Why was the war between the US and the Soviet Union a cold war instead of a hot war?
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Journal Information The International History Review is the only English-language quarterly devoted entirely to the history of international relations. An international journal on international history, the Review publishes articles, notes with documents, bibliographies, and reviews, on everything that affected, or was affected by, the relations between all states, throughout the world, throughout history. Diplomacy, trade, warfare, revolution, imperialism, cultures, social structures, mentalités, communications, and systems are some of the subjects studied from the ancient world to the Gulf Wars. Show
Publisher Information Building on two centuries' experience, Taylor & Francis has grown rapidlyover the last two decades to become a leading international academic publisher.The Group publishes over 800 journals and over 1,800 new books each year, coveringa wide variety of subject areas and incorporating the journal imprints of Routledge,Carfax, Spon Press, Psychology Press, Martin Dunitz, and Taylor & Francis.Taylor & Francis is fully committed to the publication and dissemination of scholarly information of the highest quality, and today this remains the primary goal. Note: This article is a review of another work, such as a book, film, musical composition, etc. The original work is not included in the purchase of this review. Rights & Usage This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Vincent-Grebenicek/Shutterstock This feature is part of the online resources to accompany the textbook Foundations of International Relations. The Cold War (1947–91) was known as such because the presence of nuclear weapons made a traditional war between the rival parties (in this case the United States and the Soviet Union) unlikely as they each had the power to destroy each other and in doing so jeopardise human civilisation as a whole. This was known as ‘Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)’. For that reason, smaller-scale conflict and competition existed but a major ‘hot’ war, such as those in prior decades, was avoided. This period also underlined the importance of ideology in shaping global conflict, principally between capitalism and communism, which produced two incompatible international systems. The Cold War was responsible for the historical image of a world divided into three zones. The ‘First World’ was the ‘Western’ nations (this is where the term ‘the West’ comes from). These states were allied with the United States, broadly followed an economic system of capitalism, and (at least aspirationally) a political system of liberal democracy. The ‘Second World’ was the Soviet Union and a range of ‘Eastern’ states that were governed predominantly by communist (or socialist) parties who rejected capitalism as an economic model. This conflict between the first and second world went beyond economics and created two irreconcilable international systems – leaving other states a stark choice to operate within one system or the other. That led to some states opting out and declaring themselves ‘non-aligned’ – creating a ‘Third World’. As most of those states were newly formed and/or developing it became a term often used to describe economically poorer states and is still sometimes used as such. Despite the added ideological element of communism versus capitalism, the Cold War resembled other wars before it in that it became a battle for control over territory. Instead of meeting directly on the battlefield, both sides took part in ‘proxy wars’ as they fought to either support or oppose elements within states who sought to (or appeared to) move between the First and Second Worlds. The most well-known instances of this occurred in Asia, in Korea (1950–3) and Vietnam (1955–75), each of which resulted in several million deaths. As this took place in a time of decolonisation, the goal in this period was not to be seen to directly conquer other states, but to influence their political and economic development and in doing so increase the power of one ‘World’ and diminish the other. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union collapsed internally between 1989 and 1991 due to endemic corruption, popular resistance and economic decline. The ‘Second World’ was therefore no more, having lost its anchor. Virtually all of the world’s states then transitioned to capitalism, if they had not already done so. At this point, the term ‘globalisation’ became widely used by scholars and policymakers more generally to describe the process of the First World’s image gradually becoming representative of the entire world. For the first time in history a truly ‘global’ system had been born. States then became categorised more loosely within that global system by their economic levels of development post-1991, with ‘Global North’ sometimes used to represent the most historically developed economies, and ‘Global South’ essentially replacing the term ‘Third World’. Text adapted from McGlinchey, Stephen. 2022. Foundations of International Relations. London: Bloomsbury. Below is a collection of multimedia resources that help unpack, and explain the importance of the Cold War. The Cold War Explained In 15 Minutes
The history of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cold War: summary on a map
The Cold War: Crash Course US/World History
The Cold War in 9 Minutes
The end of a superpower – The collapse of the Soviet Union
The rise and fall of the Berlin Wall
Exploring the Third World / Non-aligned Movement
Further Reading on E-International RelationsAbout The Author(s) Dr Stephen McGlinchey is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of E-International Relations and Senior Lecturer of International Relations at UWE Bristol. His publications include Foundations of International Relations (Bloomsbury 2022), International Relations (2017), International Relations Theory (2017) and US Arms Policies Towards the Shah’s Iran (Routledge 2021, 2014). You can find him on twitter @mcglincheyst or Linkedin. Please Consider DonatingBefore you download your free e-book, please consider donating to support open access publishing. E-IR is an independent non-profit publisher run by an all volunteer team. Your donations allow us to invest in new open access titles and pay our bandwidth bills to ensure we keep our existing titles free to view. Any amount, in any currency, is appreciated. Many thanks! Donations are voluntary and not required to download the e-book - your link to download is below.  Why did the Cold War between the USA and USSR not turn hot?Although another global war appeared to be inevitable, the build-up of nuclear weapons in both the United States and Soviet Union helped to keep the Cold War from turning “hot.” The knowledge that each superpower held a stockpile of nuclear weapons created a military doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD) in ...
Why is the Cold War considered a Cold War compared to WWII a hot war?This fierce conflict is called the "Cold War" since the two superpowers never directly engaged in combat ("hot war"). Instead, they increased their military capabilities, tried to expand their global influence, and undermined the other's way of life in the eyes of the world.
Why did the US and the Soviet Union have a Cold War?The Americans and the British worried that Soviet domination in eastern Europe might be permanent. The Cold War was solidified by 1947–48, when U.S. aid had brought certain Western countries under American influence and the Soviets had established openly communist regimes.
Under what circumstances did the Cold War become a hot war?In June 1950 the Cold War turns hot when American and British backed South Korea is invaded by the Russian and Chinese backed North. American technological superiority in both air and naval power lead to a blockade of North Korea but the land campaign becomes a stalemate.
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