Editing World War III (section)

===Cold War===
{{Main|Cold War}}
[[File:World nuclear weapons.png|thumb|Large [[nuclear weapons]] stockpile with global range (dark blue), smaller stockpile with global range (medium blue), smaller stockpile with regional range (light blue)]]

As Soviet-American relations grew tense in the post-World War{{nbsp}}II period, the fear that the tension could escalate into World War{{nbsp}}III was ever-present. A [[Gallup poll]] in December 1950 found that more than half of Americans considered World War{{nbsp}}III to have already started.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reed |first1=Thomas C. |author-link1=Thomas C. Reed |title=At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War |date=2004 |publisher=[[Presidio Press]] |isbn=0-89141-837-7 |page=41 |lccn=2004098248 |chapter=3. The Paparazzi Pilots|title-link=At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War }} (via [https://books.google.com/books?id=69Vvboox1JcC&pg=PA41 Google Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418181819/https://books.google.com/books?id=69Vvboox1JcC&pg=PA41 |date=18 April 2021 }})</ref>

In 2004, commentator [[Norman Podhoretz]] proposed that the [[Cold War]], lasting from the surrender of the [[Axis powers]] until the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]], might rightly be called World War{{nbsp}}III. By Podhoretz's reckoning, "World War{{nbsp}}IV" would be the global campaign against [[Islamofascism]].<ref name="Podhoretz-2004">{{cite magazine |last1=Podhoretz |first1=Norman |author-link1=Norman Podhoretz |title=World War IV: How It Started, What It Means, and Why We Have to Win |url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/world-war-iv-how-it-started-what-it-means-and-why-we-have-to-win/ |magazine=[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]] |access-date=14 June 2019 |date=September 2004 |volume=118 |issue=2 |pages=17+ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190520222750/https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/world-war-iv-how-it-started-what-it-means-and-why-we-have-to-win/ |archive-date=20 May 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Buckley |first1=William F. Jr. |author-link1=William F. Buckley Jr. |title=World War IV? |journal=[[National Review]] |date=22 October 2007 |volume=59 |issue=19 |page=62 |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2007/09/world-war-iv-william-f-buckley-jr/ |access-date=14 June 2019 |archive-date=6 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806022343/https://www.nationalreview.com/2007/09/world-war-iv-william-f-buckley-jr/ |url-status=live }} (published online 6 September 2007)</ref>

Still, the majority of historians would seem to hold that World War{{nbsp}}III would necessarily have to be a worldwide "war in which large forces from many countries fought"<ref>[http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/world-war Definition of "World War": Cambridge Dictionary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422131655/http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/world-war |date=22 April 2017 }} Cambridge University Press. Downloaded 21 April 2017.</ref> and a war that "involves most of the principal nations of the world".<ref>[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/world-war Definition of "World War": Random House] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422211923/http://www.dictionary.com/browse/world-war |date=22 April 2017 }} Random House/ Dictionary.com. 2017. Downloaded 21 April 2017.</ref> The Cold War received its name from the lack of action taken from both sides. The lack of action was out of fear that a nuclear war would possibly destroy humanity.<ref>{{Cite web |title=American History: The Cold War |url=https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/american-history-the-cold-war-130292758/116228.html |access-date=2022-05-02 |website=VOA |date=21 September 2011 |language=en |archive-date=1 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201012146/https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/american-history-the-cold-war-130292758/116228.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In his book ''Secret Weapons of the Cold War'', Bill Yenne concludes that the military [[Superpower]] standoff from the 1940s through to 1991, was not World War{{nbsp}}III.<ref>Yenne, Bill (2005). ''Secret Weapons of the Cold War.'' Berkly Book, New York</ref>