After World War II, European fascism was eliminated and world peace was restored. 1946 On March 5th, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered an "Iron Curtain Speech" in Fulton, USA, which officially kicked off the Cold War. At this time, the capitalist countries headed by the United States established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO for short) (then NATO included Canada). In order to prevent western Europe (including Greece and Turkey) from carrying out socialist revolution, 1947, 12 In March, Henry S. Truman, then President of the United States, promulgated the "Truman Doctrine", which marked the beginning of the Cold War. The United States also provided economic assistance to Western Europe to prevent * * * from coming to power. At that time, the Soviet Union controlled most of Eastern Europe (East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and later withdrew). 1955, 14 in may, the Warsaw pact was established in eastern Europe, and the cold war between the United States and the Soviet union was the real beginning. At that time, the United States and the Soviet Union were both "superpowers" in the world. In order to compete for world hegemony, the two countries and their allies fought for decades. During this period, despite the serious differences and conflicts, both sides tried their best to avoid the outbreak of a large-scale world war (World War III), and their confrontation was usually carried out by "cold" means such as local proxy war, science and technology and arms race, space race and diplomatic competition, that is, "mutual containment without the use of force", so it was called "Cold War". 1953 Khrushchev came to power. In 1960s, Sino-Soviet relations deteriorated and the aid plan to China was cancelled. During the Cold War, Khrushchev led the Soviet Union to confront capitalist countries such as the United States and Western Europe, and visited the United States many times. 1962, the Cuban missile crisis he planned once put the Soviet Union and the United States on the brink of nuclear war, but the crisis was finally subsided. 1964 Khrushchev had to step down because of the wrong domestic reform, which led to unprecedented turmoil in the world. The most deadlocked and turbulent period occurred after Khrushchev stepped down, in the era of Brezhnev, andropov and Chernenko. 1985 When Gorbachev came to power, the Soviet countries were about to face disaster, and the socialist countries in Eastern Europe were also in turmoil. From 65438 to 0989, a large number of citizens fled the GDR, which caused great political turmoil in the long-term and stable GDR. At this time, the leadership of the Central Committee of the German Unified Socialist Party changed, and then the party's policy changed: recognizing the opposition organization "New Forum" as a legal organization; The government announced the opening of the border between East and West Berlin and the dismantling of the "Berlin Wall"; Decided to implement a multi-party system. The following spring, three opposition coalitions named "German Union" won the general election. 10 In June, the German Democratic Republic merged into the Federal Republic of Germany, realizing the unification of the two countries. After the Berlin Wall was opened, a large number of East German citizens went to West Berlin. Later, it was extended to Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and other Yuan Hua countries. The drastic changes in eastern Europe have changed the political system and social nature of eastern European countries. Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the Cold War. 1989 65438+On February 3, the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union announced the end of the Cold War at the Malta Summit. 1In July, 1990, German Chancellor Kohl persuaded Gorbachev not to oppose Germany's reunification under NATO in exchange for Germany's continued economic assistance to the Soviet Union, thus clearing the last obstacle to the reunification of the two countries. 1 991July1day, Warsaw Treaty Organization was officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague. At the summit in the same month, Gorbachev and US President Bush established a strategic partnership between the United States and the Soviet Union, thus ending the Cold War. President Bush said that during the Gulf War from 1990 to 199 1, the cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union was realized, thus laying a good foundation for the exchanges between the two sides and the world. 199165438+On February 8, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus met in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, with Gorbachev behind their backs. According to the communique issued by the three parties after the meeting, the three countries have signed an agreement with the Commonwealth of Independent States. Declare that "the Soviet Union, as the subject of international law and geopolitical reality, no longer exists", and the laws and all norms of the Soviet Union are no longer applicable in the three countries. The total population, total area and economic strength of these three Slavic countries are absolutely dominant in the alliance. The decisions of these three countries finally shattered Gorbachev's efforts to sign the new alliance treaty. After the publication of the Minsk Conference Communiqué, the leaders of the five Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union-Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan issued a statement on June 5438+099165438+February 13, expressing their willingness to become equal founders of the Commonwealth of Independent States. 19911On February 25th, Gorbachev signed his last presidential decree: he resigned as the supreme commander of the armed forces and handed over the control of the armed forces and the "nuclear button" to Yeltsin. In the evening 19, Gorbachev gave a speech to the whole country and the whole world to resign as president of the Soviet Union in front of the camera in the presidential palace. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe marked the end of the Cold War.