La Muerte: ¿Tema Principal o Tema Secundario?

The collapse of the Soviet Union and of communist governments in Europe has been a major factor in ending the Cold War. It has also been seen as marking the retreat of socialism. It can, however, be said that the system which was built in these countries was only a distorted version of the socialist ideal and that social justice which was fundamental to that ideal has become a part of the consciousness of the people the world over.

The changes in Eastern and Central Europe, as in the former Soviet Union, have not been without problems, both economic and political.

Czechoslovakia had emerged as a new state after the First World War has broken up into two independent states — the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

In unified Germany, there have been many instances of violence by neo Nazis against immigrants.

Bosnia

Developments of a tragic nature have taken place in Yugoslavia in recent years. Yugoslavia which had emerged as a state after the First World War was ruled by a communist party since the end of the Second World War. The communist government of Yugoslavia had kept itself free from the Soviet Union almost from the beginning. Yugoslavia was one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement. She was a federation of six republics. In four of these republics, the rule of the communist parties came to an end in 1990. By 1992, Yugoslavia broke up into five independent states —the new state of Yugoslavia comprising

1. Serbia and Montenegro, 2. Croatia,

3. Macedonia, 4. Slovenia

5. Bosnia-Herzegovina

However, the problems of Yugoslavia did not end with its breakup. A large party of Bosnia-Herzegovina is under the control of Serbians and Croats. A bloody war has been going on between Bosnian Croats, Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims, particularly between the latter two, causing terrible sufferings to the people.

While these developments have taken place in one part of Europe, in another, Western, part (including Germany), there had been a move towards European unity It consists in creating a Europe without borders, with a common currency and unrestricted

movement of goods and people and ultimately a political union with a common parliament. Some steps have already been taken in this direction. It may, however, be remembered that the concept of European unity at present excludes all East European countries and some others.

In the next parts, we’ll see

2. cold war, formation of military blocs (NATO, CEATO etc) and NAM 3. Independence of Asian countries after WW2 + Korean and Vietnam War. 4. Independence of Africa

For archive of all World history related articles visit Mrunal.org/history

URL to article: http://mrunal.org/2013/07/old-ncert-world-history-ch13-after- ww2-birth-of-un-division-of-germany-ussr-yugoslavia-part-1-of-4.html

[Old NCERT World History ch13] After WW2: Cold War, NATO, CENTO, SEATO, Warsaw and NAM (Part 2 of 4)

1. The Cold War 2. Military Blocs 1. NATO 2. SEATO 3. Baghdad Pact 4. CENTO 5. WARSAW Pact 3. Arms Race

4. End of Cold War

5. NON ALIGNED MOVEMENT (NAM) 1. Bandung Conference

2. NAM: opposition to Military blocs 3. NAM: Belgrade Summit

4. Nehru’s speech @1st NAM conference

The Cold War

A major feature of the history of the world for almost four decades after the end of the Second World War was the antagonism between the United States and the Soviet

Union and the armed confrontation between the military blocs headed by them. This was the period of the Cold War and the race in the designing and production of ever new weapons of mass destruction. It posed a danger to the very survival of humankind. Since the end of the First World War, the United States had emerged as the strongest power in the world. After the Second World War, her power had grown still more compared with the European powers who had dominated the world for centuries. This was both in the spheres of economic and military strength. After she acquired the atom bomb, the awareness of her power was further strengthened. The United States at that time was the only country which possessed the atom bomb.

Next to the United States the mightiest power in the world after the Second World War was the Soviet Union. She had suffered more than any other country in the war. Besides the 20 million people that she lost during the war, hundreds of her towns and thousands of factories had been completely destroyed. However, in spite of these losses, her power and prestige had increased. This was to some extent due to the very important role that she had played in defeating Germany. Since the revolution, she had

been ostracized and boycotted and had faced the open hostility of the other big powers. However, after the war, a number of countries in Europe, as has already been

mentioned, were ruled by communist parties. The Soviet Union exercised a lot of influence over the governments of these countries. As a result of these developments, the isolation of the Soviet Union had come to an end. Also, in many countries of Europe, as well as of Asia, communist parties had emerged stronger after the war. These parties were generally supporters of the Soviet Union. Some of these parties were actively engaged in organizing revolutions in their countries. For example, the communists had been a major force in the resistance against German occupation of Greece. A large part of the country came under their control when the German army retreated from there. However, after the war was over, monarchy was restored in Greece and the new government began to suppress the communists. This resulted in a civil war which lasted till 1949 when the communists were finally defeated.

During the war, Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union had together fought against the fascist countries. Many declarations issued during the war had emphasized that the unity among these countries would continue after the war also and would be the basis of a durable peace and international brotherhood. These declarations had aroused hopes all over the world. However, the war was hardly over when conflicts and tensions began to emerge between Britain and the United States on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other. The relations between them began to deteriorate and came to be characterized by what has been called the Cold War Gradually, the Cold War became more and more intense and the world was divided into two major blocs — the United States and West European countries forming one bloc and the Soviet Union and the socialist countries of Eastern Europe forming the other. Sometimes the ‘cold’ war became ‘hot’ but the hostilities remained confined to specific areas.

The most important reason for the ‘outbreak’ of the Cold War was the Western

countries’ fear of communism. With the increase in the might of the Soviet Union, the emergence of governments ruled by communist parties in Eastern and Central Europe and the growing strength of communist par ties in many parts of the world, alarmed the governments of the United States, Britain and other West European countries. In 1949, the victory of the Communist Party of China in the civil war which had been raging there for about two decades added to the alarm. The United States openly declared that her policy was to prevent the spread of communism. One of the objectives of the massive economic aid that the United States gave to West European countries was also to ‘contain’ communism The United States began to look upon every development in the world from this standpoint, whether it promoted or helped in checking communism Britain and West European countries became aligned with the United States and began to follow a policy mainly aimed at curbing the growth of communism. This had many adverse consequences for democracy, and freedom movements in the colonies Restrictions were imposed on the liberties of the people, for example, in the United States, and justified on the ground of national security and preventing communist influence. The freedom movements in many countries began to be considered

unsympathetically by countries which were not themselves colonial powers but were aligned to the colonial powers. For example, the United States supported France in

suppressing the freedom movement in Indo China. Countries which wanted to pursue an independent policy and promote relations with the Soviet Union were looked upon with suspicion. All these factors made the international situation tense hi some areas it resulted in wars and in many other areas it led to prolonging of conflicts.

The growing tension in the world was worsened by the setting up of military blocs.