The Cold War overview - OCR ABackground to the Cold War
The Cold War was a rivalry that began at the end of World War Two between two superpowers, the USA and the USSR. It led to many crises around the world, such as the Berlin Wall and the Vietnam War.
The Cold War is a title given to the period of tension between the two superpowers, the United States of America (USA) and the Soviet Union (USSR). The conflict grew initially from ideologicalA set of beliefs or ideas that someone follows or believes in. differences due to the fact that the Soviet Union was a communistA person or country which follows the left-wing ideas of Karl Marx about the redistribution of wealth. country whose government and economic system was at odds with that of capitalismAn economic system based on privately owned, as opposed to state-controlled, businesses and the creation of profit.democraticA system of government that allows people to have a vote. America.
Despite their differences, the USA and USSR were able to join together in an uneasy wartime alliance against Nazi GermanyNazi Germany is a common name of a period of history in Germany between 1933 to 1945, under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. during World War Two. However, once the war was won, this wartime alliance began to fall apart and the ideological differences between the two developed into outright hostility.
You will need to see the Cold War in three distinct phases;