World History

The Vietnam War destabilised the United States, socially and politically, at the end of the 1960s. The war escalated protests, specific to students and activists due to the specifics of the draft type used. Two distinct incidents, My Lai Massacre and Tet Offensive made it certain that government is actually being dishonest to them.

Thus, the anti- war movement began moving towards the 1969’s Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam professed. In culturally music literature and art people started expressing anti war sentiments. In fact, the war gave a clear political tone to the country’s argument and actually shaped the definition of “New Left” activists as well as the cause of the ensuing right wing reaction.

For Lyndon B. Johnson, the war undermined his presidency, contributed to his decision not to stand for re-election in 1968, while for Richard Nixon, the war has informed his campaign refrain based on the promise of “law and order” and Vietnamization. What it did was change the public skepticism towards the American foreign policies, nurturing a long-standingіхVietnam Syndrome.

By definition, deterrence refers to a strategy employed by two or more parties with an aim of avoiding a war situation especially a nuclear one adopted by both the US and USSR. It was on Mutual Assured Destruction, where both possessed nuclear tipped missiles, enough to obliterate the other many times over. Tension of the balance confidential for neither could they engage in a nuclear war since it was mutually destructive.

Cold War era had caused the world to come closest to a nuclear conflict in the period of Cuban Missile in 1962. The US learned that the Soviet began to place missiles in Cuba thus posed a threat to the security of the US. Both superpowers were tightening up and using diplomacy and force in their battles. The US responded by. placing an embargo on Cuba in the hope that it would stop further deliveries of the missiles while the Soviets threatened to use nuclear weapons in retaliation.

It was decided through secret diplomacy. The deal was that Soviet Union would withdraw missiles from Cuba if America also withdraw missiles from Turkey. So this crisis proved how unstable the ratio of forces is and that the system of deterrence has a good chance to prevent a nuclear disaster. It therefore shows that even the most dangerous of conflict can be solved diplomatically.

There are those who would say that Margaret Thatcher fought the cold war, or contributed towards a lot the ending of this war, but did not win the cold war by herself. Her outspoken anti-Soviet stance and her relationship with US President Ronald Reagan at the time actually strengthened the anti-Soviet coalition.

Mrs. Thatcher’s economic principles, together with a certain degree of tolerance for individual liberties, sent a welcome ripple across Eastern Europe. She openly endorsed the democratic movements and did not shy away from instances of active confrontation with the Soviet influence that sought to maintain the so-called ‘Iron Curtain’.

Moreover, she also enjoyed a good rapport with the leader of the former Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev which facilitated harmonious relations between two rival superpowers in a way that caused the breakup of the Soviet Union and therefore the cold war.

An assembly to NATO or SEATO and the Third World membership appears an irony given that the Non-Aligned Movement might have been seeking to be independent from the domination of Cold War superpowers’ alliances. Nevertheless, the following factors account for the alignments without compromising the third world order.

1. Strategic Survival: Some of these emerging nations had domestic problems, some had border issues or even had to confront neighboring nations. Becoming a member of SEATO or CENTO ensured military security as well as defense, which was the basic need in that era.

2. Economic Incentives: Aid was provided accordingly to the beautiful envelopes of the alliances of the superpowers. Poorest of the countries got involved in either of the two camps for money, developing infrastructures or military backup.

3. Pragmatic Non-Alignment: Therefore some of the Third World countries did not fully adhere to the principles of NAM. Most followed a policy of ‘operative non-alignment,’ regularly participating in the affairs of super(power) blocs but at the same time insisting on an independent policy in other respects.

4. Internal Political Pressures: In the domestic political arrangements, leaderships would tend to group based on their ideological valuess or in order to wield power within the home country to the detriment of the principles of NAM.

5. Limited Global Influence: The Third World order did not accumulate enough coherent institutional support. Thus, the decision to join treatises was not altering, at the individual country level, with the spirit of non-alignment, which provided the common framework.

These treaties were a result of a cold war diplomacy and the catch 22 situation that the Third World nations had to contend with, between the withering away of imperialism and the need for vote banks amidst crushing economic realities. Though affiliation to such alliances raised eyebrows, it did not practically undo the general agenda of the NAM.

It was, in the form of a physical barrier constructed in 1961, called the Berlin Wall, but was an iconic symbol of ideological division. It separated East and West Berlin and was both a practical and a political line dividing between communism of Eastern Europe headed by the Soviet Union and democracy of the western world led by United States of America and its allies. The Wall, kept East Germans from crossing over to the West, was a symbol of the cold harshness of communism, the fight for freedom,” during this period.

Cold War tensions, which may include diplomacy or spying, are seen by the existence of Red October-A event in which Soviet authorities tries to assassinate the Pope then topple Communism in Eastern Europe. The fall of the Wall in 1989 could also be said to have been a turning point to the end of Soviet influence in East Europe and an era of the Cold war. It signaled a course towards reunification in Germany and break up of the Eastern Europe block system.