The Cold War (approx. 1945–1991) was a continuing state of political and military tension between the powers of the Western world, led by the United States and its NATO allies, and the communist world, led by the Soviet Union, its satellite states and allies

Soviet forces expelled the Germans from Poland during 1944-45. The Western Allies withdrew their recognition of the Polish Government-in-Exile and instead recognised the communist-dominated ‘Lublin’ government instituted by the Soviet Union in 1945.