The New Cold War
• Following the Helsinki Conference, the momentum of détente began to fade. By 1980, relations between the USA and the Soviet Union had deteriorated so much that it seemed the Cold War had reignited.
• This renewed tension became known as the New Cold War. Unlike the original Cold War, this phase was driven less by ideological conflict and more by the balance of power.
• During the New Cold War, a new power bloc emerged: the People’s Republic of China, which became a force that could neither be ignored nor defeated.
• A major turning point was the Soviet Union’s military intervention in Afghanistan in 1979.
• The New Cold War was characterized by both superpowers striving to extend their influence primarily beyond Europe, making conflicts outside Europe more significant than ever before.
• For the Soviet Union, détente meant accepting the status quo in Europe alone. In regions such as Indochina, Africa, and Afghanistan, both the USA and USSR supported rival factions.
End of the Cold War
The New Cold War ended with the rapid collapse of communism across several Eastern European countries. This wave of change started in Poland in 1988 and soon spread to Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. Eventually, communism fell in its birthplace—the Soviet Union itself. By the close of 1991, the USSR had dissolved into independent republics, leaving Russia unable to wield the same level of influence as the former Soviet Union. This marked the definitive end of the Cold War.
