From 1947 to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States and Russia were locked in a battle of technological supremacy that threatened to end the world if either side decided to fire the first shot.
But while the United States enjoyed a period of relative prosperity at home during the Cold War, (other than enduring nuclear drills at school), Soviet Russia and its citizens struggled in relative poverty.
But Russians will always endure, so check out these photos of Cold War-era Russia to help you brawl bears with a shot of vodka.
1
After snowfall, Russia, Varkuta, 1960.
2
Soviet Russia breadline late 1980's.
3
Soviet nuclear missiles being paraded through Red Square at the height of the Cold War, circa 1963.
4
Promenade and beach in Sochi, Soviet Union 1973.
5
Young Pioneers camp near Moscow, Soviet Union, 1954.
6
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Moscow apartment, USSR ,1988.
7
The Ekranoplan, a massive quasi-Aircraft Warship built by the Soviet Union in 1987 and ultimately left to rust until 2020.
8
Children play soldiers while watching exercises of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. 1990.
9
Soldiers feeding polar bears from a tank in Soviet Union, 1950.
10
An F4 Phantom intercepts a Soviet Tu-95 "Bear" over the North Atlantic during the Cold War, taken in 1980.
11
Ski jumping trampoline in Onega, Russia in 1960s.
12
The largest fighter to ever enter service in any military, the Russian TU-28/128. Because it was impossible to cover all of Russia with an air defense, the Soviet Union designed an interceptor based on the canceled Tu-98 supersonic nuclear bomber. It weighed over 40 tons. 1960.
13
Soviet Red Army soldiers and officers, standing at attention in the small town of Kantubek. This island was one of the USSR's biological weapons testing sites, 1980s.
14
Soviet anti-Israel parade float from the early 1970s, portraying Israel as a spider encompassing the Arab world in its web and accompanied by the caption "Zionism is a weapon of Imperialism."
15
1980 Moscow summer Olympics.
16
A long line of Soviet Army rockets move into Moscow's Red Square towards St Basil's Cathedral during a parade marking the 46th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1963, at the height of the Cold War.
18
"Project 941." Russian Typhoon-class submarine TK-208 under construction. 1978.
19
Cool teens in Makhachkala, Soviet Union, in their Elephant Pants. 1970.
20
Soviet tanks interrupt young couple's wedding. Soviet invasion to Czechoslovakia, 1968.
21
Rural Soviet school, 1970.
