At the end of the Second World War when hostilities ceased, The Unites States was by far the strongest military power in the world- and the only one with nuclear weapons. It was by far the richest as well. Such economic and military superiority was a dangerously heady brew. It produced an intoxicating super confident belief that nothing was beyond the power of the United States- that America had not only a mission to be the policeman of the world, but the ability to carry it out. (Thernstrom,1984).
In 1945 the world was divided in different scenarios. It was “the free world against “the slave world”, democracy versus international communism. The struggle came to be known as the Cold War. (Thernstrom,1984). The United States in one side and the Soviet Union in the other one, both sides were looking for centers of influence to spread their own ideology in every corner of the globe, democracy versus communism. During World War II, and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against the Axis powers. However, the relationship between the two nations was a tense one. Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical, blood-thirsty rule of his own country. For their part, the Soviets resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed entry into World War II, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Russians. After the war ended, these grievances ripened into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. (history.com/topics/cold-war, 2013).
It imposed an “Iron Curtain” to seal off contact between East and West, to ensure that citizens ruled by puppet governments were exposed to no ideas but the party line. While Russians consolidated their control over Eastern Europe and worked feverishly to break America’s nuclear monopoly, the United States launched a crusade to counter Soviet expansion and to achieve a commanding position in the world. The announced aim of American foreign policy in these years was “containment” of communism. (Thernstrom,1984)
One hand, a key element of the containment strategy was economic assistance to European countries whose economies had been ravaged by the war. The United States implemented the Marshall Plan to reconstruct and rebuilt Europe, investing around 12 billion USD between 1947 and 1950 and lifted its economy out of the doldrums, substantially benefiting American business at the same time. The corollary of containment was military force. The United States constructed a worldwide network of military alliances and a ring of naval and air bases around the Soviet Union. (Thernstrom,1984). President Truman (1884-1972) agreed with the policy of containment, he said, “It must be the policy of the United States,” he declared before Congress in 1947, “to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation…by outside pressures.” This way of thinking would shape American foreign policy for the next four decades. (history.com/topics/cold-war, 2013.) What is well known as a “Truman Doctrine” The United States must consider the spread of communism as a threat to democracy, also the doctrine argued that The U.S. will not intervene in a country that choses communism freely, but if a country requests assistance to prevent a communist takeover, the U.S. would offer materials, money and technical knowledge.
On the other hand, as a response to the Marshall Plan implemented by Unites States, the Soviet established the Communist Information Bureau (COMINFORM) in 1947, which united all European communist parties. However The Comminform helped create tension between communist and noncommunist parties in Europe but never really came up with a successful economic recovery program.
In addition, in 1949 the prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States and 12 other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Soviet Union and its affiliated Communist nations in Eastern Europe founded a rival alliance, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. The alignment of nearly every European nation into one of the two opposing camps formalized the political division of the European continent that had taken place since World War II (1939-45). This alignment provided the framework for the military standoff that continued throughout the Cold War (1945-91). Like NATO, the Warsaw Pact focused on the objective of creating a coordinated defense among its member nations in order to deter an enemy attack. There was also an internal security component to the agreement that proved useful to the USSR. (history.com/topics/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact, 3013)
To conclude, the policy of containment show the desire of the Unites States to keep and demonstrate to the whole world its power and supremacy, not only to the Soviet Union because there are many reasons and interests behind the “help” and interventionism of The United States in countries as South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Latin America. The Truman Doctrine reflects the American support and aid to those countries that rejected communism. From my point of view the different policies that adopted the Unites States during the Cold War reflects the realist explanations
References
• History.com/topics/cold-war. Cold War. [online] Available at: http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war [Accessed: 22 Mar 2013].
• History.com/topics/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact. Formation of NATO and Warsaw Pact. [online] Available at: http://www.history.com/topics/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact. [Accessed: 22 Mar 2013].
• Thernstrom S. (1984), ‘A History of the American People Volume Two: Since 1865’, Harcourt Brace and Jovanich ed. Pp 694-716.
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