the Cold War was a period after World War two of geopolitical tension between
the Soviet Union and the United States and their respective allies the period
is generally considered to span the 1947 Truman Doctrine to the 1991 dissolution
of the Soviet Union the conflict was based around the ideological and
geopolitical struggle for global influence by the two superpowers
following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany in 1945 the
word Cold is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between
the two superpowers but they each supported major regional conflicts known
as proxy wars while the Western bloc United States and Eastern Bloc Soviet
Union generally espoused the economic theories of capitalism and socialism
respectively the US government supported right-wing governments and uprisings
across the world while the Soviet government funded communist parties and
revolutions around the world however the conflict was mostly
geopolitical each power had a nuclear strategy that discouraged a pre-emptive
attack by the other side on the basis that such an attack would lead to the
total destruction of the attacker the doctrine of mutually assured destruction
aside from the nuclear arsenal development and traditional military
deployment the struggle of dominance was expressed via psychological warfare
propaganda campaigns and espionage embargoes rivalry at sports events and
technological competitions such as the space race the first phase of the Cold
War began in the first two years after the end of World War two in 1945 the
Soviet Union had been left with power of the former Nazi territories of Eastern
Europe in contrast the United States had extensive military and financial
influence over the countries of Western Europe for example supporting the
anti-communist side in the 1946 to 1949 Greek Civil War
and created the NATO military alliance in 1949 the U.S. termed its global
policy against Soviet influence containment the Berlin Blockade 1948 to
49 was the first major crisis of the Cold War the conflict expanded with the
1949 victory of the communist side in the Chinese Civil War and the outbreak
of the Korean War 1950 to 1953 the USSR and the U.S. competed for influence in
Latin America and the decolonizing states of Africa and Asia the Soviet
Union formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955 in response to NATO
the Soviets suppressed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and later more
escalating crises occurred such as the Suez Crisis 1956 the Berlin crisis of
1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 which was perhaps the closest to
two sides came to nuclear war in 1961 a group of countries including India
Indonesia and Yugoslavia launched the nominally neutral non-aligned movement
which never had much power meanwhile an international peace movement took root
among citizens around the world campaigns against nuclear arms testing
and for nuclear disarmament gained popularity at the turn of the 1960s and
continued through the 1970s and 1980s with massive anti-war protests following
the Cuban Missile Crisis a new phase began that saw the Sino-Soviet split
between China and the Soviet Union complicate relations within the
communist sphere while US ally France began to demand higher authority of
action the USSR suppressed the 1968 Prague Spring liberalisation programme
in Czechoslovakia while the U.S. experienced internal turmoil from the
civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War 1955 to 75
which ended with the defeat of the us-backed south vietnam by the 1970s
both sides had started making peace deal assuring in a period of hip-hop that saw
the strategic arms limitation talks and the u.s. opening relations with china as
a strategic counterweight to the USSR dead talk collapsed at the end of the
decade with the beginning of the Soviet-Afghan war in 1979 the early
1980s were another period of elevated attention with the 1983 Soviet downing
of KAL flight 007 and the able Archer NATO military exercises the
United States increased diplomatic military and economic pressures on the
Soviet Union at a time when it was already suffering from economic
stagnation in the mid-1980s the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
introduced the liberalizing reforms of perestroika reorganization 1987 and
glass toast openness circa 1985 and ended Soviet involvement in Afghanistan
pressures for national sovereignty grew stronger in Eastern Europe especially
Poland and Gorbachev refused to support their governments any longer militarily
the result in 1989 was a wave of revolutions that peacefully accept the
Romanian revolution overthrew all of the communist governments of Central and
Eastern Europe the CPSU itself lost control in the Soviet Union and was
banned following it aboard of coup attempted in August 1991 this in turn
led to the formal dissolution of the USSR in December 1991 the Declaration of
Independence of its constituent republics and the collapse of communist
governments across much of Africa in Asia the United States was left as the
world's only superpower the Cold War and its events have left a significant
legacy it's often referred to in popular culture featuring themes of espionage
notably the James Bond book and film franchise and the threat of nuclear
warfare meanwhile a renewed state of tension between the Soviet Union
successor state Russia and the United States in the 2010s including its
Western allies and grow in tension between an increasingly powerful China
and the US and its Western Allies have each been referred to as the second Cold
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