CAUSES, TERMINATION AND LESSONS DERIVABLE FROM THE COLD WAR POLITICS

Abstract

The Cold War started in 1945 shortly after the Second World War. It was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States and their respective allies, the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc. At this point, the two blocs were polarized at opposite ends of the spectrum and every other country drifted to one side or the other. Hence, they were periodically caught up in major political crises that had the potential to become open warfare. Therefore, the study seeks to critically analyze the causes, termination and lessons derivable from the Cold War politics. The study highlighted that tensions between superpowers, such as Nuclear Arms Race, Ideological Conflict (Capitalism - Communism), and the Spread of Communism were major causes of the Cold War. Cold War politics between the two super powers manifested in the form of Cuban Missile Crises, The Berlin Blockade (1948), and Korea War (1950-1952). Korea crisis illustrated the USA policies of “containment” and “roll-back” and announced China as a new player in the Cold War. The Cold War came to an end on 26th December, 1991, following the disintegration of Soviet Union as a result of the two policies introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev; Glasnost and Perestroika. The study noted four major lessons from this political activities which are; ideas, allies, leadership and statecraft matters. The end of Cold War led to the emergence of capitalism as the major ideology in the world.