USA policy of containment

During the Cold War, America's basic policy was that of "containment" of the Soviet Union. The policy of containment was based upon several principles. First, the Soviet Union wanted to spread socialism to all areas of the world. However, it was felt that the leadership of the

Guided Essay: Berlin, Korea and Cuba: How Did the US Contain Communism? A war of iron curtains, iced words, and constant fear; the cold war. After world war two the world was split into three sides. The Soviet Union and China became Communist. They entered into a cold war with the U.S,

Citizens of Europe were living in shambles (See Fig 2). Politically, Americans knew spreading capitalistic ways in Europe would gain support from the Europeans, giving the United States trade partners. During the Cold War, Germany became the center of all the tensions between Capitalism and Communism. Germany was the ideal gateway between East and West Europe. Its location made it a suitable place for these political struggles to occur. This angered the Soviets because they too wanted to influence their ways on Europe. The Marshall Plan, following the Truman Doctrine-- which supplied $400 million to countries under totalitarian regimes (Turkey and Greece), appeared to be another anti-communist move made by the United States. However, the United States still successfully achieved the goal of making Europe economically stable.

The speech was created primarily Charles Bohlen, a Soviet expert and Marshall’s special assistant, and later revised by Marshall. Department officials, including George Kennan and William Clayton saw the Marshall Plan as a way of restricting Communist growth in Europe, by strengthening the struggling democratic European nations . After the end of WWII in 1945, the majority of Europe was in ruins; over a third of the European industry was destroyed by the war, resulting in weak economies, and millions of people unemployed and starving, causing low morale. As economies were not improving at a rapid enough pace, combined with high unemployment and a hungry population, people started to look for change. Communism began to look promising, and was becoming increasingly popular in Europe through rebels and partisans. In an attempt confine the spread of Communism, Marshall was sent to Moscow to negotiate with Stalin. Initially, Stalin welcomed the possibility of Soviet participation in a U.S funded European reconstruction program. However, Stalin opposed the “idea of a coordinated multilateral aid programme, which was seen to threaten the Soviet political and economic position in Eastern Europe”, and withdrew all support and insisted that

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.

“The originally propagated view that the Marshall Plan was an altruistic endeavour … has long been dismissed.” Instead, “The overwhelming body of literature looks at the Marshall Plan either from a political and diplomatic or from an economic viewpoint.” Overall, the Plan was primarily motivated by the former, rather, than the later, albeit both were heavily intertwined. This is because containment and a fear of Soviet expansion categorised US foreign policy for much of the postwar period, with economic considerations being the method used, to enact this policy of containment.

The Berlin Blockade and Airlift portrayed containment by splitting up Germany, flying supplies over to East Berlin, and making

Containment in U.S. Foreign Policy Containment has been a guiding principle in U.S. foreign policy for years, but was it the only guiding principle during the Cold War and other foreign affairs between 1945 and 1991? The end of World War II shaped the policies of the Cold War, and the

The Containment Policy established by George W. Bush after the Gulf War is the most viable option for the United States. The Containment Policy strictly sustains the status quo, and is inexpensive in terms of blood, money, and political capital.The Containment Policy will halter the making of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and will ensure free oil flow from the Gulf, while preventing Iraq from threatening its neighbors. For this reason, a political strategy of containment is comparatively advantageous to the alternative. This essay will begin by examining the effect of no-fly zones on the Iraqi discussing the strategic viability of sanctions and their effect on the Iraqi economy, finally explaining the importance of oil in Iraq 's economy.

Containment: Sticking to the Status Quo – A Strategy for The Middle East The containment policy established by George Bush Sr. after the Gulf War is the most viable option for the United States when deciding how to stabilize the Middle East. A political strategy of containment strictly sustains the status quo, and is inexpensive in terms of blood, money, and political capital. Furthering the United States’ containment policy in the context of Iraq will halter the making of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, ensuring the free flow of oil from the Gulf, while preventing Iraq from threatening its neighbors. For this reason, a political strategy of containment is comparatively advantageous to the alternative. This essay will begin by examining the effect of no-fly zones on the Iraqi government, moving to discuss weapons inspections, discussing the strategic viability of sanctions and their effect on the Iraqi economy, finally explaining the advantages containment holds over intervention.

2. After WWII, Germany was divided into four zones. West Germany was occupied by the U.S., Britain, and France. Whereas East Germany was occupied by the Soviet Union. Berlin

Following World War II, Europe’s economy was extremely damaged especially in Western Europe. Bombs had destroyed cities, railroads, ports, and communication networks (The Earth and its Peoples, page 851). Employment was becoming hard to find and citizens struggled financially. The United States feared a Communist takeover of Europe, so they decided to help with the reconstruction of Europe. George C Marshall established the Marshall Plan in 1947. This program was set up to help rebuild western Europe following the war. By 1961, over $20 million

quid-pro-quo system by which each nation would blindly approve the other’s programs or a competitive state in which few programs would gain approval. However, despite these hurdles, the Foreign Service rose to the challenge to make the Marshall Plan a success. First, the plan was popularized through a media initiative that gave a

The Berlin Blockade The Soviet Union encountered Allied Forces when they attempted to take all of Berlin after World War II. Germans exchanged their previous freedoms for communism, as they were forced to live under the iron fist of the Soviet Union. The Berlin Blockade started on June 24, 1948 ("Berlin Blockade"). The blockade was built to block Allies access to the Soviet Union so they could not attack. The wall stretched from eastern berlin to western 100 miles across. Berlin was in the Soviet Union zone, but was also split between four zones between the countries. This was one of the most international crisis of the century.

After World War two the European economy had been devastated. The Marshall Plan had been devised to enable the recovery of the European economy in response to George Marshall's comment in June 1947, ‘Europe so poor that it was in danger of turning communist’. The Marshall Plan consisted of $13 billion being injected to Europe between 1948 and 1951, this turned out to spark a recovery within the economy. This injection of capital allowed the U.S. to rebuild the European economy and for it to