Cold war (general term)

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A cold war or cold warfare (also bipolar superpower confrontation) is a state of conflict between nations that does not involve direct military action but is pursued primarily through economic and political actions, acts of espionage or conflict through surrogates (proxy wars). The surrogates are typically states that are "satellites" of the conflicting nations, i.e., nations allied to them or under their political influence. It might also mean giving military aid (such as weapons or economical aid, or perhaps even soldiers) to lesser nations oppressed or in guerrilla war with the opposing country of a cold war.

[edit] Cold wars

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• Rome and Carthage, Mid 3rd Century BC-146 BC: The main contest regarding Mediterranean dominance, often being fought through the Punic Wars.
• 92 BC-627: Relations between the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire on the one hand and the Parthian Empire and its Sassanid successor on the other, could be characterized as decades of cold war interspersed with outbursts of direct warfare. Known as the Roman–Persian Wars, that ancient cold war had most of the above-mentioned characteristics of modern ones, such as war by proxy involving such satellites as Armenia and various pre-Islamic Arab tribes.
• 1608-1755: The war for control of North America between the British and French, as mentioned in 'The Fifty-Year Wound.'
• The Great Game, 1813-1907: Geopolitical conflict between the Russian and British Empires over influence in Central Asia.
• 1871-1914: United Kingdom, France, and Russian Empire vs. Germany and Austria–Hungary set off by the formation of the German Empire, which politically and geographically challenged the older empires of Europe.
• 1923-Present: Greece vs. Turkey (see Cyprus), set off by the post-World War I political troubles left from the defunct Ottoman Empire
• 1945-1991: United States vs. Soviet Union - the Cold War set off by the ideological and political differences of the victors of World War II
• 1949-Present: People's Republic of China vs. Taiwan (see Political status of Taiwan), set off by the Chinese Civil War's conclusion
• 1953-Present: North Korea vs. South Korea
• 1962-Present: United States vs. Cuba

[edit] Cold War Films and Novels

• Sam Peckinpah's "The Osterman Weekend" (1983)
• Richard Benjamin's "Little Nikita" (1988)
• Clint Eastwood’s "In the Line of Fire" (1993)
• John Milius' "Red Dawn" (1984)
• John Schlesinger's "The Falcon and the Snowman" (1985)
• Giannina Braschi’s "Intimate Diary of Solitude" in "Empire of Dreams" (1988)
• Michael Apted's "Gorky Park" (1983) and Walter Hill's "Red Heat" (1988)
• John McTiernan's "The Hunt for Red October" (1990)

[edit] Cold wars in fiction

• The Pax Cybertronia from the stance of the Decepticons and Predacons in The Transformers and Beast Wars: Transformers.
• The event succeeding the Great Galactic War in Star Wars: The Old Republic.