The current invasion of Ukraine by Russia with its appalling loss of life and destruction of cities seems steeped in another era. From the end of the Second World War until 1991 a Cold War, existed between the US and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, in the Eastern and Western Blocs.
In the late 1940s Eastern European countries became satellites of the Soviet Union - including East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Rumania. The US and the West responded with the creation of NATO in 1949. In 1961 the Soviet's built the Berlin Wall - a symbol of the Cold War.
In October and November 1962 the world had held its breath as President John F Kennedy and Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev jousted over the Cuban Missile Crisis. It put the the US and Russia on the brink of nuclear war. It was avoided when Kennedy instead of agreeing with military hawks who had urged him to approve a strike on the island, chose another way.
