What are some ways the cold war was different from previous conflicts?

The cold war was different because there was never any actual fighting.  There was lots of posturing and talk and everyone made lots of weapons but no one attacked each other.  There were some close calls like the Bay of Pigs.  But due to the fact of, if one of us started the war, we would both lose since we both had enough nukes to take out every living thing on the planet, neither of us really wanted to take that finally step.  So we just wanted to each have the best and latest weapons and stealth spy planes and ways to protect ourselves if the other side did launch.  Luckily, none of those things ever happened.

The statistics for the eastern war are grim. more than three-million men died in the fighting, more than nine-million men were wounded, and every major country which participated lost its form of government.