The Cold War overview - EdexcelSuperpower relations and the Cold War, 1941-1991
The Cold War is the title given to the period of tension between the two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, which dominated international relations for most of the second half of the 20th century.
The tension between the two superpowers, the United States of America (USA) and the Soviet UnionThe group of 15 communist republics formed from the Russian Empire after the revolution of 1917. (USSR) initially grew from ideologicalA set of beliefs or ideas that someone follows or believes in. differences between the two: the Soviet Union was communismA classless society where all property is owned publicly. and its political and economic systems were at odds with those of the USA which were capitalismAn economic system based on privately owned, as opposed to state-controlled, businesses and the creation of profit..
Despite their differences, the USA and USSR were able to join together in an uneasy wartime alliance against Nazi GermanyNazi Germany is a common name of a period of history in Germany between 1933 to 1945, under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. during World War Two. However, once the war was won, this wartime alliance began to fall apart and the ideological differences between the two developed into outright hostility.