Cold War themes

The Cold War was often a battle of ideologies, with capitalist America and communist USSR both feeling that their own system of government, and way of life, was the best.

Capitalism, often called the 'market economy, or the 'free enterprise system', leaves much of the nations productive resources in the hands of private individuals. The state still controls many things, such as law and order, utilities etc., and may even produce some things itself, but the bulk of productive activity is carried out by independent (hence 'free') business', and their goods are exchanged at markets governed primarily by the forces of supply and demand.

A communist nation, on the other hand, centralises the means of production in the hands of the state, meaning that all citizens must be employed by the government, and are often paid in kind rather than in cash, with government housing, clothing and even food.

The US saw communism as an affront to civil liberties (of which the US itself is so proud), because the individuals citizens of countries like the USSR appeared to have less freedoms than people in capitalist countries. In return, the Russians saw American capitalists as greedy and wasteful, and resented the excess of resources used by such systems, when compared with their own.

Both countries felt that their own system was superior to their rivals, and both desired to see it flourish at the expense of the other. So The Cold War was born...