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### Origins of the Cold War ###
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States and their respective allies, the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc, after World War II. It was termed "cold" because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The origins of the Cold War lay in the ideological differences between capitalism and communism, and the mutual distrust that developed between the Allies during the war. The division of Europe into spheres of influence, symbolized by the "Iron Curtain," marked the beginning of this era.
### Key Events and Conflicts ###
The Cold War was characterized by a series of crises and conflicts. The Berlin Blockade (1948-49) was one of the first major international crises. The Korean War (1950-53) saw the first military action of the Cold War, with the US supporting South Korea and China and the USSR supporting North Korea. The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) was perhaps the most dangerous moment, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. The Vietnam War (1955-75) was another major proxy war where the US tried to prevent the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. The Space Race was another arena of competition, with the USSR launching the first satellite, Sputnik, and the US landing the first man on the moon.
### The End of the Cold War ###
The Cold War began to thaw in the 1980s with the rise of Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union. His policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) led to greater political freedom and economic reforms. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a symbolic end to the division of Europe. This was followed by the collapse of communist governments across Eastern Europe and finally the dissolution of the Soviet Union itself in 1991. This marked the end of the Cold War and left the United States as the world's sole superpower for a time.