The Cold War: India

The Third World is the name that was given to the part of the world that was not part of the Industrialized World in the beginning of the Cold War. The First World was America while the Second World was the Soviet Union. The Developing World represents much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. After most of these countries became independent of western influence and recourses, their infrastructure began to fall apart. The United States and the Soviet Union used their allies for raw materials and markets, which was a big part of the cold war. India was a non-aligned country so the two superpowers did not focus much attention on its internal conflicts. Until the Indian-Pakistan War the US and the USSR did not want to get involved with the country’s internal struggles. During the Cold War almost all developing countries including India were influenced by the two major super powers in political and economic areas.

During the start of World War II in 1939, India had internal problems of its own because it was a British colony. India did not like the way the British ruled because they felt like second-class citizens in their own country due to segregation. The Indians also made very little money on their goods because they were exported and traded through Britain. Mohandas K. Gandhi is a man of great importance in the history of India, he believed and promoted peaceful revolution and he believed that nonviolence was the only way to get the British to leave India. In 1942 the Indian National Congress demanded that the British leave India. The British response to this action was to imprison the most prominent INC leaders. Gandhi was one of these leaders and was imprisoned for two years, and ultimately was let out of prison in 1944.

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...viet Union in 1991 left the Second World in ruins creating Russia and many other countries in the region. The three worlds were created and can disappear because they were just classifications of a world that had changed entirely by the end of the Cold War. The term the First World has taken on a whole different meaning leaving developing countries that classifies countries that have substandard material well-being.

Works Cited

1. Kort, Michael. The Cold War. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook, 1994. Print

2. Gaddis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History. Penguin Group, 2005. Print.

3. Ganguly, Sumit. India as an Emerging Power. London: Frank Cass, 2003. Print.

4. "India - Russia." Country Studies. Web. 18 May 2011. .

5. "India - United States." Country Studies. Web. 18 May 2011. .