Cold War
Iron Curtain era
The Cold War was the prolonged geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union from roughly 1947 to 1991.
Though the superpowers never fought directly, they competed through nuclear arms buildup, space exploration, proxy conflicts, and ideological battles between capitalism and communism.
The era produced the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and decades of mutual suspicion: a Cold War spy novel, Cold War paranoia. (Lowercase cold war describes any similar standoff.)
Cold War's political divide
- superpowersCapabilities beyond human limits
- bipolarityTwo-pole condition
- NATOWestern defense organization
- Warsaw PactSoviet-led military alliance
containment · spheres of influence · satellite states · buffer zones · demarcation · partition · Soviet Union · Kremlin
First orbital spacecraft
- McCarthyismPolitically-motivated accusation without evidence
- space raceContest for orbital superiority
- arms raceEscalating weapons accumulation between nations
- Truman DoctrinePolicy opposing communist expansion
Marshall Plan · Berlin Airlift · Cuban Missile Crisis · Berlin Wall · perestroika · glasnost · Eastern Bloc · Bay of Pigs
Covert information gatherer
- CIAU.S. foreign intelligence service
- KGBUSSR intelligence service
- MI6UK espionage agency
- StasiEast German secret police
covert · intelligence · surveillance · infiltration · double agent · defector · mole · cipher
Fission-triggered mass destruction device
- hydrogen bombThermonuclear fusion weapon
- ICBMOcean-spanning nuclear delivery system
- warheadMunition's explosive section
- falloutPost-blast atmospheric particles
radiation · mushroom cloud · deterrence · MAD · brinkmanship · Cuban Missile Crisis · first strike · proliferation
First orbital spacecraft
- ApolloSun deity, moonshot namesake
- NASAFederal space exploration bureau
- cosmonautRussian orbital traveler
- astronautSpacecraft crew member
moon landing · Yuri Gagarin · Neil Armstrong · Laika · Vostok · Gemini · Mercury · satellite
Intentional deceptive falsehoods
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- Radio Free EuropeWestern broadcast to Soviet bloc
- Voice of AmericaFederal international broadcasting service
- agitpropPolitical art for causes
indoctrination · red scare · McCarthyism · blacklist · psyops · broadcasting · subversion · Pravda
Collective ownership system
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
- MarxismClass-based revolutionary philosophy
- socialismCommunal economic control
- democracyRule by the people
totalitarianism · imperialism · Stalinism · Leninism · Maoism · collectivism · free market · domino theory
Capabilities beyond human limits
- stockpilingAccumulating supplies in quantity
- missilesSelf-propelled guided weapons
- escalationProgressive increase in intensity
- military buildupExpansion of armed forces
defense spending · arms control · treaties · arsenal · rearmament · strategic
Iron Curtain
Cold War's political divide
- superpowersCapabilities beyond human limits
- bipolarityTwo-pole condition
- NATOWestern defense organization
Warsaw Pact · containment · spheres of influence · satellite states · buffer zones · demarcation · partition · Soviet Union · Kremlin · Pentagon
Sputnik
First orbital spacecraft
- McCarthyismPolitically-motivated accusation without evidence
- space raceContest for orbital superiority
- arms raceEscalating weapons accumulation between nations
Truman Doctrine · Marshall Plan · Berlin Airlift · Cuban Missile Crisis · Berlin Wall · perestroika · glasnost · Eastern Bloc · Bay of Pigs · red scare
spy
Covert information gatherer
Stasi · covert · intelligence · surveillance · infiltration · double agent · defector · mole · cipher · counterintelligence
atomic bomb
Fission-triggered mass destruction device
- hydrogen bombThermonuclear fusion weapon
- ICBMOcean-spanning nuclear delivery system
- warheadMunition's explosive section
fallout · radiation · mushroom cloud · deterrence · MAD · brinkmanship · Cuban Missile Crisis · first strike · proliferation · nuclear winter
Sputnik
First orbital spacecraft
- ApolloSun deity, moonshot namesake
- NASAFederal space exploration bureau
- cosmonautRussian orbital traveler
astronaut · moon landing · Yuri Gagarin · Neil Armstrong · Laika · Vostok · Gemini · Mercury · satellite · orbit
disinformation
Intentional deceptive falsehoods
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- Radio Free EuropeWestern broadcast to Soviet bloc
- Voice of AmericaFederal international broadcasting service
agitprop · indoctrination · red scare · McCarthyism · blacklist · psyops · broadcasting · subversion · Pravda · leaflets
communism
Collective ownership system
- capitalismPrivate profit-based economy
- MarxismClass-based revolutionary philosophy
- socialismCommunal economic control
democracy · totalitarianism · imperialism · Stalinism · Leninism · Maoism · collectivism · free market · domino theory · class struggle
superpowers
Capabilities beyond human limits
- stockpilingAccumulating supplies in quantity
- missilesSelf-propelled guided weapons
- escalationProgressive increase in intensity
military buildup · defense spending · arms control · treaties · arsenal · rearmament · strategic
- 1950sEisenhower, poodle skirt, Elvis Presley, Rosa Parks, baby boom
- geopoliticsbalance of power, bipolarity, bloc, blocs, brinkmanship
- Postwar EuropeBerlin Wall, Marshall Plan, Iron Curtain, iron curtain, NATO
- history topicsancient Rome, ancient Greece, medieval history, Renaissance, French Revolution
- 1950s AmericaEisenhower, McCarthy, McCarthyism, suburbs, consumerism
- postwar eraMarshall Plan, prosperity, reconstruction, iron curtain, Berlin Wall
Cold Warhot war
Active armed combat
shooting war · armed conflict · conventional war · military conflict · total war
Cold Warpeace
Freedom from disturbance
alliance · détente · entente · cooperation · rapprochement
war, cold, warm, warmth, warrior, warfare, coldness, coolness, wars