History of the Cold War
The weekly academic meeting on oral history was held on Wednesday July 3 2024 with the speech of Dr. Mohammad Hossien Mahdian. The topic of his speech this week was the History of the Cold War. The main issues discussed in this speech are as follows:
The weekly academic meeting on oral history was held on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, with the speech of Dr. Mohammad Hossien Mahdian. The topic of his speech this week was the History of the Cold War. The main issues discussed in this speech are as follows:
Question (Ms. Dr. Karamati): What was the reason for choosing Tehran to host the Tehran Conference in 1943?
Dr. Mahdian: In the initial stages, there were talks between America and the Soviet Union. Due to Roosevelt's illness and the fact that he was not very active, and after all, traveling by plane in those years had many risks, and Stalin did not want this conference to be held at a great distance from the Soviet Union. On the other hand, Iran was occupied, and all its borders were under control. After extensive negotiations, Tehran was finally chosen for this conference.
Dr. Sajjadpour: From today, the history of the Cold War will be discussed. Several centers do specialized work on the Cold War. The Cold War had a great effect on the history and events of Iran, and for this reason, it should be examined.
Dr. Mahdian: The Second World War ended, and the Red Army entered Germany earlier than the British and American armies. Some events, such as those in Azerbaijan and Iran and the creation of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, caused a gap between the victors of World War II. Stalin clearly said that wherever the Red Army entered, Soviet regulations would be established there. Apart from Yugoslavia and Albania, which had a partisan system and liberated their countries themselves, the Red Army liberated the rest of the Eastern European countries.
Marshal Tito had gone to the Soviet Union years ago and studied the communists' politics. He wanted to follow this system while maintaining independence. For this reason, he sent representatives to negotiate with Stalin, but the Soviet Union and Stalin did not accept this issue, and their relationship did not improve.
Other major events in these years were the formation of East Germany, Eastern Europe with a socialist system, the formation of Communist China under the leadership of Mao Zedong, and the Korean War in 1950 during Stalin's lifetime. The leader of the Communist Party of Korea was appointed to this position by Stalin himself. In the 1950s, North Korea achieved significant successes in the war, captured Seoul, and was advancing when the United States and the United Nations intervened. On the other hand, China gave great help to the Soviet Union in this war. The Soviet soldiers in Korea were completely different in appearance, but the Chinese were similar to the Koreans, and this helped them.
America's concern at the head of Western countries was that the Soviet Union would create regimes in different countries that the people did not support. This issue would cause anarchy at the global level. On the other hand, the Soviet Union was also afraid of the economic levers of Principle 4 of the Marshall Plan. The Soviets believed that the Americans were trying to establish a unipolar system with this plan. The Soviet Union did not have the financial resources of the United States. Therefore, in 1949, they closed the doors of Berlin in order to force Western countries not to pursue the Marshall Plan as before.
The Soviet people had seen European countries in the form of the Red Army and realized that the living conditions in these countries were far better than in the Soviet Union. Hunger in the Soviet Union was very high during the time of the Bolsheviks, and the years 1945-1946 were one of the worst years in terms of hunger for people of the Soviet Union. The socialist view in China and the Soviet Union was different and this caused the livelihood in China to be better than in the Soviet Union. From the beginning, Mao sought to obtain nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union. Despite the numerous Soviet assistance in the field of nuclear industry, China's satisfaction was not met.
In the last two years of his life, Stalin was no longer able to do things. Nevertheless, he issued the order to shoot the doctors of the Kremlin hospital because of the wrong prescription to destroy the Soviet leaders. Still, he failed to carry out this order. In 1953, Stalin died after a stroke. After death, Stalin's body was sent to the hospital to be embalmed. Stalin's body was embalmed and buried next to Lenin. After some time, the body was taken out and buried in Red Square. After Stalin's death, Beria, who was the Minister of Security, made many attempts to seize power. Marshal Zhukov, one of the influential Soviet military, invited all the officials of the time to the Kremlin Palace. After Beria attended this meeting, he was arrested and imprisoned in a military barracks, where he was shot.
Stalin had two sons and one daughter. Stalin's first son was captured in the war and killed during a prison break in 1943. Stalin's second son had become a major general of the Air Force. He was not morally balanced and could not be controlled. After Stalin's death, he was imprisoned and died at the age of 45. Stalin's daughter also had the rebellious nature of her father. She had many marriages in her life. Her last marriage was with an Indian who left the Soviet Union to travel to India after his death with strict security measures to take the ashes of her husband's body.
Many of the repressions of the Stalin era were transferred to the Khrushchev era. In Iran during this period, the people of the Tudeh Party were attacked, and many of them were arrested and exiled. The people of the Tudeh Party were deported to the bad-climate regions of the Soviet Union and then to East Germany. Khrushchev was not successful at all in economic affairs, but he saved the Soviet people from living in a shanty town. Khrushchev also repeated the slogans of the Stalin era but failed to implement them.
In 1954, Nikita Khrushchev ceded the Crimean Peninsula to Ukraine. The Russian people were against this handover because Russia had fought 11 times with the Ottomans for the ownership of this peninsula. The reason for this action was that Khrushchev was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine for many years and had a great inclination towards this country, even though he was of Russian origin. In addition, in 1991 and 1997, Yeltsin spoke two more times about handing over this island to Ukraine. Still, the Soviet fleet remained in the Black Sea and maintained its communication routes by renting these fleets. But immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine did not cooperate with them for the Russian activity in the Black Sea. On the one hand, they increased the fares of the fleet so that Russia could not pay, and on the other hand, they did not issue permission for the Russian fleet to enter these waters. In this process, the Western countries, America and NATO also supported Ukraine. These actions of Ukraine and the existing support finally caused the Russians to enter their forces into the territory of Ukraine.
After these events in 1956, the people of Poland revolted, but this uprising was suppressed by force like the Berlin uprising. The Polish uprising was one of the largest uprisings in Eastern Europe against the central Soviet government. In terms of politics, Khrushchev wanted to interact with the capitalist world, that's why he proposed the doctrine of peaceful coexistence in 1956. During the riots and uprisings in Eastern Europe, communist regimes were overthrown. One of Khrushchev's great deeds was the release of thousands of people from the concentration camps that Stalin had imprisoned. In connection with agriculture, Khrushchev traveled to different countries and provided agricultural fields for various products.
In the same year, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and Soraya, Queen of Iran, visited the Soviet Union, and efforts were made to establish communication between the two countries. However, shortly after, Abdul-Karim Qasim's coup took place in Iraq, and the Soviet Union supported it. With Iran's entry into the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), relations between Iran and the Soviet Union became strained.
One of Khrushchev's distinguished works was organizing the Congress 1954. In this Congress, Stalin's countless crimes were enumerated, and some countries containing Stalinism left this meeting as a sign of protest. If Khrushchev had not been the initiator of this congress, other Soviet leaders would not have been able to expose Stalin's crimes, especially in the concentration camps. During Khrushchev's time, society became more open, and Khrushchev did not hide himself like Stalin and interacted with people more. Some members of the party were trying to destroy Khrushchev, and these plans were revealed, and these people were expelled from the party.
During Lenin's time, an international university was established under the name of The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (KUTV), where some of the people of the Tudeh Party of Iran, including Reza Rousta, studied in these universities. The Soviets tried to create a similar university named after Patrick Lumumba. Khrushchev established good relations with the countries that formed the Non-Aligned Movement together, such as Egypt, Indonesia, India, etc. Khrushchev's way of dealing with Marshal Zhukov (commander of the Red Army during World War II) was not ethical and appropriate. Of course, Marshal had confiscated many German trophies for himself, and Khrushchev wanted to prevent him from gaining power. Many Soviet equipment and industries were dismantled from German industries and equipment. Due to the losses that the Soviets had suffered in the war, the Yalta Conference was held in February 1945, according to which the Soviets could dismantle everything they needed from German industries.
Konrad Adenauer was the most popular chancellor of Germany because he established friendly relations with the Soviet Union and used these relations to free a large number of German prisoners in the Soviet Union. Another of Khrushchev's measures was the development of the aviation industry and the Soviet Union surpassing the United States in space affairs. The deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962 was one of Khrushchev's actions. In 1961, American nuclear missiles were deployed in Türkiye. In October 1962, the shadow of nuclear war covered the whole world, and with Khrushchev's tact and the removal of these missiles from Cuba and the transfer of American missiles from Turkey, this danger was removed from the world. During Khrushchev's time, the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. Because people were frequently refugees from East Germany to West Germany, this wall was destroyed in 1989.
Dr. Sajjadpour: The Crimean peninsula has a prestigious aspect for the Russians, and they believe that they have given blood to protect Crimea from the Ottomans, and Ukraine has not given even a drop of blood for this peninsula. The topics in this meeting can be examined from three aspects. First, understanding the issues of Russia with the review that took place in this meeting; second, understanding the world; and third, understanding the relations between Iran and Russia. In the context of Russia, it is very important to understand political figures. For example, world history does not have the Western equivalent of Stalin or even Khrushchev in America or England. This doubles the importance of studying Russian figures. The second thing is that there was a lot of conspiracy in the Russian system. Most of the developments have happened from above and with the conspiracy system. The third important issue is the issue of the Communist Party. Without understanding the Communist Party, the nature, internal complexities, and provincial experience of this part of the entire Soviet Union cannot be understood. The second axis is the examination of the whole world. After World War II, the world had only two great powers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The rest of the power is gone. In these divisions, Eastern Europe becomes the sphere of Soviet influence, which should be considered in studying the transformation of this issue. The non-aligned countries were created during this period and did not agree very much with the Soviet opinion. The third axis is Iran-Soviet relations, which should be examined in three cases. The first is the bilateral relations between the two countries. Multi-layered and complex relations existed between the two countries, and while they were tense, they also had dynamics. Second, the third element must be considered in the bilateral relations of the two countries. This element is America. This country played a more active role in Iran after the Coup in 1953. This element still affects the relations between Iran and Russia. Third is the check of the presence of Iranian elements affiliated with Russia, that is, the same members of the Tudeh Party. Under the influence of global communist changes, these numbers also underwent transformations, and some of them became Maoists. Even now, in Iran, few people are under the influence of communist thoughts. The Iranian element of the Communist Party has many ups and downs and has devoted a sea of content to itself. Communism is nothing more than an illusion, and it still has the potential to make different societies miserable.
Zeinab Chaldavi (expert of the Institute for Political and International Studies)