"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."
A state of political and military tension between the Western powers and the Soviet Union and its allies from the end of World War II until the early 1990s. It was marked by a series of proxy wars, espionage, and propaganda battles.
Origins of the Cold War: This topic explores the reasons behind the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II, including clashes over ideology, military alliances, and territorial ambitions.
The Iron Curtain: This term coined by Winston Churchill describes the division of Europe between the capitalist Western powers and the communist Eastern bloc, which became increasingly fortified during the Cold War.
Nuclear Arms Race: The Cold War era was marked by a dangerous competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop and deploy nuclear weapons, which nearly led to global catastrophe during several crises.
Proxy Wars: Instead of fighting each other directly, the two superpowers often supported opposing sides in conflicts around the world, including Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and various Latin American countries.
Space Race: The rivalry between the US and the USSR extended to the pursuit of scientific and technological achievements, including the development of rockets and satellites, culminating in the first manned moon landing in 1969.
Detente: Although Cold War tensions never completely disappeared, a series of diplomatic efforts in the 1970s aimed to reduce hostility and promote cooperation, resulting in agreements on arms control, trade, and human rights.
End of the Cold War: The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the end of the Cold War, but the legacy of this era continues to shape international relations and domestic politics in the US and Russia.
Cold War in Popular Culture: Films, literature, music, and other forms of art reflected and influenced public perceptions and attitudes towards the Cold War, including the portrayal of spies, metaphors, and themes of ideological conflict and paranoia.
Cold War Espionage: Both sides engaged in extensive spying operations to gather intelligence, disrupt each other's activities, and recruit agents, with numerous high-profile cases of espionage and defectors.
Cold War Propaganda: Governments employed various forms of propaganda to win hearts and minds domestically and internationally, including through state-controlled media, cultural exchanges, and covert operations to influence public opinion.
The Great Game: The Great Game was a geopolitical competition between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia during the 19th century.
The Korean War: The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea (supported by China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (supported by the United States and other allies) that lasted from 1950 to 1953.
The Vietnam War: The Vietnam War was a conflict between North Vietnam (supported by the Soviet Union and China) and South Vietnam (supported by the United States and other allies) that lasted from 1955 to 1975.
The Cuban Missile Crisis: The Cuban Missile Crisis was a political and military standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1962 over the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.
The Afghanistan War: The Afghanistan War was a conflict between the Soviet Union and the Afghan resistance groups (including the Mujahideen) that lasted from 1979 to 1989.
The Arms Race: The Arms Race was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop and stockpile nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems during the Cold War.
The Space Race: The Space Race was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve milestones in space exploration and space technology, including the first manned spaceflight and the first moon landing.
The Proxy Wars: The Proxy Wars were conflicts in which the United States and the Soviet Union supported opposing sides in other countries' conflicts, such as the wars in Angola, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan.
"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."