Conflict
The Cold War
Two superpowers that never fought directly, but did so everywhere by proxy
See it on the timeline →In depth
The logic was mutually assured destruction: each knew an attack meant its own destruction. During the Cuban crisis of 1962 the world came closer to nuclear war than ever, and a Soviet officer named Arkhipov single-handedly refused to authorise a launch from a submarine. The rivalry also drove space flight, the internet and much of postwar research.
For children
The United States and the Soviet Union built nuclear weapons enough to destroy the world several times over, but never went to war with each other. Instead they backed opposing sides in wars across the rest of the world.
Connects to
Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org