[1][2] It primarily refers to the leading Anglo-American Allied powers, namely the United States and the United Kingdom,[1]: 3 [3] although the term has also been used more broadly to encompass lesser Allied powers from the British Commonwealth (in particular, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) as well as France and some other Western European countries.
[3] The concept of Western Allies is usually used to denote the major differences between the Western, democratic Allies and the communist, totalitarian Soviet Union.
[1]: 113–115 [4] That cooperation became more significant in later stages of the war (e.g. the Teheran Conference).
[1]: 229 Nonetheless, the tensions remained high, with Western Allies and Soviet Union considering one another a threat, and drawing contingency plans for a war against one another (e.g. Operation Unthinkable, Plan Totality);[1]: 284, 289, 299, 317 [5]: 78 these tensions developed into the Cold War that lasted decades after the World War II ended.
[1]: 2 Unlike in the broader concept of "the Allies" or "Allied Powers", the countries to the east of Germany, such as Central Eastern European countries of Poland,[6][7]: 11–13 [8]: 200, 281, 289, 324, 345, 353–354, 357 Czechoslovakia,[9]: 14 [10]: 70 Yugoslavia,[11]: 354 [12]: 703 as well as the Soviet Union[1][3] and China[13]: 341 are not included in the concept of "Western Allies", even though some (e.g. Polish[14] and Czechoslovak[15]: 36–37 armed forces) fought alongside Western Allies.