Lesson 1/24 min
What the Cold War was (1947-1991)
5 March 1946. At Fulton, Missouri, in the United States, Britain's former Prime Minister Winston Churchill declares that an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across Europe. Soon after, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union begins.
At a glance
- Period: 1947 to 1991
- The two sides: the United States and the Soviet Union, two states with opposing ideologies
- It was not a conventional shooting war but mainly a psychological one
- The two sides stayed out of direct fighting but kept a war-like hostility towards each other
- It ended with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991
In Tarek Shamsur Rehman's words, the Cold War was a hostile relationship between two blocs that did not start a war but did create an atmosphere of war.
Key dates
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 19 October 1945 | George Orwell uses the term ‘cold war’ in an essay in the Tribune |
| 5 March 1946 | Churchill's ‘iron curtain’ speech at Fulton |
| 12 March 1947 | Truman asks the US Congress for aid to Greece and Turkey: the Truman Doctrine |
| 1991 | The Soviet Union collapses; the Cold War ends |
Watch out: The book calls George Orwell a ‘Russian writer’. He was an English writer, and he used the term in an essay in October 1945. The phrase had been used in foreign-policy circles before, but Orwell is counted as the first to use it in public.
Check yourself
Who used the phrase ‘iron curtain’ in the 1946 Fulton speech?
At a glance
- 1
The Cold War ran from 1947 to 1991, between the United States and the Soviet Union.
- 2
It was not a conventional war but mainly a psychological one.
- 3
The term ‘cold war’ was first used publicly by the English writer George Orwell, in 1945.
- 4
Churchill used ‘iron curtain’ in his 1946 Fulton speech.
- 5
The Cold War ended with the Soviet Union's fall in 1991.