How was the Cold War both a military conflict and an ideological conflict?

The Cold War was essentially a 'face off' or completion between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. At the time, the Soviet Union was a communist nation that was based on the principles of collectivism, while the United States was a modern liberal nation based primarily on the principles of individualism. This means that the Soviet Union was positioned on the far-left side of the economic spectrum, while the United States was position on the right side. This difference in ideology was a major source of the conflict between the two nations because throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union sought to expand communism to other regions and the United States sought to stop it with its policy of containment. As such, many people now view the Cold War as a conflict of the left and right sides of the spectrum, among other things.