Was There a Real “Mineshaft Gap”? Bomb Shelters in the USSR, 1945–1962

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Geist
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Civil Defense ◽  
Cuban Missile Crisis ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
The West ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Shelter Construction ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Council Of Ministers

During the Cold War, the nature, intent, and scale of Soviet civil defense were the subject of heated debate in the West. Some analysts claimed that the USSR possessed a massive civil defense program capable of seriously destabilizing the strategic nuclear balance. This article draws on previously unexamined archival sources to investigate Soviet shelter construction from 1953, when the USSR's civil defense forces began planning for nuclear war, until the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. These documents indicate that shelter construction consumed the majority of Soviet civil defense funding and was conducted by order of the Council of Ministers. Although the shelters were inadequate both technologically and quantitatively to protect the Soviet population from an all-out U.S. thermonuclear attack, they existed in significant numbers and represented a considerable expenditure of limited Soviet resources. These new revelations provide important insights into Soviet thinking about nuclear war during the Khrushchev era.

Kennedy, Israel and the Cold War before the Cuban Missile Crisis (1961–62)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Heller
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Cuban Missile Crisis ◽  
Nuclear Facility ◽  
The West ◽  
New Era ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Jewish Emigration ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
State Of Israel

Kennedys presidency marked a new era, but not to the extent of fulfilling Israel’s goals. It stopped treating Jewish emigration to Israel as escalating the conflict with the Arabs, and took Israel’s security issues more seriously. That led to the American decision to supply Israel with the Hawk missiles, although Israel was disappointed because they were defensive missiles, while Egypt had already offensive weapons, such as bombers and missiles. However, US was trying hard to convince Egypt side with the west by launching a new initiative to solve the Arab refugee question. Israel knew the return of the refugees would be the equivalent of the annihilation of the state of Israel. Ben-Gurion met Kennedy but could not convince him that Israel should be treated as an ally. Kennedy did not promise the immediate supply of Hawk missiles, and warned Israel against developing nuclear weapons, which would damage American-Israeli relations, In view of Soviet–Arab alliance Israel was left with no choice but to build the Dimona nuclear facility, thus gaining a powerful bargaining card.

Cold War Angst

German Angst ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 95-129
Author(s):  
Frank Biess
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Civil Defense ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
The West ◽  
Production Distribution ◽  
Emotional Politics

This chapter analyzes Cold War fears. The emotional politics of the West German Cold War consisted of a carefully calibrated balance between mobilizing fears of Communism and containing fears of a nuclear war. The chapter demonstrates the function of anti-Communism as a primary fear object in postwar West Germany, which also displayed numerous continuities to the Nazi mobilization of fears of Bolshevism. The chapter then analyzes a failed official attempt to contain fears of a nuclear war through civil defense. It analyzes the production, distribution, and popular reception of the first West German civil defense brochure, “Everybody Has a Chance,” in December 1961. The chapter uses this case study to demonstrate the (mal)functioning of an emotional regime that sought to contain fears and emotions in general in favour of a cool, rational, and male anti-emotionality. The chapter then also provides a multifaceted explanation as to why Cold War fears of nuclear war eventually subsided by the mid 1960s. Changing domestic and international political contexts played an important role, as did a more comprehensive commemorative culture that brought into view Germans as perpetrators rather than primarily as victims.

Introduction: Identifying Greece

2020 ◽  
pp. 2-20
Author(s):  
Kevin Featherstone
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The West ◽  
Distinctive Character ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Cold War

Identifying ‘Greece’ has often challenged scholars from different disciplines. Modern Greece has been equated with Europe’s south, the Balkans, or the Near East, whilst the weight of its historical inheritance has more generally placed it at the very core of understandings of what constitutes ‘Europe’ or, indeed, the ‘West’. It has been a case to define the divisions of the Cold War and, latterly, the vulnerabilities of the ‘eurozone’. Defining it from within or from without has elicited contestation. So, how might Greece be identified in the present? To introduce the volume, this chapter adopts a broad, comparative perspective. Firstly, it briefly outlines why Greece is of a wider interest to scholars, highlighting aspects of its history where it has appeared of larger significance than its size might normally warrant. Secondly, it proceeds to identify Greece’s development along a set of dimensions that serve to place it within comparative frames, addressing the question, ‘What type of case is Greece?’. To draw these different aspects together, the third section attempts to identify ‘imbalances’ within the Greek system that give it its distinctive character and to sketch how these aspects are, in fact, interlinked. Their complementarities sustain a set of constraints that structure the system’s developmental path. The latter has been of continuing international interest: its capacity to reform and to exit the recent debt crisis has been the subject of much debate. The Conclusion reflects on this comparative perspective for future research on Greece.

Victory in a Nuclear War? A Comparison of NATO and WTO War Aims and Strategies

1998 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Heuser
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
The West ◽  
War Aims ◽  
The Cold War

A question that haunted critical minds in the West throughout the Cold War was whether the evolution of two opposing military blocs in Europe meant that the blocs, their ideologies and their strategies, were actually mirror images of one another.

The Evolution of American Civil Defense Film Rhetoric

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-121
Author(s):  
Arnold Ringstad
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Civil Defense ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
Narrative Structures ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
The U.S

In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. government oversaw the production of civil defense films designed to educate the population about what to do in the event of nuclear war. This article uses films from two distinct periods—the early 1950s and the early 1960s—as a point of departure for discussing U.S. civil defense policies during the Cold War. The article traces four key shifts in the film program's rhetorical strategies. First, an early focus on ideological matters was replaced with an emphasis on practical steps citizens could take. Second, the early conventionalizing of nuclear dangers was replaced by a more subtle integration of those dangers into everyday life. Third, the early films' narrative structures were replaced by a straightforward, documentary-style approach. Finally, the early flippancy with which nuclear war was treated was replaced by a deadly seriousness. These rhetorical shifts indicate that the civil defense establishment was capable of reacting to scientific, political, and popular pressures.

Strategy for Survival

2019 ◽  
pp. 189-239
Author(s):  
Edward M. Geist
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Reagan Administration ◽  
Federal Emergency Management Agency ◽  
Civil Defense ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
Management Agency ◽  
Chernobyl Disaster ◽  
Management Organization ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter describes the evolution of the superpowers’ civil defense programs from the mid-1970s until the end of the Cold War. In the mid-1970s, the contrast between the USSR’s extensive civil defense effort and its moribund U.S. counterpart led to considerable anxiety that the Kremlin might see civil defense as a usable source of strategic advantage. Rebuffed in their efforts to convince the USSR to negotiate limits on its civil defense program, the Carter administration decided to revive U.S. civil defense on the basis of a strategic evacuation concept dubbed “Crisis Relocation Planning,” which the Reagan administration also pursued. Simultaneously, civil defense for nuclear war and peacetime emergency management were combined into a single agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Ironically, not only did Soviet leaders not perceive their civil defense program as a useable source of advantage, they grew increasingly sceptical of its utility throughout this period. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster accelerated this process and led to the reinvention of Soviet civil defense as a peacetime emergency management organization.

ANALIZA ORVELOVIH POGLEDA NA IDEJE SOCIJALIZMA U ŽIVOTINjSKOJ FARMI I 1984.

Lipar ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (74) ◽  
pp. 67-85
Author(s):  
Pavle Antonijevic
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
George Orwell ◽  
The West ◽  
Democratic Socialism ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Western Imperialism ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Animal Farm ◽  
The Cold War

This paper examines the last two literary works of George Orwell with the aim to analyze his political beliefs. Although these works have remained characterized primarily as critiques of totalitarianism and the Stalinist version of socialism, the pur- pose of this study is to show Orwell’s attitude towards the ideas of socialism in theory with parallel comparison of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Furthermore, in order to consider this problem more comprehensively, it was necessary to research the author’s attitude towards capitalism and liberalism. The article is divided into two main sections. The first section gives a brief overview of Orwell’s political evolution from the second to the fourth decades of 20th century. The second section examines the content of the books which are the subject of research. The article proves that Orwell remained committed to the ideas of democratic socialism in both of his liter- ary works. Portrayal of Orwell as an anti-socialist is unjustified and was formed due to the Cold War context in the West. Additionally, the article concludes that Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 contain a critique of capitalism and Western imperialism, which is more pronounced in Animal Farm as compared to 1984.

Islam and the West: Coexistence or Clash?

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 363-374
Author(s):  
Noor Mohammad Osmani ◽  
Tawfique Al-Mubarak
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Peaceful Coexistence ◽  
The West ◽  
Comprehensive Review ◽  
The World ◽  
Islamic Civilization ◽  
The Cold War

Samuel Huntington (1927-2008) claimed that there would be seven eight civilizations ruling over the world in the coming centuries, thus resulting a possible clash among them. The West faces the greatest challenge from the Islamic civilization, as he claimed. Beginning from the Cold-War, the Western civilization became dominant in reality over other cultures creating an invisible division between the West and the rest. The main purpose of this research is to examine the perceived clash between the Western and Islamic Civilization and the criteria that lead a civilization to precede others. The research would conduct a comprehensive review of available literatures from both Islamic and Western perspectives, analyze historical facts and data and provide a critical evaluation. This paper argues that there is no such a strong reason that should lead to any clash between the West and Islam; rather, there are many good reasons that may lead to a peaceful coexistence and cultural tolerance among civilizations

The Cold War in the Schools

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria M. Grieve
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
School Experiences ◽  
Civil Defense ◽  
Voluntary Programs ◽  
Exchange Programs ◽  
Science And Art ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
The Cold War

The Cold War experiences of America’s schoolchildren are often summed up by quick references to “duck and cover,” a problematic simplification that reduces children to victims in need of government protection. By looking at a variety of school experiences—classroom instruction, federal and voluntary programs, civil defense and opposition to it, as well as world friendship outreach—it is clear that children experienced the Cold War in their schools in many ways. Although civil defense was ingrained in the daily school experiences of Cold War kids, so, too, were fitness tests, atomic science, and art exchange programs. Global competition with the Soviet Union changed the way children learned, from science and math classes to history and citizenship training. Understanding the complexity of American students’ experiences strengthens our ability to decipher the meaning of the Cold War for American youth and its impact on the politics of the 1960s.

The Oxford Handbook of Global Studies

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Global City ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Global Studies ◽  
Capitalist Class ◽  
Approaches To Teaching ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Historical Antecedents

This handbook provides an overview of the emerging field of global studies. Since the end of the Cold War, globalization has been reshaping the modern world, and an array of new scholarship has risen to make sense of it in its various transnational manifestations—including economic, social, cultural, ideological, technological, environmental, and in new communications. The chapters discuss various aspects in the field through a broad range of approaches. Several chapters focus on the emergence of the field and its historical antecedents. Other chapters explore analytic and conceptual approaches to teaching and research in global studies. The largest section deals with the subject matter of global studies—challenges from diasporas and pandemics to the global city and the emergence of a transnational capitalist class. The final two sections feature chapters that take a critical view of globalization from diverse perspectives and essays on global citizenship—the ideas and institutions that guide an emerging global civil society. This handbook focuses on global studies more than on the phenomenon of globalization itself, although the various aspects of globalization are central to understanding how the field is currently being shaped.

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