 Complete the following phrase:  By the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as global superpowers. The ensuing deterioration of relations between the Soviet-backed Eastern Bloc and U.S.-backed Western Bloc gave rise to a sustained period of tensions known as the Cold War that lasted until 1989. In the final years of his leadership, Stalin presided over the post-war reconstruction of the Soviet Union as well as the development of a Soviet atomic bomb in 1949. During these years, the country experienced another major famine and an antisemitic campaign that culminated in the doctors plot. After 