Cold War Containment

There have been various ideologies, events, and origins of the Cold War that have dominated American foreign policy from 1946 to 1989. The Cold War was a time of conflict between between the U.S. and the USSR; the two Superpowers saw each other as a threat. Thus they continued to fight to preserve their positions. Each side became involved in events such as the Korean War. They each stood behind the other nations fighting. Together the rise in communism, a rise of the Soviet influence dominated American foreign policy, and the creation of the Warsaw Pact.

During the years of the Cold War, the United States had to strategize a way to block the spread of communism. The Cold War deliberates tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Soviets had progressed in their communist ways and the capitalist US wanted to block their spread of communism because of the awful reaction communism had cost. Most importantly are the events that took place during the Cold War that represent containment such as the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Soviet Blockade.

Right after the Second World War ended, the prolonged Cold War between communism and capitalism began. This war lasted about 45 years between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the fall of the common enemy, Nazism, these two nations became instant global rivals. They fought over human rights, democratic elections, individual liberties, and religious freedom. America wanted every nation to be free like itself. This push for the Soviet Union to be the same started the Cold War. Just like any other war, after it was over it brought many different new challenges to America, like great lost from war, the Red Scare, and new threats.

During the time of the Cold War (1947-1989(), America’s foreign policies were entirely centered on the fight against communism. It was during the 1960s that the US intervened deeper and deeper into the Vietnam War (1955-1975). The war, often considered the peak and turning point of the Cold War, was fought between North

The 46 year struggle known as the Cold War all started over a disagreement at Potsdam. Stalin refused to allow what the Allies wanted. They wanted to give free election to countries in easter Europe like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. All these countries became satellite rates controlled by the Soviet Union. This made Truman believe that Stalin was planning to conquer the world and that the former alliance was falling apart. This turned into a battle between Communism and Democracy. Throughout almost all of the Cold War the United States adopted a foreign policy called “containment”.The United States contained Communism in Berlin, Korea, and Cuba by not allowing the Soviet Union to gain anymore land or power.

George Kennan's containment plan is a radical shift in the U.S foreign policy when the Policy of the United States towards the Soviet Union prior, and during the World War II is considered. The containment policy marks the shift of American foreign policy towards the Soviets from alliance to deterrence. Kennan's states in the Long Telegram, "USSR still lives in antagonistic "capitalist encirclement" with which in the long run there can be no permanent peaceful coexistence." (Citation needed) only two years after the end of World War II, a war both the U.S and the Soviet Union fought side by side for a common ambition. If the aspect of radical shift in the U.S foreign policy is seen from a post-Cold War perspective, another radical change can

During the Cold War, the United States did their best to stop the spread of Communism. Several incidents such as the Korean War, the birth of McCarthyism, led the United States to the brink of war with the Soviet Union over Communism. One of the most pivotal moments of the Cold War was the Vietnam War. The United States joined the war to stop Communism from spreading to South Vietnam. This war had many Americans split down the middle as to whether or not they should be participating in the war. The Vietnam War is the biggest failure in American history.

However, it has been argued that containment should not be seen as the underlying factor behind the Marshall Plan, due to the fact that Britain was a recipient of this aid. This is because Britain did not fall within the sphere of communist influence, yet received the most amount of aid. For example, in the 1945 General Election, the British Communist Party only won two out of six-hundred and fifty seats, receiving less than one hundred thousand votes overall; thus, highlighting the lack of communist support in postwar Britain. Furthermore, the Marshall Plan was even offered to the Soviet Union by the American administration. Despite being an empty gesture, if there was a genuine fear of communism and an overwhelming agenda to contain it, why would they offer aid, in the first place, to the principal communist state? Joyce and Gabriel Kolko go further and ascertain that the US “cynically manipulated a Russian threat in an effort to fasten economic control over the entire world.” The Kolkos argue that “Truman and his advisers deliberately exaggerated and misrepresented external reality, provoked and invented crises, and spurned genuine Russian offers to negotiate a détente,” in order to achieve greater world hegemony.

According to an article written by Clif Staten he asserts that John Lewis Gaddis has argued that the history of our containment policy toward the Soviet Union reflected the swing of a pendulum between periods when our resources did not match our ever-expanding goals and periods that required us to react to this deficit by either reducing, redefining or reprioritizing our goals to bring them in line with our limited resources. He continues to argue that the pendulum swing is illustrative of the shift between our idealist and realist sides. In the early years of the Cold War, our foreign policy goals focused on containing communism in Europe. We recognized that our resources were limited. We had been demobilizing since the end of World War II and the American public had reverted to its traditional isolationist character. Containment was limited only to Western Europe where our military strength was greatest.

After defeating Hitler and the Nazi Party in World War 2, a Cold War started between the United States and the Soviet Union. The war consisted of tension between the two countries. The Cold War was between two government policies, Communism and Democracy. The Soviets wanted to expand on their ideas of communism, but the Americans were not going to allow that to happen. Their American policy was containment. Containment is the idea that there should be no spreading of the Soviet communism. Events that portrayed containment were the Berlin Blockade and Airlift, The Korean War, and The Cuban Missile Crisis.

After the Second World War, the United States found itself confronted by the “iron curtain” of communism, which was descending over eastern Europe and much of Asia. As more countries fell into the communist fold, top U.S. officials along with the general public demanded a response from the Truman administration to tackle the perceived communist threat. In 1947, the U.S. diplomat George Kennan published an article in the journal Foreign Affairs, titled “The Sources of Soviet Conduct,” which advocated a new strategy for defeating communism. Kennan’s article had a profound effect on the Truman administration, serving as the basis for the U.S. foreign policy strategy of containment. Truman’s attempt to implement a policy of containment would face

The Cold War started in 1947 and “consisted of propaganda battles, economic warfare, proxy wars, and arms race, the cold war touched virtually every corner of the globe in the years after World War II” (Etheridge 1). This wasn’t like any kind of war the U.S. had been involved with in the past because there was no real fighting in this “war.” This was between two former Allies who teamed up to take down Germany, Italy, and China in World War II. It’s the United States vs the Soviet Union. It’s safe to say that “the relationship between the U.S. and its former wartime ally had deteriorated considerably” (Weaver 1). This put the country on alert because they weren’t sure what to expect after coming off a big four-year war. The United States got involved in the Cold War because the Soviet Union was trying to influence other Eastern countries to turn to communism as their primary government. They didn’t want the world to be overrun with a Communist government so the U.S. had to step in to try and put a stop to the madness of the communist influence. The “American participation in the cold war represented a sharp break in the history of American foreign relations” (Etheridge 1) because many U.S. presidents followed George Washington’s advice and “avoided political and military participation in the world” (Etheridge 1). This led to “the Soviet Union [overthrowing] the democratically elected

Between the cessation of the Second World War and the onset of the 21st Century, the United States of America and the Soviet Union were embroiled in a geopolitical standoff known as the Cold War. In this international “game” of strategic maneuvers and incidents, both nations attempted to assert their influence over other states in what was essentially an ideological clash between democracy/capitalism and communism/socialism. Although the Cold War did not involve a full-scale, direct military confrontation between both powers, this notion manifested itself in the form of proxy wars and sub-conflicts. The United States and the Soviet Union backed countries that aligned with their respective interests, and through financial, political, and

Question 1: During cold war times, the US’ had a theory of containment. Containment made to stop the spread of communism, because it was thought that if the US could not stop communist countries than it could work on stopping communism from spreading. In 1954, Vietnam was able to become independent from France. The country was divided along the 17th parallel, and North Vietnam and South Vietnam were created. Ho Chi Minh led North Vietnam and it had a communistic government, which was supported by China and the USSR. On the other hand, South Vietnam was a ‘democratic’ (anti-communism) government, which was led by Ngo Dinh Diem and supported by the US. During Diem’s regime, the government started to interrogate Buddhist priests. Diem was also known for treating the peasant class harshly, because he came from the property owning class. His government was also very corrupt, because he only appointed his family members to government roles00000. Diem’s totalitarian government led to the rise of a communist group called the Vietcong. The Vietcong were a group that arose during Diem’s regime, they wanted to change South Vietnam into a communist country. Many non-communist citizens of the south also supported the Vietcong in hopes of ridding themselves of their corrupt government. The Vietcong was given supplies from North Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh trail. They used guerrilla warfare to create fear in the hearts of their enemies. Using this strategy, they were able to kill the

During cold war times, the US’ had a theory of containment. Containment made to stop the spread of communism, because it was thought that if the US could not stop communist countries than it could work on stopping communism from spreading. In 1954, Vietnam was able to become independent from France. The country was divided along the 17th parallel, and North Vietnam and South Vietnam were created. Ho Chi Minh led North Vietnam and it had a communistic government, which was supported by China and the USSR. On the other hand, South Vietnam was a ‘democratic’ (anti-communism) government, which was led by Ngo Dinh Diem and supported by the US.