Which war was fought to prevent the spread of communism after World War II?

The Cold War was primarily a geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States, along with their respective allies, that lasted from the end of World War II until the early 1990s. The core objective during this period was to prevent the spread of communism, which was championed by the Soviet Union. While the Cold War itself did not involve direct military confrontations like traditional wars, it included various strategies such as espionage, propaganda, and proxy wars to contain and counteract the influence of communism globally.

In contrast, the Vietnam War and the Korean War were specific military conflicts that occurred during the Cold War era, where the U.S. fought to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula, respectively. Desert Storm, on the other hand, refers to the Gulf War in the early 1990s, which was focused on expelling Iraqi forces from Kuwait rather than directly combatting communism.

Thus, while the Vietnam and Korean Wars were specific actions taken in line with the broader policies originating from the Cold War framework, the Cold War itself embodies the overarching conflict driven by the aim to contain communism after World War II.