Why the cold war considered a war without fighting?

Answer 1

One of the definitions of the word "war" in the English Language Dictionary is, "...any conflict or competition suggesting active hostility...such as a war of words..."

1. What happened was that the generation that lived during the cold war era never gave the term "(Cold) War" any attention (it wasn't important). There were far too many more serious things going on...like Korea or Vietnam, for example.

2. That old trap of simplicity kicked in, "Cold War" became so much easier to say, spell, write, etc. than "a military stand-off/confrontation with the Communist Super Powers." Folks just said, "cold war" and that said it all, they knew what you meant.

3. AFTER the cold war ended on or about 1990, all of a sudden a new generation kicks in, and they are confused about the term "(Cold) War"...and understandably so. That word "war" which had been abused by the people that lived it, and didn't think it was important, now have to explain it.

4. To make matters extremely worse, those military personnel serving during that era, and never fought a hot war, now demanded medals for the cold war. With that approved, now military veterans have confused the newer generation even more for receiving medals during the cold war that wasn't even a war. But people are like that, they love medals. As a staff officer in General Washington's Continental Army once remarked, "what a man won't do for a purple piece of cloth" (the first generally accepted US medal; the Purple Heart).

Bottom line: Just stick to the dictionary definition as to why the cold war was called a war.

Answer 2

Because there wasn't any fighting. If there had been, it would not have been called a cold war.

It would have been a hot war.