Student Question
What key interventions did the U.S. make in Europe and the Third World during the Cold War?
Quick answer:
During the Cold War, key U.S. interventions in Europe included the Marshall Plan, which provided economic aid to Western Europe to curb communism, and the Berlin Airlift, supplying West Berlin amid Soviet blockades. In the Third World, the U.S. intervened in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and influenced political shifts such as the overthrow of Iran's Mossadegh and Guatemala's Arbenz. Additionally, the U.S. engaged in the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
There were a number of key interventions that the US took in Europe and in the Third World over the course of the Cold War. The most important interventions in Europe came early in the Cold War while interventions in the Third World were more spread out over the entire period of the conflict.
Right after WWII, the US intervened in Europe to help prevent the spread of communism. Perhaps the most important of these interventions was the Marshall Plan. This program gave billions of dollars of aid to Western European countries to rebuild their economies. It was hoped that this would make them less likely to become communist and more likely to side with the US. Another famous intervention was the Berlin Airlift. Here, the US (with help from Britain) flew tons of supplies into West Berlin every day to prevent it from falling to communist pressure.
Interventions in...
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the Third World occurred over much of the Cold War. For example, in 1950 the US intervened in the Korean War. South Korea was, in those days, a Third World country. The US was still intervening in the Third World in 1964 when it truly took over the war in Vietnam. It was still intervening in the Third World at the end of the Cold War when the US was trying to arm the Contra rebels in their fight against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.
All of these can be seen as key interventions taken by the US during the Cold War.
What were the key U.S. interventions in Europe and the Third World during the Cold War?
There were so many interventions in Europe and the Third World that it is difficult to pick which ones were "key." Here is a list of possible key interventions:
In Europe:
- The Berlin Airlift
- The Marshall Plan
- The creation of West Germany
- The creation of NATO
In the Third World:
- The Korean War
- The Vietnam War
- Overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran
- Overthrow of Arbenz in Guatemala
- Bay of Pigs Invasion
- Cuban Missile Crisis
All of these were instances in which the US intervened in the affairs of other countries and/or in which the US resisted communist moves to expand. These are, to me, the most important of such interventions.