The basis of the Cold War was geopolitical. Although ideology made some degree of conflict between the communist world and the capitalist world, the struggle was largely fought over issues such as global power and influence. The US concluded that the USSR wanted to destroy democratic and capitalism. The Soviet Union feared that the US wanted to use its money and power to dominate Europe and eventually destroy the USSR. The distrust and suspicion, which was rooted in the ideological differences, was fulfilled by economic and political uncertainty.
The Cold War was a rivalry between the USSR and America that played out on Berlin, Cuba, South-East Asia, Korea, the Middle East and even more. America believed in capitalism, but the aim of capitalism is to be successful, which meant the western world was in need of an economic recover after WWII. Open markets were necessary to do this, but this contradicted the communist belief in closed markets. Open markets are an unrestricted market with free access by and competition of buyers and sellers, which contradicts the whole economic system in communism. The ideological and economic difference was important for the …show more content…
One of the most important ones must be the belief that the alternative ideology was a threat to their own way of life, and that the only way for the world to be happy was for their particular ideology to take over the world. They strongly believed they were right and the other side wrong, so every action they took made them hate each other more. An important factor to consider is the role of individuals. E.g. the death of President Roosevelt, who believed he could work with Stalin, and his replacement by Truman, who was more suspicious of the USSR, in 1945 reduced any settlement, compromise or understanding between the two