Division of the world into an Eastern and
a Western Block
In 1945, the ideological cleft between the competing super powers, USA and USSR, came
to the fore after having been covered over during the War by the Anti-Hitler coalition.
The
fundamental systematic opposition between
the capitalistic and the communistic social and economic orders led to the building of two
antagonistic power blocks with their corresponding military alliances: the Western Block (NATO)
and the Eastern Block (Warsaw Pact).
Engaged in the
“Cold War”,
these alliances pursued a course of unprecedented military armament, especially in the area of atomic weaponry.
The world was divided in two. The dream of a United Nations was shattered
and the hope of a shared peaceful world order was frustrated.
