How were the superpowers benefited by military alliances?

The two superpowers, USSR and USA, made military and strategic alliances with other smaller countries to get benefits in various forms be it political, economic, geographical and social. The west formalized its alliances in an organization known as North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1949 and established a regional military, and strategic alliances like South East Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) and USSR formed similar alliances and signed the Warsaw Pact in 1955.

The smaller states were helpful for the superpowers in gaining access to:

1) Vital resources, such as oil and minerals for their sustenance.

2) Territory, from where the superpowers could launch their weapons and troops.

3) Economic support, such as meeting their huge military expenses including the food, clothing, living, and armaments of the soldiers.

4) Locations from where they could spy on each other’s actions to prevent any attack.

5) Markets for their products and places to safely invest their capital.

6) To spread their ideologies to every corner of the world. The USA wanted to spread democratic and capitalist system while the USSR wanted to expand its ideology of communism.

The loyalty of the allies suggested that the two superpowers were successful in establishing their control and winning the war of ideas as well, that liberal democracy and capitalism was better than socialism or vice versa.