The Cold War is the name given to the relationship that developed primarily between the USA and USSR after World War II. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred – the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Berlin Wall being just some. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and communism fell in Eastern Europe, causing the Cold War to finally end. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, but they each supported major regional wars known as proxy wars- such as the Korean War and Vietnam War.