The expression "Cold War" identifies the period of international tension that existed between 1945 and 1990. Emerging from World War Two as "superpowers," the United States and the Soviet Union became the major "players" on the European - and global - chessboard. Ideological opposites, the US and USSR regarded each other's policies and actions with suspicion and hostility. The Soviets regarded US policy for Europe as a threat to its security. The US saw the USSR of seeking to spread Moscow-controlled communism across Europe and the globe. The result would be the division of Europe into Western and Eastern blocs.
Section 25.1 The Division of Germany
Section 25.2 The Soviet Domination of Eastern Europe.
Section 25.3 The Last Years of Stalin
Section 25.4 The Kennan Thesis and Containment
Section 25.5 The Marshall Plan and NATO
Section 25.6 A Cold War Chronology, 1945-1953