THE COLD WAR• After WWII, The United States and the

Soviet Union (USSR) emerged as the two most powerful nations in the world – militarily, economically, technologically

THE COLD WAR• Two competing economic and political ideas

emerged from the two superpowers1. United States-

a. Capitalism• Privately run (market) economy, people make the

decisionsb. Democracy

• Free elections, people have choices about government

2. USSRa. Communism

• Government run (command) economy• People have no choice in the government

THE COLD WAR• Ideology: A set of ideas that form a political and

economic policy (ex. Republican, Democrat, Communism, Libertarian)

• Where do you fit??• www.idealog.org/en/quiz• Remember, your beliefs about politics is

nobody’s business but your own!

The Ideological StruggleSoviet &

Eastern Bloc Nations

US & the Western

Democracies

GOAL spread world-wide Communism

GOAL “Containment” of Communism

METHODOLOGIES: Espionage [KGB vs. CIA] Arms Race [nuclear escalation] Ideological Competition for the minds and

hearts of Third World peoples [Communist govt. & command economy vs. democratic govt. & capitalist economy] “proxy wars”

Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]

THE COLD WAR• Germany• After WWII the Allies had to decide what to do with

Germany• They decided to split the country into 4 different

“zones of occupation,” controlled by Britain, France, U.S. and USSR

THE COLD WAR“From Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lies the ancient capitals of Central and Eastern Europe.” -- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946

• Europe had been divided into two distinct sides, the East which was backed by the Soviet Union and the West which was backed by the United States