How did the cold war begin?

The Cold War is a global economic, military, geopolitical and ideological confrontation between the USSR and the USA, which was based on the deep contradictions between the socialist and capitalist systems.

The confrontation of the two superpowers, in which their allies also participated, was not a war in the literal sense of the term, the main weapon here was ideology. For the first time, the expression "cold war" was used in his article "You and the Atomic Bomb" by the famous British writer George Orwell. In it, he accurately described the confrontation between the invincible superpowers possessing atomic weapons, but agreed not to use it, remaining in a state of peace, which, in fact, is not a world.

Post-war premises of the beginning of the Cold War

After the end of World War II, the allied states participating in the Anti-Hitler coalition faced the global question of the upcoming struggle for world leadership. The United States and Great Britain, worried about the military power of the USSR, not wanting to lose their leadership positions in global politics, began to perceive the Soviet Union as a future potential adversary. Even before the signing of the official act of surrender of Germany in April 1945, the British government began to develop plans for a possible war with the USSR. In his memoirs, Winston Churchill justified this by the fact that at that time Soviet Russia, inspired by a difficult and long-awaited victory, became a mortal threat to the entire free world.

The USSR was well aware that the former Western allies were making plans for a new aggression. The European part of the Soviet Union was exhausted and destroyed, all resources were involved in the restoration of cities. A possible new war could become even more protracted and require even greater expenditures, which the USSR would hardly cope with, in contrast to the less-affected West. But the winner country could not show its vulnerability in any way.

Therefore, the authorities of the Soviet Union invested enormous resources not only in rebuilding the country, but also in supporting and developing communist parties in the West, seeking to expand the influence of socialism. In addition, the Soviet authorities put forward a number of territorial demands, which further increased the intensity of the confrontation between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain.

Fulton speech

In March 1946, Churchill, speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, USA, made a speech that in the USSR was considered a signal for the beginning of the Cold War. In his speech, Churchill unequivocally called on all Western states to unite for the upcoming struggle against the communist threat. It is worth noting the fact that at that time Churchill was not the Prime Minister of England and acted as a private individual, but in his speech the new foreign policy strategy of the West was clearly indicated. Historically, it was Churchill’s Fulton speech that gave impetus to the formal beginning of the Cold War - a long confrontation between the United States and the USSR.