Super Power Rivalry and Cold War Diplomacy

Abstract

The cold war started with the Berlin blockade and the Berlin airlifts and ended with the Paris Agreement on Conventional Forces. The cold war was an ideological war between the eastern bloc, led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) and the Western bloc led by the United States of America (USA). It was an ideological war expressed through military and political competition. The cold war was ‘cold’ due to nuclear deterrence as both blocs had the means to annihilate one another. Thus, this paper looks at superpower rivalry during the cold war and its effects as well as the diplomatic strategies employed. The paper concludes that nuclear weapons saved the world from another World War.