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Class 12 Political
Science Notes
Chapter 1 The Cold
War Era
April 17, 2019 by Bhagya

CBSE Class 12 Political Science Notes Chapter

1 The Cold War Era is part of Class 12 Political
Science Notes for Quick Revision. Here we have
given NCERT Political Science Class 12 Notes
Chapter 1 The Cold War Era.

Political Science Class

12 Notes Chapter 1 The
Cold War Era
Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuba was an ally of the Soviet Union and

received diplomatic and Onancial aid from
it. In April 1961, leaders of the USSR were
worried that the United States of America
would invade communist-ruled Cuba and
overthrow its President Fidel Castro.
In 1962, the leader of the Soviet Union,
Nikita Khrushchev, placed nuclear missiles
in Cuba for converting it into a Russian
base.
Three weeks later, Americans became
aware of it. The US President John F.
Kennedy and his advisers tried to Ond a
solution to avoid full-scale nuclear war. But
they were determined to get Khrushchev
to remove the missiles and nuclear
weapons from Cuba.
Kennedy ordered American warships to
intercept any Soviet ships heading to Cuba
as a way of warning the USSR. This clash
between the USA and the USSR came to
be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. It
made the whole world nervous.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a high point
which came to be known as the Cold War.
It refers to the competition, the tensions
and a series of confrontations between
the United States and Soviet Union.

Cold War

The Cold War was the war of ideologies.

The US followed the ideology of liberal
democracy and capitalism while the USSR
backed the ideology of socialism and
communism.
The Second World War (1939-1945) came
to an end with the defeat of the Axis
powers led by Germany, Italy and Japan by
the Allied forces led by the US, Soviet
Union, Britain and France.
It marked the beginning of the Cold War.
The Second World War ended when the
United States dropped two atomic bombs
on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in August 1945, causing Japan
to surrender.
This decision of the US was both criticised
and supported. But the consequence of
the end of the Second World War was the
rise of two new powers on the global
stage.
The United States and the Soviet Union
became the greatest powers in the world
with the ability to in^uence events
anywhere on Earth.
But the Cold War inspite of being an
intense form of rivalry between great
powers, remained a ‘cold’ and not hot or
shooting war. It was due to the ‘logic of
deterrence’.
The ‘logic of deterrence’ means when both
sides have the capacity to respond against
an attack and to cause so much
destruction that neither can afford to
initiate war.
The two superpowers and their allies were
expected to behave as rational and
responsible actors.

The Emergence of Two Power Blocs

 The two superpowers i.e. the US and

USSR wanted to expand their spheres of
in^uence in different parts of the world.
Hence, they decided to take help of the
smaller countries.
These smaller states got the promise of
protection, weapons and economic aid
against their local rivals, mostly regional
neighbours.
The Orst division took place in Europe.
Most countries of Western Europe sided
with the US and thus, came to be known
as ‘Western alliance.
The countries of the Eastern Europe joined
the Soviet camp and came to be known as
‘Eastern alliance.’
The Western alliance formed itself into an
organisation, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO). It came into
existence in April, 1949 with twelve states.
The NATO declared that armed attack on
any one of them in Europe or North
America would be regarded as an attack
on all of them.
The Eastern alliance, also known as the
Warsaw Pact, was led by the Soviet Union.
It was established in 1955. Its principle
function was to counter NATO’s forces in
Europe.
In East and South East Asia and in West
Asia (Middle East), the United States built
an alliance system called the South-East
Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO) and
the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO).
Many newly independent countries were
worried of losing their freedom. Cracks
and splits within the alliances were quick
to appear.
Communist China quarrelled with the
USSR towards the late 1950s. The other
important development was the Non-
Aligned Movement (NAM).
The smaller countries were of more help
to the superpowers because they were the
means to gain
vital resources such as oil and minerals;
locations to spy each other and to launch
weapons.

Arenas of the Cold War

The arenas of the Cold War refer to areas

where crisis and war occurred or
threatened to occur between the alliance
systems but did not cross certain limits.
The Cold War was also responsible for
several shooting wars.
The two superpowers were poised for
direct encounter in Korea (1950-53), Berlin
(1958-62), the Congo (the early 1960s)
and in several other places.
Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the key leader of
NAM played a key role in mediating
between the two Koreas. In the Congo
crisis, the UN Secretary General played a
key mediatory role.
The US and USSR decided to collaborate
in limiting or eliminating certain kinds of
nuclear and non-nuclear weapons.
The two sides signed three signiOcant
agreements within a decade. These were :
Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT).
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT)
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABMT)

Challenge to Bipolarity

Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) offered the

newly decolonised countries of Asia,
Africa and Latin America a third option i.e.
not to join any of the alliances.
NAM was founded by three leaders-
Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito, India’s
Jawaharlal Nehru and Egypt’s leader
Gamal Abdel Nasser. Indonesia’s Sukarno
and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah strongly
supported them. The Orst NAM summit
was held in 1961 at Belgrade.
Non-Alignment neither means
isolationism nor neutrality. It played a role
in mediating between the two rival
alliances.

New International Economic Order

The challenge for the newly decolonised

countries was to become more developed
economically and to lift their people out of
poverty. The idea
of a New International Economic Order
(NIEO) originated with this realisation.
The United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development (UNCTAD) brought out a
report in 1972 entitled ‘Towards a New
Trade Policy for Development’.
The nature of Non-Alignment changed to
give greater importance to economic
issues. As a result,
NAM became an economic pressure
group.

India and the Cold War

India followed a two way policy regarding

the Cold War. It did not join any of the
alliances and raised
voice against the newly decolonised
countries becoming part of these
alliances.
The policy of India was not ‘^eeing away’
but was in favour of actively intervening in
world affairs to soften Cold War rivalries.
The Non-Alignment gave India the power
to take international decisions and to
balance one superpower against the other.
India’s policy of Non-Alignment was
criticised on a number of counts. But still it
has become both as an international
movement and a core of India’s foreign
policy.

FACTS THAT MATTER

1. Cuban Missile Crisis made whole world

nervous by creating clashes between the two
superpowers, the US and Soviet Union namely
Cold War.

2. Cold War referred to competitions, tensions

and series of confrontations between the US
and USSR.

3. In 1945, with the end of Second World War,

Cold War began when the US dropped bombs
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in diplomatic
manner to warn Soviet Union.

4. Both the powers became reluctant to initiate

war to protect world from large scale
destruction as they were a.vare that it will not
lead only political aim to them.

5. The greed of expansion of their spheres of

in^uence divided the world into alliances. The
US built NATO, South East Asian Treaty
Organisation (SEATO) and Central Treaty
Organisation (CENTO).

6. The Soviet UnrIri created Eastern alliance

known as WARSAW PACT.

7. Smaller states „Maine either the alliance to

get the promise of protection, weapons and
economic aid against their local rivals.

8. Superpower required them to gain on access

to vital resources, territory to launch weapons
and troops, to spy on each other and economic
support.

9. Despite of occurring crisis in Korea, Vietnam

and Afghanistan, both the superpowers behaved
rationally and responsibly.

10. Both the superpowers maintained ‘arms

control’ by signing various treaties as Limited
Test Ban Treaty, Nuclear Non-proliferation
Treaty and Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

11. Countries outside the two blocs known as

NAM (Non-Aligned Movement), joined by
decolonised countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin
America, played a crucial role in reducing cold
war con^icts to maintain peace and stability all
over the world.

12. Five founder members of NAM were

Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz Tito, India’s JL Nehru,
Egypt’s leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, Indonesia’s
Sukarno and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah.

13. The majority of NAM members was

categorised as Least Developed Countries
(LDCs) which initiated economic development
under the head of New International Economic
Order (NIEO).

14. The United Nations Conference of Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) brought out a report in
1972 to propose to give the LDCs control over
their natural resources, to make western market
available to them to reduce cost of technology
and to provide greater role in international
economic institutions.

15. India responded to growth of Cold War into

two fold. First, it stayed away from alliances and
secondary, it raised voice against newly
decolonised countries becoming part of either
the alliance.

16. NAM served India’s interests also to

participate in international decisions and
maintained balance between two superpowers.

17. India’s policy was criticised on grounds of

possessing contradictory postures i.e. signed
treaty of friendship with the USSR in August
1971 for 20 years and developed good relations
with the US during Bangladesh crisis.

18. It is said that NAM has lost its relevance

after disintegration of USSR and end of cold war
in 1991.

19. NAM is based on a resolve to democratise

international system to redress existing
inequities that poor and very small countries
need not to follow any of the big powers instead
they can pursue an independent foreign policy
also.

20. These core values make NAM relevant even

in today’s scenario as it has stood of adverse
circumstances and served an important
purpose of protecting the interests of third world
countries.

WORDS THAT MATTER

1. Cold War: Cold war referred to

competitions, tensions and a series of
confrontations between the US and USSR.
2. Cuban Missile Crisis: It created
tensions between the US and USSR when
Soviet Union (USSR) installed missiles in
Cuba to make it a Russian base.
3. Allied Forces: Allied forces were one of
the two camps during second world war
including the US, Soviet Union, Britain and
France.
4. Axis Power: It was another camp against
allied forces led by German” Italy and
Japan.
5. Alliance System: Alliance system was
created by the two superpowers to expand
their sphere of in^uence all over the world.
l. Deterrence: It was a logic followed by
both the superpowers to avoid large scale
destruction
i. e. not to take place hot war between
them because both of them had the
capacity to retaliate.
7. Neutrality: Neutrality is a condition not to
participate in world affairs or make
oneself aloof from world.
m. Decolonisation: To make colonised
states free from the rule of mother
country.

TIMELINE

1947 American President Harry Truman’s

Doctrine about containment of
communism.
1947-52 Marshall Plan: US aid for
reconstruction of Western Europe.
1948-49 Berlin blockade by the Soviet
Union.
1950-53 Korean War
1954 Defeat of the French by Vietnamese
at Dien Bien Phu; Signing of Geneva
Accord; Division of Vietnam along the 17th
parallel formation of SEATO.
1954-75 American intervention in
Vietnam.
1955 Signing of Baghdad Pact, later
CENTO.
1956 Soviet intervention in Hungary.
1961 US-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion
of Cuba construction of Berlin Wall.
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
1965 American Intervention in the
Dominican Republic
1968 Soviet intervention in
Czechoslovakia.
1972 US President Richard Nixon’s visit to
China
1978-89 Vietnamese intervention in
Cambodia
1979-89 Soviet intervention in
Afghanistan
1985 Gorbachev becomes the president
of the USSR and begins reform process.
1989 Fall of Berlin Wall
1990 UniOcation of Germany
1991 Disintegration of Soviet Union, End
of the Cold War era.

We hope the given CBSE Class 12 Political

Science Notes Chapter 1 The Cold War Era will
help you. If you have any query regarding
NCERT Political Science Class 12 Notes Chapter
1 The Cold War Era, drop a comment below and
we will get back to you at the earliest.

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