Cold War

The Cold War was a period of global <a href="/facts/Geopolitics/4bmB8oCM">geopolitical</a> rivalry between the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> (US) and the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist <a href="/facts/Western_Bloc/RS9Ev5RJ">Western Bloc</a> and communist <a href="/facts/Eastern_Bloc/12f32hA7">Eastern Bloc</a>, which began in the aftermath of the <a href="/facts/Second_World_War/2efV5L1U">Second World War</a> and ended with the <a href="/facts/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union/Fyn5jw3n">dissolution of the Soviet Union</a> in 1991. The term <a href="/facts/Cold_war_(term)/9kWp7UCd">cold war</a> is used because there was no direct fighting between the two <a href="/facts/Superpower/JNNkrRLt">superpowers</a>, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as <a href="/facts/Proxy_war/uSySFXLM">proxy wars</a>. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an <a href="/facts/Arms_race/o8nvYPVu">arms race</a> in both conventional and <a href="/facts/Nuclear_arms_race/2IabKwkf">nuclear weapons</a>, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the <a href="/facts/Space_Race/9fPV4LUq">Space Race</a>, <a href="/facts/Espionage/oaDJ5fAd">espionage</a>, <a href="/facts/Propaganda_campaign/S3SpzvFv">propaganda campaigns</a>, <a href="/facts/Economic_sanctions/fKzSIKvR">embargoes</a>, and <a href="/facts/Sports_diplomacy/BsQAhQFV">sports diplomacy</a>.
After the end of the Second World War in 1945, during which the US and USSR had been allies, the USSR installed <a href="/facts/Satellite_state/09RFx27w">satellite governments</a> in its occupied territories in Eastern Europe and <a href="/facts/North_Korea/Q41laakP">North Korea</a> by 1949, resulting in the political division of Europe (and Germany) by an "<a href="/facts/Iron_Curtain/V19wsHct">Iron Curtain</a>". The USSR tested <a href="/facts/RDS-1/mgXDp8fa">its first nuclear weapon</a> in 1949, four years after their use by the US <a href="/facts/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki/fRpj8aJA">at Hiroshima and Nagasaki</a>, and allied with the <a href="/facts/People%2527s_Republic_of_China/lTjIXY5p">People's Republic of China</a>, founded in 1949. The US declared the <a href="/facts/Truman_Doctrine/afV1znQz">Truman Doctrine</a> of "<a href="/facts/Containment/Y6LEbRNS">containment</a>" of communism in 1947, launched the <a href="/facts/Marshall_Plan/tzYxovlM">Marshall Plan</a> in 1948 to assist Western Europe's economic recovery, and founded the <a href="/facts/NATO/dCeTddMY">NATO</a> military alliance in 1949 (matched by the Soviet-led <a href="/facts/Warsaw_Pact/SLEsUSAS">Warsaw Pact</a> in 1955). The <a href="/facts/Berlin_Blockade/ELYxq0mu">Berlin Blockade</a> of 1948 to 1949 was an early confrontation, as was the <a href="/facts/Korean_War/Qo93pNhE">Korean War</a> of 1950 to 1953, which ended in a stalemate. 
<a href="/facts/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change_during_the_Cold_War/nJJ95XYS">US involvement in regime change during the Cold War</a> included support for <a href="/facts/Anti-communism/bJuolzxo">anti-communist</a> and <a href="/facts/Right-wing_dictatorship/LlXWlszl">right-wing dictatorships</a> and uprisings, while <a href="/facts/Soviet_involvement_in_regime_change/puqljH6o">Soviet involvement</a> included the funding of <a href="/facts/Left-wing_parties/JUcz1kvS">left-wing parties</a>, <a href="/facts/Wars_of_national_liberation/PUz88cLR">wars of independence</a>, and dictatorships. As nearly all the colonial states underwent <a href="/facts/Decolonization/EkIM0zpj">decolonization</a>, many became <a href="/facts/Third_World/AcuEJmhE">Third World</a> battlefields of the Cold War. Both powers used economic aid in an attempt to win the loyalty of <a href="/facts/Non-Aligned_Movement/PIdnjRvD">non-aligned countries</a>. The <a href="/facts/Cuban_Revolution/eXmVpzVl">Cuban Revolution</a> of 1959 installed the first communist regime in the Western Hemisphere, and in 1962, the <a href="/facts/Cuban_Missile_Crisis/GmDGYcWA">Cuban Missile Crisis</a> began after deployments of US missiles in Europe and Soviet missiles in Cuba; it is widely considered <a href="/facts/List_of_nuclear_close_calls/8D1I2Xo2">the closest</a> the Cold War came to escalating into <a href="/facts/Nuclear_warfare/HLRLRh4F">nuclear war</a>. Another major proxy conflict was the <a href="/facts/Vietnam_War/W0gfbGTE">Vietnam War</a> of 1955 to 1975, which ended in defeat for the US. 
The USSR solidified its domination of Eastern Europe with its crushing of the <a href="/facts/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956/Dtv12syC">Hungarian Revolution</a> in 1956 and the <a href="/facts/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia/BeRhWf5T">Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia</a> in 1968. Relations between the USSR and China broke down by 1961, with the <a href="/facts/Sino-Soviet_split/r958VRaK">Sino-Soviet split</a> bringing the two states to the brink of war amid <a href="/facts/Sino-Soviet_border_conflict/e2yeLIxI">a border conflict</a> in 1969. In 1972, <a href="/facts/1972_visit_by_Richard_Nixon_to_China/kGmpLxoo">the US initiated diplomatic contacts with China</a> and the US and USSR signed a series of treaties limiting their nuclear arsenals during a period known as <a href="/facts/D%25C3%25A9tente/04U1rTlj">détente</a>. In 1979, the toppling of US-allied governments in <a href="/facts/Iranian_revolution/frTYhJ0F">Iran</a> and <a href="/facts/Nicaraguan_Revolution/kCKl8Ubl">Nicaragua</a> and the outbreak of the <a href="/facts/Soviet%25E2%2580%2593Afghan_War/nBl7TvtD">Soviet–Afghan War</a> again raised tensions. In 1985, <a href="/facts/Mikhail_Gorbachev/tKxQRaeP">Mikhail Gorbachev</a> became leader of the USSR and expanded political freedoms, which contributed to the <a href="/facts/Revolutions_of_1989/gLWM6JLk">revolutions of 1989</a> in the Eastern Bloc and the <a href="/facts/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union/Fyn5jw3n">collapse of the USSR</a> in 1991, ending the Cold War.

Cold War open-in-new

Cold War