After World War II and throughout the Cold War, Europe was divided into two spheres of influence. On the one hand, most of Western Europe was aligned with the capitalist ideology of the United States. On the other hand, central and eastern Europe were aligned with the Soviet Union. This means that the wanted to implement a communist government in their country.
These areas were very different in terms of political and economic characteristics. The capitalists countries believed in the free market, and they supported an economy that was self-regulating. They also encouraged trade with other countries and were, for the most part, democratic states.
The Soviet countries usually had authoritarian governments. Moreover, they supported the idea of a command economy in which everything was regulated by the state.
