Cold War, the term applied to the cool relations, roughly 1947-53, between the Western powers (including Canada and Britain, and led by the US) and communist countries dominated by the USSR. It was precipitated by the reluctance of the US and Britain to accept the extension of Soviet control and communist one-party systems over eastern Europe at the end of WWII.
It now seems that each side was irrationally fearful of the other's apparent intentions. Canada's position was determined by its experience of Russian spying at the end of WWII (the GOUZENKO case); its detestation of the totalitarian Soviet regime; and its economic, cultural and strategic links to the US and Britain. For most of the Cold War both sides were convinced that ordinary diplomatic negotiations were pointless because there was no possibility of agreement or common interest on any important topic.
The Cold War eased with the death of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953, and serious diplomatic discussions were then resumed.
