The Cold War was the clash of cultures between the United States and the Soviet Union that colored many major geopolitical events in the second half of the 20th century. This included decolonization and neocolonialism, especially in African states. Kwame Nkrumah noted that neocolonialism is when an imperialist power claims to grant independence, but still influences the new state to achieve its own goals. Both the United States and the Soviet Union were neocolonialist powers, and a prime example of their desire to shape other states was the Congo crisis, which helped make decolonization unattractive to states outside of Africa. Congo gained independence on June 30, 1960 under Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Kasavubu, but was devastated by civil war as soldiers protested against Europeans remaining in the army and other positions. Both external states played a role in the conflict. The Cold War and the ideological battle between the United States and the Soviet Union played an important role in easing the Congo crisis, which hindered the decolonization process of other African states. African leaders knew that isolating Africa from international politics would harm security and economic stability, but opening their states to aid from the United States and the USSR allowed foreign ideological influence. The West planned to stop the spread of foreign communism with “containment” policies, using the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a military force, while the USSR responded with the Warsaw Treaty Organization in 1955. These military organizations were examples of the actions the West and East employed to appear intimidating to other states, but neither led to major military action. Instead, they acted as support and communication systems for the West and East as they searched for… sources of paper… g. Khrushchev believed that the Soviet Union had lost the Congo and that the United States had succeeded in preventing another communist state. The Congo crisis was a culture war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the Soviet Union had some support in the Congo, the United States was able to prevail and instill capitalism by taking more direct action during the crisis and ensuring that Mobutu's new leader was friendly to American interests. The Congo crisis negatively affected decolonization by serving as an example of the failures of an independent state run by Africans, despite most of the problems coming from foreign influence. As a Cold War battle, the Congo acted as a foreshadowing of US success over the USSR and as proof to the West that capitalism was best and foreign ideas were inferior, negatively influencing their views of other states in the years to come..