How Did The Truman Plan To Contain Communism
Following the end of World War II two global powers emerged; the United States, a country with European allies, vast manufacturing capacity, and atomic weaponry, and the Soviet Union, powerful due to the sphere of influence it had consolidated over eastern Europe, and it's sizable army. Confrontation between the two countries happened almost immediately, as the Soviet Union used communist ideology to facilitate expansion across Europe, installing communist regimes in Northern Iran, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. As the United States declared that communism was a “worldwide struggle for freedom”, and that it spreading would an affront to American values (Foner 711).As a result, the 1950’s the Cold War started a series of changes in American
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This was set off by the Truman Doctrine - the first formal policy of containment. As the Soviet Union continued their geopolitical expansion, the Truman Doctrine acted as the foundation for the decisions made by the U.S in the following years. As Foner notes, “it set a precedent for American assistance to anti communist regimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union” (Foner 711). With this, Harry Truman showed that the United States was ready to use their policy of containment, to push back communist …show more content…
While the two world powers never fought face to face, their ideological differences caused proxy wars, in which both countries would support opposing sides of a war effort as a way of competition. The Korean War was the first substantial battle between the two countries in the name of containment. Before the 1950’s invasion by the North Korean Army, Korea had been divided into two sectors; the communist North, supported by the Soviet Union, and the anti communist South, supported by the United States (Foner 715). The Truman administration sent American troops into Korea in an attempt to militarily suppress the northern invasion. Through the help of the United Nations, fifteen other countries also committed resources to the Southern Korean side. The Korean war never formally ended, as the two sides reached a stalemate following massive casualties, but the United States took solace in the fact that they had at least stopped the Soviet Union from spreading communism throughout the whole of the Korean Peninsula (Foner 716). Although it was implied by the Truman Doctrine, the Korean War was significant because it affirmed that the United States was committed to anti-communist efforts in a global sense; they were prepared to use force to
This was set off by the Truman Doctrine - the first formal policy of containment. As the Soviet Union continued their geopolitical expansion, the Truman Doctrine acted as the foundation for the decisions made by the U.S in the following years. As Foner notes, “it set a precedent for American assistance to anti communist regimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union” (Foner 711). With this, Harry Truman showed that the United States was ready to use their policy of containment, to push back communist …show more content…
While the two world powers never fought face to face, their ideological differences caused proxy wars, in which both countries would support opposing sides of a war effort as a way of competition. The Korean War was the first substantial battle between the two countries in the name of containment. Before the 1950’s invasion by the North Korean Army, Korea had been divided into two sectors; the communist North, supported by the Soviet Union, and the anti communist South, supported by the United States (Foner 715). The Truman administration sent American troops into Korea in an attempt to militarily suppress the northern invasion. Through the help of the United Nations, fifteen other countries also committed resources to the Southern Korean side. The Korean war never formally ended, as the two sides reached a stalemate following massive casualties, but the United States took solace in the fact that they had at least stopped the Soviet Union from spreading communism throughout the whole of the Korean Peninsula (Foner 716). Although it was implied by the Truman Doctrine, the Korean War was significant because it affirmed that the United States was committed to anti-communist efforts in a global sense; they were prepared to use force to