"There was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported opposing sides in major regional conflicts known as proxy wars."
The study of the state of political tension and military rivalry between the Western powers and the Soviet Union from the end of World War II to the early 1990s.
Origins of the Cold War: An overview of the key events and tensions between the United States and Soviet Union that led to the Cold War, such as the Yalta Conference and the Truman Doctrine.
Nuclear Arms Race: The competition between the US and the USSR to develop atomic weapons, including the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear testing, and arms control treaties.
Containment Policy: The foreign policy strategy adopted by the US to contain Soviet expansionism, including military alliances such as NATO, economic aid to friendly nations, and propaganda campaigns to promote democracy.
Space Race: The competition between the US and USSR to achieve technological superiority in space exploration, including the launch of Sputnik and the Apollo missions.
Korean War: The conflict between North and South Korea, with support from the US and China respectively, that arose in the context of the Cold War.
Vietnam War: The US involvement in the Vietnam War and its impact on domestic politics and anti-war protest movements.
Eastern Europe under Soviet Control: The establishment of Soviet-controlled governments in Eastern Europe following World War II, such as in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
Bay of Pigs: An unsuccessful attempt by the US to overthrow the Communist government in Cuba in 1961.
Cuban Missile Crisis: A tense standoff between the US and USSR over Soviet missile installations in Cuba.
Détente: A period of improved relations between the US and USSR in the 1970s, including arms control agreements and increased cultural exchanges.
Reagan Doctrine: The foreign policy of US President Ronald Reagan, characterized by a renewed focus on military strength, support for anti-communist regimes and resistance movements, and efforts to roll back Soviet influence.
Solidarity Movement: A Polish trade union and social movement that played a key role in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
Perestroika and Glasnost: Reforms introduced in the Soviet Union by leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s aimed at modernizing the country and promoting greater openness and transparency.
Fall of the Berlin Wall: The dismantling of the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Germany, signaling the end of the Cold War.
Collapse of the Soviet Union: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and its impact on global politics and economics.
"The struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means, such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, sports diplomacy, and technological competitions like the Space Race."
"The Western Bloc was led by the United States, as well as a number of other First World nations that were generally liberal democratic but tied to a network of often authoritarian, Third World states, most of which were the European powers' former colonies."
"The Eastern Bloc was led by the Soviet Union and its Communist Party, which had an influence across the Second World and was also tied to a network of authoritarian states."
"The Soviet Union had a command economy and installed similarly Communist regimes in its satellite states."
"United States involvement in regime change during the Cold War included support for anti-communist and right-wing dictatorships, governments, and uprisings across the world, while Soviet involvement in regime change included the funding left-wing parties, wars of national liberation and revolutions around the world."
"As nearly all the colonial states underwent decolonization and achieved independence in the period from 1945 to 1960, many became Third World battlefields in the Cold War."
"They accomplished this most notably through the formation of NATO, which was essentially a defensive agreement in 1949."
"The Soviet Union countered with the Warsaw Pact in 1955."
"The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia to suppress the Prague Spring of 1968."
"Major crises of this phase included the Berlin Blockade of 1948–1949, the Korean War of 1950–1953, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Suez Crisis of that same year, the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and the Vietnam War of 1964–1975."
"Both superpowers competed for influence in Latin America and the Middle East, and the decolonizing states of Africa, Asia, and Oceania."
"By the 1970s, both sides had started making allowances for peace and security, ushering in a period of détente that saw the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and the 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China that opened relations with China as a strategic counterweight to the Soviet Union."
"The sixth phase of the Cold War saw the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introducing the liberalizing reforms of glasnost ("openness", c. 1985) and perestroika ("reorganization", c. 1987)."
"The fall of the Iron Curtain after the Pan-European Picnic and the Revolutions of 1989, which represented a peaceful revolutionary wave with the exception of the Romanian Revolution and the Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), overthrew almost all of the Marxist–Leninist regimes of the Eastern Bloc."
"The Communist Party of the Soviet Union itself lost control in the country and was banned following the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt that August."
"The Cold War has left a significant legacy."
"Its effects include references to the culture during the war, particularly with themes of espionage and the threat of nuclear warfare."
"The Cold War is generally followed by the categorization of international relations since 1989 and post–Cold War era to underline its impact."
"The United States was left as the world's sole superpower."