The period of geopolitical tension between the erstwhile Soviet Union with its satellite states (the Eastern Alliance) and the United States of America with its European Allies (the Western Alliance) after World War II is known as the Cold War. It began around 1947 and ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The impacts of the Cold War has been listed below –

• The disintegration of the USSR in 1991 led to the formation of 12 independent nations which eventually came to be known as the Common Wealth of the Independent States (CIS).

• At the beginning of the Cold War, Germany had been divided into East and West Germany by the Berlin Wall. The end of the Cold War saw the collapse of the Berlin Wall which unified Germany into a single nation with Berlin as its capital.

• The Cold War saw the end of bipolarity in the world and USA emerged as the sole superpower.

• The end of the Cold War led to the near extinction of communism. USA made the capitalist model of economy the dominant model in the world.