The Cold War was America's longest war, it began at the end of World War II when the Japanese officially surrendered on September 2, 1945 and did not officially end until the end of World War II. official dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991 (Cold War Veterans, n.d.) The Cold War was not typical of what we normally think of as war. There has been no attack on a foreign country that led the other to declare war. period when the United States and the Soviet Union (USRR) resented each other. The Soviet Union resented the United States for our long refusal to treat it as a legitimate member of the international community as well as for our late entry into World War II, which resulted in the deaths of millions of Russians (History, n.d. ). After World War II, when the Soviets invaded and took control of many countries in Eastern Europe, Americans began to fear that the Russians were trying to take over the world. Americans had long feared Soviet communism and the way their leader Joseph Stalin ruled their country. The Cold War included events such as the Cuban missile ...