Cold War Features

The cold war is called the state of tension and political, economic, ideological and military confrontation, which followed the end of the second war. which lasted from 1945 to 1991 when the Soviet Union disintegrated, although some authors tell of its end in 1989 after the fall of the wall of Berlin

It was a confrontation between two blocks, with different ideas in the social and economic spheres; on the one hand the so-called "capitalist" bloc and on the other the "communist" bloc, being the longest war in the 20th century, encompassing within itself different conflicts and wars in various scenarios, each side intervening in other people's conflicts but where each party obtained geostrategic advantages and policies, through their intervention in said conflicts, and using third parties to confront each other, without direct armed conflicts between the great powers

The cold war pitted the two surviving sides of the Second World War; which had faced the democratic states with a liberal capitalist tendency (France, England, USA etc), together with totalitarian states with a socialist or communist international (USSR), who allied to confront the totalitarian states of national socialist tendency (Germany, Italy and their allies)

After the weakening of the imperialist states, a direct consequence of the Second World War, in which the French, English, Italian, Belgian, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish empires, the United States and the Soviet Union began to intervene in subsequent conflicts carried out by the peoples subjected to these empires, increasing their influence over vast areas of the planet

Some of the Characteristics of the Cold War:

Bipolarity - There is a separation of the world into two parts, the "western", predominantly capitalist, and the eastern predominantly socialist (communist). a military, economic and cultural expansion, by the United States and the Soviet Union, in the countries that are within their influence, (Europe with respect to the Soviet Union and Latin America and Western Europe by the US), as well as a political, economic and military struggle, to obtain the spoils of the imperialist countries that were weakened by the Second World War, promoting the struggle for their independence, which was used by both powers to influence these countries, through economic incentives, military aid, or by the cultural and propagandistic dissemination of ideologies

Propaganda - The propaganda of both sides is used in different fields, including school, literary, artistic and the entertainment, using the various available information media, such as newspapers, magazines, film, radio, and TV; This propaganda is aimed at discrediting the opposing bloc, and exalting its own achievements, making an idealization of utopias, both the capitalist and the communist utopia, within the borders of the countries belonging to one or the other side, as well as outside them

Polarization - As a consequence of the propaganda of both sides, a polarization occurred, causing the so-called “witch farms” and the "purges", looking for possible spies and traitors, opponents, or people who sympathize with the ideals of the bloc opposite

Afraid - There was a state of fear or terror, both due to the possibility of nuclear extermination in the event of an attack, by either of the two hegemonic powers, with weapons of mass destruction As well as by the psychosis caused by polarization and the so-called "purges" and "witch farms, in which many people were accused of belonging to the opposing side, carry out espionage or commit treason This was more radical during the so-called McCarthyism and the so-called Stalinism, periods in which paranoia spread to almost everyone the scopes

Influence on culture - One of the fields in which the Cold War had more dominance was in the cultural field, where in addition to trying to imbue society within a particular sphere of thought (whether this be the communist or capitalist), the population was educated within a socio-political tendency, in accordance with the ideas of the respective socio-economic regime that dominated, be it the socialist or the capitalist-liberal, using all possible means, be it the schools themselves, the cinema, radio, television, books, newspapers and magazines, ensuring that the other bloc is seen as a evil entity This is reflected in the multiple espionage novels, movies and TV series, in which characters belonging to the other “side” are presented, such as bad, corrupt, homicidal, etc. Satanizing everything that does not fall within the ideas of the regime, this happened both in the Soviet Union and its satellites, as in the United States and its allies

Armamentism - During the cold war there was a growing arms race on the part of both sides, both in the field of "conventional" weapons (planes, ships, submarines, tanks, guns and armaments. light,) as in the field of weapons of mass destruction, (chemical and nuclear weapons), developing increasingly powerful weapons, capable of causing the annihilation not only of the side enemy, but of all life on the planet, as well as a very advanced military technological development, which caused maximum secrecy, to prevent said knowledge from falling into the hands enemies

Creation of military pacts - Both blocs create military pacts with countries related to their ideologies, for defense and attack in the event of any aggression against their members. one side USA realizes the North Atlantic alliance (NATO), including countries like England, France, Italy, Federal Germany, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Portugal, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and other countries that have been added to this day And in response to this, the USSR created the Warsaw Pact (Treaty of Friendship, Collaboration and Mutual Assistance) that included countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Republic German Democratic

Space race - The development of new technologies, especially of military technologies, such as the development of rockets and jet aircraft every more sophisticated and faster, fuel improvements, and the geostrategic need to spy on the opponent's movements, led to both powers to develop complicated and expensive space projects, positioning spy satellites as well as satellite telecommunications

Those projects used civil parallel projects as a screen, tending to:

1. Make it to space
2. Put a satellite into orbit
3. Put a living being in space and come back alive
4. Get a human being to orbit in space and return successfully
5. Reach the moon
6. In another phase of the space race, send probes and robots to Mars for exploration

These space projects were also part of the propaganda, with which technical achievements were extolled.

Espionage and counter espionage - Due to the increase in weapons and its high technology, the secrecy inherent in state affairs (technological, military, strategic, industrial, economic etc.), As well as the protection of the state against possible outbreaks of insurrection caused or supported by groups related to the opposite side, there is an increase in espionage, in order to obtain advantages over the enemy, and as a reaction to this, to prevent the leakage of potentially dangerous secrets, specialized agencies are created in espionage and against espionage, such as the CIA and the NSA, by the United States, the KGB (formerly called NKVD) by the Soviet Union, as well as in the different aligned countries (and non-aligned), within some of the blocks, such as the STASI (in East Germany), SIGURIMI (Albania), the SIS also known as MI6 (United Kingdom), PIDE (Portugal), CNI (Chile), among others, which emerged in different phases of the cold war in various countries, also intervening within foreign countries on many occasions illegally

Indirect confrontation - During this war, the confrontations between the powers were not direct, for fear of the use of weapons nuclear weapons by any of the nuclear-armed powers belonging to one or the other block; Third parties were used to weaken the enemy, by intervening in existing conflicts in other countries, supporting different movements such as military coups. state or guerrillas, as well as financing political factions and factions within internal wars, and provoking conflicts to intervene in this way later
This is the case of the military support provided by the Soviet Union, both in weapons and in advice to countries such as North Korea and Vietnam, against the United States. while the United States for its part militarily supported dictatorial governments such as that of Jean-Baptista Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam, or in the war between the Soviet Union against Afghanistan, where the US intervened in the same way providing weapons and training to the Afghan guerrillas against the URRS

Among the indirect actions carried out by both sides, sabotage against industrial or military facilities was counted, either within the enemy's allied countries, in countries that were in some way in dispute, or in a slightly more direct way in the territories of the powers.

Excessive expenses.- Throughout the cold war, both sides made huge expenditures on infrastructure and weapons; the latter being the branch in which the greatest expenses were made together with the so-called space race. This became a very great effort for the economies of the competing powers, which was partially alleviated by consuming the resources of other nations, especially those that in some way or another had come under the domination of one of the great powers. These excessive military expenditures were especially serious in the Soviet Union, which, having been the scene where the most fighting took place, fought and destructive during the Second World War, their industrial infrastructures, as well as agriculture and livestock and the economy, were destroyed. Having to make great efforts to equal and in some branches surpass the United States who in the second war world had not suffered significant losses in terms of human and material life in their own territory. infrastructure. Being one of the causes that long influenced the collapse of the URRS.

Brain drain - From the end of the Second World War there began to be, both job offers and "political asylum", to scientists who worked in secret German, Japanese and foreign projects, as well as kidnappings and threats to their families and individuals, to cooperate in development of mainly military technologies of both powers Later the same happened with scientists from other countries within the zones of influence of each of the sides, and also bribes and kidnappings of scientists belonging to the USA or the USSR, to join the opposite side.