Why was the Cold war not so Cold?

Question

Please explain why it is called the Cold War when in Latin America it was anything but Cold. I.e. Guatemala, El Salvador (The El Mazote Massacre), among many others (Panama in the late 1980s, Haiti, and Cuba) All these experienced many outbreaks related to the cold war, either communist insurgents or other types of warfare, all during the "Cold" war.

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Answer 1

The cold war was primarily the United States vs. the Soviet Union. Later, countries like England threw their support behind the United States, while other communist nations supported the Soviet Union. The reason it's called a cold war is because the United States and the Soviet Union never actually fought each other on the battlefield. The conflicts you speak of were part of the battle between democracy and communism, but the 2 main principles never engaged in those conflicts directly. They merely supported their allies with weapons and armaments.

The cold war was one of ideas and philosophy and economic systems more than tanks and airplanes.  It was a war fought in space.  Both sides wanted to get to the moon.  Both sides wanted so spy on each other, and space was the best and safest place to do that from.  Both sides wanted the ability to launch multiple strikes against the other from anywhere in the world. Technology equaled superiority in those days.

It wasn't until both sides recognized the insanity and cost of it all that the cold war finally ended. The fact that the citizens of both nations also grew tired of supporting it helped a lot too.

Answer 2

It was cold because the "combatants" never exchanged direct blows.  They used proxies in the third world to do their fighting for them.  The proxy wars have probably done more damage to those countries than empire ever did.

Answer 3

it was cold as in opposite to heat of battle

it was covert, sneaky, and calculating

Coild as in Siberia

but it had nothing to do with weather

Answer 4

Because compared to where the cold war originated from (World War II) these little squabbles were nothing.