The Cold War
1947-1991
What was the Cold War?
The Cold War was one of the longest wars on the known record, taking around 44 years. It is well known primarily for the nuclear arms race.
When was it?
It started some time in 1947, and continued on until around 1990, when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the USSR) was dissolved.
How did it start? (Y’know, I’m beginning to think that many of the last few things we've done in English have been leading up to this point).
It was clearly related to when Joseph Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union. Things got bad under him, and they didn't look good until recent times. So when the Berlin Blockade happened, it lead to disagreements and tensions between the Soviet Union and the United Nations. And then when it all went down, things exploded, literally!
What were they ‘fighting’ over?
I don’t think even ‘they’ knew what they were fighting over, really.
What effect did it have in the populations of the US and USSR (and the rest of the world)?
Well, it took quite a long time for the effects of WWII to settle, and it’s likely the case with this one. I don’t think that there is any of said effects left, to be honest, but fifteen years ago, that might not have been the case, because in the last century wars had begun only ten or fifteen years after each-other (or five, or twenty).
How and why did the USSR end?
I would, myself once have said It was because they lost. But that was before I read into the end of the Soviet Union a bit more. Now I say it was likely all the pressure from the war, and then when Boris Yeltsin was elected prime minister, it became too much for them, and then they rebelled, failed and that left them with no choice but to dissolve.
A picture of American troops in Afghanistan during the 1980's.
A picture from the Cold War, just not from the one you were thinking of.
Now, a picture from the cold war you were thinking of.
This one is in Berlin