But by describing this war as “cold,” it indicates the struggle did not involve weapons and did not result in rival armies seeking to destroy each other. By using the word “war,” it captured the seemingly life-or-death struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union and between capitalism and communism. The very term “Cold War” is contradictory and confusing.
My student could be forgiven for her confusion. That brought the world to the brink of what would have been a catastrophic conflict.īut through skill, prudence or luck – or all three – American and Soviet leaders managed to avoid direct combat with each other from 1945 to 1989, the basic period of the Cold War. Once, it led to the threat of nuclear war breaking out because Russia wanted to place nuclear missiles in Cuba, very close to the U.S. The Cold War relationship between the two rival nations was often tense. Washington and Moscow competed in numerous ways: over money and natural resources like oil, over allies, over weapons technology, over influence and prestige, over space exploration, over ideas. In 1991, the Soviet Union split up into 15 countries, the largest of which is Russia.īut back then, both of these two so-called superpowers wanted to be the most powerful nation in the world, building themselves up while simultaneously trying to reduce the power and influence of the other. It was, instead, an extended competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, along with their respective allies.
Unlike the two world wars, there were no physical battles between the major adversaries. I told her the Cold War was not an actual war. After we discussed the various nations who fought in World Wars I and II, she asked: “Now, who fought in the Cold War?” “I am getting confused about all these wars we are studying,” one of my college students confessed to me years ago. In the Cold War, was there any actual war going on? Like, with armies? Or was it mostly about space? – Leia K., age 10, Redmond, Washington If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to. Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty ImagesĬurious Kids is a series for children of all ages. Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev, left, met with U.S.
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