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.– 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• 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