Iranian Coup 1953: In 1953, the U.S and U.K assisted in overthrowing the government in Iran after the nationalization of the countries oil industry. Historically the British had control over the oil industry in Iran by controlling the largest oil corporation in the country, the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. This corporation had an exclusive land deal with Iran, giving 16% of the profits from the oil to the Iranian government. Because of this unfair monopoly the prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddeq, proposed the nationalization of the oil industry; and was met with support from the people of Iran. The U.K initially started with a boycott of Iranian oil before meeting with the U.S government. Both countries governments feared that nationalization would lead to the eventual installment of a communist government. This lead the countries to use bribery and other methods to stage a coup in support for the Iranian monarch; who was at the time supportive of the U.S and U.K. The coup was successful and lead to Mosaddeq's removal from office. The decision as a whole strikes me as odd, on one hand I understand the general fears of communist ideas spreading; but on the other the Western powers decided to install a government that didn't embrace the same principles. Iran under the rule of an all powerful monarch goes against the individualist principles of individual rights and freedoms associated with America's democracy. Saying that, it's obvious that I disagree with the decisions made by the U.S and U.K, just because industry is nationalized doesn't mean the government is communist. Of course hindsight is 20/20 and the red scare was in full effect at the time with Soviet-American tensions being at a high, but still; the decision to completely uproot the government was rash and not well though out. It lead to decades of bad relations between Iran and the U.S, persisting to this day.
Picture: This political cartoon uses labeling for the Iranian oil industry and the "key" to maintaining that industry. This shows the perception of the nationalization from the perspective of the British government at the time; their view being that the oil industry couldn't function properly in Iran without the AIOC because of their technical know-how. I personally just see that reasoning as an excuse to justify why the company should stay in British hands. The real reason that the British wanted control of the company was not for the good of the Iranian people but instead to fill their pockets.
Picture: This political cartoon uses labeling for the Iranian oil industry and the "key" to maintaining that industry. This shows the perception of the nationalization from the perspective of the British government at the time; their view being that the oil industry couldn't function properly in Iran without the AIOC because of their technical know-how. I personally just see that reasoning as an excuse to justify why the company should stay in British hands. The real reason that the British wanted control of the company was not for the good of the Iranian people but instead to fill their pockets.
Cuban Missile Crisis: The Cuban Missile Crisis was a dispute between the U.S, Cuba, and the Soviet Union caused by the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. At the time Cuba had undergone a communist revolution, the Soviet Union supported Cuba because of this. The position of Cuba being close to U.S would be a strong position for Soviet missiles, allowing for first strike capability. The U.S put a blockade on Cuba, preventing any ships with missiles from passing through. This heightened tensions, almost leading to a full scale nuclear war. After days of negotiations the missiles were taken from Cuba with the U.S promise to not invade Cuba along with the secret term of taking U.S missiles out of Turkey. I think that the move from the U.S to put the "quarantine" up was risky, but was the right decision. If the missiles had stayed in Cuba and Turkey, tensions would continue to be high. Later down the line there could have been a full scale nuclear war, practically meaning the end of the world. I don't know about you, but I don't like the sound of that. Looking at the Cold War as a whole, it was a battle of ideologies. between Western democratic capitalism and Eastern communism. Western democratic capitalism embracing individualist principles such as economic freedom, individual rights and freedoms, and self reliance/self interest. Eastern communism embracing collectivist principles such as economic equality, collective interest, and collective responsibility among other things.
Picture: The above cartoon displays the stakes in which the ideological warfare is playing for. Even though it was a war of ideologies the threat of nuclear warfare remained a playing card until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Picture: The above cartoon displays the stakes in which the ideological warfare is playing for. Even though it was a war of ideologies the threat of nuclear warfare remained a playing card until the fall of the Soviet Union.