Spanning six decades from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s, the Cold War was the ultimate struggle for world dominance between communism and capitalism. While the 46-year period of geopolitical tensions and conflicts embroiled multiple countries, the central rivalry was between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Despite being allies during the Second World War, the two superpowers became locked in a standoff over their diametrically opposing ideologies. Their feud even brought the planet to the brink of nuclear armageddon.

Click through the gallery for a potted history of the Cold War, as told through powerful images of America and beyond…