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Canada and the Cold War (Plain Language Summary)
During the Cold War, most of the world was divided into two camps. The "West" was led by the US and the "East" was led by the Soviet Union. Canada sided with the West. The Cold War started after the Second World War. It ended in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. There was no direct or "hot" war between the two superpowers. But tensions were high, and people were afraid of nuclear war. Some smaller wars were fought, like the Korean War. (This article is a plain-language summary of the Cold War. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry, Canada and the Cold War.)