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The policy of containment during the Cold War

Summary:

The policy of containment during the Cold War aimed to prevent the spread of communism beyond its existing borders. This U.S. strategy sought to restrict Soviet influence through diplomatic, military, and economic means, thereby countering the expansionist policies of the Soviet Union. It shaped many international interventions and alliances, such as the formation of NATO and involvement in conflicts like the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

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How did the United States implement the policy of containment post World War II?

One of the most important components of containment was economic policy. The Truman Administration understood that Communism tended to thrive in countries with weak economies and weak governmental institutions.

Under the Marshall Plan, the Administration sought to strengthen European countries against the threat of Communism by giving large-scale economic assistance. It was hoped that this would make it harder for Communism to take hold in the war-ravaged economies of Europe, especially Western Europe. Western Europe was of great strategic importance to the United States, and it was unthinkable to the Truman Administration that the Soviet Union could gain a foothold here through its proxies. Countries such as France and Italy were especially vulnerable to Communist takeover, as they both had large and very well-organized Communist parties who'd earned a great deal of popularity from their prominent role in the anti-fascist resistance.

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The policy of containment was recommended to American policy...

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makers by foreign policy specialist George Kennan in 1947. Kennan argued that the Soviet Union was inherently expansionist, but would be unwilling to go to war with the United States if it could be avoided. Containment was first put into effect when the United States sent over 400 million dollars in aid to Greek and Turkish anti-communist fighters and activists. This action was the foundation of the Truman Doctrine, in which the United States pledged to resist the spread of communism in any country threatened by it. One year later, the United States announced the so-called Marshall Plan, a massive aid package to Western European nations that was intended to help them recover from wartime damages. The idea was that, in so doing, they would be buttressed against the spread of communism. This is, essentially, containment in action in the years immediately following World War II. Without firing a shot, the United States sought to use its wealth and power to "contain" what they saw (incorrectly, in the case of Greece) as Soviet attempts to spread their influence.

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What does the "Containment" policy mean and why was it significant in the Cold War?

During the latter stages of the Second World War, the United States and Soviet Union, ultimately victorious allies, began their long descent and transformed into polar adversaries in the Cold War.  "Containment" was advanced by the US as a remedial policy to the "Domino Theory," whereby a non Communist or Socialist state, influenced by the Soviet Union, would turn Communist, and prepare the transition to its bordering neighbors.  Communism would then continue to spread around the world.  George F. Kennan (1904 - 2005) both a diplomat and adviser on Soviet affairs, suggested a policy of Containment in lieu of overt conflict with the Soviets, or a "Hot" War.  The competing ideologies of Soviet and American were fought instead within the world's countries, each side seeking political and economic influence within the country and supplying it militarily.  One manifestation of this policy came in the form of "foreign aid" under the Truman Doctrine of 1947;  the first two US beneficiaries were Turkey and Greece, where Communist influence had been growing since the conclusion of World War II.

Later in the Cold War, the term began to be applied towards areas where hostilities had broken out; "Containment" of the Communist threat became the byword during the early days of the US involvement in Vietnam.

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Containment, an idea first introduced by a diplomat named George F. Kennen, was that if communism could not be done away with, it should at least not be allowed to spread to other countries. This approach more or less endorsed the "policeman of the world" stance the United States adopted in its international relations as it assumed the self-appointed mandate of the 'defender of liberty.'  This led to its long-standing ingerence into the affairs of 'Indochine' (passed like a hot potato from the French) much as the 'Manifest Destiny' ideal endorsed the exploitation of the Western territory of the United States during the 1800s.

As the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany, the collapse of the Soviet Union per se came as a surprise to everybody, and the United States lost its "favourite" enemy. The new 'war on terrorism' since the 9/11 catastrophe, however, has permitted a new polarization of powers and ideals, as world focus is now drawn to the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.

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How did the US implement the containment policy during the Cold War?

One of the key components of the policy of containment was the strategic alliance between the United States and various unsavory regimes in the developing world, most notably Latin America. Successive administrations propped up these regimes as a way of preventing the spread of Communism.

The ideology of Communism tends to take hold in agricultural societies where the wealth gap between rich and poor is wide, and the opportunities for the poor to change their lives through peaceful political activity are virtually non-existent. This creates the conditions for Communism to flourish, as Communists offer the poor and downtrodden an opportunity to strike back at a political and economic system which has held them down for so long.

Instead of trying to ameliorate these occasions as it had done in Western Europe after the Second World War, the United States reinforced the unjust socio-economic structures in various parts of the developing world by offering substantial financial and military support to right-wing regimes. In return, such regimes could be relied upon to use the most ruthless methods to crack down on the merest hint of dissent, especially from radicals such as Communists. In this way successive US administrations sought to make it harder for the Soviet Union to gain a foothold in what were deemed strategically important parts of the world.

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The United States developed a policy of containment after World War II. It was designed to keep Communism from spreading to new places. The policy was developed from ideas presented in the Long Telegram. This document basically said that Communism would fail. Since Communism had flaws, it would eventually collapse.  The collapse may take some time, but it will occur.  Therefore, we needed to prevent Communism from spreading. As a result, many actions were taken.

We knew that the Soviet Union looked to take over countries that were weak economically. It would be more likely that people in those countries would want to change governments. Thus, we wanted to keep the economy strong in as many countries as possible. We offered economic aid to Greece and Turkey with the Truman Doctrine. We offered aid to any country with the Marshall Plan.

We also weren’t afraid to take military action or threaten to take military action if needed. We threatened military action in 1946 when the Soviet Union refused to move its army out of northern Iran. We consolidated three of the four zones in Germany and created the country of West Germany when we thought the Soviets were trying to undermine the economy in Germany. We used the Berlin Airlift to counteract the blockading of West Berlin. We organized a United Nations response to the attack on South Korea. We also created the military alliance called NATO to protect non-communist countries.

This policy was able to prevent the spread of Communism in several places after World War II.

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During the Cold War, containment was the main policy of the United States.  This was a policy that was meant to prevent the spread of communism.  The United States enacted the policy of containment in at least two main ways.

First, the US tried to use economic and political means to tie other countries closer to it and keep them from becoming communist.  Perhaps the clearest example of this was the creation of the Marshall Plan soon after World War II.  By giving economic aid of this sort, the US was building good will among foreign countries while also strengthening their economies.  This would, it was hoped, create stronger ties between those countries and the US and make them more resistant to communism.

Second, the US used military means to try to resist the spread of communism.  This was first done in Greece and Turkey via that Truman Doctrine.  It was used in the Korean War.  The whole concept of the nuclear deterrent was aimed at preventing the communists from spreading through military force.

Thus, the US used military, political, and economic tools to try to prevent the spread of communism during the Cold War.

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What was the policy of containment in the Cold War?

Containment was the policy adopted by the United States at the end of World War II to stop the spread of Communism beyond those areas where it then existed.

During the spring of 1945, the Soviet Union set up puppet governments in Romania and Poland in clear violation of the Yalta agreements. Stalin justified this by claiming that the U.S. had negotiated German surrender behind his back, and German forces were now concentrated against the Soviet Union. Later, the Soviets refused to withdraw from East Germany, and set up a puppet government there also. Stalin stated in 1946 that peace was impossible under the present Capitalist development of the world economy." It became apparent that the Soviets were intent on world domination and the destruction of Western capitalism. George F. Kennan, former ambassador to Moscow, wrote an anonymous article for a magazine in which he stated that the Soviets intended to

fill every nook and cranny available in the basin of world power

He stated that the United States policy must be a

 long term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies…. Such a policy has nothing to do with outward histrionics: with threats or blustering or superfluous gestures of outward toughness."

Thus was born the policy of Containment.

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What was the policy of containment during the Cold War?

Containment was the foreign policy of the United States from the late 1940s through most of the 1950s. It was an attempt to halt what US policymakes viewed as Soviet expansionism, especially in Europe, in the wake of World War II. The term was first used in 1947 by George Kennan in a famous anonymous article (known as the "X Article" but actually entitled "The Sources of Soviet Conduct") in the journal Foreign Affairs. It was a continuation of a number of ideas he had first advanced in a "Long Telegram" to the U.S. State Department from his diplomatic post in Moscow in 1946. This telegram argued that the Soviets had designs on all of Eastern Europe, but would yield in the face of firm resistance.

In the "X Article" he thus advocated a "patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies." The United States must, he argued, counter "Soviet pressure against the free institutions of the Western world" through the "adroit and vigilant application of counter-force at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points, corresponding to the shifts and maneuvers of Soviet policy." Kennan thought this policy would generate failures for the Soviet Union that might weaken the entire edifice upon which Soviet power was based, the inevitabilty of world communist domination.

The policy was put into practice by President Harry Truman, who, in pursuance of the so-called "Truman Doctrine," sent millions in aid to both Greece and Turkey, which were in the midst of civil strife and facing communist takeover. US intervention in Korea was also an example of containment. While the policy came under criticism in the early fifties, it would remain influential in the thinking of many policy-makers throughout the Cold War.

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