The Cold War was the ideological conflict between the world's two superpowers, the democratic United States of America and the communist Soviet Union. For over fifty years the two superpowers have indirectly fought each other for power and control of the world. The Cold War began after the end of World War II in 1945, when the eyes of both superpowers were no longer turned to Nazi Germany, but rather to each other and the fate of the rest of the world. The Cold War began after the end of World War II, although tensions between the two new superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, had lasted since 1917 with the start of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. With the onset of World War II, tensions were put aside to combat the Nazi threat in World War II. After the end of World War II, the Potsdam Conference was held by Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States in July 1945 to discuss the future of Germany and the rest of Europe. The result was the question of who would control Europe for the next two years. In 1947, Europe was divided into two parts: democratic Western Europe and communist Eastern Europe. In the same year, in March, President Truman announces the Truman Doctrine which will help nations defend themselves from communism, granting “four hundred million dollars”. The following year, in April 1948, the Marshall Plan was approved, providing financial aid to Western Europe to prevent communism. Then, in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is created, while the Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb and China adopts communism. In February 1950, Joe McCarthy begins the communist witch hunt known as "McCarthyism" in the United States, meanwhile... half of the newspaper... learnhistory.org.uk. Network. December 1, 2011. .Oh, Joyce and Amanda Latham. "Senator JOSEPH MCCARTHY, MCCARTHYISM AND THE WITCH HUNT." Cold War Museum. The Cold War Museum. Network. 1 December 2011. "Exhibition on the space race". Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. National Air and Space Museum, 2002. Web. December 21, 2011. "Who Was Joseph McCarthy?" http://www.mtholyoke.edu. Mount Holyoke College. Network. December 21, 2011. "World Internet Usage Statistics News and World Population Statistics." Internet World Statistics: Usage and Population Statistics. Miniwatts Marketing Group, October 6, 2011. Web. December 10. 2011. .