A bipolar nuclear standoff also had the effect of limiting war to mid-level conflicts essentially. Of course at the time it was thought likely if anything that nukes would be used eventually.

The Cold War was nothing but a ploy to justify stealing trillions of our tax dollars to line the pockets of the military industrial complex...using Russia and preventing the spread of communism as a boogeyman we needed to defend against...And now look...we got the Dumbofuck party openly pushing the very thing thousands of people have fought and died in wars to prevent...

They never built even a single one.

Nukes are fake.

This is correct.

And in a similar way, the United States wanted to warm up the Nevada desert and the tropical South Pacific.