Summary
The Cold War was the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) after the Second World War, from 1947 to 1991. It is called "cold" because the two superpowers never fought each other directly: both had nuclear weapons and an open war would have been a catastrophe. They clashed through the economy, propaganda, the space race and wars in other countries.
They were two opposing models: the Western bloc, capitalist and with liberal democracies, led by the United States, and the Eastern bloc, communist and one-party, led by the USSR. Europe was split by the "Iron Curtain". Each bloc formed its military alliance: NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955). Germany was divided in two, and in 1961 the Berlin Wall was built to stop East Berliners fleeing to the West.
There were moments of extreme tension, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), when the world was on the brink of nuclear war, and indirect conflicts such as the Korean and Vietnam wars. In the space race, the USSR launched the first satellite (Sputnik, 1957) and the United States put the first man on the Moon (1969). In the 1980s Gorbachev's reforms opened up the USSR; in 1989 the Berlin Wall fell and in 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved, ending the Cold War.
Key points
- A confrontation between the USA and the USSR, from 1947 to 1991.
- "Cold": the superpowers never fought each other directly.
- Capitalism and liberal democracy versus one-party communism.
- The "Iron Curtain" split Europe into two blocs.
- Military alliances: NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955).
- The Berlin Wall: built in 1961, falls in 1989.
- Cuban Missile Crisis (1962): on the brink of nuclear war.
- Space race: Sputnik (1957) and the Moon landing (1969).
- The USSR dissolves in 1991 and the Cold War ends.