Final answer:
The Cold War encompassed economics, politics, and military aspects as the United States and Soviet Union engaged in a multi-decade rivalry without direct military conflict, using other means such as the space race, proxy wars, and ideological influence.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, after World War II. This era involved various aspects of competition and confrontation, including economics, politics, and military engagements. Although the two superpowers never engaged in direct military conflict, they opposed each other through proxy wars, an arms race including nuclear weapons, espionage, ideological battles, and alignment with other nations.
The Cold War period encompassed not only the competition in weapons and military alliances but also in technological and economic fronts, such as the space race and attempts to influence developing nations. The ideological struggle between capitalism and communism played out in various domains, transforming it into a multifaceted rivalry over several decades until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.