Chapter 47 Chapter 8 The Cold War Era 3

3 The most obvious phenomenon during the Cold War was the military confrontation between the two sides and the frenzied nuclear race among Western countries.But these two items were not the biggest impact of the Cold War.Competing to build stockpile nuclear weapons, never activated, two nuclear powers, but participated in three major wars (but never fought each other personally).The United States and its allies (incarnated by the United Nations), so shaken by the Communist victory in China, intervened in the Korean War in 1950 in an attempt to stop the Communist regime in the north from invading the divided south of the country.As a result, the United States gained the upper hand, and while proud of it, it repeated its old plan on the Vietnam battlefield, but this time it was defeated.The Soviet Union decided to withdraw in 1988 after eight years of aiding the pro-Soviet Afghan government against guerrillas backed by the United States and staffed by Pakistan.Simply put, the superpowers spend a lot of money on the technological race for very little, without any decisive results.Under the constant threat of war, the international peace movement has been promoted instead, and nuclear weapons are the biggest object of opposition.In parts of Europe, anti-nuclear agitation became a massive mass movement from time to time, but was regarded by the promoters of the Cold War as the Communist Party's secret weapon.However, the effect of nuclear disarmament is not obvious. Only the younger generation of anti-war elements in the United States, and the wave of anti-conscription set off during the Vietnam War were quite effective (1965-1975).But by the end of the Cold War, the voices of various movements have now become memories of lofty ideals, leaving only a few fresh details of the past for people to use today—such as the anti-nuclear symbols used by small countercultural groups after 1968; and environmentalists. The biased attitude of opposing any nuclear use is also a product of the movement in those years.

Among the effects of the Cold War, the more obvious one is its political role.Almost immediately, the world under the control of the two superpowers was immediately divided into two incompatible "camps".At the beginning, the domestic political circles of European countries worked together, and the war against fascism was finally victorious. In 1947-1948, they were immediately divided into two camps, pro-communist and anti-communist (only three major belligerent countries were notable exceptions, namely Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union. Three Kingdoms).In the West, the Communist Party has since been expelled from the political arena and has become a political waif. In 1948, a general election was held in Italy. If the Communist Party won at that time, the United States even planned to send troops to intervene.And the Soviet Union was not to be outdone, and wiped out all non-communist elements from its so-called "multi-party people's democratic state" and turned it back into a "dictatorship of the proletariat", that is, the dictatorship of the Communist Party.At the same time, a new international Communist Party organization (Communist Intelligence Bureau) was established to compete with the United States. However, it is special that this new organization has greatly reduced authority than its predecessor, and its targets are mainly Europe. In 1956, the tension and high temperature of the international situation dropped, and the Communist Intelligence Bureau was quietly disbanded.The iron bowl of the Soviet Union tightly controlled the Eastern European countries, and the strange thing is that only Finland was able to escape this bad luck.It turned out that the Soviet Union showed great mercy and asked the Finnish government to remove the Communist Party from government departments in 1948.Why Stalin let this small country go, but did not establish a satellite state regime there, the reason is still a mystery.Perhaps the courage of the Finns frightened him, lest they take up arms again to resist.Finland had uprisings in 1939-1940 and 1941-1944, and Stalin didn't want to be involved in an out-of-control war again.As for the rebellious Yugoslavia, he also tried to incorporate it, but Tito refused to follow the Soviet Union, and finally officially broke with Big Brother Moscow in 1948, and since then he has gone his own way, and no one will join.

It is conceivable that the internal politics of the communist countries have never allowed others to comment on the one-party dictatorship. However, the fragility of the one-party dictatorship has become more and more obvious since 1956 (see Chapter 16).As for the countries allied with the United States, the internal political situation is relatively less monotonous; however, all parties, big and small, except the Communist Party, hate the Soviet system deeply, and everyone agrees on this point.So as far as foreign policy is concerned, it makes no difference whoever comes to power.As for the two former common enemies in the war, Japan and Italy, the United States single-handedly made political issues extremely simple for them, and established a system equivalent to a permanent one-party system in these two countries.In Tokyo, the United States encouraged the formation of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party, 1955).In Italy, the United States insisted on removing the natural opposition from power, because this opposition happened to be the Communist Party; the Italian regime was handed over to the Christian Democrats, and occasionally some vase parties were brought in as the situation required. Make up the numbers—such as Liberals, Republicans, and so on. Since the 1960s, the only other important party in Italy, the Socialist Party, has been working with the Catholic Democratic Party to organize a coalition government since 1956 when it drew a line with the Communist Party, which has been friends with it for many years.As a result of such an arrangement, the forces of the Italian Communist Party and the Japanese Socialist Party were suppressed and incorporated into the main opposition parties in the country.The government established according to this system was extremely corrupt, and finally it was exposed in 1992-1993. The ugly inside story even stunned the people of Italy and Japan.After the scandal was exposed, the ruling and opposition parties were unable to move at the same time, and the world situation in balance with the hegemony of the United States and the Soviet Union that backed them at the beginning fell into a paralyzed situation.

Initially, Roosevelt's advisers had experimented with anti-monopoly political innovations in Allied-occupied Germany and Japan.Although the United States soon changed its course and went against this plan, fortunately, there is one thing that can greatly comfort the allies of the United States.That is, a great war has wiped out national socialism, fascism, blatant Japanese militarism, and all kinds of other right-wing organizations and nationalist political ideas from the acceptable political arena .Therefore, in the dispute between the so-called "freedom" and "totalitarianism", the above-mentioned sanctities are certainly the most powerful elements to deal with the Communist Party. The mobilization worked for the "great cause of anti-communism".With the main force gone, the political base of the Western Cold War government now only remains the pre-war leftist social democrats and the non-nationalist moderate right.In this way, linking with the Catholic Church becomes extremely useful, because the church's anti-communist stance and conservative character are naturally the best in the world.Even better, the church-born "Christian Democrats" (see Chapter 4) not only had a solid anti-fascist record, but also had a (non-socialist) program of social reform. After 1945 these parties played a central role in Western politics; briefly in France and for a considerable period in Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Austria (see Chapter 9).

However, the impact of the Cold War on the internal affairs of European countries was far less than its impact on the international political situation in Europe.The troubled "European Community" was born out of the Cold War.This is an unprecedented political concept to unify the economic activities and legal systems (in terms of certain procedures) of various sovereign states through permanent arrangements (at least long-term). When it was established in early 1957, there were 6 original participating countries (France, West Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg).By 1991, just as various other Cold War creations were beginning to falter, six more countries had joined (Britain, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Greece).At this time, the design of European organizations tended to go further in political and economic integration and form a closer combination, with the ultimate goal of establishing a permanent political union in the form of a federation or confederation in Europe.

European organization, like everything else big and small in Europe after 1945, was created by the United States and turned against it.The story unfolds here, testifying to the prestige of American power, but also reflecting its ambiguity and the fact that its influence has limits after all.Going a step further, we can also see that countries have deep concerns and are willing to abandon differences and organize a united front to grow stronger.The object of their fear is not limited to the Soviet Union. Taking France as an example, Germany has always been its biggest scruple.In addition, although the former warring countries and occupied countries are not as worried as France, they do not want to see a strong country re-emerge in Central Europe.Now everyone finds themselves locked in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, allied with the mighty United States, and the economically and militarily revived Germany - fortunately, the latter's territory has been cut in two. .Of course, everyone is also worried about the United States.It is said that the United States is an indispensable partner against the Soviet Union, but this partner is not very reliable, not to mention—in fact, this is not surprising—it always puts the interests of its own world hegemony first, and even its allies interests can also take a backseat.Readers, please don’t forget that the various arrangements and design decisions made around the world after World War II all took “US economic interests as the highest premise” (Maier, 1987, p. 125).

But for America's allies, fortunately, the situation in Western Europe in 1946-1947 was too tense, and the Washington authorities had to carefully consider it.It decided that the first priority of the present was the revival of Europe, and it soon came to the same conclusion with regard to the Japanese economy.So a large-scale Marshall Plan (Marshall Plan) to help Europe regroup was officially launched in June 1947 against this background.The new plan is a departure from previous ambitious economic diplomacy, mostly in the form of grants rather than loans.According to the plan originally designed by the United States, it wanted to establish a world economic system based on free trade, free exchange, and a free market after the war, and the United States would be the master and have full control over it.Fortunately, the countries are once again lucky, and one factor alone makes the American wishful thinking completely unrealistic; Europe and Japan are cash-strapped, hungry for ever-scarce dollars, liberalized trade and international payments way is simply not possible immediately.And the strength of the American family can't force others to do what they want, and impose their own wishful thinking on Europe.That is to implement a single European aid plan in an all-round way. According to the American model, including its American politics and prosperous free enterprise economic system, European countries will be shaped into a single European community.This ideal of taking the United States as a teacher will not work at all. First of all, the United Kingdom still regards itself as a world-class power, while France dreams day and night to become one of the great powers, and it is wholeheartedly committed to crushing Germany. permanently split.The vision of the United States of these two countries is of course gnashing their teeth.But from the US perspective, to fully implement the concept of the Marshall Plan, Europe must form a military alliance to jointly deal with the Soviet Union - NATO is the result of this.But a truly effective European revival, a truly functioning treaty organization, cannot do without a strong German economy, and a strong German economy can only be strengthened by a rearmamented Germany.In this way, the only way out for France is to find a way to get entangled with Germany, and the two families will become one, so that the sworn enemy can stop the conflict from now on.So France proposed its own version to engage in European union, that is, the "European Coal and Steel Community" (European Coal and Steel Community, 1950), which was further expanded into the "European Economic Community" or commonly known as the "European Common Market" ( European Economic Community, Common Market, 1957), and finally simplified to "European Community", and since 1993, it has been renamed "European Union".The headquarters have always been located in Brussels, Belgium, but its core is established in the cooperation between France and Germany.The European organization is actually a plan for European unification, which was conceived by the United States. However, after the end of the Cold War, the foundations originally relied on by the European organization and the cooperation between France and Germany disappeared. The reunification of Germany and Germany in 1990 brought a sudden imbalance of power in Europe, but the economic difficulties after Germany's reunification were also unexpected.All kinds of changes have made the future of European unification increasingly uncertain.

But looking back on the past, although the United States cannot fully implement the details of the European political and economic system design according to its own wishes, its national power is strong after all, and it cannot allow other countries to not keep pace with it in international politics.The European Union against the Soviet Union was the idea of ​​the United States, and the European military alliance was also its idea.As a result, Germany was allowed to rearm, and Europe's desire for neutrality was dispelled. The international actions of Western European countries were all under the unified order of the United States.Only once did they intend to act independently on their own, that is, the Suez War in 1956. Britain and France planned to join forces against Egypt, but this war was finally aborted under the pressure of the United States.Allies or protectorates under the arrogance of the United States, the greatest tactic is passive resistance, which is inseparable from the military alliance led by the United States and at the same time refuses to fully cooperate (Charles de Gaulle of France is a master of this).

However, as the Cold War years passed day by day, although Washington's power has always played the role of overlord in European military cooperation and political movements, the US's control over the European economy has become weaker day by day.The center of gravity of the world economic system is now gradually shifting from the United States to Western Europe and Japan, and Americans feel that both are the beneficiaries of their own rescue and reconstruction (see Chapter 9).The dollar, which was originally scarce and precious in 1947, has flowed out of the United States like a torrent over the years.Coupled with the United States itself, externally it uses troops around the world (the main example is the actions of the US military in Vietnam after 1965), internally it is ambitious and wantonly promotes various social welfare measures.Such a huge amount of internal and external expenditures, but they prefer to use the deficit budget to subsidize, so the trend of the US dollar's outward countercurrent is becoming more and more uncontrollable, especially in 1960. The US dollar, which was used to promote and guarantee the cornerstone of the post-war world economy, has become increasingly popular. Decline one day.In theory, the U.S. dollar is backed by the vast stock of gold bars stored in the U.S. vaults at Fort Knox—almost three-quarters of the world’s gold stockpiles—but in practice the U.S. dollar is simply Dozens of flooded banknotes and written accounts—but since the stability of the U.S. dollar comes from the guarantee that it can be exchanged for a certain amount of gold, the prudent Europeans are replaced by the French who are super cautious and obsessed with gold bars. Leading the team asked for reliable gold ingots to exchange for paper dollars that were likely to depreciate in terms of international exchange.As a result, gold poured out of Fort Knox like a levee.The demand is high, and the price of gold naturally soars.In fact, throughout most of the 1960s, the stability of the U.S. dollar and the international payment system could no longer be guaranteed by the reserves of the United States itself, but it was entirely thanks to the support of central banks in Europe—under pressure from the U.S.— It is not required to exchange gold for US dollars in hand, and participate in the operation of the "Gold Pool" (Gold Pool) to stabilize the price of gold on the market.However, this expedient measure did not last long. In 1968, the "gold pool" bottomed out and was declared disintegrated.As a matter of fact, the US dollar's status as the standard exchange currency ended thereafter and was officially abandoned in August 1971.The stability of the international payment system will go with it, and the economic power of the United States or any single country can no longer unilaterally control the overall situation.

With the end of the Cold War, the United States has very little economic hegemony left, and even the cost of its military hegemony can no longer be paid by itself alone. When the Persian Gulf War broke out in 1991, the military operations against Iraq were still basically dominated by the United States, but this time, it was other countries that supported Washington's actions that paid for it—whether they actively donated generously or reluctantly donated passively.After this battle, the great powers participating in the war actually earned a few pennies, which is a rare and strange thing in the history of world wars.Fortunately for everyone—except for the sympathetic Iraqi people—the fighting was over in a matter of days.