Cold War

The Cold War was a period of political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that lasted from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. The Cold War was characterized by a lack of direct military conflict between the two sides, but there were numerous proxy wars and other forms of competition, such as the space race. The Cold War was marked by a strong ideological divide, with the United States and its allies promoting democracy and capitalism, and the Soviet Union and its allies promoting communism. The two sides engaged in a nuclear arms race and built up large military arsenals in an effort to deter each other. The Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.