What won the Cold War? The traditional narrative is that free markets and capitalism won the war for America over the Soviet Union who could not match the US buck for buck in military spending. Furthermore, the civilian economy produced so much awesome stuff that the civilian population of Russia didn't really have a choice. It had been beat by capitalism and shruggingly admitted defeat and joined the West....kinda.This is the story we all know and love, but in reality it wasn't such a simple struggle of East vs. West or Capitalism vs Centrally Organized Communism. Confused? Let me give you and example: who built the atomic bomb? Well, the US built it, but was this the product of capitalists coming together to produce a good that was driven by the market forces of supply and demand? No, it was the product of a centrally organized top-down military project designed to help the nation win a war. This and other things are what Dan discusses in the next series of episodes.