In the “worlds” system, countries are ranked from First World to Third World. Third world countries are states that have unstable economies, immense levels of poverty, high mortality rates, few natural resources and lack a functioning class system. The countries of the Third World frequently rely on more developed and industrialized countries to stabilize their economy. The Cold War affected the developing countries of the Third World as they struggled to attain total independence, faced difficulty to regain stability after becoming independent, experienced Genocide, put in the midst of the power struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and the current trials the citizens that migrated to assist Britain are facing.
The Cold War has continuously impacted Cuba. In 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, Cuba gained independence but remained under U.S. control as a protectorate. Cuba is one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America due to their Sugar exports; however, the majority of its citizens live in poverty as the wealth distributed unequally and the U.S. have large investments in the industry (Dunn, 2015, p 683). The Cuban Revolution began after Fidel Castro overthrew Batista. The Cubans began to receive immense economic aid from the Soviet Union after a series of events between the U.S. and Cuba including radical reforms, covert actions and embargos by the U.S. The Soviets attempted to project imperial power through the installation of intermediate-range missiles in Cuba in 1962 (Dunn, 2015, p 803). The U.S. responded with a press release stating there would be immediate retaliation if the Soviet launched any of the missiles towards the Western Hemisphere and sent a naval flotilla to block Soviet supply ships. The Soviets’ responded with a negotiation of removing the missiles only under the condition that the U.S. would withdraw their nuclear weapons from Turkey and Kennedy’s promise to never invade the island again (Dunn, 2015, p 803). After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba has continued to struggle economically and politically.
1960 is frequently addressed as ‘The Year of Africa’ because forty-two African countries gained independence from European imperialism and colonial rule. Once these countries had become independent, they faced massive economic struggles, lacked social and cultural unity (Dunn, 2015, p 682). The African Colonies lacked education, political/health professionals and stable governments because of the manipulation of labor and resources by the European powers. The countries of Africa were soon the site of various civil wars.
An example of this is the war that broke out in Nigeria between the ethnic groups: Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo. After Nigeria became independent in 1960, the three ethnic groups collectively broke down the political system. The government had been overthrown by the Igbos, which led to riots against them resulting in thousands of deaths. The abuse of power by the Igbo community along with the exploitation of their country during the European colonial rule aligns with Ferguson's statement: “The heart of socialism was the fight against the exploitation of man by man. Such exploitation could take place in class terms, as powerful people abused their power, or it could occur in a geographical sense, as urbanites exploited rural villagers” (Ferguson, 2007, p 76). The Igbo region declared themselves the Republic of Biafra, which led to a civil war and resulted in over a million deaths. At the end of the war, Biafra became a part of Nigeria again. By 1999, democracy had been restored and Nigeria grew to be one of the world’s largest oil producers. Consequently, corruption began increasing which left the majority of Nigerians in a state of extreme poverty. The unfortunate events that took place in Nigeria after attaining independence, stem from the lack of preparation by the previous ruling European colonies.
While the majority of countries in Africa struggled to achieve stability after becoming independent, Rwanda faced devastating tragedies before and after they became independent from Belgium in 1962. Tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups had been rising since the late 1950s; and in the forty years that followed: approximately 480,000 Rwandans -mainly Tutsis- sought refuge in neighboring countries, a series of attacks towards the Hutus’ occurred, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was created to reform Rwandan government, a civil war broke out, and the Organization of African Unity created a peace agreement that was signed by both ethnic groups (United Nations, Rwanda Genocide). The Presidents of Burundi and Rwanda were killed in a plane crash -due to a rocket attack- on April 6th, 1994; and the several weeks that followed consisted of brutal and systematic massacres. This marked the start of the genocide in which over 800,000 people were killed, and an estimated 150,000-250,000 women were raped (United Nations, Rwanda Genocide).
On April 7th the Prime Minister, ten Belgian peacekeepers, and Hutu leaders had been brutally murdered; and after the massacre of its troops, Belgium withdrew the rest of their forces. On April 21st, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda’s force partially withdrew and went from 2,165 to 270 (United Nations, Rwanda Genocide). The killings continued to occur until the RPF took control of Rwanda through military control on July 4th, 1994. During the Cold War, foreign powers consistently withdrew their control over states without providing the means to maintain or reach economic, political, and social stability.
Several Third World countries had been independent of colonial rule for a long time, while others had only recently gained independence. Despite the length of time -in terms of independence- all Third World countries suffered from social inequality and extreme poverty. A number of nationalist leaders surfaced during the 1950s and 1960s with the goal to build stronger and more industrialized countries. These leaders shared the same goal: to no longer have foreign powers in control of their affairs. However, aid and assistance from wealthier nations were needed to become a stable country; which led the Third World nations to become engulfed in the power dispute between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. When the developing countries accepted the assistance from a superpower, they placed themselves at risk of falling under the control of that superpower or becoming the target of a hostile reaction from the opposing power. When leaders of the Third World nations sought out different ways to further develop without support from the powers, the nonaligned movement began.
In April of 1955, the Bandung Conference took place among the leaders and delegates from twenty-nine Asian and African states. The goal of the conference was to discuss how to promote economic success and positive living standards for their citizens, without assistance from the powers. This was necessary because the majority of developing countries were torn between the desire to establish a new way to exist in the political world and the determination to keep their citizens safe from the repercussions of “the West” and the USSR. Japan, for example, had to comply with U.S. policies as they provided assistance in the reconstruction of Japanese land after WWII. Nonetheless, Japan’s leaders also hoped for diplomacy and trade with all countries, regardless of their political stand. This hope would be difficult to achieve without triggering a negative response from the U.S.
The conference resulted in ten principles that supported equality, sovereignty and territorial integrity, settlement of disputes through peaceful means and rejected aggressive/ threatening acts regarding territorial integrity or political independence or exerting pressure on other countries (Report from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, 1955). The nonaligned movement was partially effective, some of the nonaligned countries gained political and economic support from both sides by remaining neutral. Nevertheless, the superpowers steadily employed a dominating influence over poverty-ridden nations; which faltered the movement’s success.
At the end of WWII and the beginning of the Cold War, Europe was in a state of complete disorder. They nearly lost an entire generation, their population growth rate declined, and their towns had been destroyed. To restore their country, the British began recruiting citizens from Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, St. Lucia, and their Caribbean colonies the “West Indies” with the promise of employment. This migration is referred to as the ‘Windrush Generation.’ The British Pathé published arrival footage from the 1948 arrival of five-hundred Jamaican citizens and the interviews that occurred at the time. The video shared the reasons the citizens came to Britain such as to find employment or rejoin the service (Pathé Reporter Meets, 1948).
These citizens are still experiencing the impact of the Cold War to this day, as the United Kingdom is currently determining if these citizens are legal (Blackboard, week 7). During week seven of this course, I learned that at the time of their arrival a visa was unrequired as Britain had colonial rule over their homeland-islands. However, once the majority of the islands became independent in the early 1960s; they were considered to be immigrants residing in Britain (Blackboard, week 7). These human beings may be obliged to vacate their new home, despite leaving their families to help Britain regain stability and continuing to live and work there for the past seventy years.
The Third World countries were continuously affected by the Cold War. The foreign powers did not give these countries the tools necessary to succeed before withdrawing, which only set them up for turmoil. The developing nations faced considerable challenges during their journey towards independence and continue to battle similar difficulties after their independence was achieved. The examples stated in this paper, only begin to scratch the surface of the obstacles that developing countries were confronted with during and after the Cold War.