Cold War strategy
Mutually assured destruction
Cold War strategy refers to the political, military, and diplomatic approaches used by the United States and Soviet Union during their decades-long standoff (roughly 1947–1991).
Core concepts include containment, deterrence, mutually assured destruction, and proxy warfare.
The phrase now applies to any indirect confrontation between powers avoiding direct conflict: Their rivalry has devolved into Cold War strategy—all espionage and economic pressure, no open fighting.
- iron curtainDivider of forged metal
- deterrencePrevention via threatened consequences
- Marshall PlanPostwar American economic assistance
- arms raceEscalating weapons accumulation between nations
- brinkmanshipPushing conflicts to disaster's threshold
containment policy · nuclear triad · first strike · nuclear umbrella · NATO · propaganda campaigns · Warsaw Pact · Radio Free Europe · mutually assured destruction · spheres of influence · balance of power · third world · trade embargoes · summits · cultural diplomacy · iron lady · foreign aid · economic sanctions
Cold War strategyhot war
Active armed combat
shooting war · conventional warfare · total war · armed conflict · military engagement
Cold War strategydétente
Easing of strained relations
peaceful coexistence · rapprochement · entente · alliance building · diplomatic engagement
cold, colder, coldest, coldly, coldness, war, wars, warring, warred