The Cold War was the period of hostility and tension between the Soviet bloc and the Western powers that followed the Second World War. the first major crisis of the post-Cold War era. Open yet restricted rivalry and hostility that developed after World War II between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The U.S. and Britain, alarmed by the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, feared the expansion of Soviet power and communism in Western Europe and elsewhere. The Soviets were determined to maintain control of Eastern Europe, in part to safeguard against a possible renewed threat from Germany. The Cold War (the term was first used by Bernard Baruch during a congressional debate in 1947) was waged mainly on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. It was at its peak in 1948-53 with the Berlin blockade and airlift, the formation of NATO, the victory of the communists in the Chinese civil war, and the Korean War. Another intense stage occurred in 1958-62 with the Cuban missile crisis, which resulted in a weapons buildup by both sides. A period of détente in the 1970s was followed by renewed hostility. The Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991
{i} hostility and conflict which developed between the Soviet Union and the United States after the end of World War II
{i} post-World War II political and economic struggle between the USA and its western European allies against the Soviet Union and its eastern European allies