A-6 Class Six – The Cold War Cost and Consequences

Joe BoisvertAdjunct Professor – Gulf

Coast State College Encore – Fall 2011 and

Spring 2012

Definition of Cold War

It is called the Cold War because neither the Soviet Union nor the United States officially declared war on each other, although both sides clearly struggled to prevent the other side from spreading its economic and political systems around the World.

Quotes by Bernard Baruch.Regarding Cold War

Let us not be deceived — we are today in the midst of a cold war. Our enemies are to be found abroad and at home. Let us never forget this: Our unrest is the heart of their success. The peace of the world is the hope and the goal of our political system; it is the despair and defeat of those who stand against us. Speech to the South Carolina legislature, 1947

Regarding Freedom of OpinionEvery man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts. 

Bernard BaruchCoined

Term Cold War

End of the Cold WarThroughout the 1980s, the Soviet Union fought an

increasingly frustrating war in AfghanistanAt the same time, the Soviet economy faced the

continuously escalating costs of the arms race. Dissent at home grew while the stagnant economy faltered under the combined burden. Attempted reforms at home left the Soviet Union unwilling to rebuff challenges to its control in Eastern Europe.

During 1989 and 1990, the Berlin Wall came down, borders opened, and free elections ousted Communist regimes everywhere in eastern Europe.

In late 1991 the Soviet Union itself dissolved into its component republics. With stunning speed, the Iron Curtain was lifted and the Cold War came to an end.

Dangerous Games Under the Seas

Cost of the Cold WarDuring the Cold War, the United States

invested heavily in submarine technology to counter a much larger Soviet submarine force. Technological superiority proved a winning but expensive strategy. How expensive is hard to say. Determining the cost of any advanced military technological system produced in relatively small numbers raises complex problems. There are no price lists for nuclear-powered submarines.

A 1998 study estimated that the United States spent $2 trillion in 1996 dollars

Cold Was Costs US > 13.1 Trillion Dollars $13,100,000,000,000Total cost of the Cold War (1948-1991) in 1996

dollars = $13.1 Trillion.Average annual military spending during

Cold War = $298.5 Billion. (1945 to 1991) 46*298.5 =

13.7 Trillion not including lots of StuffAverage annual military spending during

peacetime Cold War (excluding Korean and Vietnam War years) = $285.4 Billion.

Prepared by Martin Calhoun, Senior Research Analyst, July 9, 1996.

Viet Nam 684 Billion

Cost for Wars in VietnamThe new report by the Congressional

Research Service estimates the U.S. has spent $648 billion on Iraq war operations, putting it in range with the $686 billion, in 2008 dollars, spent on the Vietnam War, the second most expensive war behind World War II. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. has doled out almost $860 billion for military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere around the world.

Saigon, South Vietna

m

Funding for Security in One Fiscal Year After the Cold War - US FUNDING FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES- Of

the $475,500,000 authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2000 in section 301(23) for Cooperative Threat Reduction programs, not more than the following amounts may be obligated for the purposes specified:

This is After the Cold War

ONSEQUENCES:

The Vietnam War cost the United States 58,000 lives and 350,000 casualties. It also resulted in between one and two million Vietnamese deaths.

From the CIA Web PageGNP = $1.465 trillion (2010 est.)

Cost of Cold War Estimate – (1.465*.60)*46 = 41.3 Trillion dollars 41,300,000,000,000

Based on Estimates of USSR using 60% of GNP/ year for the 46 years of the Cold War in 2010 DollarsIn 2009 Russia was the world's largest exporter of natural gas, the second largest exporter of oil, and the third largest exporter of steel and primary aluminum -

Guesstimate of USSR Cold War Costs Although the exact figures for the

Soviet Union are unknown, they spent a larger percentage of their gross national product on the war, maybe as much as 60 percent.

Rough Estimate Using 2010 GNP and 46 Years

41.3 Trillion

In the American system one billion is 1,000,000,000 and a trillion is 1,000,000,000,000 so one trillion is one thousand times one billion.

MILLION = 1,000,000

BILLION = 1,000,000,000

TRILLION = 1,000,000,000,000

We are using the following definitions of million, billion and trillion...

Russian Air Power

:Reminiscent of Soviet Days

Berlin 1945 to 1948

An electromagnetic separation facility in Sverdlovsk, Russia, used for uranium enrichment, is shown in an undated high-altitude photograph taken during the Cold War. Many of the spy photos made of the Soviet Union taken in the urgent context of the Cold War now aid in peaceful purposes, such as disarmament verification.

High Altitude Photo’s

Echoes of Cold War as two Russian nuclear submarines are spotted off U.S.

Fears of a new Cold War stand-off grew last night after two Russian nuclear submarines were spotted patrolling off the coast of America.

The rare sighting has raised fears in the Pentagon that the Kremlin is taking a more aggressive stance against Washington.

It was the first time since the early 1990s that the Russians have sailed  submarines as close as 200 miles off the US coastline.

Russian Sub Just Seen off Our Coast

The End Class SixThank You