In the aftermath of World War II, the world was divided into two opposing camps which, although not fighting directly, were actively engaged in the Cold War. This war only ended after the breakup of the USSR in 1991. The Cold War was both created and prolonged by the interconnected economic and ideological tensions of the Eastern and Western blocs. The ideological systems of the two powers were seen as completely opposed in their goals and experienced growing animosity towards each other. This in turn influenced economic policies that further distanced the major powers from the Cold War. By far the most important factor in the formation of the Cold War was the fact that both sides believed that the communist Soviet Union and Western capitalist ideologies were different. incompatible with each other. The essence of the Cold War was seen as the opposition of communism and capitalism (Kishlansky, Geary, and O'Brien 874). This belief was present as early as 1946, when Winston Churchill gave a speech describing the Soviet Union as a government capable of trying to “impose totalitarian systems on the free and democratic world” (Churchill 303). It also contrasted the Soviet Union, a state where control was "imposed on ordinary people by...police governments", while the United States and Britain embodied "the great principles of freedom and human rights." 'man' (Churchill, p. 303). This belief did not diminish as the Cold War dragged on and caused even more animosity between the two blocs. Even in 1961, in his speech to the Communist Party Congress, Khrushchev proclaimed that the main driving force of the Soviet Union was "the competition of the two world social systems, the socialist and the capitalist" (Khrushchev 307). This perceived ideological incompatibility also contributed to the formation of alliances in the Eastern and Western blocs. These alliances in turn prolonged the Cold War. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 to protect the capitalist countries of the USSR, and it continued to integrate countries until Spain's entry in 1982. The Soviets responded to this with yet another alliance group in the East. Europe, the Warsaw Pact (Kishlansky, Geary and O'Brien 876). Former colonies were also forced to choose allegiance to either capitalist or communist camps (Kishlansky, Geary, and O'Brien). 877).