Cold War Dbq Analysis

During the Cold War there are several events and foreign policy interactions that affected the us. The first subject is the way that the United States and USSR handled nuclear weapons and the fear that people had about them. The Space Race was a time of technological advances in which the US was afraid of what russia would do if they had control over space. Joseph McCarthy and the start of McCarthyism was the start of heavy anti communist views. The tension and fear of the Arms race struck fear into both sides leading to several events caused by each side. Tension and fear during The Cold War had a significant effect on the technology, political views, events, the way people lived, and foreign policy.

Throughout the Cold War, America’s foreign policy made a great difference and was very effective. Document A states that the policy towards the Soviet Union must be long-term, which America did just that. It says to keep the Soviets more of a rival than a partner, which they did very effectively. The Truman Doctrine stated that America would help other countries fight communism both politically and physically. This was very effective because it prevented the spread of communism. The Doctrine was clearly shown in Document B, where the U.S. assisted South Korea from communist North Korea.

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.

After the Second World War, the imperialist countries were devastated with Germany being divided among the allied victors. Consequently, the United States and Russia were the most powerful countries in the world. From 1945 to 1991, democracy was represented by the United States and communism was represented by the Soviet Union. Russia aimed to conquer as many countries as possible to insure communist domination of the world. This rivalry was called the Cold War, where both countries competed for their type of government, but did not necessarily go to war with weapons. Both countries, threatened each other with powerful nuclear weapons, causing mass hysteria. During the Cold War, Americans feared communism, a nuclear war, and Soviet dominance

The Cold War came as a result of the repercussions of World War II and aided in the new creations of weapons to fight upcoming wars. This war was primarily fought between the two largest powers of the time: Soviet Union and United States.The conflict deepened during the Cold War as the distrust furthered between the Soviet Union and the United States.

The Cold War grew out of post-World War II tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the war did not bring about large scale fighting, there remained a constant threat of a catastrophic nuclear war. During the war, the US sought to strictly limit the spread of communism through containment, an idea formulated by US diplomat George Kennan, which became the basis of Harry Truman’s foreign policy. The containment policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, Africa, and Vietnam. The president’s initial step toward containment came in response to a British request to support both Turkey and Greece against the spread of communism. By requesting Congress for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Greece and Turkey, Truman established the Truman Doctrine. This policy, marking an “informal declaration of Cold War against the Soviets”, established that the United States would provide military and economic assistance to all nations threatened by Communism. The United States further devised the Marshall plan, which provided massive financial aid to western European countries in order to strengthen their economy, which indirectly prevented the spread of communism. Eisenhower and Nixon’s containment policies, while sharing Truman’s idea that communism should be contained, implemented different policies regarding containment. Eisenhower’s “New Look” policy was fiscally

The threat from the Soviet Union in enlarging the development of communism had pushed the Americans to stand up and prevent this Soviet’s action from happening. Therefore, the United States came up with the policy of containment. It was a policy created by George F. Kennan in February 1946 to avoid Communism to spread world wide. The following year, Truman declared the Truman Doctrine which was “the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” The Soviet Union was considered a threat to the United States at the time, therefore the Americans thought that it was their duty to stop the influences from the Soviet. The policy of containment was not only applied in Europe, but it existed in Asia as well. China was struggling to choose

These opposing views caused the formation of an iron curtain, a physical boundary that separated the Soviet-controlled countries in Eastern Europe from the Western democracies. The United States utilized a policy of containment, a strategy of retaliation against the Soviet Union’s policy of communist expansion, in attempt to defeat the spread of communism and save allied nations from becoming chained under Soviet control. The United States was devoted in its battle against communism with instances such as the Truman Doctrine, which promised to aid anyone who was being threatened by communist rule, and the Marshall Plan, which provided over 12 million dollars in aid to help rebuild European democracies like France and West Germany. All in all, containment was a foreign policy of the United States in which subtle, yet effective actions were to be executed during the Berlin airlift, the Korean War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in an effort to halt Soviet expansion and suspend the spread of

After World War II, the United States and Soviet Russia became the world's leading superpowers. Not to mention, they were also sworn enemies. The aftermath of the war left the United States with a "booming economy, a massive military establishment, and the atomic bomb" (Davidson 749). In contrast, Soviet Russia was left in ruins. Nevertheless, Russia fought for control among Germany and Japan, who had lost their power. In the United States, people feared the rise of communism. As told by the Truman Administration, Soviet Russia would threaten national security with their struggle for power with the U.S. So saying, it was duty of the United States to stop the spread of communism.

The foreign policy of containment, is the policy of using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. In order to prevent the spread of communism after World War II, the United States followed the policy of containment, the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan. The Americans wanted to bring democracy to nations abroad, while the Soviet Union wanted communism to spread throughout the world. The primary goal of this policy was to keep Soviet Union-based communism isolated and to prevent the spread of it to neighboring countries. The United States was successful at meeting the goals of containment because there are only three big communist countries that exist today.

1. Truman’s Policy of Containment was that the U.S. would work to stop the spread of communism by providing political, economic, and military assistance to all democratic nations under the threat of communism or any external authoritarian forces. The political aspect of this policy was the alliances made during the Cold War. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was a defensive alliance among the U.S. and other European countries against the Soviet Union. This alliance still exists today. The Warsaw Pact was a defensive alliance that included the Soviet Union and its satellite governments in Eastern Europe. These alliances assured that if one country was attacked, then the others must react by coming to the defense.

The United States foreign policy during the Cold War was specifically to prevent Communistic influence from the Soviet Union to the rest of the world. With areas like, China, Africa, Korea, Vietnam, and Eastern Europe already in the communistic view, “containment” policies were put in place. Containment was first heard of in the early 1940’s by a U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan. He proposed a strategy to stop communistic views. The first action of containment was with Harry S. Truman and his effort for aid in Greece and Turkey, addressed at a joint session of Congress. Truman showed how both Greece and Turkey needed assistance from the United States, and with this assistance, can help contain communism away from Greece, therefore having a better position on Turkey. The next act of containment was shortly after the Truman Doctrine, and it was with George C. Marshall’s speech in front of Harvard Grad Students. He proposed the Marshall Plan, a post-war European program to help aid countries that were destroyed during WWII. This was one of the strategies used during this time. Once Dwight

(827) They wanted to make sure they prevent the expansion of a hostile country and its influence. Specifically, the United States wanted to keep communism from spreading beyond the countries already under its influence. Ultimately, this was considered to be known as the domino theory, a theory that would lead other countries to give in to communism one by one like a chain of dominos toppling one another. (827) The policy applied to the world that had become divided due to the cold war, which was a struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1947 after Great Britain announced they could no longer afford the cost of supporting government militaries, the United States proposed the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine offered support to Greece and Turkey in the form of financial assistance, weaponry, and troop to help train their militaries and strengthen their governments against communism. (827) Simultaneously, the Marshall Plan was a program giving billions of U.S dollars to aid European countries to prevent from turning to communism. The American dream was clear and they were doing what they had to do that make the dream come true. They wanted to end communism while spreading peace and prosperity to all in the nation and that is exactly what happened with the help of these policies. Over time many argued about whether the U.S policy was always based on the same ideas or if it shifts over

To convince them to help Greece and Turkey because the Soviets take over countries and spreading communistic beliefs. Since Greece and Turkey are in fear being so close to the Soviet Union that they need financial need to help them stay a free country. This is significant because, before World War II the US has not been involved in world affairs. In Truman’s speech, he says “There is no other country to which democratic Greece can turn. No other nation is willing and able to provide the necessary support for a democratic Greek government.” Meaning the US is the only one able to help Greece because Britain and France are rebuilding their countries' economies and infrastructure. Also, Truman says “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures… In helping free and independent nations to maintain their freedom, the United States will be giving effect to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” This displays President Truman’s wants congress to allow the US to help nations on the verge of a Communist revolution to be abolished and replaced by a free democratic government. If it wasn’t for Soviet expansion of taking control of the Satellite States the US would not be in the situation it is to condemn such

The original main idea of the Truman doctrine and the policy of containment were to support Turkey and Greece – who were on the verge of being subjugated to the Soviet Union and communism. They needed the assistance of an outside power to help them fight off this threat . The main point to understand this is that it set the precedent that the USA would help any country that was under threat from the Soviet Union in any way, including a communist government trying to take power.