1868: Cold War Jan 26, 2020

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You may here that the Cold War was so named because it did not see direct armed conflict. This is true, and it has led to the retronymic phrase 'hot war', but the term was invented and in use before the Cold War began. Usually, the phrase is linked to George Orwell back in 1945, and he was certainly not the only one to use this term. This is all to say that people referred to the Cold War as such even before it could be confirmed cold.
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