The period of tense relations between the US and the Soviet Union as expressed through proxy wars and during which the US what is the policy of time is known as the

The period in which the diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were tense and saw the propagation of proxy wars spanning from 1945, the end of World War II, to 1991 came to be known as the Cold War.

The Cold War was a confrontation between two opposing political, social and economic approaches and systems. On the one hand was socialism upheld by the Soviet Union, which advocated for the elimination of social classes and the state owning the means of production. On the other hand was capitalism, which advocated for private individuals owning the means of production, limited intervention of the state in the economy and allowed social classes according to citizens' level of income.

This period was labeled as "Cold" War because the two main contenders never went to war directly against each other. Smaller countries under the protection of either Soviet socialism or U. S. capitalism went to war against each other, each endorsed by either the Soviets or the Americans.