Impact of Cold War in Middle East

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September 14, 2020
THE WORLD BANK
September 14, 2020

Impact of Cold War in Middle East

The period of cold war was between 1945 and 1990 though it is believed to have been started earlier than the stipulated date. The cold war was between the USA and western countries and the eastern between the spears headed by the USSR (Baylis, Smith & Owens, 2008).This fight never used weapons against each other; rather they used nuclear arms race, ideological influences, as well as political propaganda. The cold war affected international relations of the Middle East in such ways as dividing Europe in general and Germany, in particular, the death of many people, and Cuban missile crisis.

Due to the division of Europe and Germany, it made it easy for modernization of powers that were defeated which includes Italy, Japan and Germany (Baylis, Smith & Owens 2008). The impact was clearly felt in Africa; actually, this happened because the colonial master was not able to support these colonies in Africa. Cold war in Europe led to Berlin Blockade, which created the division of such countries like Vietnam and Korea. Eventually, the division led to the soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the year 1997.The Soviet Union further deteriorated the relationship between the west and east and it fuelled more conflicts and wars in East.

The cold war led to the death of millions of people, due to the superpower rivalry that occurred in the third world. Conflicts were mostly felt in Latin America, Asia, as well as Africa. Many people who were affected in the period of the cold world war perished during the third world. The result also left many other people psychologically tortured. Tension within the international communities also increased due to the actions of the two super powers because of the cold war. Super powers nations persuaded ideological and political goals where their objectives differed with that of the rest as asserted by Young & Kent (2004). A very good example is where soviet believed Americans to be the most powerful thus spreading the ideology of capitalist and dominating the rest of the world. However, the USA saw the soviet as ideological motivated thus referred to them as antagonistic.

The Cuban Missile crisis in 1962 was because of the cold war, the crisis led to international fear of severe nuclear between the USSR and US. The issue led to more and more tension among the super power nations and their allies. In 1983 November, an operation was carried out which brought about the nuclear attack over the soviet. The attack led to the soviet believing the American as the super power hence they had to prepare themselves better for the future attack.The soviet had to prepare their nuclear forces to be more powerful than that of Americans; therefore, the entire region developed tension due to the fear of destroying the entire world in a nuclear war.

In conclusion, the cold war led to the division of the world especially the Middle East and Germany maintained the status quo. The two powers were because of the new states that were made, which resulted to super rivalry so as to keep the sphere of the interest. The cold war led to the US as the superpower nation in the world. However, the United State has to respect the peace that exists in the world today.

Reference

Baylis, J., Smith, S. & Owens, P, (2008). International and Global Security. In J. Baylis, ed. The Globalization of World Politics. 4th ed.

Young, J.W. & Kent, J. (2004). In International Relations since 1945. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.