The 'Cold War' was a period of ideological and geopolitical war to modernize European countries and other states worldwide. The aftermath of World War II led to the creation of a bi-polar world led by two competitive superpowers who had fundamentally different ideologies. While the Soviet Union was a Communist country, valuing the needs of the state more than personal rights, the United States was a capitalist democratic nation that valued individual freedoms. As the two superpowers expanded their ideologies for modernization, the tension only grew, and global competition began. Subsequently, each nation came under the influence of either superpower. Each claimed that their ideology was the only way of becoming modern to be successful. Since the United States and Soviet Union held strongly contrasting views of constructing the modern world, the Cold War was inevitable.