The Cold War in global context, 1945-1991 - From detente to denouement - Seeking a way out

3 important questions on The Cold War in global context, 1945-1991 - From detente to denouement - Seeking a way out

Why was Germany a constant irritant?

  • The first Chancellor of West Germany, Konrad Adenauer, was a staunch anticommunist who refused to recognize the sovereignty of East Germany and who would only discuss reunification on the basis of free elections.
  • Tensions eased in the mid-1960s after Willy Brandt became foreign minister and then, in 1969, chancellor. Brandt concluded treaties with the Soviets recognizing the division of Germany in return for freer access between East and West Berlin, and both East and West Germany became member states of the UN in 1974.

What illustrated that communist revolution was a myth, according to the West?

  • The Sino-Soviet split; the strained relationship between Moscow and its communist satellites in Eastern Europe; the anti-Soviet posture of communist Yugoslavia; all illustrated the fact that nationalism and ethnic identity were every bit as powerful in the communist world as the call to international working-class solidarity.
  • In addition, emergent communist and nonaligned states in Africa and South Asia were likely to be suspicious of Soviet aid if it implied political subservience to Moscow. 

What did the Brezhnev doctrine mean?

  • Under the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine, the Soviets stated their right to interfere in the internal affairs of other socialist states if the survival of those states was threatened.
  • Meant to reaffirm Moscow's position on the status of Eastern Europe, the Brezhnev Doctrine was in fact a tacit admission that the Soviets had more to fear from their own communist subordinates than they did from the capitalist world. 

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