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Encyclopedia entry: Cold War
- Article from:
- The Oxford Companion to United States History
- Author:
Copyright© The Oxford Companion to United States History 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information)
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Cold War.
For almost forty‐five years (1945–1989), the Cold War dominated international relations and loomed large on the American homefront. Beginning after
World War II
, the Cold War arose from the interaction of a chaotic postwar international situation and the foreign policies of the United States, the Soviet Union, and other nations. Characterized by high tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, the polarization of domestic and international politics, the division of the world into economic and military spheres, conflict in the Third World, and a dangerous arms race, the Cold War left its imprint on the history of the twentieth century.
Historiography.
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