The Cold War When World War II in Europe finally came to an end on May 7, 1945, a new war was just beginning. The Cold War: denoting the open yet restricted rivalry that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, a war fought on political, economic, and propaganda fronts, with limited recourse to weapons, largely because of fear of a nuclear holocaust. This term, The Cold War, was first used by presidential advisor Bernard Baruch during a congressional debate in 1947. Intelligence operations dominating this war have been conducted by the Soviet State Security Service (KGB) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), representing the two power blocs,