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The Cold War
Rivalry between East and West shapes global politics - through proxy wars, propaganda, and nuclear tension.
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Modern · 1945 CE – 1991 CE
The Cold War
Two superpowers divided the world under nuclear threat.
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Modern · 1941 CE – 1947 CE
Origins of the Cold War
The Cold War took shape as the alliance that defeated Nazi Germany gave way to suspicion, competing visions of Europe, and an increasingly global confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union.
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Modern · 1950 CE – 1953 CE
The Korean War
On the divided Korean peninsula, Cold War rivalry became open warfare as the two Koreas drew in the United States, China, and their allies, leaving behind an unresolved frontier that endures today.
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Modern · 1955 CE – 1975 CE
The Vietnam War
In Vietnam, a struggle born from decolonisation became entangled with the Cold War, drawing in the United States and exposing the limits of military power in a long and deeply contested conflict.
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Modern · 1945 CE – 2026 CE
The Kim Dynasty
North Korea's Kim dynasty emerged from the Cold War division of Korea and built a tightly controlled, nuclear-armed state whose survival keeps one of the era's most dangerous fault lines alive.
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Modern · 1949 CE – 1976 CE
Mao's China
Mao's victory brought the world's most populous country into the communist camp, but China's later split with the Soviet Union complicated the two-bloc struggle and transformed the balance of power in Asia.
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Modern · 1962 CE
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis compressed the nuclear danger of the Cold War into thirteen tense days, when decisions in Washington, Moscow, and Havana brought the superpowers closer to catastrophe than ever before.
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