The Cold War raged between the superpowers USA and the Soviet Union for more than 40 years. This "war" was never officially declared, but that did not reduce its danger: at times the world came close to the abyss of nuclear war.
The conflict, which lasted more than four decades, was above all an ideological dispute that was most evident in divided post-war Germany.
The Beginnings of the Cold War
At the end of the Second World War, there is not much evidence of the East-West conflict. At the Yalta Conference on the Black Sea in February 1945, the victorious powers USA, Soviet Union and Great Britain decided to divide Germany into initially three occupation zones. They are still united by their common fear of National Socialist Germany.
But within two years, the climate between the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, deteriorated. The Western Allies became more and more convinced that the Soviet Union was pursuing an aggressive and expansive policy towards the West.
On March 5, 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced in a speech that had become famous: "From Stettin on the Baltic Sea to Trieste on the Adriatic, an iron curtain has come down over the continent." In doing so, he says what some of the Western Allied politicians and military are already thinking. Also the US journalist Walter Lippmann: In 1947 he published a book entitled "The Cold War" and thus gave this era a name.
In the same year, US President Harry Truman announced the new course of his policy: "containment" is the motto. What is meant is the communist sphere of power. A key part of this policy is the Truman Doctrine: the USA wants to help all states that are threatened by communism.
The new course also includes a gigantic reconstruction program for the war-torn European economy: the Marshall Plan. When Josef Stalin prohibited the Eastern European countries from participating in the US reconstruction program, there were signs of division of the world.
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| Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta |
Berlin blockade and "raisin bombers"
The founding of the western bloc first became really obvious with the currency reform in June 1948. From this point in time, the D-Mark was introduced as a means of payment in the three western zones of occupation.
The Soviets respond with a total blockade of West Berlin. All access routes are cut off, and the supply of energy and food is cut off. In this apparently hopeless situation, the Western Allies organize an airlift: for almost a year, the inhabitants of the western sectors are supplied with everything they need from the air.
More than 200,000 transport planes, also called "raisin bombers" by the West Berliners, fly around 1.5 million tons of goods into the surrounded city. When the blockade was lifted in May 1949, one thing was clear: the Soviet policy of blackmail not only failed, but also led to the West Germans and Western Allies forming an alliance in the fight against the Soviet Union for the first time.
After the blockade, the founding of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in April 1949 and the Warsaw Pact in May 1955 sealed the division of the world into two camps.
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| The Western Allies organize the airlift |
Apple of discord Berlin
The divided Berlin is still in the focus of the world public after the Berlin blockade. West Berlin is a thorn in the side of the GDR and the state leadership in Moscow. The "capitalist island" lies in the middle of the territory of the GDR in the communist sphere of influence. In addition, West Berlin serves as a loophole for many people who want to flee.
Until 1961, the sector border between East and West could still be crossed unhindered. And many use that. As early as the 1950s, it became clear that capitalism had many advantages over the socialist economic model. Numerous East Germans fled to the West via West Berlin, where they hoped for better opportunities. The GDR threatens to bleed dry.
On August 13, 1961, the state closes its borders and the wall is built. What initially looks like the beginning of a further escalation of the Cold War is in fact the containment of a trouble spot. With the construction of the Wall, the status quo is cemented and the Berlin crisis is put on hold for the next few decades.
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| Measure against bleeding |
Cuban Missile Crisis and Relaxation
Despite the Berlin crisis being over, the atmosphere between the superpowers is not easing. A new hot spot is attracting the world's attention: US reconnaissance planes discover launch pads for Soviet missiles in Cuba.
Since the Caribbean island is only about 200 kilometers from the Florida coast, the Russian missiles pose a serious threat to the USA. Only with a lot of good will and a great fear of a third world war can US President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet head of state Nikita Khrushchev settle this conflict.
How narrowly the world escapes a nuclear war, however, the world public only learns 30 years later. Today it is certain: The Cuban Missile Crisis was the most dangerous moment of the Cold War. Even if the full extent of the danger was not recognized at the time, it is clear that everyone involved must pursue a policy of detente.
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| The Cuban Missile Crisis is the most dangerous moment of the Cold War |
While the Cold War was taking place in other countries such as Vietnam, Angola or the Middle East, the superpowers were engaged in disarmament negotiations in the 1960s. The so-called SALT talks (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) deal with the limitation of strategic armaments.
Even in divided Germany, there are signs of relaxation. The new Ostpolitik under Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt is characterized by "change through rapprochement" with the states of the Warsaw Pact.
The end of the arms race
But already in the mid-1970s the general political climate changed again. The Soviets are not dismantling their outdated medium-range missiles in Europe, but replacing them with modern "SS-20" missiles. The West cannot accept that. He calls for retrofitting with medium-range nuclear weapons, which should also be stationed in West Germany.
But there is resistance from the population. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets to protest the arms race. At the beginning of the 1980s, the protests of the German peace movement reached their peak.
At the same time, the political leadership in the United States changes: With Ronald Reagan, a cold warrior moves into the White House. A new race between the superpowers begins, which the West can clearly win. The Soviet Union cannot keep up due to its ailing economic system.
On November 9, 1989, the Wall between the two German states fell. A year later, the Cold War is formally settled. The Soviet Union and the military alliance of the Warsaw Pact countries dissolve.
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| On November 9, 1989, the Wall falls |