strange war was fought between the two blocks. It was a war in which the principal contenders did not physically attack each other or fight each other directly and hence, there was no ‘hot’ war. Instead, a War was fought behind closed doors through propaganda and words. It is called the Cold War simply because of the absence of a real fight as in traditional wars. This Cold War, characterised by intense tension between the United States and the USSR, influenced and shaped almost everything that happened in the world between 1945 and 1991.
The Cold War was not just a propaganda war. It also saw real fighting and cost around 20 million human lives. However, almost all of the people killed were citizens of the Third World, viz., countries emerging from colonial domination like Vietnam, Korea, Angola and Afghanistan. This division turned ethnically similar people and geographically adjacent territories into enemies and it led to wasteful wars between these countries.
Some main tactics used during the Cold War included proxy wars, military alliances, and arms race.

Proxy war

Right from the outset, the two countries tried to bring the countries fighting for freedom under their sphere of influence. This was done by supporting the two opposing sides in each of those countries. US President Harry Truman authorised support for the anti-communist forces in Turkey and Greece in 1947. The Belgian colony in Africa-Congo, got independence in 1960. But it’s radical communist leader, Patrice Lumumba, was killed in 1961, allegedly at the behest of US spy agency called CIA. Angola became independent from Portugual in November 1975. The Communists in Angola captured power with the help of USSR and Cuba. In Latin America, Fidel Castro had led a revolution against an American backed government and sought to build socialism on the lines of USSR. This inspired a large number of people in Latin American countries to fight for a similar transformation in their countries. One of their very popular leaders, Che Guevera, was killed. Even elected governments led by socialists like the government of Chile led by S Allende were toppled by US backed army generals.