Struggle & Containment

Post-WWII Relationships

• relationships between Soviet Union & other Allies worsen

• Cold War: an era of high tension & bitter rivalry between the United States & the Soviet Union in the decades following WWII

Struggle Begins

• military rivalry-technology of weapons-number of weapons

• power struggle-influence in world-best government, economic

policies-best societies for its people

Struggle Begins

• pro-Soviet Communist governments established in Eastern Europe nations

-possible because of Soviet military

influence in nations

• exception = Yugoslavia-no Soviet influence-Communist dictatorship

Struggle Begins

• communism spread out of Soviet Union

-United States & Great Britain worried

• Stalin & Truman thought another war would start

“Iron Curtain”

“Iron Curtain”

• Winston Churchill

• division of Communist countries in East Europe & non-Communist countries in Western Europe = “Iron Curtain”

The West Resists

• democracies in West wanted to contain Communism in the East

• early 1947 Greece & Turkey threatened by Soviet-backed Communists

-West reacted

Truman Doctrine

• created in 1947

• pledge to provide military & economic aid to countries threatened by communism

• US Congress sent millions of dollars to Greece & Turkey

The West Resists

• post-WWII economics in Europe = bad

• Truman feared if conditions worsened, Europeans might turn to communism

• mid-1947 US Congress launched program for economic aid to Europe

Marshall Plan

• plan for the economic reconstruction of Europe after WWII

• provided money for rebuilding & preserving political stability in Europe

• $13 billion provided to Europe under this policy

New Nations & Alliances

• United States, Canada, & Western European countries joined alliance

-military alliance = NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in 1949

• Soviet Union & Communist countries in Eastern Europe joined alliance

-military alliance = Warsaw Pact in 1955

Korean War

• Allies gained control of Korean peninsula when Japan surrendered in 1945

• Korea temporarily divided in half-north = Soviet control; Communist-south = US control; non-

Communist

• June 1950 north attacked south

Korean War

• goal in North Korea: unite under one Communist regime

• US asked UN to approve use of force to stop North Korea

-UN assembled task force with soldiers from 17 countries (majority = American)

Korean War

• US General Douglas MacArthur led UN forces invaded behind enemy lines

• North pushed almost to Chinese border, then were helped by Communist Chinese to push back south

• 1953 armistice; borders mostly where they were before war

On a sheet of paper…

Using your terms sheet, read the definitions of the words containment, theTruman Doctrine, and Marshall Plan.

Explain how the Truman Doctrine andMarshall Plan promote the policy of containment. Explain what parts of these plans support containment. BE SPECIFIC.