Why was the relationship between the unted states and the Soviet Union called a Cold War after the Potsdam conference in 1945?

Answer 1

The Cold War began as World War II was ending. American leaders saw the power and ambitions of the Soviet Union as a threat to our national security. The Cold War was a war of words and ideologies rather than a shooting war, although at times the Cold War turned “hot” as in Korea and Vietnam. Basically, the Cold War was a rivalry between the United States as leader of the western democracies, and the Soviet Union and the nations that were controlled by the communists.

Answer 2

{| |- | The term was first used by George Orwell in 1945. It involved the arms race and development of nuclear weapons. Neither side wanted to be responsible for the detonation of a nuclear weapons, or being the first. Actual warfare between the US and the USSR didn't occur, but came close in areas of Southeast Asia (Vietnam and Korea) and even in the Carribbean (Cuban Missle Crisis). |}

Answer 3

There was no actual fighting in the sense as being on the battle fields. It was tense and the two 'allies' were really not allies. There was a constant fight in that one would build a great weapon and the other would build a bigger one. The USSR had the largest armed forces but the US had the atomic bomb. The USSR didn't know how many and that made the tensions worse. They used 'client states' to fight in the field. One example was the war in Vietnam.

They were two totally different cultures and neither understood the other and this would lead the world down a very dangerous path. It led to the development of weapons of awesome destructive capability and the creation of some intriguing policies such as MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction.