The Cold War (1947-1991) prompted the birth of NATO and the Soviet Warsaw Pact

US–Soviet hostility began long before the Cold War

US–Soviet tensions began decades before WWII. After the 1917 revolution, the US refused to recognize the Bolshevik regime and even sent troops to fight against it.

NATO was formed in 1949 to deter Soviet expansion, prevent European militarism, and encourage political integration.

See an animated map of the entire Cold War.

Cold War rivalries fueled fierce competition in international sports

From Olympic medal counts to hockey showdowns, the US and USSR used sports to showcase ideological superiority. Athletic victories were framed as proof that each system—capitalist or communist—produced stronger, more disciplined citizens.

Wartime conferences exposed cracks in the US–Soviet alliance

At the Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, Allied leaders coordinated WWII strategy—but deep disagreements over postwar Europe foreshadowed the Cold War. The USSR’s push for influence in Eastern Europe clashed with US and British calls for self-determination.

During the Cold War, the rules-based order was largely limited to the West

The Soviet Union and its allies operated outside the Bretton Woods institutions, meaning the postwar liberal order functioned as a regional rather than a truly global system. This changed with the USSR's collapse in 1991.

The US and the USSR backed opposing sides in dozens of proxy wars during the Cold War

To avoid direct confrontation, the superpowers supported rival factions in conflicts around the world—including in Korea, Vietnam, Angola, and Afghanistan.

The Kennan Telegram shaped early US Cold War strategy

In 1946, diplomat George Kennan sent a long telegram from Moscow warning that the Soviet Union was inherently expansionist. His analysis laid the groundwork for the US policy of containment that defined the early Cold War.

Propaganda became a key weapon in the US–Soviet Cold War

Both superpowers waged a global battle for hearts and minds through propaganda—using film, radio, art and education to promote their values. The US emphasized freedom and prosperity, while the USSR championed socialism and anti-imperialism.

The Truman Doctrine marked the start of US containment strategy

Introduced in 1947, the Truman Doctrine pledged US support for nations resisting communism—starting with Greece and Turkey—and launched the containment policy that defined early Cold War strategy.

The 1955 Warsaw Pact was the Soviet Union’s answer to NATO

The pact included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the USSR. The pact established collective security and a joint military command between the member countries.

The US and the USSR each boycotted Olympic Games during the Cold War

The US led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In retaliation, the USSR and its allies skipped the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Post-WWII decolonization in Africa led to Cold War proxy conflicts

As newly independent African nations emerged after World War II, the US and USSR vied for influence—backing opposing sides in civil wars and revolutions. Conflicts in Angola, Ethiopia and Mozambique became proxy fronts in the Cold War.

'Cold War Conversations' podcast shares voices from the conflict's frontlines

This award-winning podcast features gripping interviews with the people who lived through the Cold War—spies, soldiers, defectors, and civilians. Covering everything from the Berlin Wall to nuclear standoffs, it offers unfiltered, emotional accounts of Cold War life and conflict.

Churchill’s 1946 ‘Iron Curtain’ speech warned of growing Soviet domination

In a 1946 speech, Winston Churchill declared that an “Iron Curtain” had descended across Europe—dividing East from West. The address marked one of the first public acknowledgments of the emerging Cold War and coined the term that would define the conflict.

Cold War soft power helped sell the space race to the American public

The fear of Soviet dominance prompted the US to invest heavily in space, but public support was also crucial. This video shows how marketing, media, and "soft power" framed spaceflight as peaceful, aspirational, and worth the cost—helping sustain the space race at home.

What was the Space Race?

​Want to know more about the Space Race? This article from the National Air and Space Museum dives into this intense Cold War competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Explore how the race transitioned from military rivalry to a quest for space exploration dominance, leading to milestones like the first satellite, Sputnik, and the iconic Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Explore 100 years of communism across the globe, from the 1917 October Revolution to North Korea's modern nuclear defiance.

During the Cold War and into the 21st century, US and Soviet/Russian leaders repeatedly agreed to arms control treaties, though strained tensions have led to the expiration of agreements in recent years.

Learn how the Soviets won the early space race

This video traces how Cold War arms competition transformed rocketry into a symbol of global power, following pioneers like Tsiolkovsky and von Braun through World War II and into the 1950s, culminating in the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik I in 1957.

Soviet control spread across Eastern Europe after WWII

In the late 1940s, the USSR solidified control over Eastern Europe by installing pro-communist regimes in countries like Poland, Hungary and Romania—often through rigged elections and political repression.

The threat of nuclear annihilation reshaped global diplomacy

The first use of atomic weapons introduced the possibility of a war with no survivors. This article examines how nuclear fear shaped Cold War diplomacy and continues to influence international relations today.

The Marshall Plan aimed to rebuild Europe and limit Soviet influence

Launched in 1948, the Marshall Plan provided over $12B (roughly $150B today) in US aid to help rebuild Western Europe. While framed as economic recovery, it also served as a Cold War tool—tying countries to the US and excluding the Soviet bloc.

US–Cuba contentious relations began long before the Cold War

Long before the revolution and missile crisis, US involvement in Cuba stretched back over 150 years—rooted in slavery, sugar, and shifting imperial ambitions. This short video traces how cycles of intervention and neglect shaped the island’s modern history.

The Soviet Union had a similar sphere of influence policy during the Cold War—the Brezhnev Doctrine

Articulated in 1968, the Brezhnev Doctrine claimed the Soviet Union's right to intervene militarily in its satellite states to prevent any deviation from communist rule. It was used to justify the invasion of Czechoslovakia that same year and the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

Four Cold War hawks warn: Nuclear weapons still threaten the world

Despite the Cold War's end, the US and Russia still hold 95% of the world's nuclear weapons—many on hair-trigger alert. In this 2010 documentary, top former officials urge urgent action to reduce and eliminate the threat.

The Berlin Wall physically separated East and West Berlin for nearly three decades, preventing East Germans from fleeing to the West and earning the nickname 'the Iron Curtain.'

The Soviet Union’s surprising first atomic test ended the US nuclear monopoly

In 1949, the USSR successfully tested its first atomic bomb—ending the US monopoly on nuclear weapons and sparking an arms race that would define the Cold War.

The world rapidly decolonized after World War II, with roughly a hundred new countries emerging between 1945 and 1989.

Decolonization isn't complete, as nearly 2 million people were living in UN-designated non-self-governing territories as of 2023.

How Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill shaped the postwar world

The Yalta Conference was a pivotal 1945 meeting between Allied leaders that helped shape the postwar global order and laid the groundwork for the founding of the United Nations.

NASA was created in 1958 in the wake of the Sputnik 1 launch

The launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 jolted US political leaders, who urgently consulted scientists and defense experts on how to respond. Concerns about Soviet technological dominance—and the promise of civilian space applications—led directly to NASA’s creation in 1958.

The global nuclear arms regime has slowly eroded over the past few decades

Both Russia and the United States have withdrawn from key Cold War-era arms-control pacts. Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine marked a turning point, as it suspended its participation in inspections and data-sharing agreements.

See a timeline of the tumultuous relationship between Cuba and the US since 1959

Only 90 miles separate Cuba from the US, yet Cold War hostility froze relations for decades. This timeline traces six decades of tension, from revolution and missile crisis to renewed hardline US policies reintroduced in 2025

The failed Bay of Pigs invasion led to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation

Moscow's decision to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba—just 90 miles from the US—pushed the world to the brink of nuclear war. To prevent future crises, both sides later set up a direct hotline and boosted arms-control diplomacy

Relationships between countries have become more peaceful since the rules-based order was established

Our World in Data monitors bilateral relationships on a spectrum from open rivalry to "positive peace"—deep cooperation and mutual protection. In 1945, no countries had highly cooperative security relationships. Today, nearly a fifth do.

The Soviet Union explained

From 1922 to 1991, the Soviet Union spanned one-sixth of Earth’s landmass and housed nearly 300 million people. As the most significant test of Marxist governance, it sat at the center of the century’s defining struggle between capitalism and communism.

NATO has only invoked its mutual defense clause once, in the days after the 9/11 attacks.

A digital archive of the Korean War

The Korean War largely shaped the evolution of the Cold War in Asia. Explore the Wilson Center’s digital collection of primary sources—including essays, profiles, popular documents, and a timeline—to learn about the Korean War. In 1945, the...

The Cuban Revolution, from 1953 to 1959, overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and established the first socialist state in the Western Hemisphere.

Economic stagnation and the arms race pushed the USSR toward collapse

By the 1980s, chronic economic stagnation and soaring military costs forced Gorbachev to launch sweeping reforms—perestroika and glasnost—to revive the Soviet system. Instead, openness fueled independence movements across the republics, accelerating the regime’s rapid downfall.

The origin of atmospheric science while testing nuclear weapons during the Cold War

The arms race between the US and the Soviet Union saw both countries stockpiling and detonating hundreds of bombs underground, underwater, and in the atmosphere. To better predict where nuclear fallout would travel after these tests, scientists developed models that would serve as a foundation for those used to explain atmospheric circulation.

See a timeline of the space race

This interactive timeline chronicles the space race from its Cold War origins to the moon landing, highlighting key figures, pivotal moments, and rapid technological advancements. It combines archival photos, video, and links to related material.

The space race was a Cold War rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union that culminated in the US landing astronauts on the moon in 1969.

The US intervened in Latin America to block communist influence during the Cold War

Fearing Soviet expansion, the US intervened across Latin America by backing coups, funding right-wing regimes, and supporting anti-communist militias—most notably in Cuba, Chile, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

The Nazis and Soviets agreed to a non‑aggression pact in 1939

On August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact—a public commitment to not attack each other combined with a secret agreement dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. This pact enabled Germany to invade Poland unopposed from the east and delayed conflict with the USSR until June 1941.

The world is shifting from unipolarity toward a multipolar order

The post-Cold War world was briefly unipolar after 1991, with the US standing alone as a global superpower following decades of US-Soviet bipolarity. Analysts increasingly describe today's order as multipolar, with China, Russia, the US, and regional powers all competing for influence.

The Berlin Airlift was the largest in history and a major Cold War victory for the US

In 1948, the USSR blockaded West Berlin to pressure America and its allies. In response, the US and its partners launched the largest airlift in history—delivering supplies daily for nearly a year until Stalin backed down.

Since World War II, formal declarations of war and peace treaties have become increasingly rare, replaced by cease-fires, authorizations of force, and "special military operations."

The Middle East's cold war, explained

The Middle East is one of the most complex regions in the world, including a complicated web of conflicts and actors. Two countries, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have torn apart the region by supporting opposing sides in other countries and indirectly...

Bobby Fischer’s 1972 victory ended Soviet dominance of chess

In Reykjavik, American Bobby Fischer defeated Soviet champion Boris Spassky to claim the world title. The Cold War showdown drew global attention, breaking the USSR’s 24-year grip on the championship.