title: The Ideological Legacy of World War II
abstract: The military outcome of World War II, with the defeat of Nazi Germany and its allies, drastically reshaped the political landscape of much of the world and redefined the terms of confrontation between Western countries, under the leadership of the United States, and Communist bloc countries, headed by the Soviet Union. Indeed, the attempts of the major Allies (the USSR, Great Britain, and the United States) to determine the future outline of the East-West divide in Europe started even before the