HomeShowsThis Day In History
Stream HISTORY
HomeShowsThis Day In HistoryStream HISTORY
  1. Home
  2. Topics
  3. Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union lasted for decades and resulted in anti-communist suspicions and international incidents that led two superpowers to the brink of nuclear disaster.

Topics

See All

Operation Ivy Hydrogen Bomb Test in Marshall Islands A billowing white mushroom cloud, mottled with orange, pushes through a layer of clouds during Operation Ivy, the first test of a hydrogen bomb, at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. (Photo by © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Featured

Cold War History

The Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union lasted for decades and resulted in anti‑communist suspicions and international incidents that led the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear disaster.

Read moreRead more about Cold War History
Senator McCarthy Attending US Army Hearings (Original Caption) Senator Joseph R. McCarthy chairman of the Senate Investigations Subcommittee, is shown as he took center stage again to comment on the latest developments in his dispute with the White House and Army Secretary Robert T. Stevens.

Joseph McCarthy

The Cold War In the years after World War II ended, events at home and abroad seemed to many Americans to prove that the “Red menace” was real. In August 1949, for instance, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb. Later that year, Communist forces declared victory in the Chinese Civil War and established […]

Read more
A group of protesters demonstrate holding placards against Communist sympathizers outside the Fox Wilshire Theatre in occasion of the premiere of film 'Exodus', which marked the end of the 'Hollywood Blacklist' when screen player Dalton Trumbo, a Communist Party member from 1943 to 1948 and member of the Hollywood Ten, was credited as the screenwriter of the film, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, US, December 1960. (Photo by American Stock Archive/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Red Scare

The Red Scare was hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, which intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Read more
Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer

Palmer Raids

Red Scare Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, America was on high alert, fearing Communist revolutionaries on their own shores. The Sedition Act of 1918, which was an expansion of the 1917 Espionage Act, was a direct result of the paranoia. Targeting those who criticized the government, the Sedition Act set into motion an effort […]

Read more
Here's How the Truman Doctrine Established the Cold War

Videos

See All

3:57 minTV-PG
Play

Featured

Here’s Why the Suez Crisis Almost Led to Nuclear War

Discover the history of the Suez Canal and how Egypt’s President Nasser, with the support of the Soviet Union, seized the canal from the British in 1956, causing an international crisis. See how President Eisenhower intervened to help restore order.

Watch nowWatch now video about Here’s Why the Suez Crisis Almost Led to Nuclear War
3:11 minTV-PG

Formation of NATO

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in the formation of key alliances that would endure throughout the Cold War.

Watch now
1:09 minTV-PG

Fidel Castro

During Fidel Castro’s tenure as President of Cuba, he survived an estimated 638 attempts on his life – and that’s just from the CIA.

Watch now
1:35 minTV-PG

HUAC: A Cold War Witch Hunt

Take a crash course on the House Un‑American Activities Committee (HUAC), a group that investigated the ‘loyalty’ of those suspected of having Communist ties after World War II.

Watch now

Stories

See All

The Hollywood 10 (and two lawyers).

Featured

Who Were the Hollywood 10?

Hollywood blacklisted these screenwriters, producers and directors for refusing to testify before the House Un‑American Activities Committee.

Read moreRead more about Who Were the Hollywood 10?
First-grade students at Public School 60 in Baltimore say the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag in June 1955.

Why Eisenhower Added ‘Under God’ to the Pledge of Allegiance During the Cold War

The pledge, as recited by U.S. schoolchildren, wasn’t standardized until World War II, and didn’t contain “under God” until 1954.

Read more
An image of the Soviet flag.

Photos: 7 Decades of the Soviet Union

The Soviet Union, founded in 1922 on Marxist‑socialist principles, became one of the biggest and most powerful nations in the world—before its fall and dissolution in 1991.

Read more

Key Moments in the Cuban Missile Crisis

These are the steps that brought the United States and Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war in 1962.

Read more

This Day in History

See All

1980

Carter reacts to Soviet intervention in Afghanistan

Cold War
1948

Record day for the Berlin Airlift

Cold War
1945

German scientists brought to U.S. to work on weapons tech in Operation Paperclip

Cold War
1961

Construction begins on the Berlin Wall 

Cold War
1949

Pope Pius XII excommunicates all communist Catholics

Cold War
1982

One million people demonstrate in New York City against nuclear weapons

Cold War
A+E Global Media Logo
  • HISTORY Education
  • HISTORY Vault®
  • HISTORY Apps
  • HISTORY2™
  • HISTORY en Español®
  • Military HISTORY®
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Share Your Opinions
  • FAQ / Contact Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Employment Opportunities
  • A+E Factual Studios™
  • Accessibility Support
  • A+E Studios®
  • TV Parental Guidelines
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright Policy
  • Cookie Notice
  • Ad Choices
© 2025, A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved.