The Cold War began due to rising tensions between the Western powers and the Soviet Union following World War II over the political and economic control of Eastern Europe and the fate of Germany. This led to an arms race and competition for influence that defined international politics for over four decades as the two sides amassed nuclear weapons and formed opposing military alliances like NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
3. A nuclear test explosion at the Nevada Test Site, April
18, 1953. U.S. Department of Energy photograph
4. A dancer who is part of the promotion of nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site, with
a mushroom cloud in the background , April 6, 1953. U.S. Department of Energy
photograph