When I was in War College in 1991 at the conclusion of the Cold War, it was reported that a Russian general purportedly said, “You have lost the best enemy you ever had.” Perhaps, looking back, the words were indeed prophetic.
SETTING THE STAGE
1949-1970
Truth be told, I’m no historian but I did live through the last years of the Cold War, operationally flying the Strategic Air Command’s refueling tanker, the KC-135. However, these thoughts are mine. Hopefully they adequately portray a time when the world actually teetered on the edge of nuclear annihilation. Unsettlingly, a 1959 movie, On The Beach, depicted the aftermath of a nuclear war. We hoped it would never happen.
Paul Nitze, present from the War’s start to its finish wrote, “One of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.” It was a time of testing the water. Continually it seemed. Let’s see if we complied with that advice. Here’s how this play began.
After World War II, the Great Powers (the United States and Russia) began to compete—for property, people, and predominance. And when Western Europe and the United States formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, 1949) in fear of Russian expansion—and perhaps partly in fear of Germany rising militaristically again–the stage was set for a “war” that would last 42 years. As a counterbalance to NATO, Russia in 1955, formed the Warsaw Pact and Europe was truly divided by an Iron Curtain. Who were these then who swept us into an era the like of which we had never seen? Of proxy wars and the threat of annihilation and mutual assured destruction.
The Actors:
NATO: United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal. Greece and Turkey were added in 1952, West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982.
The Warsaw Pact: United Soviet Socialist Republic, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland and Romania.
The lineups remained constant until the end of the Cold War.
The Acts:
1949-1970, 1971-1991
The Scenes:
Treaties and Agreements: When the Soviets developed a nuclear device in 1949, we welcomed in the Nuclear Age weaponry and round after round of alphabet negotiation. SALT I, II; SDI; ABM; MLBM; IRBM; ICBM; SLBM; MIRV; GLCM; START; among others which extended throughout the period. These were the “big boy atomic toys” that each side wanted to regulate—ballistic missiles that could be launched from air, land or sea. Throughout the years of the Cold War these weapons got the most attention, testing and development.
And another age emerged. The “Age of 3-Letter Agencies” to investigate, monitor, spy, or foment at times, unrest in various places around the world—including the U.S. A war of cloak and dagger. The Red Scare of Joe McCarthy gave rise to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. In 1948, President Truman authorized the creation of the CIA which subsequently gave rise to American “meddling” in the modern world. Welcome to the War of Cloak and Dagger—and the growth of modern terrorism. We saw the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestine Liberation Organization, Red Brigades, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Weather Underground and others the world over.
And just off the Main Stage (left and right), shooting wars in Korea and Vietnam were placed among other skirmishes and crises around the globe. It was a time of the “Cultural” Revolution in China. The Suez Crisis, the Congo, Yom Kippur, Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Francis Gary Powers U-2 shoot down, the Berlin Wall dividing Germany, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and many more places and events you probably never heard of. It kept our heads spinning as to what would happen next.
And it was a period of continual negotiation aside from the madness of the supporting players. But bluff and bluster gave rise to American superiority and security as we shall see in Part II.
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I saw your mention of fear of a rising Germany, reminded me of something I heard in a poli-sci class in the 1980s, “NATO served three purposes, keep Russia out, America in, and Germany down.”
From what I’ve read, you’re right, and the Soviets were worried about the same thing. I guess everyone thought Germany was akin to a Phoenix rising from the ashes when it was least appropriate to do so. 😎