The Cold War stands for the decades-long conflict between the Western powers led by the USA and the then "Eastern Bloc", whose leading role was held by the former Soviet Union. There was never a direct military conflict during the "Cold War" between 1947 and 1989. However, proxy wars raged in many parts of the world, such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the civil wars in Central America and the war in Afghanistan. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union collapsed and world politics was reorganised.
