Question

The Cuban Missile Crisis drew the two superpowers to the brink of a nuclear crisis. Discuss how the cold war unfolded after this crisis.

Answer 1

Approach:

1. Start with the nature of cold war.
2. Mention the important incident in chronological order.
3. Discuss the fall of the Soviet Union and its impact on the cold war.
4. Mention about the present-day condition of the cold war.
5. Make an appropriate conclusion.

Cold war:
The cold war was the geopolitical tension between the power blocks of the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The tensions extended all over the world in the form of the proxy war between the US and the USSR in their respective allies nation. It sustained the tensions right from the end of world war 2 for more than four decades.

Cuban Missile Crisis:
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict.

Immediate results after the crisis:
Two other important results of the crisis came in unique forms. First, despite the flurry of direct and indirect communications between the White House and the Kremlin— perhaps because of it—Kennedy and Khrushchev, and their advisers struggled throughout the crisis to clearly understand each others’ true intentions, while the world hung on the brink of a possible nuclear war. In an effort to prevent this from happening again, a direct telephone link between the White House and the Kremlin was established; it became known as the “Hotline.” Second, having approached the brink of nuclear conflict, both superpowers began to reconsider the nuclear arms race and took the first steps in agreeing to a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Incidents after the Cuban Missile Crisis:

• Deadly war in Vietnam.
• Invasion of the Cezh by the Soviet Union.
• The space race between the US and the USSR.
• Conclusion of arms reduction treaties like the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty and Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the US and the USSR.
• Invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union.
• Reforms measures of Glasnost and Perestroika in the Soviet Union.
• Fall of the Berlin wall and the unification of Germany.

Present day form of the cold war:
The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 had created the bipolar world into a unipolar world. Thus the cold war had come to an end. But the rise of assertive China and Russia once again started the tension between global powers. This can be seen in the form of trade tensions and unilateral sanctions by the US on its adversaries.

Conclusion:
The need of the hour is an effective dispute settlement body which is non-partisan in nature. The tensions between global power not only affects them but adversely affects the developing countries in this globalized world. Thus the trade and commerce can be used as a powerful tool to prevent the escalation of tensions between nations.