Cold War was clearly about how the dominance of two superpowers, The United States of America and the Soviet Union.

1. Cuban Missile Crisis

The leaders of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were worried that The United States of America would attack Communist party ruled Cuba and overthrow the President of Cuba

• Fidel Castro, The president of the small island nation off the coast of The United States of India
• Cuba was an ally of the USSR and received both Financial as well as diplomatic aid from it
• Nikita Khrushchev the leader of the soviet union, decided to make Cuba into a Russian base
• In 1962, the USSR placed nuclear missiles in Cuba
• The installation of these missiles put the United States under fire for the first time from a close range and nearly doubled the bases or cities in the American mainland which could be threatened by the USSR
• US President John F Kennedy and his advisors were reluctant to do anything thinking it might cause a Nuclear War between the two countries
• Kennedy ordered American warships to intercept any Soviet ships were heading to Cuba as a way of warning to USSR of his seriousness
• This clash seemed imminent and came to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis
• The whole world was worried about the prospects that these things getting at because they could cause a disaster
• The Cuban Missile Crisis at a high point known as the Cold War

The end of the Second World War is also the beginning of the Cold War

• The world war ended when America dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in August 1945, causing Japan to Surrender.
• There was an argument that the US knew that Japan was going to Surrender but it dropped the bombs to show the Soviets who was supreme and warned the Soviets not to enter Asia.
• With the defeat of Germany and Japan and the devastation of Europe and many other parts of the world, the United States and the Soviets became the two biggest Powers in the world with the ability to influence events anywhere on the earth.

2. The Emergence of Two Power Blocs

• The two superpowers were keen on expanding their spheres in the different parts of the world.
• In a world which is divided, any state has to stick with an ally to get protection from other groups the scenario.
• The smaller states used to link to their Superpowers for their purposes.
• They have premises of protection, weapons, and economic aid against their local rivals, mostly regional neighbours with whom they had rivals The alliance systems led by two superpowers, therefore threatened to divide the entire world into two camps, it happened in Europe first.
• The countries that are in the western Europe alliance with the US camp and the countries that are in the eastern side alliance with the Soviet camp. This is why they are called western and eastern alliances.

2.1. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

The Western alliance was formalized into an organization called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which came into existence in 1949.

• It was an association of twelve states which declared that an armed attack on any one of them in Europe or North America would be regarded as an attack on all of them
• Each of the states in it is obliged to help one another

The Warsaw Pact

Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia), Jawaharlal Nehru(India), General Abdel Nasser (Egypt), Sukarno (Indonesia), and Kwame Nkurmah(Ghana) are the founding Members of the Non-Align Movement (NAM)

• The Warsaw Pact was led by the Soviet Union. It was created in 1935 and its principal function was to counter NATO’s force in Europe.
• The Soviet Union used its influence in Eastern Europe, backed by the very large presence of its armies in the countries of the region, to ensure that the eastern half of Europe remained within its sphere of influence.
• United States of America built an alliance forming an organization called Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CTO) in East, Middle East and South East areas.
• The Soviet Union and China responded by maintaining close relationships with North Vietnam, North Korea and Iraq.
• The Cold War threatened to divide the world into two alliances.
• Under certain circumstances, many of the newly formed independent states, after gaining freedom from colonial powers such as Britain and France were worried that they would lose freedom as soon as they gained Independence.

2.2. Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

• In this scenario, a very important development was the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), it was a relief for newly developed states a way of staying out of their alliances
• Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the key leaders of the NAM, played a critical role in mediating between the two Koreas.
• The first NAM summit was held in Belgrade in 1961, The Summit was meant about three factors:

1. Cooperation among five states
2. Growing Cold War tensions and it’s widening arenas
3. Democratic entry of newly decolonized African countries into the international arena

• NAM countries have increased to 120 with 12 observer Countries.
• NAM was no longer homogenous, it was joined by different political scenarios and interests joined in it
• Policy of Staying away cannot be treated as isolationism because  isolationism means being aloof in the big world affairs
• NAM is also not neutrality, neutrality refers principally to a policy of staying out of war. States practising neutrality are not required to help end the war
• In time, therefore, the US and USSR decided to collaborate in limiting or eliminating certain kinds of nuclear and non-nuclear weapons
• Starting in the 1960s, the two sides (US, Soviet) three significant agreements within a decade and those are

1. The limited test ban Treaty
2. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
3. Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

3. New International Economic Order

• The challenge is that the countries of NAM are named as Least Developed Countries (LDC).
• LDC countries are which was to be more developed economically and help the people out of Poverty
• Economic development was also vital for the newly formed states, without sustained development, a country cannot be free
• They would have to again depend upon richer countries like Colonial countries from which they have gotten back their freedom
• The idea of a new international economic order (NIEO) originated with its realization

4. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development brought out a new report in 1972 called Towards a New Trade Policy for Development The report suggests a reform of for global trading system:

• Give control to LDCs over the natural resources exploited by the developed Western countries
• Obtain access to Western markets so that LDCs can sell their products and therefore, make trade more beneficial for the poor countries
• Provide LDCs with a greater role in International Economic Institutions
• Naturally, alignment moved to give greater importance to economic issues.

5. India-Cold War

As a leader of the NAM, India’s response to the ongoing Cold War was two-fold

1. It stayed away from the two alliances
2. It raised its voice against the newly decolonized countries becoming part of those alliances

• India’s policy was neither negative nor passive. Nehru reminded the world that non-alignment is not fleeing away.
• Indian diplomats and leaders were often used to communicate and mediate between cold war rivals such as in the Korean war
• During the Cold War, India repeatedly tried to activate those regional and international organisations, which were not part of the alliances led by the US and USSR

Positives and Negatives of Non-Alignment Movement

Positives

• NAM made India take international decisions and stances that served its interests rather than the interests of superpowers and their allies
• India was often able to balance one superpower against another, if India felt neglected or ignored, it could easily tilt towards another

Negatives

• India’s non-alignment was said to be unprincipled. In the name of pursuing its national interest, India, it was said, often refused to take a firm stand on crucial international issues
• It is suggested that India was inconsistent took contradictory postures, and criticized others for joining alliances, India had signed the Treaty of Friendship with the USSR in 1971 for 20 years

6. Arms Control Treaties