Cold War
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The Cold War was a military standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union. There was no direct fighting between the superpowers, but only an nuclear arms race. They each built many nuclear bombs and used them to terrify the other side.
The United States had non-communist allies, and the Soviet Union had communist allies. These countries fought each other directly, all around the world. The United States would arm its allies and the Soviet Union would arm theirs. This policy sometimes backfired and both sides suffered embarrassing defeats in these proxy wars, the US in Vietnam and the Soviets in Afghanistan. The Cold War ended in 1989 with the fall of the Soviet Union.