Answer:
The Cold War began after World War II, emerging as a complex geopolitical and ideological confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the war, the two countries were allies, but their post-war visions for the world differed significantly. The United States championed liberal democracy and a capitalist economic system, while the Soviet Union sought to spread communism and establish socialist governments in Eastern Europe.
Tensions escalated as disagreements arose over the division of post-war Europe, especially regarding the fate of Eastern European countries. The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences in 1945 highlighted these differences, leading to mistrust and suspicions between the two superpowers. The division of Germany and the subsequent establishment of the Eastern Bloc by the Soviet Union solidified the divide, with Western Europe aligning with the US and Eastern Europe falling under Soviet influence. These ideological and geopolitical factors set the stage for the Cold War, a prolonged period of hostility and rivalry that lasted until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.