Cold War

(noun)

A state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies, and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states). 

Related Terms

(proper noun)

The period of hostility short of open war between the Soviet Bloc and the Western powers, especially the United States, 1945–91.

Related Terms

Examples of Cold War in the following topics:

  • Cold War Politics in Zaire

  • Sadat and Cold War Influences

  • Afghanistan and the Cold War

  • The Cold War's Costs and Consequences

    • The costs of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, as well as its numerous proxy wars, were extensive.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs today.
    • Many of the proxy wars and subsidies for local conflicts ended along with the Cold War, and the incidence of interstate, ethnic, and revolutionary wars, as well as refugee and displaced persons crises, has declined somewhat in the post-Cold War years.
    • Many specific nuclear legacies can be identified from the Cold War.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs.

  • Foreign Policy After the Cold War

    • The post-Cold War era saw optimism, and the balance of power shifted solely to the United States.
    • The aftermath of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs.
    • A concept that defined the world power after the Cold-War was known as the new world order.
    • Bush and Gorbachev helped shape international relation theories after the cold war.
    • Explain the origins and elements of the New World Order after the end of the Cold War

  • The Effects of the Cold War

    • The balance of power in the international system changed after the end of the Cold War.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs today.
    • The legacy of Cold War conflict is not always easily erased, as many of the economic and social tensions that were exploited to fuel Cold War competition in parts of the Third World remain acute.
    • Among the more specific consequences of the Cold War was a huge fiscal mortgage placed on many domestic economies.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs.

  • The Cold War and Containment

    • Truman's Containment policy was the first major policy during the Cold War and used numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad.
    • A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam.
    • President Ronald Reagan (1981–89), denouncing the Soviet state as an "evil empire", escalated the Cold War and promoted rollback in Nicaragua and Afghanistan.
    • Central programs begun under containment, including NATO and nuclear deterrence, remained in effect even after the end of the war.
    • Discuss the doctrine of Containment and its role during the Cold War

  • The End of the Cold War

    • During 1987 summit meetings, Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to nuclear arms reductions, ushering in the end of the decades-long Cold War.
    • Reform required Gorbachev to redirect the country's resources from costly Cold War military commitments to more profitable areas in the civilian sector.
    • In November 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down, the Cold War was officially declared over at the Malta Summit on December 3, 1989, and—two years later—the Soviet Union collapsed.
    • Reagan and Gorbachev built a close relationship and contributed greatly to the peaceful end of the Cold War
    • Describe the events that led to the end of the Cold War

  • Conclusion: Truman and the Beginning of the Cold War

    • The first phase of the Cold War began in the first two years after the end of the Second World War in 1945.
    • The Berlin Blockade (1948–49) was the first major crisis of the Cold War.
    • Historians often use Truman's speech to date the start of the Cold War.
    • However, because of the American policy of containment, the Cold War saw several "proxy wars," such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
    • Summarize the factors that led to the rise of the Cold War and Truman's policies with regard to tensions with the USSR

  • Superpower Rivalry

    • World War II had served to enhance U.S. global power.
    • By 1947, the United States took the lead in containing Soviet expansion in the Cold War.
    • The idea that the Cold War period revolved around only two blocs, or even only two nations, has been challenged by some scholars in the post-Cold War era, who have noted that the bipolar world only exists if one ignores all of the various movements and conflicts that occurred without influence from either of the two superpowers.
    • Additionally, much of the conflict between the superpowers was fought in "proxy wars," which more often than not involved issues more complex than the standard Cold War oppositions.
    • For example, the Vietnam War was an example of a proxy war.