The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II. This hostility between the two superpowers was first given its name by George Orwell in an article published in 1945. Another cause of tension was that the Soviet Union was trying to spread communism. The U.S. was against communism and they took leadership of containment policy. The Containment policy was the U.S. approach to trying to prevent communism spreading.