Katana VentraIP

Cold War

The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, that started in 1947 and lasted to 1991.

This article is about the state of political tension in the 20th century. For the general term, see Cold war (term). For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation).

The term cold war is used because 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 conflict was based on the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their roles as the Allies of World War II that led to victory against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945.[1] Aside from the nuclear arms race and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed indirectly, such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, sports diplomacy, and technological competitions like the Space Race. The Cold War began with the announcement of the Truman Doctrine in 1947, started a gradual winding down with the Sino-Soviet split between the Soviets and the People's Republic of China in 1961, and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.


The Western Bloc was led by the United States, as well as a number of First World nations that were generally Capitalist and liberal democratic but tied to a network of often authoritarian Third World states, most of which were the European powers' former colonies.[2][A] 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 of left-wing parties, wars of independence, revolutions and dictatorships 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.

(15 September 1946)

People's Republic of Bulgaria

(13 April 1948)

Romanian People's Republic

(20 August 1949)[85]

Hungarian People's Republic

After 45–70 years of communist rule, nearly every family has members associated with the state. After the initial desire "to root out the reds" came a realization that massive punishment is wrong and finding only some guilty is hardly justice.

The urgency of the current economic problems of postcommunism makes the crimes of the communist past "old news" for many citizens.

Decommunization is believed to be a power game of elites.

The difficulty of dislodging the social elite makes it require a to disenfranchise the "enemies of the people" quickly and efficiently and a desire for normalcy overcomes the desire for punitive justice.

totalitarian state

Very few people have a perfectly clean slate and so are available to fill the positions that require significant expertise.

The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP)

The Cold War Files

Cornell University Library

Select "Communism & Cold War" value to browse Maps from 1933–1982 at the Persuasive Cartography, The PJ Mode Collection

Archived 29 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine

CONELRAD Cold War Pop Culture Site

CBC Digital Archives – Cold War Culture: The Nuclear Fear of the 1950s and 1960s