Superpower is a term unique to the 20th century. Its orgins are directly linked to the ouctcomes of World War II, and the nuclear weaponry that the world had generated. When the conflict eneded in 1945, a new political map of the world began to take shape. With the defeat of the Axis powers, Europe, as the world known it had run its course and as the globe's major power broker. Rising in its place was a smarting, wary and very determined Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and a proud, strident and equally determined United States of America.

 

With the guns of war only recently silenced, there emerged around each of these powerful survivors an alliance of nations, one defending the "East and Communism" and one defending the "West and Capitalism". The reality and the institutions that formalized it - political, military and economic - created two superpowers, each with very different ideoligies. 

 

 

 

 

Below, you will find your history teacher giving an introduction to the Cold War. 

 

John Green offers a multitude of videos about historical events, below you will find an excellent explanation of the Cold War.