In 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies, jointly triumphant in World War II, which ended with total victory for Soviet and American forces over Adolf Hitler's Nazi empire in Europe. However, within just a few years, these wartime allies became mortal enemies, locked in a global struggle to prevail in a new "Cold War." The Cold War was a time of extreme tension between the USSR, or the Soviet Union and the United States, and their respective ideologies. It was not declared in the same sense as most wars, rather it progressed over time. Therefore, there are different opinions on the exact beginning of the War. Even though undefined, the refusal to allow free elections in Poland, containment, Truman Doctrine, take over of Eastern
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The Truman Doctrine was an action of immense importance in the Cold War, and it set out many of the principles by which the USA was to fight the Cold War for the next 30 years. The Truman Doctrine's main purpose was to give economic aid to any country threatened by communism. Truman argued that the United States could no longer stand by and allow the forcible expansion of Soviet totalitarianism into free, independent nations, because American national security now depended upon more than just the physical security of American territory. However, for many years the USSR interpreted Truman's actions differently.[3] The Soviet viewed Truman as an aggressor. This is evident through Stalin's response of the Brezhnev Doctrine, which promised immediate economic aid to any communist country under any threat. By 1947, U.S. policy was predicated on the containment of the Soviet Union. In its efforts to establish a postwar order based upon American institutions and ideals, the Truman Doctrine caused the government and the public to see the Soviet Union as a threat to U.S. interests. In the late 1940s this lead to, containment and the Marshall Plan. Competing security and economic demand in Europe brought by the Truman Doctrine shattered the Grand Alliance and brought about the Cold …show more content…
Truman feared that the Soviet Union intended to roll their tanks across Western Europe and set up Communist governments just like they were doing in Eastern Europe at the time as soon as the US got out of their way. In 1947, Truman defined the American intention to oppose any further aggression by the USSR with his Truman Doctrine, which outlined the policy of "Containment." Containment argued that Soviet expansionism, not be allowed, at any price, any where. Thus, wherever in the world Communist insurgencies popped up the West would aid in the fight against them.[10] Should any single nation fall to communism, he feared, it would have a “domino” effect on its neighbors. Truman decided to leave the U.S. Army deployed in Central Europe, which blocked any invasion route for the Red Army to invade Western Europe. Stalin, in turn, saw American actions after the creation of the "containment" policy as aggressive and a threat to the Soviet Union. At the time the American government did not realize what the implication of their action would be. The infuriated Soviet Union responded in the future with the Berlin Blockade, COMECON, setting up of East Germany, the Soviet atom bomb, and the Warsaw
The Truman Doctrine was an action of immense importance in the Cold War, and it set out many of the principles by which the USA was to fight the Cold War for the next 30 years. The Truman Doctrine's main purpose was to give economic aid to any country threatened by communism. Truman argued that the United States could no longer stand by and allow the forcible expansion of Soviet totalitarianism into free, independent nations, because American national security now depended upon more than just the physical security of American territory. However, for many years the USSR interpreted Truman's actions differently.[3] The Soviet viewed Truman as an aggressor. This is evident through Stalin's response of the Brezhnev Doctrine, which promised immediate economic aid to any communist country under any threat. By 1947, U.S. policy was predicated on the containment of the Soviet Union. In its efforts to establish a postwar order based upon American institutions and ideals, the Truman Doctrine caused the government and the public to see the Soviet Union as a threat to U.S. interests. In the late 1940s this lead to, containment and the Marshall Plan. Competing security and economic demand in Europe brought by the Truman Doctrine shattered the Grand Alliance and brought about the Cold …show more content…
Truman feared that the Soviet Union intended to roll their tanks across Western Europe and set up Communist governments just like they were doing in Eastern Europe at the time as soon as the US got out of their way. In 1947, Truman defined the American intention to oppose any further aggression by the USSR with his Truman Doctrine, which outlined the policy of "Containment." Containment argued that Soviet expansionism, not be allowed, at any price, any where. Thus, wherever in the world Communist insurgencies popped up the West would aid in the fight against them.[10] Should any single nation fall to communism, he feared, it would have a “domino” effect on its neighbors. Truman decided to leave the U.S. Army deployed in Central Europe, which blocked any invasion route for the Red Army to invade Western Europe. Stalin, in turn, saw American actions after the creation of the "containment" policy as aggressive and a threat to the Soviet Union. At the time the American government did not realize what the implication of their action would be. The infuriated Soviet Union responded in the future with the Berlin Blockade, COMECON, setting up of East Germany, the Soviet atom bomb, and the Warsaw