The Cold WarA major history of the conflict that shaped every aspect of our world. As Germany and then Japan surrendered in 1945, there was tremendous hope that a new and much better world could be created from the moral and physical ruins of the conflict. Instead, the combination of the huge power of the USA and USSR, and the near total collapse of most of their rivals, created a unique, grim new environmentthe Cold War. For over forty years, the demands of the