Question

identify the United States- and Soviet-aligned states of Europe, and contrast their political and economic characteristics

Answer 1

The countries of Europe were divided between the west half of Europe (US aligned) and the east half (Soviet aligned/ruled). The dividing line was in Europe's center going north-south along the Elbe river in the north. All the bigger countries in Europe (Britain, France, three fourths of Germany, Italy, Spain) were on the west side with the US. 
The US side was a free alliance of democracies. The Soviet side was an unfree group of taken over countries, held prisoner by the Russian Soviet Union with Soviet Russian puppet communist dictatorships as governments. Economically the west side was a mixture of free market, capitalism, and European socialism. The east Soviet side was communist with totalitarian command economies.
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