Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes ProCon History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture Money Videos
Cold War
Table of Contents
References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics
Images & Videos
Berlin blockade and airlift North Atlantic Treaty Organization Cuban missile crisis
Explore technological innovations of the Cold War
How the Cold War contributed to antibiotic resistance
Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Soviet invasion of Prague
What if the Cold War turned hot?
Berlin Wall opening Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev
For Students
Wreckage of the U-2 spy plane shot down inside the Soviet Union in 1960. U-2 spy plane incident, U-2 affair, Cold War.
Comprehension Quiz: Cold War
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Cold War summary
Quizzes
Thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, code-named MIKE, detonated in the Marshall Islands in the fall of 1952. Photo taken at a height of 12,000 feet, 50 miles from the detonation site. (Photo 3 of a series of 8) Atomic bomb explosion nuclear energy hydrogen energy
Facts You Should Know: The Cold War Quiz
Related Questions
Read Next
President Ronald Reagan deliving his famous speech that challenged the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall, at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, June 12, 1987.
“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!”: Reagan’s Berlin Speech
Computer mapping, woman at early 1990s computer
Timeline of the 1990s
Close up of a hand placing a ballot in a ballot box. Election vote voter voting
Have Any U.S. Presidents Decided Not to Run For a Second Term?
Korean War - U.S. Marines watch explosions of bombs dropped by Marine Vought F4U Corsair fighter bomber planes during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Korea, in December 1950. soldiers
Korean War Timeline
Queen Elizabeth II addresses at opening of Parliament. (Date unknown on photo, but may be 1958, the first time the opening of Parliament was filmed.)
All 119 References in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Explained
Discover
Title: Senate Square, St. Petersburg, December 14, 1825: repression of the troop mutiny - watercolor by Carl Ivanovitch Kollman, 1825 depicts Decembrist uprising clashing with cavalry, with spectators watching. (new style December 26, 1825) Europe. Saint
8 of the Largest Empires in History
Los Angeles Police Department wanted flyer on Elizabeth Short, aka the "Black Dahlia," who was brutally murdered in January 1947. The FBI supported the Los Angeles Police Department in the case, including by identifying Short through her fingerprints that
America’s 5 Most Notorious Cold Cases (Including One You May Have Thought Was Already Solved)
Rural Irish landscape, Sligo, Ireland.
Why Is Ireland Two Countries?
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.
10 Famous Artworks by Leonardo da Vinci
Thanksgiving Turkey with all the sides
Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?
Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1855), founder of the house of Rothschild; lithograph by Friedrich Lieder, c. 1830.
Where Do Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories About the Rothschild Family Come From?
Super Typhoon Noru over the western tropical Pacific Ocean as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA Aqua satellite July 31 2017
What Is the Difference Between a Typhoon and a Super Typhoon?

Cold War: Facts & Related Content

verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://www.britannica.com/facts/Cold-War
Written and fact-checked by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Date 1947 - 1991
Participants North Atlantic Treaty Organization • Soviet Union • United States • Warsaw Treaty Organization
Context international relations

Did You Know?

  • Space was an important arena for the Cold War and even led to the creation of NASA.
  • Millions of people were killed in the proxy wars between the US and the USSR during the Cold War.
  • The "hot" parts of the Cold War included the Korean War, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion into Cuba, and the Vietnam War.

Photos and Videos

Berlin blockade and airlift
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Cuban missile crisis
Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
Soviet invasion of Prague
Berlin Wall opening
Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev
Explore technological innovations of the Cold War
How the Cold War contributed to antibiotic resistance
What if the Cold War turned hot?
Cuban missile crisis: The world on the brink of war
How Mikhail Gorbachev helped end the Cold War and unite Europe
See All Videos and Images →

Related Topics and References

Topics
Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Timeline

Consider President Truman's reasoning for using atomic bombs against Japan and issuing the Truman Doctrine
Truman Doctrine
March 12, 1947
George C. Marshall
Marshall Plan
April 1948 - December 1951
Berlin blockade and airlift
Berlin blockade
June 24, 1948 - May 12, 1949
NATO and the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
May 14, 1955 - July 1, 1991
Francis Gary Powers
U-2 Incident
May 5, 1960 - May 17, 1960
Bay of Pigs invasion
Bay of Pigs invasion
April 17, 1961
Brandenburg Gate
Berlin crisis of 1961
August 1961
Kennedy announces U.S. naval blockade of Cuba
Cuban missile crisis
October 22, 1962 - November 20, 1962
John F. Kennedy: Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
August 5, 1963
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
1969 - 1979
Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
October 1973 - February 9, 1989
Korean Air Lines flight 007
September 1, 1983
Reagan, Ronald; Gorbachev, Mikhail
Reykjavík summit of 1986
October 11, 1986 - October 12, 1986
Boris Yeltsin and the collapse of the Soviet Union
collapse of the Soviet Union
August 18, 1991 - December 31, 1991

Key People

Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
president of United States
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
president of United States
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
president of United States
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles
United States statesman
Dean Acheson
United States statesman
Philby, Kim
Kim Philby
British intelligence officer and Soviet spy

Related Quizzes and Features

Quiz
Thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, code-named MIKE, detonated in the Marshall Islands in the fall of 1952. Photo taken at a height of 12,000 feet, 50 miles from the detonation site. (Photo 3 of a series of 8) Atomic bomb explosion nuclear energy hydrogen energy
Facts You Should Know: The Cold War Quiz
Wreckage of the U-2 spy plane shot down inside the Soviet Union in 1960. U-2 spy plane incident, U-2 affair, Cold War.
Comprehension Quiz: Cold War