The Cold War Buchzusammenfassung - das Wichtigste aus The Cold War

Einleitung anhören

00:00

Zusammenfassung von The Cold War

Name: The Cold War
Rating: 4.6 (216 reviews)
Author: Robert J. McMahon

Robert J. McMahon

A Very Short Introduction

4.6 (216 Bewertungen)

25 Min.

Kurz zusammengefasst

"The Cold War" by Robert J. McMahon is an in-depth analysis of the lengthy and complex 20th-century conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Themen

Globale Politik Geschichte der USA Der Kalte Krieg Europäische Geschichte Krisen & Skandale

Inhaltsübersicht

The Cold War
in 8 Kernaussagen verstehen

Audio & Text in der Blinkist App

Kernaussage 1 von 8

What’s in it for me? Get a big-picture understanding of one of the twentieth century’s defining conflicts.

Whole books could be written – and have been – about each of the main events, trends, and leaders of the Cold War. The Arms Race, the Space Race, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Suez Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Harry Truman, Nikita Khrushchev – the list goes on and on.

With so much to cover, it’s easy to get lost in the details of the 45-year-long conflict that defined the second half of the twentieth century and had a major impact on nearly every corner of the globe.

But what was the Cold War all about? How did it start? Why did it spread? And how did it end? We’ll tackle these questions in the blinks ahead.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

why Germany loomed large at the beginning of the Cold War;
why the conflict then shifted to Southeast Asia; and
why most of the conflict took place in the developing world.

The Cold War arose from the ashes of World War Two.

The year was 1945, and much of Europe and Asia lay in ruins.

After six years of global conflict, World War Two had finally ended. Sixty million people were dead. Another almost 60 million had been left homeless or uprooted. Large swaths of major cities had been reduced to rubble – including over 50 percent of Tokyo, 70 percent of Vienna, 80 percent of Manila, and 90 percent of Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg.

Meanwhile, the world’s international order was also in disarray. For 500 years, it had been dominated by Western European nations. In a historical blink of an eye, the war had knocked them off their pedestal. In their place had risen two rival, continent-spanning superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union.

The key message here is: The Cold War arose from the ashes of World War Two.

Tension and hostility ran between the US and the Soviet Union both before and during the second World War. As champions of capitalism, the US and its Western European allies viewed the Soviets’ communist ideology as a virus that needed to be contained. To that end, they had subjected the Soviet Union to nearly two decades of economic pressure and diplomatic isolation, starting right from the state’s inception in 1917.

World War Two brought the US, UK, and Soviet Union into an alliance against their common enemy: Nazi Germany. But the relationship between the US and the Soviets was more like a marriage of convenience than a genuine partnership.

The two nations couldn’t even agree on how to fight the war. The Soviet Union wanted the US and UK to open a front against Germany as soon as possible. Pushing back a massive German invasion of their territory, the Soviets were bearing the brunt of the Nazi war machine, and they wanted their allies to provide relief.

But much to the Soviets’ chagrin, the US and UK instead chose to focus first on North Africa and Italy in 1942 and ’43. By the time the US and UK finally invaded German-occupied Normandy in 1944, the Soviets alone were holding back over 80 percent of the Nazis’ military divisions.

Unable to see eye to eye when facing a common foe, the two sides became even more at odds with each other once that enemy was defeated – leaving a power vacuum to fill, a broken world to rebuild, and little agreement on how to proceed.

The Cold War was about to begin.

The US sought a favorable balance of power in Eurasia, a global sphere of influence, and superior military strength.

What would the postwar international order look like?

As the leaders of the US, UK, and Soviet Union met in a series of conferences at the end of World War Two, that was the question they faced.

The US sought to complement its global military power with multilateral economic relationships based on free trade.

To establish and sustain global military dominance after World War Two, American strategists believed the US had to achieve multiple objectives at once.

For starters, it needed to maintain an unrivaled navy and air force, a formidable military presence in the Pacific, and outright supremacy in the Western hemisphere. It also needed to play a leading role in the postwar occupation and reconstruction of the defeated Axis countries – Italy, Germany, and Japan – which it wanted to prevent from becoming adversaries again. Finally, the US needed to preserve its monopoly on the biggest trump card in its arsenal: nuclear weapons – which, at the time, only it possessed.

The Soviet Union sought to protect itself by keeping Germany weak and creating a buffer zone in Eastern Europe.

Even before World War Two ended, the US was already starting to pursue its vision of the postwar international order.

In late 1944, it struck a series of economic agreements with its allies at the Bretton Woods Conference, which also laid the foundation for establishing the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. By 1946, the US State Department had drafted an extensive list of “essential” sites for US military bases, which included locations in Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Cuba, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Senegal, Liberia, Morocco, Burma, New Zealand, and Fiji.

Disagreement over postwar Germany helped initiate the Cold War in Europe.

What would be done about Germany?

At the end of World War Two, this was the most vexing question facing the US and the Soviet Union. It was also very much a live question in which both nations already had a vested interest. The US and its allies occupied the western half of Germany, while the Soviets occupied the eastern half.

As communist movements rose up around the region, Southeast Asia became another arena of the Cold War.

As the US and Soviet Union watched what was happening in Europe, both sides saw some of their deepest fears coming true.

For the Soviets, a serious threat seemed to be rising from the rubble of West Germany – the more economically powerful half of their former archenemy, which was now rapidly recovering from the war and had the weight of the US and its allies behind it. For the Americans, an equally serious threat seemed to be rising in the East, where it looked as if the Soviets were well on their way to establishing dominance over Eurasia.

The Cold War was largely fought in and over the so-called “Third World.”

What made Southeast Asia so important to the Soviet Union and the US from the 1950s onward?

Well, by this point, the two sides already viewed each other as enemies, thanks to what had happened in Europe. As the conflict expanded to Asia, each side followed the logic that a setback for their enemy was an opportunity for them.

The Cold War ended where it began: Europe.

To make a long story short, the rest of the Cold War played out as a series of variations on the themes we’ve already covered. In Southeast Asia and the Third World as a whole, the Soviet Union and the US continued to duke it out with each other indirectly by supporting pro-Soviet or pro-US regimes and movements.

From the 1950s to the ‘80s, the conflict ebbed and flowed, as tensions heated and cooled between the superpowers. Sometimes it boiled over into crises that nearly brought them to the brink of war. In the 1950s and ‘60s alone, flashpoints arose in Iran, Guatemala, Indochina, the Taiwanese Strait, the Suez Canal, Lebanon, Indonesia, Cuba, and the Congo.

Du möchtest die gesamte Zusammenfassung von The Cold War sehen?

Kernaussagen in The Cold War

Mehr Wissen in weniger Zeit

Sachbücher auf den Punkt gebracht

Kernaussagen aus Sachbüchern in ca. 15 Minuten pro Titel lesen & anhören mit den „Blinks”

Zeitsparende Empfehlungen

Titel, die dein Leben bereichern, passend zu deinen Interessen und Zielen

Podcasts in Kurzform ^Neu

Kernaussagen wichtiger Podcasts im Kurzformat mit den neuen „Shortcasts”

Worum geht es in The Cold War?

The Cold War (2003) provides an overview of the conflict that defined the second half of the twentieth century. Beginning in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, it traces the Cold War’s development through the rest of the century, laying out its underlying causes and overall contours.

Wer The Cold War lesen sollte

History buffs
Students of military strategy and foreign relations
Those who want to understand one of the twentieth century’s defining conflicts

Über den Autor

Robert J. McMahon is an American historian who is a distinguished scholar of the Cold War and US foreign relations. Currently a professor at Ohio State University, he is the author of a number of books, including The Cold War in the Third World, Colonialism and Cold War, and The Cold War on the Periphery.

Kategorien mit The Cold War

Geschichte Politik

Ähnliche Zusammenfassungen wie The Cold War

The Sleepwalkers

Christopher Clark

How Europe Went To War in 1914

How Napoleon Conquered Europe and Changed the World

Europe Between Hitler and Stalin

How Conflict Shaped Us

25 min

4.0

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Hannah Arendt

Hannah Arendt's landmark work about Europe's anti-Semitic and imperialist roots

Say Less to Get More from Any Pitch or Presentation

27 min

4.5

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

Jack Weatherford

The fascinating story behind the Mongol Empire

16 min

4.3

Plays Well with Others

Eric Barker

The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know about Relationships Is (Mostly) Wrong

The Jaw-dropping Tragedy That Shocked Ancient Greece

A Critique of Political Economy

19 min

4.4

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

Rashid Khalidi

A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017

26 min

4.4

Why Nations Fail

Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson

The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

29 min

4.6

Why Don't We Learn from History?

B. H. Liddell Hart

An exploration of how history helps us interpret the present and plan for the future

The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8 A.M.)

20 min

4.5

The Highly Sensitive Person's Guide to Dealing with Toxic People

Shahida Arabi

How to Reclaim Your Power from Narcissists and Other Manipulators

War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East

The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans

A Philosophical Tale About the Failures of Government Coercion

How Britain Made the Modern World

29 min

4.6

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

Thomas Piketty

Groundbreaking Research That Unravels Economic Disparity in Our World Today

8 min

3.4

Bedtime Biography: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

Jack Weatherford

The Rise of the Mongol Empire and Its First Great Khan

A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession

The secret methods to getting what you want

33 min

4.2

What They Teach You at Harvard Business School

Philip Delves Broughton

My Two Years Inside The Cauldron of Capitalism

An uncommon guide to rapid fat-loss, incredible sex and becoming superhuman

Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma

20 min

4.4

The Brothers Karamazov

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

A Tragic Murder Mystery on the Burden of Free Will and Morality

23 min

4.7

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Richard P. Feynman

Adventures of a Curious Character

7 min

3.3

101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think

Brianna Wiest

Philosophical Meditations That Will Change Your Life

12 min

4.4

Economic Facts and Fallacies

Thomas Sowell

19 min

3.4

Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement

Rachel Richards

The Secret to Freedom, Flexibility, and Financial Independence (& How to Get Started!)

19 min

3.7

Primed to Perform

Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor

How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation

16 min

4.1

Democracy in America

Alexis de Tocqueville

Explore This Brilliant Analysis of American Democracy

Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity

29 min

4.6

American Prometheus

Kai Bird & Martin J Sherwin

The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

16 min

4.2

The House of Rothschild

Niall Ferguson

Money’s Prophets 1798–1848

A Memoir Of The Cuban Missile Crisis

8 min

3.7

Bedtime Biography: Napoleon The Great

Andrew Roberts

How Napoleon Conquered Europe and Changed the World

The Journey Beyond Yourself

12 min

4.4

The Road to Serfdom

Friedrich August von Hayek

Van Hayek's classic text on Freedom

15 min

4.4

The Harvard Psychedelic Club

Don Lattin

How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America

18 min

4.2

Guns, Germs and Steel

Jared Diamond

The Fates Of Human Societies

9 min

4.1

The American War in Afghanistan

13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do

Amy Morin

Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success

Explore and Question the Very Essence of Existence

Travel Between Two Worlds, Witness Revolution and Redemption

22 min

4.7

The End of the World Is Just the Beginning

Peter Zeihan

Mapping the Collapse of Globalization

21 min

4.4

The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels

Alex Epstein

What if using fossil fuels is healthy and moral after all?

Why It's Not Always Rational to Be Rational

The Science behind Atheism

26 min

4.1

❤️ für Blinkist️️️

Ines S.

Ich bin begeistert. Ich liebe Bücher aber durch zwei kleine Kinder komme ich einfach nicht zum Lesen. Und ja, viele Bücher haben viel bla bla und die Quintessenz ist eigentlich ein Bruchteil.

Genau dafür ist Blinkist total genial! Es wird auf das Wesentliche reduziert, die Blinks sind gut verständlich, gut zusammengefasst und auch hörbar! Das ist super. 80 Euro für ein ganzes Jahr klingt viel, aber dafür unbegrenzt Zugriff auf 3000 Bücher. Und dieses Wissen und die Zeitersparnis ist unbezahlbar.

Ekaterina S.

Extrem empfehlenswert. Statt sinnlos im Facebook zu scrollen höre ich jetzt täglich zwischen 3-4 "Bücher". Bei manchen wird schnelle klar, dass der Kauf unnötig ist, da schon das wichtigste zusammen gefasst wurde..bei anderen macht es Lust doch das Buch selbständig zu lesen. Wirklich toll

Nils S.

Einer der besten, bequemsten und sinnvollsten Apps die auf ein Handy gehören. Jeden morgen 15-20 Minuten für die eigene Weiterbildung/Entwicklung oder Wissen.

Julia P.

Viele tolle Bücher, auf deren Kernaussagen reduziert- präzise und ansprechend zusammengefasst. Endlich habe ich das Gefühl, Zeit für Bücher zu finden, für die ich sonst keine Zeit habe.