was a triumph, it was a triumph for the next generation and not for any particular government or people. (Blum 89) Because the Cuban Crisis was started by nuclear weapons, there was a very real possibility that it would lead to a nuclear war. Khrushchev recognized this and took actions to prevent it from happening. Conflicts between the US and Russia continued after the Cuban Crisis, but without as strong a possibility of nuclear war. The longest indirect conflict between the two countries never resulted in nuclear warfare, but was devastating nonetheless. War between North and South Vietnam began in the early 1960 s.
North Vietnam, supported by Communist China and the Soviet Union, began a campaign to terrorize and takeover Western supported South Vietnam. The United States felt that if South Vietnam were to fall under Communist rule, then all the other countries of Southeast Asia would also fall, playing out the domino effect. Kennedy sent the first round of 4, 000 American soldiers in 1961. The war remained a ground war until 1964 when President Johnson used the excuse that US Destroyers had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin to order massive air strikes against North Vietnam. By 1965, air strikes were carried out almost daily. The United States made little ground however against the elusive and motivated North Vietnamese.
In some cases, entire villages were burned in hopes of destroying hidden military bases. However, with supplies from China and Russia, the North Vietnamese were able to rebuild their supply bases as quickly as the United States could destroy them. Supply lines were run through the thick forests and therefore, nearly impossible to see from the air. With massive protests at home and a successful North Vietnamese offensive in 1968, many in the Unites States began to see the hopelessness of the situation. A cease fire agreement was made in January 1973, and most U.
S. soldiers had been sent home by March. However, even with the agreement both sides continued to fight one another. The United States could no longer send heavy military assistance as Congress refused allocate funds to the cause. By 1974, the North Vietnamese had captured key cities along the 17 th parallel between North and South Vietnam.
On April 30, 1975, they reached the South Vietnam capital of Saigon and declared a Communist victory. As the US had expected, Cambodia and Laos soon found themselves governed by Communism. The Vietnam War, which lasted for eight years and cost millions of lives, had finally ended with a Communist victory. To the United States, the threat of North Vietnam was simply the spread of Communism, not nuclear warfare, and therefore the United States did not take extreme diplomatic measures to prevent the war. Washington felt that military action was the best tool with which to stop Communism, and since nuclear war was only a remote possibility, appropriate to Vietnam. Through all the violence and destruction of the Cold War, the leaders of both the United States and the Soviet Union kept one aspect of the conflict in its place.
Nuclear weapons were recognized early on as having the destructive power to destroy humanity on the planet. With both countries fully aware of this, conflicts that might have escalated into nuclear warfare were avoided. When conflicts such as the Cuban Missile Crisis did arise however, the leaders of both the United States and the Soviet Union were reasonable about their actions, realizing that a wrong decision would have had dreadful consequences throughout the world. 318
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