Audio tour The Cold War Explained

Lasting from the end of World War II in 1945 until the early 1990s, the Cold War was one of the most significant events of the 20th century.  At its heart, the Cold War was essentially a ‘face off’ or competition between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II.  Historians have identified several causes that led to the outbreak of the Cold War, including: tensions between the two nations at the end of World War II, the ideological conflict between both the United States and the Soviet Union, the emergence of nuclear weapons, and the fear of communism in the United States. ​During the Second World War, the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, was allied with Britain, France, and the United States against Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan.  At the time, the alliance was based around destroying the fascist regimes in the Europe and Japanese expansionism in the Pacific.  However, by 1945 the major fighting in both the European Theater and Pacific Theater began to come to an end.  For example, World War II in Europe essentially ended with the death of Adolf Hitler on April 30th, 1945.  Japan was defeated soon after in August of 1945 with the atomic bombing of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  During these final stages of World War II, the partnership between the Soviet Union and the other Allied nations began to fall apart.  This is best evidenced by the Allied wartime conferences in Yalta and Potsdam.

Another intense stage of the Cold War was in 1958 through 1962. The United States and the Soviet Union began developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and in 1962 the Soviets began secretly installing missiles in Cuba that could be used to launch nuclear attacks on U.S. cities. This sparked the Cuban missile crisis in1962, a confrontation that brought the two superpowers to the brink of war before an agreement was reached to withdraw the missiles.

Watch the video clip for a summary of the causes, effects and outcome of the Cold War. 

From “History Crunch: Causes of the Cold War"