Cold War

The Cold War (Russian: Холодная Война Kholodnaya Voina) refers to the protracted geostrategic, economic and ideological struggle that emerged after World War II between the global superpowers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States of America, supported by their respective and emerging alliance partners. The Cold War endured over four decades, from circa 1947 until the decline and eventual collapse of East European and Soviet state communism in the late 1980s. The disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 is generally considered to mark the end of the conflict.

Consistent allies of the Soviet Union during the Cold War period included Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and other members of the Warsaw Pact and Comecon in Eurasia, together with the nations of Mongolia, North Korea, Cuba and Vietnam further afield. Erstwhile close Soviet allies, the People's Republic of China and Albania promoted their own versions of Communism and either opposed or adopted alternatives to many key Kremlin policies from 1960 onwards.

Consistent allies of the United States during the Cold War period included the United Kingdom, France, West Germany and other members of NATO (the so-called "Western Alliance"); the members of CENTO, SEATO, and ANZUS; and the nations of Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Beyond these broad groupings, many other countries—including such strategically-important states as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Austria, India, Sweden and Finland—conspicuously maintained their neutrality during the conflict by participation within the Non-Aligned Movement.

The struggle was widely called the "Cold War" on the grounds that it did not involve direct armed conflict (by contrast, a so-called "hot" war) between the primary contestants of the Soviet Union and the USA. The Cold War was instead prosecuted by varied means that included diplomatic maneuvering, economic pressure and selective aid, economic and technological rivalry, intimidation, propaganda, assassination, and indirect proxy wars. Importantly, although lacking direct conflict between the superpower protagonists, the Cold War period also simultaneously witnessed the largest arms race (both conventional and nuclear) in history, leading to widespread global fears of a potential nuclear war, ultimately unrealised.

Further reading

• Gaddis, John Lewis, The Cold War, Allen Lane, 2006. ISBN 0713999128 (hbk)

External links

• the Cold War Museum