Cold War Phase I

Cold War Phase I is the first of two successive periods of global confrontation described in the account of the Third World War. Its decisive significance lies in the point at which it ended: by the 1970s, war was regarded as inevitable, and the world shifted from anticipating conflict to preparing for its destructive consequences.

End and Transition

Phase I ended in the 1970s, when the prospect of war had become unavoidable in the account’s historical framing. It was followed by thirty years of Cold War Phase II. The change in phase did not avert the coming war; instead, the succeeding period focused on defensive measures against overkill.

Relationship to the Third World War

The Third World War eventually broke out fifty years before the scene in which this history is recounted. Phase I is presented as the earlier threshold in that chronology: its ending marks the point when inevitability was already apparent, while the subsequent phase organized itself around surviving the catastrophe that followed.

Historical Significance

The distinction between the two phases is one of emphasis. Phase I closes with the recognition that war cannot be prevented; Phase II turns toward physical preparation for it. The account places the immense underground defenses and the later wartime devastation in the broader history of this shift, while identifying those preparations as belonging to Phase II rather than Phase I.