THE BIPOLAR WORLD AND DECOLONIZATION

1
CHAPTER 28

• THE BIPOLAR WORLD AND DECOLONIZATION

2
Historians and The Recent Past

• Historians often hesitate to draw conclusions
  about the recent past.
• They assume that the significance of events
  becomes more discernible with the passage of
  time.

3
Speculation

• It is, however, interesting to speculate about
  what historians in the middle of the next century
  will say about the period from the end of World
  War II to the end of the so-called Cold War.

4
Relative Stability

• Perhaps the dominant view will highlight decades
  of relative stability and economic growth.
• No major wars have erupted since 1945 and many
  nations attained unprecedented affluence.

5
The Soviet Union

• The Soviet Union and its satellites, of course,
  did not achieve as much affluence as their
  counterparts in the West.

6
USSR as Superpower

• The USSR achieved superpower status through an
  impressive arms buildup.
• In the long run, the shortcomings of its
  centrally planned economy were aggravated by the
  diversion of resources from consumer industries
  to military purposes.

7
Soviet Communisms Destruction

• Apparently Soviet communism had within it the
  seeds of its own destruction.
• The satellite nations, which have long had an
  historic tendency to lag behind Western Europe
  economically, suffered serious handicaps under
  Soviet domination.

8
The Cold War Ends

• With the collapse of Communist regimes in the
  late 1980s and early 1990s.
• With the reunification of Germany in 1990.
• With continued German membership in NATO while
  the Warsaw Pact disintegrated.

9
Allied Victory of Cold War

• The allies can plausibly claim that they won the
  Cold War.

10
Aftermath of Victory

• The aftermath of this victory has, however, been
  characterized by many problems
• economic hardship
• political instability
• the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction
• ethnic strife

11
Cold War Nostalgia

• Many people have felt nostalgia for the Cold-war
  years.

12
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The condition of war-torn nations after the
  Second World War.
• The establishment of the United Nations.
• Changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
  during the postwar era.

13
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The course of the Cold War from beginning to end.
• Developments in the former Soviet Union and its
  former East European satellites since the
  collapse of communism.