Download Content Statement 24 (The Cold War

Topic The Cold War (1945-1991)
24. The United States followed a policy of containment during the Cold War in
response to the spread of communism.
A. Explain the policy of containment and give specific examples of its application
after World War II.
B. Identify the causes of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet
Union.
C. Define communism and explain why the United States explain why the United
States wanted it contained in Europe and Asia.
Elaboration
The policy of containment began in the late 1940s to halt the spread of communism in Europe
and Asia. It became the policy of the United States for decades.
Following World War II, most of the eastern Europe countries had communist governments and
were under Soviet control. The Chinese Revolution ushered in a communist government.
In Europe, the Marshall Plan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were efforts to
contain communism. In Asia, the policy of containment was the basis for U.S. involvement in
the Korean and Vietnam wars.
On the End of Course Exam, you might have to:
 Answer multiple-choice questions that include erroneous conclusions, inaccurate
associations, inaccurate examples, inaccurate relationships, misinformation, erroneous
causal relationships and unrelated information.
 List two conflicts the U.S. military engaged in while following the Cold War policy of
containment.
 State the goal of the Marshall Plan.
 State the purpose of NATO.
 Use dynamic map tools to describe the location and/or nature of American containment
efforts worldwide during the Cold War.
 Answer a question where the exam gives you a historical research problem, a thesis, a
set of constraints, and a set of goals and you have to:
o analyze the provided sources and identify credible supporting documents.
Pages in Text, PowerPoints, Notes, etc.: