Cold War (1947–91)

The end of the Second World War marked the beginning of a period of ideological and political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, referred to as the Cold War. One power led the Western Bloc, comprising capitalist countries, and the other headed the Eastern Bloc, formed of communist countries. It was against this backdrop that Canada joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a Western Bloc political alliance that became a military one, and authorized a larger army. The Cold War did not conclude until the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991.