The Cold War was a nearly 50-year long period of international tension between the two global Superpowers of the time; the USSR and the US. It was based on the key ideological differences of the Capitalist West and Communist East and was spearheaded by the (Communist) Soviet Union and the (Capitalist United States. It is called the Cold War because it was not a constant series of bloody battles like the Second World War that came before it - it was 'Cold', with no fighting directly between the USA and USSR. Instead it was a combination of political and ideological conflict alongside proxy wars such as the Korean War (1950-53) and the Vietnam War (1955-75). Unlike wars before it, the conflict was fought through promotion of ideology and races to advance technology, such as the Space Race.
Beginning the Cold War
The end of the Second World War saw