Download Containing Communism

Containing Communism
Containment, the Truman Doctrine
and the Marshall Plan
Tension Begins Between the Soviet
Union and the United States
• After WWII, Stalin
propped up satellite
communist governments
throughout eastern
Europe.
• Stalin gave a speech in
1946 that communism
and capitalism were
incompatible.
• The Soviets stated that
another world war was
inevitable.
• The Cold War Begins
The Policy of Containment
• In order to stop the
Soviet Union’s threat to
the free world, Truman
began the policy of
containment.
• Containment was the
effort of the U.S. to
block the expansion of
the Soviets by creating
alliances and supporting
weaker countries.
The Truman Doctrine
• Truman declared that the United
States should support free
peoples throughout the world
who were resisting takeovers by
“armed minorities” or “outside
pressures”.
• Between 1947 and 1950, the U.S.
sent over 400 million dollars in
aid to Turkey and Greece.
• This set a precedent for years of
cold war policy.
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Korea
Vietnam
Latin America
Afghanistan
The Marshall Plan
• In order to stop
communism from
spreading in war torn
Europe, Secretary of State
Marshall proposed
investing in the European
economy.
• Congress approved 12.6
billion dollars in aid to
Europe.
• http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=pUt7Lr3lubc
The Berlin Airlift
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A divide between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union occurred over German
reunification.
The west wanted Germany united,
the Soviets wanted it divided.
The three zones of west Germany
were reunited and East Germany
remained a separate country.
After the three western zones of
Germany were reunited, the Soviet
Union retaliated by cutting off all
highway, water, and rail traffic into
the western zones of Berlin.
The city faced starvation, so the U.S.
and Great Britain broke the blockade
by flying in food and supplies to
West Berlin.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• NATO was created as a
peacetime alliance
between 10 western
European nations for
protection against Soviet
aggression.
• All nations agreed that an
attack against one would
be regarded as an attack
on all.
• A History of NATO
– http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=EKshC6bZj2U