The Cold War is the term used to describe the tense relationship between post World War II East and West. The United States and Western Europe stood on the principle of opposing the communism that dominated Russia and Eastern Europe. Russia was overtaking smaller eastern European countries with force and did not want the United States to resist this movement into Europe. The two superpowers quickly abandoned the appearance of being allies, with Western Europe …showed first 75 words of 1111 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1111 total…an attempt to stop the illegal emigration by making it legal. In 1990, East Germany participated in free elections, and the communist party lost its hold on East Germany. With the breakup of the Soviet hold on European countries and the absorption of East Germany into West Germany, Russia no longer wielded the same power it did in the 1950s and '60s. The fall of communism in Germany signaled an end to the Cold War.