The World in the Cold War Period

At the end of World War II the Allies created the United Nations Organization to prevent local and global conflicts in the world and to settle international disputes peacefully. Britain was one of the only five nations to have a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Though at first the USA, France and Britain wanted to work together with the USSR for the recovery of central Europe, this idea did not work. Europe was divided into two parts – controlled by the capitalist powers and by the socialist power, the USSR. Berlin, the capital of Germany was divided into two parts – East Berlin, controlled by the USSR and West Berlin.

In 1948-1949 the Soviet Union tried to capture West Berlin – all roads were blocked and it was only saved by constant supplies from the West brought by air. The Struggle ended in favour of capitalist powers, but as a result of this struggle two opposite alliances were formed: north Atlantic Treaty Organisation of western nations (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact of the Eastern block. The same year, 1949 the Soviet Union successfully tested the atomic bomb. This testing ended the Western monopoly of nuclear weapons. In 1952 Britain became the third nation in the world to test nuclear weapons.

In 1949 and 1950 the world saw new wars and changes – China established a communist regime, which threatened Western powers and allies, the wars of North and South Koreas were also interpreted as a Soviet-inspired diversion. This was the time when World War III seemed imminent. Now the question of the defence became paramount for two world powers. The explosion of British atomic bomb marked the beginning of new weapons delivery – in 1957 the hydrogen bomb was tested and came to service. After this event nuclear weapons were proclaimed the cornerstone of Britain`s defence policy.

With NATO and Western European Union Britain built up the Central TREATY Organisation to defend the Middle East against the possible Soviet invasion. In 1954 Britain acceded to another mutual defence agreement, the South Asia Treaty. These three alliances effectively encircled the Soviet Union and China.

In 1956 Egypt took the Suez Canal jointly owned by Britain and France thus placing both nations in dilemma. Britain and France tried to stop this by military actions, but were disapproved by their allies and found themselves isolated on the world stage. After a few days of fighting the Anglo-French forces had to withdraw. In 1947 Britain tried to protect Cyprus her former colony, from Turkish invasion. Again British military activity was restricted by the world community.

The Cold War with the Soviet Union was based on the increase of nuclear weapons. It was never popular with the British and since the 1950-s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament stated in the country. After the Cold War came to its end in the late 1980-s British government finally reduced the weapons and the armed forces. Today British armed forces have been much reduced, but they still are able to make contributions to international peacekeeping efforts.