A cold war, by definition, is a state of political tension and military rivalry between nations that stops short of full-scale war. It typically involves ideological, geopolitical, and economic strains between two or more nations but it never results in direct fighting. Usually a cold war would arise between two very powerful countries, such as the United States and China, which realize that an all out war would have an outcome that is a lot more harmful than helpful. Even though they are hostile to one another, they are afraid that a total war would have a negative effect on their ties wi…