For five decades, the Cold War dominated the lives of politicians, military figures, intelligence officers and the general public. The battle – between east and west, between the Soviet Union and the United States, betweenspread into politics, military, economic and religious concerns. The contest became global in nature with huge numbers of countries in every continent declaring a policy of support for one side or another, or one of neutrality. Like the two world wars that had preceded it, the Cold War divided up the globe and touched billions of people. But there was a dichotomy at the heart of the Cold War. While it was fundamentally not about fighting, its central characteristic was a military one: a perpetual and existential risk of nuclear conflict that was all pervasive.
