After World War 2, Germany was divided into four zones that were controlled by the United States, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union. This led to the creation of two German states, with East Germany becoming a communist country allied with the USSR while West Germany was a democratic and capitalistic country allied with the United States and other Western nations. Thus began the Cold War, where the US and Western nations faced off against the communist Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union in an ideological battle between capitalism and communism that lasted over 40 years without direct military conflict.