cold war between united states and soviet union

[natalia04]

why did the cold war start?

[paddywak]

the "cold" war was virtually a continuation of the "hot".The term "cold war" was popularided by a journalist called Walter Lipmann in 1947 & the "war" was basically down to the opposing ideologiesof the major nations ie democracy and communism. & was fueled by the Stalin wishing to force his views on other nations & the rabid anti -communism of people like the American senator Joe McCarthy. On several occassions the war nearly became "hot" especially during the Belin Blockade (1948-49) & the Cuban Missile Crisis which came to a head in 1962.

[starmack]

The cold war also took an outing to outer space for a decade in the Sixties.

[fairkatrina]

Basically the cold war was an ideological conflict between Russia (communist) and the USA (democracy) which emerged after the end of WWII when Germany split into East and West (communist and democratic respectively). Each superpower thought that they were right, and both had nuclear weapons, which prevented a full-scale fight, or a "hot" war, as it would lead to the destruction of the world. Instead both sides took part in a series of different conlicts, such as the space race, and the war in Vietnam (with each side backing half of the Vietnamese people who were carrying out their own little civil war). Ultimately (and eventually - after a lot of near-misses with the future of the planet) democracy won by default, as communism failed (although the Americans lost the Vietnamese war). Germany was reunited, and a direct line was installed between the White House and the Kremlin to prevent anything that terrible ever happening again.

[d0wnd0wnd0wn]

Be careful contrasting Communist with Democracy. They are not natural opposites. There is nothing paradoxical about a Democratic Communist State in theory.

Take it: Capitalist v Communist. This was what the cold war was about - although it developed from and into a nationalistic competition between the two world superpowers which remained after WWII. That many of the Capitalist countries were democratic is linked but not a necessary part of the conflict. Many Allies to the West during the cold war - In the middle east / africa / Asia / south america were not at all democratic, but there was no problem with them remaining friends with "the West".

[d0wnd0wnd0wn]

Just after the Russian revolution in 1917, a white army supported by Britain and France (and possible the US - i forget) was sent to try and put down the communist revolution (and ensure that Russia would continue fighting GErmany in WWI). THe mission failed, but this marked the beginning of the SOviet Union's slightly cool relations with western powers, they did not turn completely cold until after WWII though

[Kromovaracun]

It's often marked as beginning at the end of WW2, with the Soviet Union effectively subjugating Eastern Europe (and d0wn is right to point out some existing tensions beforehand).

There is some debate about it, but historians are pretty unanimously agreed that the "Cold War" had at least started by the 1949 Berlin Blockade.