Cold War time span

[Ratch]

I'm sure I've seen a definition somewhere (though I can't find it now) so I'll ask here...

Does the SIG work to definitive dates as to when the Cold War started and ended?
Was Churchill's speech on the Iron Curtain descending on Europe considered the start and the fall of the Berlin Wall the end - for example.

Also, its easy to define the main adversaries - USSR & the Eastern Bloc vs USA & NATO - but does that exclude all others or are there exceptions? Was China considered to be involved for example.

Just a couple of questions that have drifted into my consciousness

[DavidWomby]

I think the end is usually counted as Christmas 1991 when the Soviet Union officially dismantled itself.

David

[IronMan129]

Hiya Ratch, with regards to the Start and Finish of the Cold War I use a very scientific way, I search Cold War on Wikipedia and the dates are there haha! .

We have had Chinese aircraft on display in the past so I guess thats a yes to that question.

Also yes other conflicts are included as these small wars were used by NATO and the Soviet Union to flex their muscles at eachother so to speak, I have had an A-37B Dragonfly on display which was used in the Vietnam War for example.

[Ratch]

Thanks guys, appreciated

[shangos70]

Hi this is what Falcon said regarding timeframes.

The dates the Cold War SIG has to work between are March 5 1946 (Churchill's ''Iron Curtain'' speech) and December 25 1991 - the day that US President George H. W. Bush received a phone call from Boris Yeltsin acknowledging the end of the Cold War. It is also the same day Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as President of the USSR and the hammer and sickle is lowered for the last time over the Kremlin.

[Ratch]

Thanks Shane - that's the quote I couldn't remember fully (or where it was)

[Dazzled]

Being a bit of a modern history buff, as I suspect many of us are on the forum, I've always considered the Potsdam conference to be the beginning of the Cold War as it fundamentally changed the relationship between the USSR and the West. It's a view shared by most historians.

[Ratch]

I've always considered the Potsdam conference to be the beginning of the Cold War

But we were still fighting on the same side in Feb 45. The seeds may have been sown then, but I think it stretches the criteria somewhat.

[Dazzled]

I've always considered the Potsdam conference to be the beginning of the Cold War

But we were still fighting on the same side in Feb 45. The seeds may have been sown then, but I think it stretches the criteria somewhat.

I see you're point Ratch but Potsdam is identifiably the point where, even as allies, East and West began to diverge, prompted by Truman's revelation of a secret super weapon, feeding Stalin's paranoia and mistrust.

It's one of the joys of historical analysis really. That's why historians are never 100% agreed about anything. I wonder if the Cold War would have happened at all if the Soviets had been fully included in atomic bomb development from the start?

[feanor]

Ayup...

I think the cold war is still very much ongoing unfortunately.

[IronMan129]

Good points folks!

Feanor - this would technically count as the Second leg of the Cold War, the first officially ended when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

[feanor]

Ayup Maverick...

With the new Edward Snowden revelations today, can you be sure ? Just a rhetorical Question, mind.

[Falcon]

The original timeframe set out on the formation of the Cold War IPMS(UK) SIG was March 5 1946 to December 25 1991.

On March 5 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his ‘Sinews of Peace’ speech at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, warning of the descent of an Iron Curtain across Europe. This is widely accepted as the beginning of the Cold War.

As for the final days of the Cold War, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break up of the Soviet Union, we had decided that Christmas Day 1991 was the end of this historic time. On December 25 1991 US President George H. W. Bush, after receiving a phone call from Boris Yeltsin, delivers a Christmas day speech acknowledging the end of the Cold War. On the very same day, Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the USSR. The hammer and sickle was lowered for the final time over the Kremlin.

[Dazzled]

The original timeframe set out on the formation of the Cold War IPMS(UK) SIG was March 5 1946 to December 25 1991.

Good to have a group definition. Thanks Chris.