What were the reasons for the Cold War?
453334
Almost all wars involve economic resorces. Ideological subplots abound, however it's mostly resources. The command economy of the Soviet Union was incompatable with the modified free markets in the U.S. and Western Europe.  The arms race was significant but it was only an extension of the economic warfare.
1092644
"Duck and Cover" really did work, you know.  It's a little known fact that the Cold War between the US and Russia ended because of the scientific discoveries made because of it.\n\nDuring the mid 80's, Reagan built a missile defense shield along the entirety of the US border constructed out of grade school desks and hardcover textbooks.  This shield was utterly impenetrable, and when the Russians found out about it, they realized they'd lost and gave up.  A few months later, the Soviet Union collapsed.\n\nTrue fact.
604213
I don't know for sure about the Vietnam war other than South Vietnam wanted to be a democratic society and the north was communism and the US wanted to keep it from spreading, which is the same as what happened in Korea for the most part.  The reason for the Persian Gulf War was because Iraq invaded Kuwait saying that the country belonged to them and we came to Kuwaits defense.
1000974
The term "Cold War" emerged from the lack of miltary action during the war. Although there was massive tension throughout the period the war was "Cold".\n\nThe origins of the term "Cold War" are debated. The term was used hypothetically by George Orwell in 1945, though not in reference to the struggle between the USA and the Soviet Union, which had not yet been initiated. American politician Bernard Baruch began using the term in April 1947 but it first came into general use in September 1947 when journalist Walter Lippmann published a series of newspaper columns (and books) on US-Soviet tensions entitled The Cold War.
419795
europe, the marshall plan, the cold war
590921
cold war - threat of TOTAL destruction of civilisation ; present time - most of the world disagrees with those who want to destabilise things and create anarchy; but the latter case has been true for 100s of years ( Jesus would have been regarded as a terrorist these days). So , I go with cold war as being worse.
1171062
U.S Civil War? Do you know what century that was in?\n\nOf your choices, I would say it was the Cold War.
367582
The main excuse that each president used at that time was the cold war belief that if another small country fell under the control of the Soviet Union, it wouldn't be long before all the countries in that region, and ultimately the entire world would be under communist rule.
578381
WWII and Hirosima and Nagaski bombing.\nWWII established US's superiority in the world, and A-bomb started the cold war, which shaped US policy for 50 years and caused the technological progress that we are enjoying today.
550371
Simply put, a cold war is a war where we are acting aggressively toward another country, and they toward us, but no shots are being fired.  It's kind of like being in a fight with your boy/girlfriend.  No one is being physically hurt, but at any time one of you could snap and go nuclear.  \n\nHope that makes sense to you!
123290
Cold War, term used to describe the post-World War II struggle between the United States and its allies and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its allies. During the Cold War period, which lasted from the mid-1940s until the end of the 1980s, international politics were heavily shaped by the intense rivalry between these two great blocs of power and the political ideologies they represented: democracy and capitalism in the case of the United States and its allies, and Communism in the case of the Soviet bloc. The principal allies of the United States during the Cold War included Britain, France, West Germany, Japan, and Canada. On the Soviet side were many of the countries of Eastern Europe—including Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, East Germany, and Romania—and, during parts of the Cold War, Cuba and China. Countries that had no formal commitment to either bloc were known as neutrals or, within the Third World, as nonaligned nations (see Nonaligned Movement). \n\nAmerican journalist Walter Lippmann first popularized the term cold war in a 1947 book by that name. By using the term, Lippmann meant to suggest that relations between the USSR and its World War II allies (primarily the United States, Britain, and France) had deteriorated to the point of war without the occurrence of actual warfare. Over the next few years, the emerging rivalry between these two camps hardened into a mutual and permanent preoccupation. It dominated the foreign policy agendas of both sides and led to the formation of two vast military alliances: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), created by the Western powers in 1949; and the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact, established in 1955. Although centered originally in Europe, the Cold War enmity eventually drew the United States and the USSR into local conflicts in almost every quarter of the globe. It also produced what became known as the Cold War arms race, an intense competition between the two superpowers to accumulate advanced military weapons.
1005166
Probably because the rest of the world saw the USSR as a major threat to their way of lives and the US as protectors.  It's ironic that we are now percieved as the major threat to their way of lives.
487958
well, sorry, but Ronald Reagan is involved in my answer.  The end of the Cold War was a pretty major one.
1135283
A very debatable question indeed.Well if you know about the Cold War you must know that the U.S. and Russia were not exactly the best of friends.America was against the communist dictatorship in Russia and offcourse the Soviet Union.\nHowever the Cold War was last century.I believe that relations are cordial at the moment.However the two nations prefer to keep their distance.
1167834
Both the Cold War and the War on Terror are open-ended wars with no clear enemy.  This allows the U.S. Government to use it to go against elements it deems dangerous...all it had to do back in the 50s was label those elements "communists"...now it labels them "terrorists"
424743
It dramatically decreased the chance of total nuclear annihilation, because many of  the thousands of nukes that the Soviets controlled were decommissioned.   It probably increased the chances of a nuclear terrorist attack, because a number of nukes, nuclear material, and Soviet Nuclear Scientists were stolen, sold, or hired on the black market.   This allowed a group with 20-40 million dollars to become a limited nuclear power.   Don't worry about the country with 500 nuclear weapons.  Just worry about the guy who wants just one.
703470
It is because of the start of the cold war, Germany is not an occupied country at all, but feared after the war a reprisal invasion by Russia and as the West and East squared off Germany was used as a strategic front for the defence of the West incase there was ever an invasion from the Soviet Union.