The Phoney War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition existing after the Global War (1939–1945), primarily between the Germany and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, particularly the British Empire. Although the primary participants' military forces never officially clashed directly, they expressed the conflict through military coalitions, strategic conventional force deployments, extensive aid to states deemed vulnerable, proxy wars, espionage, propaganda, a nuclear arms race, and economic and technological competitions, such as the Race to Space.