Cold War Containment

Improved Essays
From the end of WWII in 1945 until 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union interacted in a major conflict called the Cold War. It was called the Cold War because there was no physical harm or the use of deadly weapons, therefore, the two sides never directly fought each other. Throughout this time, the United States followed a foreign policy called 'containment '. This policy was highly effective between the U.S. and West Berlin, Kore, and Cuba. The United States contained communism in these countries by aiding West Berlin, staging Korean counterattacks, and quarantining Cuban ships. According to document A, the United States containment policy was established to slowly cease Russia 's desires to spread communism. "In these circumstances, …show more content…
When communist North-Korea attacked U.S.-supported South Korea without warning, President Truman vowed to defend democratic South Korea. Seen in document C, American forces were sent to defend but it ended up backfiring due to their lack of power. "American forces occupying Japan after WWII are sent to defend South Korea. The US and United Nations forces are nearly pushed pff the Korean Peninsula". Seeing as the defense did not work, other plans had to be places in effect. According to document C, General Douglass MacArthur, the American commander, planned a different attack at a different location, in which the plan worked. "MacArthur stages a risky, yet successful counterattack at the port of Inchon. North Korean forces are routed and pushed back all the way to the Yalu River, the border of North Korea and communist China". After North Korean forces get pushed back, communist China decides to get involved and instead of holding conflict with North Korea, they push South Korea back to their territory, referring to document C. "In November of 1950, communist China enters the war and pushes the UN and US forces back into South Korea. After several more years of battle, the war ends in 1953. "The war drags on for several years, ending in 1953". All the United Nations countries helped contain communism by helping the Democratic General MacArthur attack Inchon and pushing North Korea and China back. They are slowly pushing communism back out of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    This shows that the United States quickly ended the threat of Soviet bombs and prevented the expansion of the Soviet Nation. Although there were many times during the Cold War that the United States attempted to contain communism like the Truman Doctrine , which declared that America would support the free people, three examples are very clear.. They controlled the expansion of communism by the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. As soon as the Soviets decided to expand, the Americans followed up with the decision to contain.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A walk through West Berlin: Containment of Communism After WWII , The United States made great efforts to contain communism from spreading around the world. Containment was the idea that the Soviet Union and Soviet communism should not be allowed to spread. A short passage, from a telegram that was secretly sent to U.S. State Department officials on February 22, 1946 from an American foreign service officer in Moscow makes it clear that Joseph Stalin and the Soviets believe communism is better than capitalism.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The soviet attempt to encourage a regional ally came to in direct opposition to the American Doctrine of Containment (strategy to stop the expansion of an enemy. It is best known as the Cold War policy of the United States and its allies to prevent the spread of communism…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Cold War Dbq Analysis

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Even though the US had been placed in South Korea, the policy confirms the US Army has to fight and block the spread from happening. But this wasn’t the only event that had happened. The Cuban Missile Crisis led the United States of America to panic and be alarmed, they might be bombed. Even though this Cold War didn’t engage either side of the players to bomb each other, the Soviets had been preparing to fire out a missile from the terrain of Cuba. Cuba was 90 miles away from…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the end of World War II and finally liberated from nearly four decades of brutal occupation after Japanese defeat in 1945, the Korean peninsula found itself torn between two foreign ideologies. To the North of the 18th parallel was the Soviet Union leading the communist wing of the Korean resistance, while the United States fought for democracy from the South. On June 25th, 1950, the Soviet-backed communist North Korea pushed through the makeshift border and within weeks had invaded all but a small portion of the entire country. Consequently, the United States was left with the question of whether it should or even could respond to the aggressive tactics of its long standing rival.…

    • 1365 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    38th Parallel

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The United States was integral in the neutralization of the Korean War conflict through its use of limited war, strategic invasions, and facilitation of the compromise of the Korean War Armistice. The United Nations was instrumental for the United States in entering the war. On June 25th, 1950, North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea, marking the beginning of the Korean War. The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting that day in which they demanded North Korea to cease fire and retreat back north (United Nations Security Council).…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cold War Dbq

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages

    It has become common today to underestimate the clash during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, as there was no actual fighting between these countries. However, the Cold War was a time of strong tension primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union, which affected many countries around the world. During World War II, the USSR and U.S were allies fighting against Hitler and the axis powers. Nevertheless, the political differences between the Soviets and the Americans intensified after the WWII as both nations tried to spread its own ideology for global domination. During the Cold War, these nations did not directly drop bombs on each other or fire missiles, but created immense tension by testing their own…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Containment DBQ

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    America with the intentions to support West Berlin by flying in supplies for 2 million people for nearly a year. (Document B, Map #5 and #2) The Soviet Union was against capitalism so in order to stop America from aiding European countries the Soviet put up blockades all around West Berlin on June 27, 1948, but soon after the Soviet Union removed the blockades on May 12, 1949. Other ways the United States used containment was the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was applied in 1947, by President Truman, its purpose was so the United States would support the “free people,” like Greece and Turkey, who was being threatened by communism.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Korean War Dbq

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Two days later on June 27th, President Truman publicized his decision to support South Korea’s democratic state using U.S air and naval forces. This intervention would be pursued in efforts to stop the spread of communism to South Koreas newly democratic nation. (Truman Orders) This date marks the beginning of the Korean War for the United…

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Geography of the Cold War: What is Containment? Containment means to stop the spread of communism. America during the Cold War wanted to stop communism from spreading to other places in the world. The Soviet Union however wanted communism to spread throughout the world and they wanted to be the ones to spread it. Stalin and The Soviets believed that communism is better than capitalism and that they would win this war.…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cold War Dbq

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Cold War The Cold War was a lengthy struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in the aftermath of the surrender of Hitler’s Nazi regime. In 1941, Nazi aggression against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the USSR, turned the Soviet Union into an ally of the Western democracies. But in the post-war world, increasingly divergent viewpoints created rifts between those who had once been allies. The United States of America and the USSR gradually built up their own zones of influence, dividing the world into two opposing sectors. The Cold War was therefore not exclusively a struggle between the United States and the USSR but a global conflict that affected many countries.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During most of the 19th century following the end of World War II (post war era) leading into the Cold war, the US government’s main concern and missions was mainly to diminish the influences of communist ideas. After WWII, the United States did what it took to hinder and oppress the spread of communism and communistic ideas both at home and in other countries. The way to achieving such goals was through both foreign and domestic policies on the US’s behalf. After WWII and in the midst of the Cold war, President Truman, alongside Congress, passes several policies that were designed to stop communism worldwide and at home mostly because of the fear of communism spreading. This created a relationship between many of foreign and domestic policies at that time.…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The rhetoric of the Cold War portrayed the United States as leading the fight for freedom against a repressive, evil, and totalitarian regime. This regime was portrayed as ultimately wishing to instill its methods of repression on the rest of the free world. So the strategy employed could be considered one of containment. This strategy, in practice, meant making sure Soviet influence was stifled in all free countries.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Korean War Vs Communism

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages

    On June 25, 1950, North Korea, with 75000 soldiers, invaded South Korea. The newly formed United Nations voted unanimously that the invasion was a breach of peace and President Truman sends military force to aid South Korea on June 27. By early October of that year, the United Nations had beaten back the North Korean Army and had military forces which occupied most of North Korea including its border with China. This created panic in China because they themselves had recently become a communist state under the rule of Mao Zedong. The Korean war was largely marketed in the United States of America as battle in the war on communism.…

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction The government of the United States used Containment policy which is a geopolitical strategy used for blocking enemy communist country during the cold war. Since the Soviet Union attempted to expand its influences on the Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnams, the containment is originally a reaction to a series of acts of the Soviet Union. The term “containment” originates from the journal Foreign affairs under the pseudonym “X” which was published in July 1947(George, 1987). A major critic against containment during that period was made by a Republican John Foster Dulles who criticized the containment and called for the Rollback, the strategy of forcing an alteration in a major policy of enemy nation (Tudda, 2005).…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays