Containment Policy 1945-1953
America used a variety of methods to contain Soviet influence between
1945-1953. Methods such as Propaganda and flexing of muscle became
essential as America justified its policies and actions as part of the
struggle to save Capitalist Ideology from the Communist oppressors.
Ideology was the main source of conflict between the USA and USSR.
This difference in ideology led inevitably to distrust between the two
superpowers. The USSR believed in a state controlled economy which
discouraged free enterprise, antithesis of America's economic system;
the encouragement of free enterprise and the privatization of
industry. Thus, the divergent economic structures of the superpowers
painted different perspectives, which inevitably sowed the seeds for
further conflict between the USA and USSR.
The conferences between the USA and USSR up until 1945 showed the
various disagreements between the USA and USSR. These conferences were
held in Tehran in December 1945, Yalta in February 1945 and Potsdam in
July 1945. The main source of conflict between USA and USSR was the
future status of Europe. The USA wanted a democratic capitalist
continent that it could influence. The USSR wanted to spread Communism
and prevent the disasters of World War II recurring again.
While Stalin was a brutal and ruthless dictator responsible for
millions of deaths, feared and resented by many eastern Europeans, he
actually did not intend to conquer the world. This was the basic
misunderstanding which fueled the Cold War: the U.S. government, as
well as many private citizens, believed that the Russians were engaged
in a world-wide con...
... middle of paper ...
...e of 1954, West Germany was permitted to
join NATO. In 1955 it became a member of NATO and the following year
East Germny joined the Warsaw Pact. USA armed West Germany with 400
000 soldiers as a barrier against the USSR. Thus, the wars and methods
of containing Soviet influence always reverted back on the focus of
Germany.
America had used a variety of methods to contain Soviet influence.
These methods did not prove successful as each attempt to umbrella
nations from Communism backfired. The Marshall Plan and the defense of
South Korea were counter-reacted with the Molotov Plan and the
tightening of the Soviet 'Buffer Zone'. Thus, America's containment
policies only hindered the implementation of the true ideas
'containment', which concluded with the strengthening of Soviet
influence around Europe and the world.
... middle of paper ... ... The protectionist measures taken by Eisenhower kept the communists in check by suspending the progression of the USSR’s radical ambitions and programs. From the suspenseful delirium from the Cold War, the United States often engaged in a dangerous policy of brinksmanship through the mid-1950s.
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
Following World War Two tensions was developing between the communist East represented by the Soviet Union and the capitalist West which was comprised of Britain, France and the United States. This tension, which was mostly between the United States and the Soviet Union, who had emerged as the two power states following the World War Two, was a result of both ideological differences as well as the decisions made at three key conferences during World War Two; The Tehran Conference of 1943, The Yalta Conference in the early months of 1945, and the Potsdam conference following the fall of Germany in July 1945. The Soviet Union disagreed with some of the decisions made at the conferences, most notably, the division of Germany and Berlin. The decisions made at these conferences, as well as the ideological differences between the two superpowers would further increase tensions between the East and West, as well as having a significant impact on the development of the Early Crisis and the Cold War.
The United States were in favor of democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union sought for the chances of influencing communism. The Cold War did not involve the use of physical arms, but was intensely fought. Propaganda, economic aids, Arms Race, and the creation of alliances were the main methods to fight the war. The use of propaganda played a crucial role in containment by criticizing the other power and raising the morale and spirit of their nation. The economic support for nations helped them recover from the desperate situation after World War II, which prevented the nations from falling under communism.
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild. The United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would compliment the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations Satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as ?buffer? nations, preventing invasion from the west .In its efforts to defend democracy, the U.S. created the policy of containment. In this new policy, the United States would try to block Soviet influence by making alliances and supporting weaker nations. Winston Churchill described this strategy as an ?iron curtain?, which became and invisible line separating the communist from the capitalist countries in Europe. To help enforce the ideas of containment, President Truman create...
The type of policy known as containment was the foreign policy that the United States of America used between the times of 1947 (two years after World War Two) until 1989 (he fall of the Berlin Wall). The definition of containment in this case is strategies whether it was diplomatically, militarily or economically to contain the forming and progression of communism and to give America an influential advantage abroad. The policy of containment all started out with what was known as the Yalta conference, which consisted of Franklin D Roosevelt, the president of the United States at the time, Winston Churchill, the prime minister of the United kingdom, and Joseph Stain, leader of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). It was during this conference that the three men came to an agreement that these three countries would separate the world into three different parts and have their influence on those three parts. This was known as the sphere of influence and it was divided like this; The United States would have control of influence the western hemisphere meaning all of the Americ...
The foreign and domestic policies during the Cold War lead to both the separation of world powers and the fear of political and social systems throughout the world. After World War 2 had ended, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union heighted. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt , were not being followed by the Soviets. The Soviet Union kept the land they reconquered in Eastern Europe and did not enforce a democratic government in those countries, as they promised. Instead, the Soviet Union decided to continue spreading communism in their reconquered lands. The United States’ feared the spread of communism and attempted to do anything in its power to stop it. Before the United
The Soviet Union believed the United States had a lead in nuclear weapons and would have a monopoly if controls were approved. The Soviet Union pictured itself as a defender of peace and accused the United States of planning a third world war. During the late 1940's and the 1950's, the Cold War became increasingly tense. Each side accused the other of wanting to rule the world (Walker 388).
was through domination and aggression. The Soviets had already viewed themselves as an invincible nation due to all the control they’ve gained, Communism and their supporters would inevitably infect other nations. (E) The Soviet Union perceived the United States as weak, and quickly took advantage of their weaknesses by analyzing their every move. (A) American administration were convinced that only a firm policy of containment could stop Soviets in expanding their power beyond Eastern Europe. This then would impact American policymakers and lead them with the idea of containment. If stopping the Soviet Union wasn’t an option, then the least they could do would be containing it to the areas already infected. This strategy is exactly what George Kennan proposed, and containment became the key principle in American policy for the duration of the Cold
The Soviet Union took advantage of Eastern Europe's situation in the aftermath of World War II. It began to take control of many of these countries and install Communist governments. The Soviet Union wanted to use these countries as buffer zones to protect their sovereignty in the future. Two of the countries that they were attempting to take over were Turkey and Greece. Early in 1947 the British said they could no longer support the Greek government. This posed as a threat for the Soviet Union to take over Greece, and then easily move into the Middle East. In 1947 president Harry Truman declared that the United States must support countries who were resisting outside influence to attempt to take away their independence. The United States chose to follow a policy of containment, helping those nations that had not already fallen to communism, only helping those who were currently in danger. Truman thought that one of the greatest threats to the United States would be the fall of Greece and Turkey to communism. 2
The Korean conflict was a devastating conflict, there were over 54,000 casualties as well as 7800 unaccounted for. These numbers were major for the United States. (CNN.com) The increase in taxes of 4% of the GDP was major and the highest it had ever been since WWII and too make that worse the WWII rate was still present. The war affected Americans sensibilities a great deal. Americans were predominantly favorable for the war. The US containment policy was a major reason for our participation. Americans believed in democracy and by no means did they want a communistic rule to come into effect to the United States. We viewed ourselves as a free and just society despite the racial issues that were plaquing our own very existence.
At the same time, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were involved in the Cold War. They were competing against one another, constantly trying to show that their country (and therefore their form of government and ideals) was the better choice. They were competing for influence over the rest of the world. Eventually the USSR and Communism lost, but far more important results came out of this competition instead.
The United States countered this Soviet extension and purposeful publicity with an arrangement of regulation, first with the Truman Doctrine that helped out Greece and Turkey, and again in 1948 with the Marshall Plan for Europe's monetary reproduction. In addition to these regulations, the United States continued to aid nations under Soviet control and harassment such as the airlift to Berlin, the peak of the Cold War that demonstrated the deterioration of relations between the wartime allies and both sides' insistence on maintaining a presence in Berlin, and the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 to counter Cominform. Aside from the Berlin airlift, the Soviets exploded their first atomic warhead in 1949, which ended the American “monopoly” on the atomic bomb; at the same time, Chinese communists came to power in mainland China and the communist North Korean government, under the support of the Soviets, invaded the U.S.-supported South Korea in 1950, sparking the Korean War that lasted until 1953. Amid the Eisenhower organization the United States and its partners looked to manufacture an overall arrangement of military agreements to contain communism which incorporated the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization of 1954 and the Baghdad Pact of
In 1947 president Harry S. Truman authorized U.S. aid to anti-Communist forces in Greece and Turkey. The policy attempted to justify support for any nation that the U.S. government considered to be threatened by a Soviet expansion. This policy (containment doctrine), was aimed at holding back and restricting the spread of Communism worldwide.
There facts and reasons on why the Cold War happened. The Cold War had two sides. Those two sides were capitalism and communism. Capitalism is that business is owned by private people or firms. It was a free economy that allowed any profit he or she makes is reward for hard work. It also allows that any person should be free to start a business and employ people. Communism is another form of economy. Everything is run by the state and should be run by the government on behalf of the people. No private person is allowed to profit from the work from other citizens. Communism is a controlled economy. All profits don’t go into the pocket of one owner; the pr...