The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II[1][5]. This period was marked by a series of geopolitical tensions, characterized by competition and confrontation between communist nations led by the Soviet Union and Western democracies including the United States[3]. The term 'Cold War' was first used by George Orwell in a 1945 article to describe a nuclear stalemate between the superpowers[1][5].
After the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, the wartime alliance between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union began to unravel, leading to fears of permanent Soviet domination in Eastern Europe and the spread of communism[1][2]. This hostility solidified by 1947-48 when U.S. aid under the Marshall Plan brought Western Europe under American influence, and the Soviets established communist regimes in Eastern Europe[1][2][5].
The Cold War was predominately waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts rather than through open warfare[1][3][5]. It included significant events such as the arms race, the space race, and proxy wars in regions like Korea and Vietnam[2][3][4]. It lasted until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, which led to the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc and the end of the Cold War[1][2][3][4][5].
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