The Cold War was a long period of time immediately following the end of the Second World War in which great conflicts and tensions occurred between two global superpowers of the past and present , the United States of America and the USSR, now known as the Russian Federation. The Cold War was like an artist, and the world his canvas, for between the years 1947 to 1991, the War was painted in many colors of attacks, including espionage, nuclear and space arms races, and wars for prosecutor's office, such as that of the Vietnamese conflicts. Although fortunately limited in number of casualties compared to the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War involved a series of very violent and devastating proxy conflicts, the main one being the Vietnam War, which caused the deaths of approximately 3 million people. On the other hand, the Cuban Missile Crisis is an example of an event very similar to the Vietnam War, except for the nuclear missiles, which was prevented with political tact and strategic vigilance. It is evident that, with these particular disputes under scrutiny, the final years of the Cold War were quietly peaceful for all nations involved in the forty-year siege of communism. The onset of the Cold War was hardly unpredictable, and the tensions leading up to the grand introduction were very high, yet the not-so-light feather that tipped the scales was Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech (March 5, 1946). The level of political tensions was very high as the end of World War II left little to be desired for the Soviets, with a total of 27 million dead and the Americans with nuclear warheads (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), this new feeling of l Inferiority hit the Soviets hard. The Yalta Summit, following the end of World War II, “held a meeting of the big three in Crimea, in 1945, to decide what… middle of paper… the contribution of internationalist foreign policy the next time United States would be challenged. . The leaders of both the Soviets and the United States did not act rationally, but in emotional counterattacks. JFK did not want the general international public to fall under the impression that the US invasion of Cuba had failed and make them appear weak, so he kept the US legislature out of the Bay of Pigs; what this led to the death of 1,500 Cuban revolutionaries did not concern him. JFK acted appropriately in dealing with the situation, and although only 1,500 people died, it was a very dramatic incident compared to the end of the Cold War. One of the bloodiest attempts to close communism within the confines of the Cold War era was the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, was a proxy war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.