Given below are two statements:

Statement (I): The cold war was a matter of power rivalries and of military alliances. It was an outcome of the emergence of USA and USSR as two super powers rival to each other.

Statement (II): The Cold war was also accompanied by a difference between the superpowers to organize political, social and economic life of the world according to their ideology.

In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:

Both Statement I and Statement II are true

The correct answer is option (1) - Both Statement I and Statement II are true

Both statements capture different aspects of the Cold War. Statement I focuses on the power rivalries and military alliances between the USA and USSR, which indeed were significant factors in the Cold War. Statement II highlights the ideological conflict between capitalism and communism, which also played a crucial role in shaping the Cold War dynamics.

So, the most appropriate answer would be: Both Statement I and Statement II are true.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a high point of what came to be known as the Cold War. The Cold War referred to the competition, the tensions and a series of confrontations between the United States and the Soviet Union, backed by their respective allies. Fortunately, however, it never escalated into a ‘hot war’, that is, a full-scale war between these two powers. There were wars in various regions, with the two powers and their allies involved in warfare and in supporting regional allies, but at least the world avoided another global war. The Cold War was not simply a matter of power rivalries, military alliances, and of the balance of power. These were accompanied by a real ideological conflict as well, a difference over the best and the most appropriate way of organising political, economic, and social life all over the world. The western alliance, headed by the US, represented the ideology of liberal democracy and capitalism while the eastern alliance, headed by the Soviet Union, was committed to the ideology of socialism and communism. It triggered off an arms race which came to an end only after the disintegration of the USSR.