The Cold War and the Civil War are two distinct historical conflicts. The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and its satellite states, and the United States and its allies. It began after the Second World War and lasted until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Civil War, on the other hand, was a conflict fought between the northern and southern states of the United States from 1861 to 1865. The main cause of the Civil War was the issue of slavery, with the southern states seeking to preserve the institution of slavery and the northern states seeking to abolish it.