The Cold War
A background to what it was and why it happened

When the war ended in 1945 the Americans and British seemed to turn on the Russians. They argued that the differences in the beliefs of both sets of systems was so great that we had to protect ourselves against a communist threat. So on this page I will examine what the basic ideas of the two systems were.

This is the system that Russia lived under. It began in 1917 after the Russian revolution.

* Founded by Karl Marx- communism is a set of beliefs that see the working class as the most important group in society.

* The bosses (or ruling class) are replaced in a revolution by the workers.

* All private property is banned and everything is owned by all ( don't take this literally; by private property we don't mean you have to share your shoes!)

* Only one political party is allowed- the workers or communist party. Any other is seen as being against the will of the people.

* According to Karl Marx communism is international, so communism should spread. The idea is that once your country has had a revolution others should follow.

* The Russian leader was Joseph Stalin, he had taken over in 1924 when Lenin had died.

Click here to look at how the cold war progressed

This is the system that we live in in this country and so do the Americans. It puts the individual at the centre and is dramatically opposed to communism.

* Believes that initiative and the hard effort of the individual should be rewarded.

* It would agree that workers do make the wealth through their work, but it is the initiative and originality of the boss to take the gamble to invest and risk everything. So why shouldn't they take the profits?

* Competition not co-operation makes society progress.

* Many parties are allowed and encouraged.

* Communism needs to be strongly challenged as it threatens the freedom of capitalism.

* Harry Truman was the US president. He took over from Roosevelt. He was an aggressive anti-communist.