US–Soviet hostility began long before the Cold War

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

The geopolitical rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union was considered “cold" because the two countries never directly engaged in military combat during the time period. This page from the Kennedy Presidential Library outlines the causes and major events of the early Cold War.

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.

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.

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.

Roosevelt formally recognized the Soviet Union in 1933

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt formally recognized the Soviet Union—ending 16 years of nonrecognition and aiming to improve trade and stabilize relations amid growing global instability.

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 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 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.

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.

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 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.

See an animated map of the entire Cold War.

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

The 1917 Russian Revolution: an interactive timeline

The 1917 Russian Revolution ended Tsarist rule and ultimately led to the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. Follow the events that led to the revolution, subsequent civil war, and the USSR in this interactive...

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.

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.

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.

See a timeline of the major moments in Soviet history

Beginning with Lenin’s return to Russia from Germany in 1917 and ending with Gorbachev’s resignation on December 25, 1991, this timeline outlines the significant domestic and foreign policy developments that led to the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.

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.

How the US entered WWI in 1917

Originally taking a position of neutrality during the course of World War I, the United States of America eventually relented. Entering the war in 1917, support for the British and French had risen and Americans were incensed by Germany's overtures to Mexico and U-boat attacks that sank ships and ended American lives. See how and why the US entered WWI in this article.

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.

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.

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.

Japan's imperial expansion in Asia in the 1930s set the stage for war with the US.

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The US and South Korea have a robust, if delicate, alliance

The deep ties between South Korea and the United States go back decades, but the relationship hasn’t always been frictionless. When two off-duty American servicemen accidentally killed two South Korean middle-school girls in 2002, it set off anti-American protests that led South Korea to seek a more balanced relationship. The Council on Foreign Relations traces key moments in the two countries’ seven-decade history.

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

Hear about the US role in the Cuban Revolution—and the blowback it caused

Against long odds, Fidel Castro launched a socialist revolution just 90 miles from the US and kept it alive for decades. This 10-part podcast traces Washington's pivot from early support to an obsessive campaign of sabotage and hundreds of alleged assassination plots.

The US tried to overthrow the communist government in Cuba—and failed

In 1961, the US backed an invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro exiles, aiming to spark an uprising against the communist government. The operation collapsed within days, embarrassing the US and pushing Cuba closer to the Soviet Union.

Before Pearl Harbor, the US was a nonbelligerent ally to the Allied powers

Between September 1940 and December 7, 1941, the United States remained officially neutral—yet President Roosevelt incrementally shifted policy from “cash‑and‑carry” to Lend‑Lease, funneling critical military aid to Britain and other allies without entering the war.

Should the US have entered into World War I?

America entered World War I in 1917, but had remained neutral until that point. President Woodrow Wilson addressed Congress, further underlining the USA's neutrality. Eleven weeks later, he asked for a declaration of war. With attacks by German saboteurs on an American munitions depot, it seemed he had no choice. But did he? This article asks what might have happened if the US stayed out of WWI.

Before World War II, the US was a Pacific power

Decades before Pearl Harbor, the US held major Pacific territories—Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, American Samoa, and numerous island bases—giving it strategic reach across the western Pacific. This presence increasingly overlapped with Japan’s imperial ambitions in the region, contributing to rising tensions.

The Russian Revolution toppled the tsar and brought the Bolsheviks to power

In 1917, mass unrest, war exhaustion, and economic collapse overthrew the Romanov monarchy, enabling the Bolsheviks to seize control. The revolution dismantled imperial Russia and set the foundation for the creation of the Soviet Union.

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.

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

What led to the October Revolution?

The 1917 Russian Revolution is actually two separate revolutions. One happened that spring that ended centuries of Tsarist rule and led to the establishment of a provisional government. Another happened that autumn during which the Bolshevik...

Explore the fraught relations between the United States and Cuba since 1959

From the Cuban Missile Crisis and decades of economic embargo to President Obama's normalization efforts and President Trump's reversion to "maximum pressure," US-Cuba relations have fluctuated between hostility and fleeting diplomacy since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

Explore over a century of US-Canadian relations.

Sartre eventually denounced communism

The French philosopher was a long-time ardent supporter of communism and the USSR. He finally spoke out against the movement with the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, saying that the move was "made possible by 12 years of terror and imbecility."

Some experts argue that Russia was never effectively integrated into the rules-based order after 1991

This piece argues that Russia's difficult relationship with the IMF and World Bank in the 1990s—characterized by economic shocks and perceived Western condescension—helped shape Moscow's later hostility toward the liberal order.

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

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 Soviet-Afghan War empowered militant jihadist networks

US and Pakistani support for Afghan mujahideen in the 1980s inadvertently built the infrastructure—training camps, ideology, and global fighters—that later evolved into al-Qaeda's foundation.

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 League of Nations was the predecessor to the UN—and the US never joined

The League of Nations—established in 1920 after World War I—was the first global organization aimed at maintaining world peace. Although US President Woodrow Wilson championed its creation, the United States never joined.

Hear how the US and Iran went from close allies to bitter adversaries after the 1979 revolution.

Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to call Bush after 9/11, and visited the US two months later.

Spies working on the Manhattan Project propelled the Soviet bomb program

Soviet infiltration—most notably by Klaus Fuchs—smuggled detailed implosion-design and hydrogen‑bomb data from Los Alamos to Moscow, cutting the USSR’s development time by at least a year and enabling their first atomic test in August 1949.

A short history of the China-Taiwan conflict

The relationship between China and Taiwan is a fraught one, and has been for well over a century. US involvement has only raised the stakes between the independent island country, also known as the Republic of China, and the larger country on the mainland. Here's a breakdown of the conflict between China and Taiwan over the years.