As a consequence of the impacts of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as superpowers, initially cooperating to aid in post-war recovery efforts. Nevertheless, the partnership rapidly eroded due to their differing desires to either prevent or advance communism. As United States President Harry Truman implemented what was perceived as aggressive and targeted precautions against Soviet Union Leader Joseph Stalin’s desire to advance communism, the Cold War ignited. The Cold War was an ideological and geopolitical rivalry between the two superpowers, it “began in 1945, escalated in 1946, was unofficially declared in 1947, and congealed into a system in 1948-1949”. Whilst America’s desire to contain communism was responsible …show more content…
Kennan, the deputy chief of the American Embassy in Moscow, sparked the American policy of containment through The Long Telegram. This telegram was sent to the US government on February 22nd 1946, expressing his apprehension towards the Soviet’s ambitions for global communism expansion. Kennan advised the US government that the only way to handle relations with the Soviet Union was to pursue a policy of containment, hoping that the US would ensure “efforts [to] be made to advance official limits of Soviet power”. Consequently, this telegram directly influenced Truman's decision to adopt the containment policy on March 12th, 1947, as evidenced by the 1947 Truman Doctrine. This doctrine pledged that the United States would assist, both economically and militarily, any nation in resisting communism to contain it. Therefore, the Long Telegram created a division between the Soviet Union and the United States through the containment policy, igniting the Cold War. As a result of the containment policy, Truman introduced The Marshall Plan on June 5th 1947, aiming to financially assist European countries, including the Soviet Union, in their reconstruction after World War …show more content…
Consequently, in 1948 the Berlin Blockade was introduced where Stalin essentially blocked the roads to West Berlin. Since the Allies had agreed on the division of Germany, and of Berlin, during the Potsdam conference, the Berlin Blockade cut off all shipments of goods from West Germany to East Germany. Evidently, the Berlin Blockade created a significant physical and economic division between the two superpowers, exacerbating tensions and aggression. This event played a pivotal role in starting the Cold War as a result of Stalin's excessive paranoia and desire to assert Soviet dominance in Europe. Additionally, whilst the Marshall Plan was perceived as America’s attempt to contain communism, the creator of the plan, George C. Marshall, exclaimed that the “policy was directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos”. By rejecting aid and isolating Eastern European countries from Western assistance, Stalin aimed to consolidate Soviet control, distance these nations from Western influence, and thereby contribute to the onset of the Cold
element of American history was analyzed. The Cold War is rampant with American foreign policy and influential in shaping the modern world. Strategies of Containment outlines American policy from the end of World War II until present day. Gaddis outlines the policies of presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, including policies influenced by others such as George Kennan, John Dulles, and Henry Kissinger. The author, John Lewis Gaddis has written many books on the Cold War and is an
effective foreign policy during the Cold War. The foreign policy Truman followed was known as confrontation, which was most likely because he confronted many political and economic challenges during his time as president. Truman’s policy included the Truman Doctrine, Containment, and the Marshall Plan all three of these policies of confrontation were ultimately made to protect the United States and help the allied countries. The Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment were both policies that were
“Life” during the 1950s? In short, what Americans craved during
Containment as U.S. policy during Cold War Era From after World War II and up until 1991 the foreign policy of the United States was based on Cold War ideology and the policy of containment; to prevent nations from leaning towards Soviet Union-based communism, as first laid out by George Kennan and later used as one of the key principles in the Truman Doctrine (LeCain). As this essay will argue, because of this policy the United States made a commitment to fight communism everywhere in the world
conclusion of World War II. These Ideologies were anti- communism and suburban domesticity, both of which were sought to be resolved by the Americans through marriage and parenthood in a suitable and stable household. May discovers that domestic revival was key in addressing the ‘cold war ideology’; her book seeks to discover why post war Americans looked unto household stability as a means of solving the threat of communism at the time. It was, as she describes; “postwar Americans' intense need to
During the Cold War in Europe, the battle between United States and the Soviet Union was considered to be the fight to spread Communism and the struggle to end it. (T) When George Keenan wrote “the containment policy” in his efforts to end the spread of Communism, this impacted and created a new outlook for the Soviet Union. In this essay I will be discussing (a) the motivation for Communists to take over, (b) their approach to persuade the U.S. and (c) why George Kennan considers the U.S. policy
After World War Two the United States and Soviet Union quickly became enemies due to different ideals. The Soviet Union supported communism while the United States supported capitalism and democracy. Communism was an economic system where the state owned all means of production, and goods and services were shared. Under communist rule free elections were prohibited and media was censored. The United States did not agree with this system of government. They strived for the world to have capitalist
Containment and the Cold War In February 1946, George F. Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, proposed a policy of containment. Containment is the blocking of another nation’s attempts to spread its influence. During the late 1940s and early 1950s the United States used this policy against the Soviets. The United States wanted to take measures to prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries. The conflicting U.S. and Soviet aims in Eastern Europe led to the Cold War. The Berlin airlift
The Second World War ended, between the reality of a Europe devastated and weakening the international system and Germany, a crumbling on the verge of being split, the United States and Soviet Union emerged as the superpower in the world, the wealthy and the powerful. Both countries quickly control the entire system of international politics. However, the Soviet Union-United States with two opposing ideological stand on opposite sides of the battle. A series of consecutive conflicts emerged, while
Containment Containment , what an extremely mixed and diverse topic. Containment is the action of keeping something harmful under control or within limits. It was a describing policy of The United States to stop the spreading of communism, which they absolutely hated and some even feared it. Communism is a political theory from Karl Marx that advocates class war and leads to a society. In which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs
Containment Policy America’s Policy of Containment was introduced by George Kennan in 1947. This policy had a few good points but many more bad points.Kennan's depiction of communism as a "malignant parasite" that had to be contained by all possible measures became the basis of the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and National Security Act in 1947. In his Inaugural Address of January 20, 1949, Truman made four points about his "program for peace and freedom": to support the UN, the European
Cold War Causes During World War II, the United States and Soviet Union stood by each other as allies fighting against Nazi Germany and other Axis powers. When World War II ended, political differences caused the Soviet Union and the United States to go in war. The Soviets believed in a political and economic theory called communism, where factories or farms or mines are owned by the public/ the state, and the wealth is divided among citizens equally or according to individual needs. Whereas the
Cold War Essay Miller High School World History Honors Mr.Dial Alivea Luning 02/12/24. During the 1900s, 41 years of its time was wasted in a conflict between another nation, something we like to call, war. The Cold War was a period of “geopolitical tension marked by competition and confrontation between communist nations led by the Soviet Union and Western democracies including the United States” (N/A, 2023). It was a war that turned society against one another, fighting through
The Cold War Three United States presidents changed the world forever. Without the influence of their individual plans, communism could have spread throughout nations worldwide. While President Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy had all brought different ideas to the table, President Truman had focused on economic aid. President Eisenhower had focused on military use with brinkmanship and massive retaliation and President Kennedy had focused more on flexible response. In Edward Ayers book “American
Question 4: “NSC 68 was written by Paul Nitze in the spring of 1950 and implemented over the course of the year. How does the definition of the containment policy in NSC 68 compare to George Kennan’s original ideas? How does NSC 68 show continuity with the earlier policy and what about is new? I. BACKGROUND “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” Foreign Affairs, 1947, explains the difficulty of summarizing Soviet ideology. For more than 50 years, the Soviet concept held the Russian nations hypnotized