The aim of this essay is to evaluate the importance of the ideological differences in the outbreak of the Cold War. The Cold War begins with the end of the Second World War (WWII) in 1945, when the world was left crippled and needed to be reconstructed in some manner. For this, it depended on the two great post-war superpowers: the USA and the USSR. The opposing ideologies that both countries supported made it very difficult to make agreements and a rivalry begun. The Americans supported Capitalism, which meant minimum interference of state in economy, competition and individual reward, and the right of voting, variety of political parties and freedom of speech and press among others (liberal democracy). On the other hand, the USSR supported Communism, which meant interference of state in economy, everyone working for a collective good, the state distribution of goods, no individual freedoms and no political parties (one party state). Thus, this enormous gap between ideologies was very important in the development of a war. However, were these differences more important in creating the Cold War than traditional "empire building" rivalries and other clashes of "self interest"? Historiography on this topic will be included.
To a certain extent ideology can be seen as the driving force behind the outbreak of the Cold War. Ideological struggle between Capitalism and Communism was a definitive fact that stimulated rivalry: the USSR wanted to shape the future and reconstruction of the East in relation to the communist ideology; while the USA wanted post-WWII world scenario to be shaped by capitalist ideas. Historians such as Henry Kissinger (former U.S. Secretary of State), define the Cold War as a battle between the superpowers for supremacy in ways of thinking. In addition, he states that not only the cultural gap between Americans and Soviets contributed to the formation of the war, but also the strict adherence to their respective doctrines in the knowledge that the other abhorred it is further evidence that ideology caused the diplomatic tensions.
