The cold war era (1945-1991) was not simply a matter of power rivalries, of military alliances, and of the balance of power but of ideological conflict as well.

The Western bloc, headed by the US, represented the ideology of liberal democracy and capitalism while the eastern alliance, headed by the Soviet Union, was committed to the ideas of socialism and communism.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was seen as a high point of the cold war, as discussed below:

• In April 1961, the leaders of the USSR were worried that the USA would invade the communist ruled Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro, the President of the small island nation off the coast of USA.
• Cuba was an ally of the Soviet Union whose leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to convert it into a Russian base. In 1962 he placed nuclear missiles in Cuba.
• Three weeks later, the Americans became aware of it and the President, John F. Kennedy was reluctant to do anything that might turn into full-scale nuclear war, but he was determined to get Khrushchev remove the nuclear weapons from Cuba.
• Kennedy ordered American warships to intercept any Soviet ships heading to Cuba as a way of warning the USSR of his seriousness.
• A clash seemed imminent in what came to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, which made the whole world nervous as it would have been no ordinary war.