Perry Powell
Origins of the War
The cold war began immediately after the second world war. It resulted from the differing ideologies and cultures of the world's two superpowers. The cold war occurred between the USSR and the United States of America and lasted between the late 1940s to the late 1980s and early 1990s. Many of our greatest innovations occurred as a result of this conflict. Unfortunately, many people perished as a result of the wars this created. In the following map, red countries were communist and blue countries were capitalist.
Differences
The USA had many different beliefs and values when compared with the USSR. While the USA had a Free-market, capitalist economic system, the USSR was communist, meaning that most aspects of their system was controlled by the government. They also differed when it came to government. The United States Government was elected by the people: it is a democracy. On the other hand, the government of the Soviet Union was Authoritarian, meaning that it was led by one dictator for life. Finally, their cultures were very different. While the USA was very individualistic, the Soviet culture was much more collectivistic. These differences fostered distrust and hate between the two countries.
Ideologies
The Soviet Union believed in communism. They believed that it was best if everything was equal, so they let the government control everything. They wanted everyone to believe that too. The Americans, however, believed in capitalism. They believed that people who worked hard should be rewarded while those who didn't should have to live with salaries that reflected that. This system was much more profitable than the Soviet system. The USA and the Soviets fought to keep their own systems in power in other countries.