The Cold War could be referred to as the "battle of ideas" because they never had an actual declared winner. The Soviet union and the United states had very different views about Communism, Capitalism, and Socialism. The Soviet union's plan was to spread communism worldwide. On the other hand, the United states wanted to stop communism from spreading to any other countries and to stop the belief on Communism in all the countries that do believe in it. Today there are only five countries that are currently Communist. China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. China has been Communist since 1949, Cuba since 1961, Laos since 1975, North Korea since 1948, and Vietnam since 1976. The United states is a mixture between capitalist and socialist. They claim to be more capitalist than Socialist, but today is a even half and half between the two. This was one of the causes of the Cold War. The U.S.A did not believe in Communism at all what so ever like the U.S.S.R did. The Iron Curtain was the dividing line between the capitalist and so called " Anciet states of Central and Eastern Europe" Winston Churchill made a speech about the iron curtain March 5th, 1946 stating that "behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of the Central and Eastern Europe." Europe was divided into EAstern and Western Germany controlled by the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R ( Soviet Union). In order to get the countries to keep from turning fully Communist like the Soviet union wanted, The United states bribed Greece and Turkey $400,000,000 in aid. President Truman made a speech to congress March 12th, 1947, describing how the United States bribed Greece and Turkey saying "They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strif. They reach their fully growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. Therefore, I propose giving Greece and Turkey $400 million in aid" This was the United States plan in order to get Greece and Turkey to come out of communism and become capitalist.
