Cold War The Cold War was a term used to denote the tensions between the Capitalist nations of the world ( particularly the United States and the United Kingdom ) and the Communist nations of the world ( particularly the Soviet Union ) in which , though the tensions were high , no actual fighting occurred . The east and west were , according to the Eleventh Doctor , " standing on the brink of nuclear oblivion . " Both sides could easily have destroyed the other . ( TV : " Cold War " ) History . In 1903 , after receiving a wealth of information from the future , Grigori Rasputin foresaw the Cold War . ( AUDIO : " The Wanderer " ) The Doctor took part in some events of the Cold War . The Eighth Doctor was blackmailed by Kim Philby into assisting him against the Player s in 1951 , whilst his seventh incarnation held Majestic clearance with the United States in 1957 . ( PROSE : " First Frontier " , PROSE : " Endgame " ) During World War II , when it appeared that the United Kingdom would be invaded by Nazi Germany , four citadels were built under the surface of London . They were intended to allow the British government to continue operations if the worst happened . After the war , the citadels were maintained due to the threat posed by the Soviet Union in the Cold War . ( AUDIO : " The Fifth Citadel " ) The Tenth Doctor made reference to the Cold War during a visit to New Mexico in 1958 . Cassie Rice used the Cold War slang " Reds " to refer to Russians . ( TV : " Dreamland " ) The Jalaphron tried to end the Cold War in 1962 by starting the Cuban Missile Crisis . ( PROSE : " Checkpoint " ) In October 1963 , Susan Foreman read an article about the Cold War in " The Daily Sketch " . She had never previously heard of the conflict . ( AUDIO : " Hunters of Earth " ) In Краснодар , a town in Caithness , British soldier s were trained for an invasion of the Soviet Union during the 1980s . ( TV : " Before the Flood " ) In November of that year , a group of Russian spies including Miles Barrington Smythe , aided by MI6 double agent Barker , operated in London . ( TV : " The Cambridge Spy " ) In 1983 , the Ice Warrior , Skaldak , tried to end the Cold War by launching a nuclear weapon from the Soviet submarine , the " Firebird " , causing both the east and the west to annihilate each other in mutually assured destruction . He was stopped when an Ice Warrior ship rescued him . ( TV : " Cold War " ) The Cold War had ended by 1993 . ( PROSE : " Goth Opera " ) However , there were two unnamed power blocs poised to annihilate each other again by 2084 . ( TV : " Warriors of the Deep " ) Projects and plans . During the Cold War , there were plans to build an underground headquarters for the British government in the event of a nuclear war . ( TV : " Invasion of the Dinosaurs " ) At one point , to avoid warfare , America , China and Russia gave their nuclear destructor code s to Great Britain . ( TV : " Robot " ) During the Cold War , the British army trained in for an invasion of Russia in towns that were made to look like Russian villages . One such town in Caithness , Scotland was flooded by the Twelfth Doctor to kill the Fisher King . ( TV : " Before the Flood " ) The Golgotha Project was formed during the war . ( PROSE : " Heart of TARDIS " ) One of the Tycho Project ' s telescopes , located in Goblin ' s Copse in England , was used as a listening station during the Cold War . ( TV : " The Last Sontaran " )