Which of the following statements about ‘Cold War’ is/are correct? 1

Which of the following statements about ‘Cold War’ is/are correct?

  • 1. It refers to the political and military rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union.
  • 2. The Cold War also refers to the years between the Truman Doctrine and the Khrushchev Thaw.
  • 3. The term refers to a certain kind of behaviour, characterized by superpower confrontation, unaccompanied by ideology.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

1 only
1 and 2 only
2 and 3 only
1, 2 and 3
This question was previously asked in
UPSC CISF-AC-EXE – 2019
Statement 1 is correct about the ‘Cold War’.
– Statement 1 is true: The Cold War was primarily characterized by the geopolitical, ideological, and military rivalry between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, and their respective allies.
– Statement 2 is false: While the Truman Doctrine (1947) is often considered a starting point of the Cold War, the Khrushchev Thaw (mid-1950s) was a period of slightly improved relations and reduced repression within the Soviet Union and its bloc; it did not mark the end of the Cold War. The Cold War lasted until the early 1990s.
– Statement 3 is false: The Cold War was intensely ideological. It was a conflict between the capitalist-democratic system championed by the US and the communist system led by the USSR, in addition to being a superpower confrontation.
The term “Cold War” is used because the two main adversaries never directly engaged in large-scale armed combat against each other, but instead pursued their conflict through proxy wars, espionage, propaganda, and the nuclear arms race.