The Cold War

The novel takes places during the heart of the Cold War. This is the struggle between the Western powers (primarily Western Europe and the United States of America) and the Soviet Union. It can also be viewed as a struggle between democracy/capitalism and communism. The Cold War results in a large nuclear buildup between the large powers. Due to the threat of nuclear war, traditional fighting never breaks our. Instead, the struggle is largely clandestine as intelligence agencies try to undermine each other.

Organizations like the CIA, the British Secret Service and the Russian KGB thrive during this time (in the novel the KGB is represented by SMERSH and MWD). All of these organizations are intelligence agencies and operate largely in secret and outside of the view of the public. Bond is one of the many agents who live in this world. For the average...