CAPITALISM (USA) VS COMMUNISM (USSR) - The opposing ideologies
RELATIONS PRIOR TO 1945
The USSR had been a Communist country for more than 30 years.
Hostility between the USSR and the USA had been in existence since 1917.
During the Russian Civil War in 1917, the British and Americans sent troops to fight the communists.
uIn the 1920s the fear of Communism in the USA had led to the ‘Red Scare’. Thousands of immigrants to the USA who held pro-Communist views were arrested, harassed and deported.
Stalin (Leader of the USSR) was convinced that the USA and Britain were allowing Hitler to grow in power before WW2 so he could defeat the USSR.
Stalin then signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in 1939 which made them wartime allies against Britain and eventually the USA!
KEY QUESTIONS:
What would Stalin think about the USA in 1941?
How do you think the USA feel about Communism in 1941?