Title: How did the Cold War affect the Middle East?
Headings: How did the Cold War affect the Middle East?
How did the Cold War affect the Middle East?
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Content: The impact of this initiative was relatively successful. Revolutionary and nationalist states such as Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Libya, Iraq and south Yemen were all, at some point aligned with the USSR (Halliday 1997, p.15). However, these alliances did not guarantee Soviet control over the domestic politics of these nations or their foreign policy therefore the impact of the Cold War on the region was limited in this sense as local actors had a greater role in determining the development of the region than the superpowers (Halliday 1997, p.15). During times when Egyptian and Soviet interests were out of sync it would create friction between the external actor and the local agent because Nasser pursued his own interests in spite of Cold War politics. The willingness of the Soviet Union to use force to end the Suez war requires further analysis as it can strongly be argued that this was the decisive factor in ending the war. During the war, Arab countries severed ties with Britain and France and there was a backlash internationally from Asian and African countries. However, the Soviets recognised the limitations of international pressure and ‘only superior material and military forces or the threat to use it could guarantee success’ (Smolansky 1965, p.595). The Soviet Union possessed both the capability and willingness to use nuclear arms to counter the Anglo-French-Israeli aggression. In doing so, Khrushchev limited Eisenhower’s options in dealing with the conflict. Had American troops intervened the conflict would have escalated with the potential use of nuclear weapons.