You think? The Cold War was an “almost war” - not too many people died really. The label doesn’t really matter, but I think the real WWIII will be a very Hot War. There will be NO question about it being a war - 1/2 of the world will be dead within 3 1/2 years and most of the other half dead after seven years.
The Cold War started right after WW 2 ended, until 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down.