The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

Chapter 21, “The Road to Cold Warfare,” explores the realignment of world powers as Europe, the Soviet Union, and the United States fought for control over Asia and its resources after the Second World War. The 1940s saw an increased backlash against European colonialism and imperialism, with figures such as Mohammed Mossadegh—a popular member of parliament in Iran—calling for independence. The European empires, which “had long since started to erode” (388), went into a “retreat.” In the late 1940s, the British withdrew from India, Palestine, and Iraq, though their withdrawal was often no less destructive and problematic than their occupation. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union began growing more powerful, presenting Communism as a “viable alternative” (391) to capitalism. This ideology brought the Soviet Union into conflict with Western capitalist countries, especially the United States, and soon the two powers were fighting for control over important Asian countries such as Iran in the Cold War.

In the 1940s and 1950s, the United States invested heavily in a campaign to prevent Iran from falling under Soviet sway. The reason the United States lavished so much attention on Iran (and other neighboring nations, including Saudi Arabia) had to do with access to oil.