a.

was the continuing state of conflict, tension, and competition

that existed after World War II

the Soviet Union and its satellites
between
the powers of the Western world under the leadership of the United States
from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s

military coalitions, espionage, propaganda

was expressed through weapons development, invasions
competitive technological development, which included the space race
b. the conflict
costly defense spending
included a massive conventional and nuclear arms race
numerous proxy wars

c. the two superpowers never fought one another directly

began a policy of "containment" of communism

d. US and various western European countries
forged myriad alliances to this end, including NATO

created an Eastern Bloc of countries that it occupied

e. The Soviet Union annexing some as Soviet Socialist Republics

Cold maintaining others as Satellite states that would later form the Warsaw Pact
War
The Cold War saw periods of both heightened tension and relative calm
1. Berlin Blockade (1948–1949)
2. the Korean War (1950–1953)
3. the Berlin Crisis of 1961
f.
International crises arose 4. the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
5. the Vietnam War (1959–1975)
6. the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989)
7. NATO exercises in November 1983

The Cold War drew to a close in the late 1980s and the early 1990s
under President Ronald Reagan
diplomatic, military, and economic pressure
The United States on the Soviet Union
increased
g. which was already suffering from severe economic stagnation

introduced the perestroika and glasnost reforms

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
In the second half of the 1980s

leaving the United States as the dominant military power

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991
though Russia retained much of the massive Soviet nuclear arsenal

Guerra Fría.mmap - 02/06/2009 - Carlos Mondragón