Cold War

Extracted Attributes

• End Date

  1991-12-26

• Start Date

  1945-09-02

• Key Ideologies

  Capitalism and Liberal Democracy vs. Communism and Socialism

• Major Alliances

  NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and Warsaw Pact

• Military Doctrine

  Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

• Primary Adversaries

  United States (Western Bloc) and Soviet Union (Eastern Bloc)

• Defining Characteristics

  Nuclear arms race, Space Race, Proxy wars, Espionage, and Propaganda

Timeline

• End of World War II; tensions begin between the US and USSR over the post-war order. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1945-09-02

• US President Harry S. Truman announces the Truman Doctrine to contain the spread of communism. (Source: History Crunch)

  1947-03-12

• The Marshall Plan is signed into law to provide economic assistance to Western Europe. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1948-04-03

• The Soviet Union begins the Berlin Blockade, leading to the Berlin Airlift. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1948-06-24

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established by Western nations. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1949-04-04

• The Soviet Union successfully tests its first atomic bomb, ending the US nuclear monopoly. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1949-08-29

• The Korean War begins, serving as the first major hot conflict of the Cold War era. (Source: Britannica)

  1950-06-25

• The Warsaw Pact is formed as a collective defense treaty among the Soviet Union and its satellite states. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1955-05-14

• The Cuban Missile Crisis begins, marking the closest point to global nuclear war. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1962-10-16

• The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, leading to a renewed period of high tension. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1979-12-24

• The fall of the Berlin Wall occurs, signaling the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1989-11-09

• The Soviet Union is officially dissolved, formally ending the Cold War. (Source: Wikipedia)

  1991-12-26

Cold War

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy. After the end of the Second World War in 1945, during which the US and USSR had been allies, the USSR installed satellite governments in its occupied territories in Eastern Europe and North Korea by 1949, resulting in the political division of Europe (and Germany) by an "Iron Curtain". The USSR tested its first nuclear weapon in 1949, four years after their use by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and allied with the People's Republic of China, founded in 1949. The US declared the Truman Doctrine of "containment" of communism in 1947, launched the Marshall Plan in 1948 to assist Western Europe's economic recovery, and founded the NATO military alliance in 1949 (matched by the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact in 1955). The Berlin Blockade of 1948 to 1949 was an early confrontation, as was the Korean War of 1950 to 1953, which ended in a stalemate. US involvement in regime change during the Cold War included support for First World anti-communist and right-wing dictatorships and uprisings, while Soviet involvement included the funding of Second World left-wing parties, wars of independence, and dictatorships. As nearly all the colonial states underwent decolonization, many became Third World battlefields of the Cold War. Both powers used economic aid in an attempt to win the loyalty of non-aligned countries. The Cuban Revolution of 1959 installed the first communist regime in the Western Hemisphere, and in 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis began after deployments of US missiles in Europe and Soviet missiles in Cuba; it is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into nuclear war. Another major proxy conflict was the Vietnam War of 1955 to 1975, which ended in defeat for the US. The USSR solidified its domination of Eastern Europe with its crushing of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Relations between the USSR and China broke down by 1961, with the Sino-Soviet split bringing the two states to the brink of war amid a border conflict in 1969. In 1972, the US initiated diplomatic contacts with China and the US and USSR signed a series of treaties limiting their nuclear arsenals during a period known as détente. In 1979, the toppling of US-allied governments in Iran and Nicaragua and the outbreak of the Soviet–Afghan War again raised tensions. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the USSR and expanded political freedoms, which contributed to the revolutions of 1989 in the Eastern Bloc and the collapse of the USSR in 1991, ending the Cold War.

Web Search Results

• Cold War - Wikipedia

  The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war "Cold war (term)") is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy. [...] ## From confrontation to détente (1962–1979) Main articles: Cold War (1962–1979) "Cold War (1962–1979)") and Era of Stagnation Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin with U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson at the 1967 Glassboro Summit Conference. In the course of the 1960s and 1970s, Cold War participants struggled to adjust to a new, more complicated pattern of international relations in which the world was no longer divided into two clearly opposed blocs. From the beginning of the post-war period, with American help Western Europe and Japan rapidly recovered from the destruction of World War II and sustained strong economic growth through the 1950s and 1960s, with per capita GDPs approaching those of the United States, while Eastern Bloc economies stagnated. [...] In an immediate aftermath of the crisis, the London Six-Power Conference was held, resulting in the Soviet boycott of the Allied Control Council and its incapacitation, an event marking the beginning of the full-blown Cold War, as well as ending any hopes at the time for a single German government and leading to formation in 1949 of the Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic. The twin policies of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan led to billions in economic and military aid for Western Europe, Greece, and Turkey. With the US assistance, the Greek military won its civil war. Under the leadership of Alcide De Gasperi the Italian Christian Democrats "Christian Democracy (Italy)") defeated the powerful Communist–Socialist alliance in the elections of 1948.

• Cold War | Dates, Definition, Timeline, Summary, Era, & Facts | Britannica

  Cold War, the open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. The term was first used by the English writer George Orwell in an article published in 1945 to refer to what he predicted would be a nuclear stalemate between “two or three monstrous super-states, each possessed of a weapon by which millions of people can be wiped out in a few seconds.” It was first used in the United States by the American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch in a speech at the State House in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1947. [...] The Cold War began after the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, when the uneasy alliance between the United States and Great Britain on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other started to fall apart. The Soviet Union began to establish left-wing governments in the countries of eastern Europe, determined to safeguard against a possible renewed threat from Germany. The Americans and the British worried that Soviet domination in eastern Europe might be permanent. The Cold War was solidified by 1947–48, when U.S. aid had brought certain Western countries under American influence and the Soviets had established openly communist regimes. Nevertheless, there was very little use of weapons on battlefields during the Cold War. It was waged mainly on political, economic, and propaganda fronts [...] Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated •History Top Questions ### What was the Cold War? The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II. This hostility between the two superpowers was first given its name by George Orwell in an article published in 1945. Orwell understood it as a nuclear stalemate between “super-states”: each possessed weapons of mass destruction and was capable of annihilating the other.

• Cold Conflict | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

  Although another global war appeared to be inevitable, the build-up of nuclear weapons in both the United States and Soviet Union helped to keep the Cold War from turning “hot.” The knowledge that each superpower held a stockpile of nuclear weapons created a military doctrine of mutually assured destruction (MAD) in which an attack from one would cause the complete annihilation of one or both, if not more, countries. The Cold War featured moments of increased tension, but stopped short of all-out warfare between the superpowers. Conflicts connected to the Cold War, such as wars in Korea and Vietnam, proved devastating to military forces on both sides. These conflicts also disrupted the balance of power in several regions across the globe, the ramifications of which continues to influence [...] Tensions between the United States and its unlikely ally in the Soviet Union persisted throughout World War II. Western Allied leaders did not forget the initial nonaggression pact made between Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler in 1939. However, Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union and Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor created an alliance between the United States and the USSR. As World War II transformed both the United States and the USSR, turning the nations into formidable world powers, competition between the two increased. Following the defeat of the Axis powers, an ideological and political rivalry between the United States and the USSR gave way to the start of the Cold War. The subsequent race for superior military power sparked an era of espionage, wars over the spread [...] The arms race that came to define the Cold War also spurred other military and technological races between the two superpowers. In order to gain an edge over the Soviets, American military and intelligence agencies recruited scientists from Germany in a program initially called Operation Overcast, but later called Operation Paperclip. Established by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff in July 1945 and approved by President Truman in September 1946, over a thousand German scientists who were former members of the Nazi Party traveled to the United States to engage in research to benefit the United States in the Cold War. In particular, Wernher von Braun, who had helped developed the German V-2 rocket, worked with the US military to develop ballistic missiles. He also became a major scientist

• Causes of the Cold War - HISTORY CRUNCH - History Articles, Biographies, Infographics, Resources and More

  ## CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR Lasting from the end of World War II in 1945 until the early 1990s, the Cold War was one of the most significant events of the 20th century. At its heart, the Cold War was essentially a ‘face off’ or competition between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. Historians have identified several causes that led to the outbreak of the Cold War, including: tensions between the two nations at the end of World War II, the ideological conflict between both the United States and the Soviet Union, the emergence of nuclear weapons, and the fear of communism in the United States. ## TENSIONS BETWEEN SUPERPOWERS [...] This ideological conflict caused the Cold War because it displayed the difference in worldview between the two nations. As such, the United States and the Soviet Union differed greatly in their views of how the world should be organized following the major events of World War II. For their part, the United States feared Soviet expansionism into regions in Europe and around the world. As a result, the United States President at the start of the Cold War, Harry S. Truman, developed a policy in which the country would work to contain the spread of communism. Historians refer to this as the Truman Doctrine. [...] The third main cause of the Cold War was the ideological conflict that existed between the United States and Soviet Union. At the time, the Soviet Union was a communist nation that was based on the principles of collectivism or socialism, while the United States was a modern liberal democracy nation based primarily on the principles of individualism. This means that the Soviet Union was positioned on the far-left side of the economic spectrum, while the United States was position on the right side. This difference in ideology was a major source of the conflict between the two nations because throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union sought to expand communism to other regions and the United States sought to stop it with its policy of containment. As such, many people now view the Cold

• The Iron Curtain Descends: The 4 Key Causes of the Cold War | History Hit

  ## 3. Ideological opposition The ideological opposition between the US and the Soviet Union, whereby the US practiced and promoted a system of democracy and capitalism versus the Soviet Union’s communism and dictatorship, further worsened relations and contributed to the slide into the Cold War. After the Second World War had ended, the Allied countries liberated Europe from Nazi control and drove the German army back to Germany. At the same time, Stalin’s forces captured and kept control over the European territory that they liberated. This exacerbated an already difficult situation which was made clear during the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences regarding what to do with Europe. [...] ## The slide into the Cold War wasn’t defined by one action so much as a collection of events driven by ideology and post-war uncertainty. What has defined the Cold War, however, is a recognition of the intense and prolonged suffering that resultant conflicts such as the Vietnam War and Korean War caused and have seared into living memory. []( ## Related Articles ### Why Was the Berlin Wall Built? ### Why Did the US Sever Diplomatic Relations with Cuba? ## Watch and Listen ### Inside Britain’s Secret Nuclear Bunker ### The TV War ## Related Locations ### US National Museum of the Marine Corps ### House of Terror ### Lucy Davidson 11 August 2021 ## You May Also Like ### The Myth of the ‘Tragic Victim’: Reclaiming Queen Jane [...] The post-war period being such an economically and socially uncertain time meant that countries surrounding or captured by the Soviet Union were vulnerable to expansionism. United States President Harry S. Truman was anxious that the Soviet Union’s communist ideology was going to further spread throughout the world. The US thus developed a policy known as the Truman Doctrine, whereby the US and certain allies would aim to prevent and fight back against the spread of communism.

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• Instance Of

  Q864113