The Cold War

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the Cold War in context and argues that the period beween the launching of Sputnik in 1958 and the Cuban Missile Crisis were the most dangerous years. It looks at how the launching of Sputnik, the Berlin crises of 1958-9 and 1961 and the U-2 Spy plane incident and Bay of Pigs fiasco fuelled the confrontational nature of Soviet-American relations and increased the possibility of a potentially ruinous conflict. It also shows how the influence of the Kennedy-Khrushchev relationship and the mutual shift in weight of Soviet and American foreign policy from an ideologically based, offensive strategy to one of defence, served only to diminish the chances of a peaceful conciliation.

From the Paper:

"Cuba represents the culmination of a five-year diplomatic maelstrom and brought the world as close to nuclear war as at any point in history. Khrushchev's deceit, together with the "arrogance, ignorance and impatience" of Kennedy exacerbated tension that ultimately resulted in the creation of a "Hot Line" "a direct phone line connecting Washington and Moscow. Indeed such an installment suggests both superpowers recognized the gravity of the Cuban confrontation and the extent to which tensions had risen in the five years since 1958. Thus to an extent, from 1963 onwards international crises" could be defused in a phone call and whilst disparities remained on many fronts, the great improvement in high-level Soviet-American communication (so lacking in the Cuban crisis) severely decreased the likelihood of nuclear war from 1964 onwards."

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• Comparison Essay # 56723 : "Dr. Strangelove" and the Cold War in America"

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