The Cold War was a period of strong geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, lasting from the end of World War II in 1945 until the collapse of the U.S.S.R.(United Soviet Socialist Republics) in 1991. Although the two superpowers never fought each other directly in a "hot" war, they engaged in a global struggle for ideological, economic, and military supremacy. The U.S. supported capitalism and democracy, while the Soviet Union promoted communism and a state-run economy. This rivalry divided the world into two opposing sides, often referred to as the Western Bloc (NATO) and the Eastern Bloc (the Warsaw Pact), separated in Europe by an imaginary line known as the "Iron Curtain."
The conflict was defined by a massive nuclear arms race and the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), which ensured that any direct nuclear offense would result in the total annihilation of both nations. To avoid this, the superpowers competed through other means, including the Space Race, espionage, and propaganda. They also supported opposing sides in various "proxy wars" around the world, most notably in Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. High-stakes standoffs, such as the Berlin Blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis, brought the world to the edge of nuclear escalation but ultimately led to a realization that direct confrontation was too dangerous.
During the 1970s, a period of reduced tension known as détente saw the signing of treaties to limit nuclear weapons. However, hostilities flared up again in the early 1980s under leaders like Ronald Reagan, who increased military spending and pressure on the Soviet Union. The war finally drew to a close in the late 1980s as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced reforms like glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). These changes, combined with economic struggles within the Soviet Union and a wave of democratic revolutions in Eastern Europe, led to the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the official dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
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