Cold War and the Post-Cold War

Laszlo Gombos

Published by Smaragd Kiadó

Copyright © Laszlo Gombos 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmited in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permision of the publisher or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright.

ISBN epub: 978-615-6297-17-4

ISBN mobi: 978-615-6297-18-1

Foreword

Dear reader, the author, whose book is now available, presents historical events from several perspectives, which makes the work versatile. Almost every country is mentioned, pointing out the complexity and transparency of the world.

The book is based on critical thinking, and discards unnecessary information. Politicians are assessed by their actions.

The content of the book covers a fruitful period of humanity with factual presentation of historical events. The author first begins with the Soviet perspective, where the history of the Soviet Union and the Soviet’s strategy of gaining power abroad can be clearly traced. After that, he also examines today's Russia and goes all the way to Putin, which traces the history of Russia from 1945 to 2020.

In terms of the USA, too, the book starts in 1945, with a rigorous examination of all important events until 2020. The Soviet Union (Russia) and the United States had a fundamental impact on many countries. Thus, the history of almost every country in South America, Asia, Africa and Europe after 1945 is mentioned in the book.

The book places great emphasis on presenting the current situation, for example, by describing the most populous countries in the world.

Reading a history books such as this, the question may occur: what can be done? What is the solution? Fortunately, the author provides complex answers to current political issues.

Finally, I can only wish readers to enjoy reading the book as much as I did.

Gabriella Tóth

Reference Librarian and ESL English Tutor

Sept 2020

Introduction of the Book

The secondary data collection used for this book span over 14 years. The author’s bachelor degree in the university was in “Public Administration Management”. The author’s thesis/project work at the bachelor level was about “the cold war”. The author later worked as a journalist and documentary film maker. He has also founded a political party.

This book can be used as a textbook for modern history and further political training.  Since a  lot of educational systems in the world rarely contain modern history this book can be a helpful replacement in that sense. The book is also intended for those who are not students or politicians. Teaching about the post-cold war issues is not a common topic in the institutions of learning. Since the cold war much time has passed and many events have been experienced by mankind.

7.5 billion people live on earth. It is observed that if one does not follow global events regularly even for one year or two, one can easily lose sigt of the events and actions of the 7.5 billion people. Many people find it difficult to understand world events and so there is the need for a solid basic knowledge; hence, this book gives you this knowledge.

At the end of the book is the presentation of the contemporary world events and the fight against corruption. The target audience is primarily the politicians, government bureaucrats, UN employees, political journalists, fans of modern history, fans of politics, NGOs and aid/relief organizations.

Since I speak English on a casual level and needed someone to help me review the content, I asked Dr. Nicholas Imbeah (formerly of Szent István University) to help me review the grammar and content of the English book. Dr. Nicholas Imbeah is an expert in regional development and tourism who also taught beginners’ English course at Szent István University as a voluntary work.

Furthermore, I would like to thank a Hungarian book publisher for reviewing the preliminary Hungarian version and thank the library of our Gödöllő city, where I found the history of many countries around the world. Furthermore, I would like to thank the scientific workshop of the Hungarian Armed Forces for publishing many books on the modern history of the countries where there are peacekeeping operations. These publications helped me to appreciate the modern issues about Africa, India and Pakistan better.

Definition of the Cold War

The cold war was from 1945 to 1991, from the end of the WW2 to the end of the Soviet Union. The concept of the cold war: The reason we call this period “cold war” is because the USA and the Soviet Union did not make war against each other. However, it did not mean it was a peaceful time. Moreover, these two countries contributed a lot to the compounding of the war, for example: Vietnam War and Korean War.

The Days of the Empires in the 20th Century

Results of the world war 1.: Four empires were destroyed namely, Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary Empire, German Colony Empire and the Russian Empire. Results of the WW2: Five empires were destroyed namely Nazi German, Italian, Japanese and almost destroyed the France and the British Empires. Results of the cold war: Officially the British and France Empires were destroyed, the Soviet Empire fell and the USA began to fall as an empire. [1]‘[2]’[3]’[4]’[5]’[6]’[7]’[8]’[9]’[10]’[11]’[12]’[13]

With the falling of empires, humanity has experienced more and various democracies in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Before the WW2 the world had just 20 democracies and these 20 democracies had deep problems, namely, a lot of election irregularities (cheating) and dictatorial societies. In the second part of the 20th Century things have changed. This will be discussed later as we go forward in the book.

The most powerful countries in the cold war: three periods can be identified during the cold war. i) The first period: The Soviet Union, the USA and the British-France colony empire existed in 1945. The Egyptian conflict,[14] the British and France colony empires collapsed in 1956. ii) The second period: After 1956 only the Soviet Union and the USA survived. iii) The third period: China and the Soviet Union broke up the alliance,[15] that was why China became independent and  powerful country. China became the 3rd actor in the cold war in the 1960’s.

Strategy of the Soviet Union

Fundamentally, the Soviet Union prepared their army to attack other countries. The Soviet navy was weaker than the navy of USA or England. The Soviet Union had strong field army. Their mortars and aircrafts only have to help the field army.[16] They have improved rockets and a lot of rockets have become nuclear weapons. The nuclear weapon has one benefit, that they use it for bullying other countries including extortion.[17]’[18]

The goal of the Soviet leadership is to get Asia and Africa resources and stop the USA from having access to oil in the Middle East. That is how the Soviet Union has been able to rule the world.[19]

The Viewpoint of the Big Powers Army in the Cold War

The Soviet Union cared about the quantity but they did not care about the quality. That is why they had 55,000 tanks, 117,000 other armored vehicles, 8,000 katyushas rocket launchers, 4,300 helicopters, 7,900 army aircrafts and a lot of millions hand weapons, 273 submarines, 6 aircraft-carriers, 33 battleships and almost 800 smaller army ships. Though these might seem good, the weapons are now archaic and must be upgraded or changed to modern version in 10-12 years time. Lack of money has become a constraint to the Soviet Union in their desire to modernize these weapons.[20]

There was a serious risk among the Russian soldiers: the Russian society needed democracy and this became a struggle because the Russians wanted to practice democracy like other democratic countries. That was why in the past it was a risky thing to send Russians to other democratic countries ‘because the conqueror could become the conquered’. In this case Soviet Union’s occupation of Western Europe could break down the fighting moral and possible mass desertion between and among the Soviet army. A good example is the Hungarian revolution in 1956; the revolution was cracked down by the Asian Soviet soldiers (Soviet Union had European and Asian soldiers.), because these Asian Soviet societies have never heard of democracy before. The Russian soldiers were passive in Hungary and a lot of Russian soldiers stepped into the Hungarian revolution’s side. Although in that time Hungary was not very much democratic or improved, their fighting morale was cracked down.[21]

Basically the cold war began becuase of Stalin and his power hungry colleagues. Stalin was a mass killer before the WW2. He was suspicious of other people. Stalin’s behavior was confusing because his brain and his soul became deformed due to the lot of terrible things he did. He became lonely because he killed his associates inside the power circles and his family. The Soviet soldiers tasted the freedom in the front lines in the WW2, where nobody brainwashed them. Stalin later handled the ex-soldiers as enemies after the war. He lost the control in the world war in Leningrad (where the Germans did not rule too) that is why Leningrad was a free town. After the world war, Stalin sent Leningrad citizens to the gulag Stalin’s extermination camps.[22]’[23]

Why was the dictatorship in the Soviet Union brutal? Because there had been very little money and very less power due to poverty. After world war one (1914-1917), after the Russian civil war (1917-1921), after mass killing by Lenin (1921-1924), after mass killing by Stalin (1924-1941), after the WW2 (1941-1945), Russia bacame a big ghetto. On the other side, USA had big and improved cities with wealthy citizens, all of these gave big power to the political leadership of the USA. The politicians did not need to have all power in the United States of America. In the USA a lot of groups had power in the form of political leadership, companies’ managers, civil sector organisations, trade unions, etc.

Strategy of USA

The Soviet strategy was to rule the world. However, the USA’s strategy was only to try to stand against the Soviet’s steps. Admittedly, the USA was extremely active in South and Central America.[24]

In the USA’s strategy, we can see that their wealth made them lazy. Before the world war one the society of the USA was peaceful. Theoretically they had big power but they did not use it for a long time. In the WW2, the USA’s leadership made the American society more agressive and more soldierly.

The USA soldiers could not fight against intent, fanatical enemy, for example, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and currently the Islamist fanatics. When the US soldiers were abusive against the enemies it showed they did not respect the enemies. That was why their behavior in a long war was just as an inordinate rabble. The 20th Century showed that when the US elite soldiers could not solve a conflict the strategy of the USA army collapsed and they started killing blindly for example in the Vietnam War.[25]

When the US field army went somewhere and the USA failed, for example in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea and Vietnam their failure would mean endless war for nothing.

Since the USA never met any serious enemy on their border the US developed their navy. The marine soldiers could not fight for longer period in field war. The US Navy needed a lot of oil. Because they could not go home every time they needed oil, they managed to create lot of navy bases around the world. Currently the USA has 120 army bases in the world, for example, in Japan,[26] South Korea, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, England, Spain, Portugal, Australia, etc. That is why the Soviet Union wanted to stop the transport of the Middle East oil from the USA (navy). The USA developed the aircraft to high level. The navy and the aircrafts made some success for the US but if they had to deploy the field army the USA would be in a big problem.[27]

The USA assists sponsoring dictatorships all over the world. For example, South Korea and South Vietnam; both were dictatorships for a long time. Afghanistan and Iraq are dictatorships until present time. The USA gives a lot of money, soldiers and weapons to the dictators.[28]

The western financial world is the example of the irresponsible business functioning. The USA from time to time, creates financial crisis in the USA and in the USA’s allies.

Periodic Big Powers - France and England to the 1956 Egyptian Crisis

At the end of the WW2 France and England went bankrupt. The desire of the Soviet Union and the USA was that, England[29] and France colony empire would fail as early as possible This is because the colony empires covered important countries for example, Iraq, Pakistan, India, China, Indonesia, Bangladesh – almost the whole Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Military conditions of England and France: England had strong navy but France had navy that was much smaller. England had small number of field military soldiers but France had bigger field army in numbers. Both country had modern airforce and a lot of nuclear bombs. They both got nuclear bombs just after the 1956 Egyptian crisis.

The Other Periodic Big Power – China From the Middle of the 1960’s

After the WW2, China became Soviet’s “friendly-country”. After Stalin’s death in 1953, China became more and more powerful. The Chinese dictator did not follow the Soviet orders in the middle of the 1960’s. From that time China became an independent “Big Power”.

Firstly China had just a lot of soldiers but over time they got better weapons. Chinese airforce and navy were weak in the cold war. More than 1 billion people gave opportunities to the Chinese dictators to rule the whole of Asia but they could not achieve this goal. In the 1990’s when the Soviet Union collapsed that power-goal went to the trash. Three new goals emerged, namely: money, money and money.

Why Humanity Had to Experience the Cold War?

The psychological base of the Cold War was the same as every war: hierarchical systems often wanting the glory and trying to deflect attention of the society from their own poverty.

[1] Erich Zöllner – History of Austria/Geschichte Österreichs (book)

[2] Edwin o. Reischauer – Japan: The Story of a Nation (book)

[3] Gandhi - biographical and historical movie about the most talented politician in the world. This has been a regular source of references in this book.

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire - About every Wikipedia article has other language versions. You can find more informations in different languages. About every Wikipedia article has a lot of references, if You need to know more about different topics.

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colonial_empire

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Japan

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_colonial_empire

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Germanic_Reich

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union

[11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Empire

[13] Why We Fight - documentary movie

[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis

[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Soviet_split

[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Army

[17] Erich Fromm – The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (book) – This has been a regular source of references in this book.

[18] George Orwell – 1984 (book) - This has been a regular source of references in this book.

[19] E. S. Fischer/István Jenő Szatmári – The Secret History of Cold War/A hidegháború titokzatos története (book) – He was a provocative Hungarian writer, how clearly understood the Soviet viewpoint, his book is reference in the whole “Soviet part” of this book

[20] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Army

[21] Scapegoats in all Time – Scapegoats in the Hungarian and Universal History/Bűnbakok minden időben – Bűnbakok a magyar és egyetemes történelemben (book) - This has been a regular source of references in this book.

[22] Past-Age - Hungarian Television documentary series (Original title: Múlt-kor) – Series of Hungarian Historians -  This has been a regular source of references in this book.

[23] Panorama - Hungarian Television documentary series - This has been a regular source of references in this book.

[24] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor

[25] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_war_crimes

[26] Edwin o. Reischauer – Japan: The Story of a Nation (book)

[27] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army

[28] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index

[29] György Tibor Szántó – History of England/Anglia története (book)

Viewpoint of the Soviet Union

Expansion of the Soviet Union: Lenin (the Soviet leader) destroyed a social democratic government and he got the power. It was during the Russian civil war from 1917 to 1921. Lenin won but 13 million people died in the civil war. Other 5 million people died of starvation because Lenin took the food away from the peasants and gave the provision to the people in the cities.[30]’[31]

Good things: to begin with, in his last years Lenin realised that the communism did not work that was why he allowed the normal market process to work. Secondly, in the world war 1 Russia kept up 10 million soldiers and in addition later kept half million soldiers (5% of the original army).

Soviet Union’s territorial greatness was not enough for everything

After Lenin, Stalin got the power between 1924 and 1953. He was more brutal in committing mass murder. Stalin started the terror against the peasants because the peasants were free and independent. In his paranoia Stalin thought that any independent member of the state could be dangerous. Stalin built gulag camps around same camps just as Hitler’s where Soviet dictatorship killed between 12 and 20 million people.[32]’[33]’[34]’[35]’[36]’[37]’[38]’[39]’[40]’[41]

Since Stalin wanted to build strong industry he sold most of the food to other countries and he got a lot of money from the huge food that was sold out. Because of that, in the Soviet Union 7-10 million people died of starvation in the Ukranean area.[42] It was the price of the industrialisation. In the time of world war a lot of people found in the battle front lines died of starvation in the Soviet Union (SU).

Why the society could not make a successful revolution against Stalin’s system? The society could not succeed because of the huge distances among settlements and no modern technology to connect them (no telephones, cars).

More and more cars and telephones were developed after Stalin in the Soviet Union and that was the reason for the risk of the increase in rebellion. That was why Stalin’s political successors had to give up on the oppression.[43]

The welfare of the army kept rising up. Stalin called military experts from Nazi Germany. Because Stalin was paranoiac he killed the whole leadership of the Soviet army. Stalin appointed new military leaders from the Communist Party but they were inept. With the new inept leaders the army’s modernisation was pointless. The new leaders could not use the modern weapons. During the modernisation process a lot of money were lost in the society and people became more poor but the Soviet political leadership lived as kings.

Stalin and the WW2: Soviet Union could not handle the Nazi Empire attack. The Soviets got a lot of lorry, food and feedstock from UK and USA. They transported all of these across Iran[44]’[45] (neighbour of the SU), across Alaska and got around North Norway. This showed the fall of the Soviet industrialisation. During the WW2 fights 27 million people died in the Soviet Union.[46]

Stalin got the power in 1924. So, from 1924 to 1946 (the beginning of the cold war) 46-57 million people died in the Soviet Union due to starving or violence.[47] In the beginning of the cold war their industry was relatively strong but the most of the Soviet cities were destroyed and the countryside was in bankrupt. The Soviet Union captured the East and Central Europe,[48] but these areas were destroyed areas in the end of the WW2.

From the financial viewpoint the future seemed catastrophic: With tourism missing in the SU, a lot of money were lost. That was why the service sector stayed undeveloped. The Soviet leadership was forced over the heavy industry – nearly all money were sent into the heavy industry and into the army. After that failed policy they had not enough money to produce useful and necessary things. Agriculture too was on the wrong path because of the money shortage and the failed political management.

There was no big intellectual society group in the Soviet Union because of the oppression.[49] That was why the state’s and the companies’ leadership were full of bad leaders. Bad leaders were inept political hitmans/party-members and they caused a lot of damage.

Around that time the whole society became alcoholic because of the traumatization.[50] Stalin caused a huge demage in the Soviet Union. Stalin’s political successors could not solve the problems in the framework of the Soviet Union.

At the end of the 1960’s only the fanatics wanted the continuation of the Soviet Union. This is because in that time the Soviet leadership could see the Soviet empire falling apart. After Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev did a lot of changes but in vain: i) he closed most of the gulag camps, ii) he stopped the violent industrialisation, iii) he increased the freedom of the press, iv) he started agricultural reforms, and v) he helped tourism to grow mildly, but against everything, it was straight way to the Soviet Union’s fall. Now came a better working area, Europe:

[30] Communism: History of an Illusion - documentary movie

[31] Source to a lot of dictators in this book: Daniel Kalder - The Infernal Library: On Dictators, the Books They Wrote, and Other Catastrophes of Literacy (book)

[32] Laurence Rees – Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (book)

[33] Donald Rayfield – Stalin and his Hangman (book)

[34] Stalin – biographical movie about Stalin

[35] Stalin in Color - biographical-documentary movie

[36] The Soviet Story - documentary movie

[37] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge

[38] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_famine_of_1932%E2%80%9333

[39] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

[40] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_operations_of_the_NKVD

[41] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_transfer_in_the_Soviet_Union#World_War_II,_1941%E2%80%931945

[42] https://www.euronews.com/2019/11/23/holodomor-ukrainians-remember-the-famine-that-killed-millions-in-soviet-ukraine

[43] Uprising in the Gulag - documentary movie

[44] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Corridor

[45] Gábor Benedek – Hitory of Iran: From the Beginning to Nowadays/Irán történelme a kezdetektől napjainkig (book)

[46] Laurence Rees – Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (book)

[47] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkuta_uprising

[48] Laurence Rees – Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (book)

[49] Citizen Kurchatov – Stalin’s nuclear bomb maker - documentary movie

[50] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Blokhin

Europe After 1945

The Relatively Peaceful Continent

In the WW2, more than 73 million people died in Asia and Europe. Because of this, European societies became disgusted about the violence. Notwithstanding, the violence continued for some years after 1945.[51]

A lot of people were moved or removed after WW2. Millions of people escaped and others were forced to move after WW2. In that process of big movement a lot of people became homeless and 500,000 people died in the violence of being forced to move.[52] These movements were necessary because the Nazi Germany had a reason for the attack; a lot of German lived in the neighbouring countries. In the WW2, 8.3 million Germans died and after the WW2, 15 million Germans had to move from their homes. However, the Polish, the Russians and the Ukrainians suffered the most because of the WW2.[53]

The Soviet killers forced the following to move to the Soviet Union: i) 140,000 Hungarians, ii) 350,000 Romanians, iii) 250,000 Lithuanians, iv) 180,000 Latvians and v) 170,000 Estonians. Stalin killed most of them. When the Soviet army occupied Poland,[54] they killed Polish people who collaborated with Germany. After that they killed the Polish people who were democratic thinkers. With that brutality they tried to stabilize the Soviet rule but of course they could not achieve this aim. It made the Polish society angry.[55]’[56]

Greece - civil war: Greece was important for Stalin because if Stalin was able to make communist leadership prevail over Greece, the Soviet Union could get Mediterranean Sea ports. For this goal, the situation was good; in Greece in the WW2 the partisan movement had two parts, namely, a communist part and a democratic part. After the WW2 Stalin sent weapons to the communists, the British Empire and USA sent weapons to the democratic part. The Soviet “friend” part and the USA “friend” part made a civil war.[57] In Yugoslavia (north neighbour of Greece) Tito got the power at the end of the WW2. He had conflict with Stalin and Tito did not allow the transport of the Soviet weapons across Yugoslavia. So Tito cut the Greek communist from Stalin. Greek communist group fell in 1949. In the Greek civil war 160,000 people died. After this, Greece became democratic as usual. The USA helped an army coup d’état in Greece and the democracy fell in 1967.[58]’[59] The USA “friend” dictatorship fell in 1974. Democracy in Greece became stable after this as usual.[60]

Yugoslavia nationality fights: In the WW2 Hungarian army occupied Serbia and killed 3,000 people. After the WW2 Tito’s army killed 40,000 Hungarians.[61] Croatians made violent actions from 1945 to 1950.[62] In 1971 Tito’s army cracked down a Croatian uprising.[63] In this book the fall of Yugoslavia is discussed in the “Viewpoint of the USA”.

Lithuania: there was a guerilla war against the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1953. [64]’[65]

Estonia: there was a guerilla war against the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1956.[66]

Latvia: there was a guerilla war against the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1955.[67] However it was not successful. The society changed the tactic and they used peaceful civil rights movement in 1980’s. It was successful tactic as in Lithuania and Estonia too.[68]

Ukraine: there was a guerilla war against the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1951. The USA sent armed Ukrainian soldiers against the Soviet Union.[69]’[70]

Moldova: there was a guerilla war against the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1953.[71]

Poland: there was a guerilla war against the Soviet Union from the end of WW2 to 1947. As a punishment, Stalin’s military killed 20,000 Polish people and arrested 250,000 citizens.[72]

East Germany: strikes collapsed the industrial production and the dictatorship was near to fall. Between 300 and 400 thousand people took part in the strike and there was a turmoil in 270 cities and towns. People wanted free elections, the release of democratic thinkers from the prisons and unite Germany.[73] The dictatorship’s army shot the demonstrators and 200 died. As a punishment for protesting 20,000 people were arrested, 3,000 people were jailed and 21 were executed.

West Berlin got blockaded by the Soviet Union.[74] Soviet Union wanted to starve West Berlin and annex it by Stalin’s order. The USA supplied West Berlin airplanes. When Stalin realised that he had failed, he stopped the blockade. The Soviet leadership looked for other solution and that was why they built the Berlin wall in 1961.[75]

Austria: the Soviet, France, English and the USA army left Austria in 1955. Austria became neutral and independent country.[76]

Finland: the Soviet army left Finland in 1956. Finland became neutral and independent country.[77]’[78]’[79]

After these events, the Soviet Union forced the other occupied countries to sign the Warsaw Pact in 1955. This guarantee on paper was the proof of the Soviet rule in Central and East Europe.[80]

Poland: the revolution started in Poznan city and the state stopped the uprising but with brutality. Thereafter in 1956 the whole Polish society began the riot.[81] The Soviet Union’s army was ready to capture Poland and the Polish army was also ready for war against the Soviet Union. Finally the Soviet leader by name Nikita Khrushchev compromised with the Polish leadership: Soviet Union gave more freedom to Poland and stopped the forced industrialisation. In return Poland did not quit from the Warsaw Pact (from the Eastern Block).

Hungary: Due to the forced industrialisation, fake agricultural policy and the state terror, the Hungarians started a revolution in 1956. The population then in Poland was 38 million people and in Hungary was 10 million people. Nikita Khrushchev recognised that the population in Hungary was more manageable than the one in Poland. Khrushchev waited for some time before cracking down the Hungarian revolution because it was good for him to hide the plan and the trap he had prepared against the colonist countries (France and England) in Egypt. When they fell in the trap Khrushchev ordered the Hungarian revolution to be cracked down by the Soviet army. This plan was successful in Egypt but in Hungary it was not successful; the Hungarians jumped out from the Warsaw Pact; 200,000 Hungarians left the country into free Austria. In Hungary the society overthrew the dictatorship and restored democracy. In the fights against the dictatorship and against the Soviet Union: 2,700 Hungarians and 700 Soviet soldiers died and 1,500 other Soviet soldiers were wounded. After the revolution the new “Soviet friend” dictatorship executed 229 people, imprisoned 5,600 and sent 13,000 people into intern camps.[82]

Nikita Khrushchev offered to the new Hungarian dictator, Kádár, that Soviet army would go out from Hungary but Kádár rejected the offer in 1958.[83]

It appeared Nikita Khrushchev had a guilty conscience; that was why he gave that offer. He was affraid of the fall of the Warshaw Pact (founded in 1955) after a year in 1956. Poland and Hungary showed how fake the Warsaw Pact was and only that the Soviet army kept up the dictatorships.

Czechoslovakia: Alexander Dubcek, leader of Czechoslovakia, started democratic reforms but in the Eastern Block it was risky. That free, intelligent thinker hoped the Soviet Union will not attack them. It was during the Prague Spring in 1968. The Soviet Union had a new leader Leonid Brezhnev. Brezhnev sent the Soviet army into Czechoslovakia and Brezhnev forced the other Eastern Block countries to send their army too.[84] This terror was depressing in Central Europe.

In 1979 the Soviet Union attacked Afghanistan and so 50% of the Soviet army was in Afghanistan. So after 1979 the Soviet Union could not terrorize the Eastern Block any more and it opened the door for the change.

France: the students protested against the dictatorial leadership, against the dictatorial France society and against the poverty. Charles de Gaulle was the leader. His police officers killed hundreds of students. It made the France society angry. After that millions protested in France against the dictatorship. That was why the leadership spent 25% of the state budget on education, accepted democratic laws and stopped the terror against the students. So that was politicaly leftist side change. It was an unspoken agreement between the Soviet Union and the USA. The USA did not intervene in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The Soviet Union did not intervene in France for leftist side change in 1968.[85]

Poland: Gdansk (city in Poland) in 1970; the workers protested but the state’s army killed 29 people and wounded 1,000 others. Because of the brutality the Solidarity trade union was established. The goal of the Solidarity was establsihing democracy. 10 million people joined in the Solidarity. 25% of the Polish communist party’s members quit from the party and stayed in the democratic trade union.[86] The trade union went on industrial strike in support and for the return of democracy.

The remaining members of the communist party used violence against the Solidarity because of the Soviet pressure in 1981. They arrested a lot of members of the Solidarity but the trade union had 10 million members. It did not stop the movement for democracy. After 8 years of procrastination the dictatorship fell in Poland.[87]

Portugal: bloodless revolution overturned the USA “friend” dictatorship and established democracy in 1974.[88]

Spain: the USA “friend” dictator died and after that democratisation started fast in 1975. They made bloodless change.[89]

Cyprian civil war: the mood was tense from 1950’s and it was based on nothing and of course did not bring any good thing. They made their own iron curtain, what was has come to stay until now. The USA “friend” Greek dictatorship sent army into Cyprus in 1974. The other USA “friend” Turkish dictatorship also sent army to Cyprus. These two “smart egg” dictatorships made a war from a kindergarten-level conflict in Cyprus. That conflict has lightly stayed till now. Both countries felt no obligation for apology nor withdrawal. With the glory, they tried to deflect their societies’ attention from their own poverty (cold war in miniature).[90]

The armed movements ended in the 1950’s in Europe. Significantly more peaceful methods were applied as solutions for problems, from the end of the 1960’s. Because Poland population was 38 million there was a number of brave people who fought against the dictatorship. For example, the Polish viewers boycotted the liar-state television channel news in 1981. They went out onto the streets when the news were lies. It was a silent demonstration all day from 1982. Some people brought the television set with them to the silent protest, it showed how bad the news were because they were lies. The Solidarity hacked the government’s TV frequency and instead of showing the Soviet leader’s funeral the group’s programme would be on the TV. Polish people demanded that the secret police service daily working hours should be decreased to 8 hours (they wanted less observation). The dictatorship could not respond to these challanges. The violent resistance movements were cracked down after some years but the dictatorships were not able to handle the peaceful resistance.[91]

Soros Foundation offered a lot of stationery, including photocopiers to the communist dictatorship in Hungary. But Soros demanded that anybody could use the photocopiers. The dictatorship accepted this because they needed the modern photocopiers for free. Since the use of the photocopiers was free the oppositions could also use them for photocopying their leaflets.[92]

The Portuguese and the Spanish dictatorship fell without any bloodshed in the 1970’s and the communist area’s resistances were peaceful after 1950’s. These showed that the democratic and peaceful thinking had spread on the continent and that was the reason the changes were peaceful.[93]

Furthermore, the 1989-1990 was the period of system change and was violent just in two countries, in Yugoslavia and Romania.[94] In the other 23 ex-Eastern Block countries the dictatorships fell peacefully, namely Albania,[95] Bulgaria, Hungary,[96]’[97] Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, East Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.[98]’[99]

[51] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Soviet_partisans

[52] No Way Home - documentary movie (Oroginal title: Les Déracinés – L’Europe en 45)

[53] Laurence Rees – Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (book)

[54] Norman Davies – God’s playground: History of Poland (book)

[55] Laurence Rees – Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, the Nazis and the West (book)

[56] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Bloc

[57] https://www.britannica.com/event/Greek-Civil-War

[58] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Greek_coups_d%27%C3%A9tat

[59] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_military_junta_of_1967%E2%80%931974#Coup_d'%C3%A9tat_of_21_April

[60] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_dictatorship - It covers a lot of other websites.

[61] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_purges_in_Serbia_in_1944%E2%80%9345

[62] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusaders_(guerrilla)

[63] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_Spring

[64] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Lithuanian_Freedom_Fighters

[65] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_partisans

[66] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Brothers

[67] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvian_partisans

[68] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_Revolution

[69] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_Ukrainian_Nationalists

[70] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Insurgent_Army

[71] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldova

[72] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursed_soldiers

[73] Erich Mielke: Master of Fear - biographical movie (Original title: Erich Mielke: Meister der Angst)

[74] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Blockade

[75] Berlin Wall - documentary movie

[76] Erich Zöllner – History of Austria/Geschichte Österreichs (book)

[77] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

[78] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Finland

[79] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finno-Soviet_Treaty_of_1948

[80] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact

[81] Norman Davies – God’s Playground: History of Poland (book)

[82] The Chronicle of Hungarians/A magyarok krónikája – edited by Ferenc Glatz (book)

[83] History of Hungary - Hungarian Television documentary series: part: 42th-45th. (Original title: Magyarország története 42-45. része)

[84] Prague Spring - documentary movie - Originaly title: Der Prager Frühling

[85] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_68

[86] Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson – Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity, and Ingenuity Can Change the World (book)

[87] Walesa – Man of Hope - biographical movie

[88] David Birmingham – A Concise History of Portugal (book)

[89] Fernando Garcia De Cortázar and José Manuel González Vesga – Brief History of Spain/Breve historia de Espana (book)

[90] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus

[91] Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson – Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity, and Ingenuity Can Change the World (book)

[92] Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson – Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity, and Ingenuity Can Change the World (book)

[93] Steve Crawshaw and John Jackson – Small Acts of Resistance: How Courage, Tenacity, and Ingenuity Can Change the World (book)

[94] Behind the Golden Doors – The private life of Nicole Ceausescu - documentary movie

[95] György Réti – History of Albania/Albánia sorsfordulói (book)

[96] Black Box – Legacy - documentary movie (Original title: Fekete doboz – Hagyaték) Soviet army left Hungary from 1989 to 1991

[97] History of Hungary - Hungarian Television documentary series: part: 42th-45th. (Original title: Magyarország története 42-45. része)

[98] 1989 - documentary movie

[99] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutions_of_1989

Expansion of the Soviet Union in Asia

In Europe the people sometimes used amusing solutions against the dictatorships then, in Asia the brutal violence ruled everything. In Eastern Asia, there lived large populations (people) and that was why a war could kill millions (for example, 96  million people currently live in Vietnam).

China

The Soviet army captured North China at the end of the WW2. The Soviet army went some hundred kilometers into China. Chinese civil war began before the WW2. In the WW2 communists and Western ally of China stopped killing each other and turned against Japan.[100] After the WW2 they continued the then civil war. The Soviet army helped the communist Chinese army[101] and the communist won in 1949. Mao Zedong got the power because of the Soviet intervention. The Soviet army occupied Mongolia as well.

USA captured in the WW2.: Philippines,[102] Taiwan,[103] Japan[104] and Thailand.[105] Korea cracked two parts: a Soviet and USA part.[106]

The little Taiwan[107] island became important place because Mao Zedong’s army captured China: the USA “friend” Chinese part army moved to Taiwan. The budget/goods of the Chinese public sector shifted to Taiwan from China. The USA “friend” Chinese leadership moved to the island and the richest Chinese’s money equally moved. Taiwan got China’s seat in the United Nation Security Council and this was a strong power position.

They did not try to review the past in Asia. That is why, we give estimate about the number of those who died. Approximetly 10 million Chinese died in the civil war from 1927 to 1949, and other 20 million Chinese people died in Japan-China war from 1937 to 1945. The USA “friend” and the Soviet “friend” gang committed a lot of  mass killing.[108]’[109]’[110]’[111]

The same mass killing happened in China as in the Stalin’s Soviet Union. Mao Zedung wielded power: Mao killed 1.5 million landlords. Because of other reasons other 4.5 million people were killed by Mao and his state. The communist party ordered that every village had to build furnace to make steel. Because of this peasants could not work on the fields; this caused starving for 3 years and 47 million people died in this starving.[112]’[113]’[114] China occupied Tibet in 1951 and one million Tibetans were killed. Tibetans made revolution from 1956 to 1959 but China cracked them down.[115]

Mao wanted kill his rivals in the Chinese communist party, so he started the cultural revolution. Mao’s sympathizers killed 3 million people and 100 million people went to bankrupt in the blind destruction. China onto years sank into chaos.[116] In the Soviet leadership nobody cared about this, for the Soviets the point: they got China.

It was the first step. The Soviet Union ruled China. The goal of the expansion was to capture Singapore which was the biggest port in the world. Interestingly USA got a lot of oil from Singapore’s shipping route.

Going to Singapore the shipping route drove through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. But the Soviet Union had occupied Malaysia and Thailand. On the other side of Singapore is Indonesia. A “friendly” leadership waited for the Soviet Union in Indonesia after the WW2.

Before the Soviet Union started going on this way the Korean War broke out.

Korean War

North Korea (Soviet “friend”) attacked (USA “friend”) South Korea in 1950. North Korea captured the capital city Seoul in 3 days. North Korea was just a few km to capture whole of South Korea. USA sent the US field army but they fell. Meantime, Stalin made big mistake; he withdrew the Soviet delegate from the United Nation Security Council where Soviet had all time voting right among the 5 big powers: France (USA “friend”), England (USA “friend”), China (Taiwan – USA “friend”), USA and Soviet Union (now Russia). So everyone were with USA and the Soviet delegate was out. It was just a hysteria from Stalin and it was a big mistake.

Without the Soviet veto, USA uploaded the United Nation’s army with USA soldiers and they got the right to capture the whole of Korea under UN flag.

The USA army recaptured South Korea, the marines and the airforce brought quick success for the USA. Stalin gave an order to Mao that China have to send Chinese army into Korea. The USA captured almost the whole of North Korea at the end of 1950. China sent millions of soldiers into Korea. China recaptured North Korea but USA’s artillery stopped Chinese mass army. After this, the front lines were frozen. The USA tried to go ahead but it was not successful. China and North Korea wanted to go ahead but they also fell.[117]

Korean people became “cannon fodder” in the hand of Soviet and USA leadership

Soviet and US leadership realised that the war was meaningless but they could not make peace and so they continued the war. Every side started attacking each other but nothing changed. The USA bombed the whole of North Korea but the North Koreans and Chinese rebuilt what the USA bombed. The Soviet Union sent the Soviet pilots and Soviet airforce into Korean War. The USA airforce and Soviet airforce fought against each other. USA dropped more bombs into North Korea then everywhere during the WW2.

Stalin died in 5th March, 1953. Nikita Khrushchev got the power in the Soviet Union. He knew that war was pointless. They agreed in the ceasefire treaty on 27th July, 1953. After the war, South Korea got help from USA. For some years there were also peaceful civil movements fighting South Korean people to overthrow the USA “friend” dictatorship and establish democracy in 1987 (in South Korea). In time North Korea was Soviet “friend”. Later North Korea became Chinese “friend”. Currently North Korea does not have an ally. Noth Korea is the most separated country in the world with one of the most bloody dictator family. In the Korean War 2.5 million Korean citizens died, also 1 million Chinese, 54 thousand US soldiers and whole Korea were destroyed.

In the Soviet expansion the next step was to cross China:

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh, the leader of Vietnamese army fought against Japanese occupation in the WW2. In the WW2 the USA helped Ho Chi Minh.[118] After 1945, France tried a return to Vietnam to rule in this territory. It was an arrogant ambition and the USA helped France in that deal; USA payed 80% of the price for France intervetion. That move had a high price. The France-Vietnam war occurred from 1946 to 1954. China became communist from 1949 (the North neighbour of Vietnam). Ho Chi Minh was not communist but he wanted weapons against France. China and the Soviet Union sent a lot of weapons for free. Ho Chi Minh was one of the best army expert in Asia. Vietnam won against France. After the France fall, USA helped a USA “friend” South Vietnam dictatorship.