higher than any other convoy route. 337 As World War Two transitioned in to the Cold War, the Arctic was a region where NATO became immediate neighbours with the Soviet Union and cooperation turned to conflict. During the Cold War, there were many offensive and defensive systems put in place in the Arctic in addition to a large military presence. The Distant Early Warning Line was developed to monitor the Arctic airspace was a line of anti-aircraft bomber radars crossing Alaska, Northern Canada and Greenland to provide advance notice of potential attacks, as shown in figure 1, the Soviet Union also built their own preventative radar system between 1963 and 1964. 338 Due to the unexpected end of the Cold War, Young’s theory that there would be an ‘Age of the Arctic’ with a large scale conflict never materialised, however it shows that a conflict in the Arctic has been seen as probable in the past. 339 In 1987, the Arctic saw its first signs of cooperation in the Arctic since World War Two as the Soviet leader, Gorbachev, delivered a speech which became known as the “Murmansk Initiative”. 340 In this speech Gorbachev outlined how to ease tensions in the Arctic and wanted to encourage cooperation on issues such as scientific development and environmental protection. By analysing World War Two and the Cold War, it can be seen that Arctic nations can both cooperate and conflict with each other. With 337 Alexander Comber, review of Voices from the Arctic Convoys , by Peter C. Brown, The International Journal of Maritime History , 27.3 (2015), 580-581. 338 No Author, Notes Section, ‘Distant Early Warning Line’, Polar Record , 61.9 (1959), 345-359 (pp.352-353). 339 Oran R. Young, ‘The Age of the Arctic’, Foreign Policy , 61 (1985), 160-179. 340 Ronald Purver, ‘Arctic Security: The Murmansk Initiative and Its Impact’, Current Research on Peace and Violence , 11.4 (1988), 147- 158 (pp.147-148).
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