AnswerFrom the end of World War II until the early 1990s, there was a state of political and military hostility between the Soviet Union and its allies (the Warsaw Pact) and the United States and its Western allies (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO). An weapons race, espionage, propaganda, and proxy battles in various parts of the world defined this time period.
The ideological opposition between the capitalist, democratic, and market-oriented West and the authoritarian, communist, and centrally planned Soviet Union was the core of the war. With the threat of a nuclear conflict that may wipe out humanity, the two superpowers engaged in a quest for influence and control on a worldwide scale.
World politics, culture, and society were all significantly impacted by the Cold War.