Was the Cold war really a war?
461464
A Cold War would probably be more properly described as a long term conflict. A war would be defined as a situation where two states engage in direct military combat. There is no doubt that the Soviet Union and the United States engaged in a great political, ideological, economic and even military struggle against one another, but there was almost no instance of direct military conlfict between the two states. Thus, it was a "cold" war rather than a "hot" one, where direct military engagement occurred.\n\nHowever, having said that, it is undeniable that both sides were engaging each other but through the use of proxy states. Thus there was conflict in East and South East Asia must notably in Korea and Vietnam. They also came to the brink of war on more than one occasion, most famously in the Cuban Missile Crisis.\n\nIn sum, the distiction of it being a "Cold" War is an important one, though it actually fact it is more properly defined as an extended bipolar conflict.
667322
Boy, there's a debate.\n\nShort Answer: The United States, and it did it by spend the Soviet Union into oblivion. The USSR suffered the fate of most empires -- it overextended itself and ran of the resources necessary to sustain its empire.\nBut the US did it at a terrible cost. We are now stuck with a military-industrial complex that is bleeding us drive and could very soon threaten our own superiority.\n\nSo philosophical answer: The Cold War isn't over yet, and we could still lose.
509519
The Korean Conflict back in the '50s was not OFFICIALLY called a war. It was called a "police action", like we were handing out PARKING TICKETS? If you really want to know whats up in Iraq....talk to a SOLDIER that just came back. THOSE are the only guys whos word counts for ANYTHING anymore.
1011302
The Cold War from 1983-1984, between the U.S and Soviet Union.
279279
Cold War is called the conflict that existed between the USA and the USSR after the end of WWII. The world was divided in two sectors: the west, occidental, "christian", democratic, etc, with USA and allies; and the East, communist, etc. with the USSR and its puppets, under the power of the USSR. It was a situation of contained confrontation, like to forces pushing in opposite directions without a clear winner. Sometimes the tension provoked some very risky situations, such as the Missiles Crisis in Cuba, or persecutions, such as the famous Mc Carthy, black lists in the USA. IN the USSR, everything coming from the west was a threat. In the west, anything coming from the East was communist. With the end of the USSR--in the beginning of the 90's--and its communist satellites, the Cold War reached an end, fortunately, without a nuclear war. I suggest you not only consult a good book of Political History, but to watch a great and famous black and white movie of Stanley Kubrick (I dont remember exactly the name) for a satiric view of the Cold War.
687160
A war is a prolonged engagement between two military powers.  For example, I consider Vietnam a war because the US and the South Vietnamese militaries were fighting the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese militaries.  Same with the current Iraq War, two forces, prolonged engagement.  An example for a conflict is the Somalia incident back in 1991 (remember Blackhawk Down?)  Warlords over threw Somalia's government and the US and allies went in for humanitarian aid.  It was a reletively short engagement, making it a conflict.  Thats how I define wars from conflicts, but I suppose the official way is whether or not Congress declares war. (If they do, its a war.  if not, its a conflict)
1145274
Yep. True story.\n\nBut not real nukes.
659278
After world war 2 (1945) to 1990 the USSR and USA governments     d each other and raced to be the best superpower. It wasn't a war as such. They gave each other the cold shoulder, so to speak. Hence the term. \n\nSome people claim they had proxy wars. They would have police actions in a third country supposedly to support the third country - but some people would argue this was their way of having a war with each other without admitting to having a war with each other. It was done this way (the argument goes) because the USSR and USA could never really have a war since they would blow us all to kingdom come.
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.
1152671
Not sure the exact process, but congress has to declare war.  However, there are loopholes, as congress has not done so since WWII.  That means every war, including vietnam, korea,  Iraq, etc.. were not 'officially' wars, but considered 'conflicts'.
911913
Yes.\n\nThe difference is that Hitler started a war, and then tried to make nuclear weapons.\n\nIran is making nuclear weapons first, then they will start a war.
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"
376514
Neither side realized how close we came to a nuclear war, not until afterward.  The Soviets admitted that an order to one of the submarines to fire its nukes was disobeyed, sort of a reverse role as depicted in the movie Crimson Tide.
971461
It wasn't. The USSR lied about having missles in Cuba aimed at the  United States. We found out about it from spy photos and told the Russians to remove them or we'd nuke them until they glowed.\n\nThey blinked first and removed the missles.
216868
Oh there are people who were fighting the "cold war" in 49, and I do believe there were people awarded the purple heart. People were shot dowm by the Soviet Union, and there were other hotspots of the cold war where people were shot at.
121293
A lot depends on what you count as a war.  The U.S. hasn't officially declared war since World War 2, so the answer could techically be zero.  Likewise, we have troops stationed in various countries around the world, and whether that counts as "going to war" or not is questionable.  You've gotta define your terms a bit more explicitly before you get a usable answer.
1152286
We effectively did. The Russians stayed within the boundaries that were established at the end of World War II. We could have tried to push the Russians back into their own territory, but Harry Truman didn't want another 200,000 dead Americans.\n\nAnd containment largely worked for the 40 years that the Cold War raged... We won Berlin, drew to a tie in Korea and Cuba, and lost Vietnam (but the Russians didn't win).\nAnd the arms race effectively destroyed the Soviet economy; at a terrible cost to the US, but we won the Cold War.