The post world war era caused for much stress and strife between the United States and the Soviet Union. Each one tried to overpower or contain the other, and a standoff existed for many years. Many policies and plans burst came with the diverse ideas of foreign policy at that time including the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and George Kennan’s philosophies. Most of them seemed quite similar, though all possessed some differences, but the main purpose all maintained included the ultimate goal of the Cold War: Communism containment.
First of all, the Truman Doctrine proclaimed that any nation, not already Communist, attacked or coerced by a Communist nation received U.S. aid and defense. To Truman, and other politicians, it stood as America’s responsibility to defend those nations in order to contain Communism. Greece seemed like a nation in need of that aid, as they faced attacks from a small band of Communist soldiers. Truman wanted to offer financial aid to supply the small Greek army with equipment so that Greece could defend itself and thus promote peace and democracy, ultimately shunning Communism. Turkey, Greece’s neighbor, needed economic assistance as well, but not for direct defense. With the growing marketplaces, Turkey required modernization, which it could not afford alone. If Turkey stayed in the pre/postwar era (it mattered not, as neither stood as great times of economic development) then they remained weak, opening themselves up to an easy takeover. Truman, obviously, thought this bad, and knew that if one Middle Eastern country fell into Communism, a mere few moments awaited before the rest of the region suffered the same fate. Besides the overall objective of containing Communism, Truman knew that no other nation in the world could realistically help Greece and Turkey, because no others really thrived economically yet (besides the Soviet Union).
The Essay on Changes To Greece Brought About By Wwi
Changes to Greece Brought About By WWI. World War One greatly affected many countries in Europe. Some of the post-war affects were the country's population, economy, politics, and geography. Usually, when wars come to end, there are winners and losers. One party celebrates its victory while the other tries to overcome its defeat. Sometimes the victors see their enemies weak period as an ...
Because the Soviet Union and America stood as the world’s strongest powers at that time, Truman cited two distinctly different ways of life. The first he described maintained that the majority made decisions and that all people kept all of their rights, liberties, and freedoms. The second way required that decisions became decided through a minority that overpowered the majority. Freedoms died there, while oppression thrived. Truman believed that the U.S. must support countries aiming to maintain freedoms for the people, and that the support from the U.S. must be primarily financial. He, once again, knew that if the U.S. failed to promote democracy then Communism could win in that land, and if Communism overtook one country then another would soon fall into it. Therefore, Truman designated that the foreign policy of the United States needed to focus on not only the containment of Communism, but the promotion of stronger economies and consequently capitalism and democracy in Europe.
Another man in want of this, George C. Marshall, proclaimed that the U.S.’s responsibilities included supporting all nations in want of peace and opposing all those that hindered it. This existed because Europe, at that time, remained a wreck. After the war, the economies suffered badly. Everything—factories, businesses, and other things—became absorbed to feed the war machine or faced destruction. Post war era brought fear to the people as none of them trusted their currency’s value. In essence, the economy did not exist. He even described what he called the “vicious cycle” where the industrialists fail (by no fault of their own) to produce goods, in which they cannot trade with farmers for food because the farmers cannot trade when they receive nothing so they use more of their land for grazing, producing less food and fuel which the cities need, while they need goods, and nobody receives what they need. It seemed complicated. Basically, Marshall’s plan promoted the building up of successful economies in the devastated Europe, and the results seemed two-fold. First off, with achieved European economies, the U.S. possessed more marketplaces to feed the capitalist machine it remained as. Also, if the European nations stood as successful capitalist countries, the rich and middleclass people would never allow Communism, thus achieving America’s ultimate goal: the containment of Communism.
The Essay on Biggest problem in america is the economy
Unfortunately, this topic has now been “politicized,” which means that you can’t talk about it without being instantly cheered or jeered by fans of each respective political team. But the economy is much more important than this year’s election or either political team. There are several factors that have come together to produce a frustratingly weak economy that has ...
Yet another man fixated on the containment of Communism, George F. Kennan believed many things. He wrote an anonymous essay to Foreign Affairs and stated much about Soviet ideology and how to properly handle them. He claimed that Communism could never survive and given time, fails. He also encouraged the U.S. to push the Soviet’s demise along by causing trouble for their government and by, once again, containing Communism. The most essential thing required that the U.S. appear strong—a force to be reckoned with. Kennan knew a lot about Communism and stated some facts. For instance, the Soviet Union followed no timetable for their plans of control. They lacked fear of the U.S.’s victories because they believed (just as America believed the opposite) that capitalism required an eventual fall. Communists believed that capitalism cannot survive. They also, quite obviously, believed that the government stood in a sempiternal state free from error. No matter how much of the majority disagreed with the minority (government)—although they could not really do that—the minority always remained right. Finally, despite the strict rules and feelings towards capitalism and the U.S., the Soviets could lax their restrictions if it worked for their better interest. He outed their craftiness in how they achieved the things they desired (though everybody does that).
Also, Kennan described how the Soviet Union trembled in a tight spot because of political uncertainty. There seemed some fear as power shifted from Stalin to Lenin, leaving them in a very vulnerable position. Finally, perhaps most importantly, he claimed that America’s struggle caused “an exhilarating effect” on the Communist movement. “Exhibitions of indecision, disunity and internal disintegration within this country have an exhilarating effect on the whole Communist movement.” This shows that the U.S. remained not as strong as it appeared, that perhaps the Soviets could beat them. Of course, they believed they could anyway, especially when one realizes that they truly believed that capitalism could not succeed. Therefore, any demonstration of political disunity caused a Communist celebration because it proved that America could not be that strong due to its capitalist ways.
The Essay on Soviet Communism Vs. Chinese Communism
SOVIET COMMUNISM VS. CHINESE COMMUNISMThe Soviet Union and China are the two important states in the world history that practiced a form of communism. However, communism in the Soviet Union collapsed while it still survives in China. What were the reasons: what caused the collapse in the Soviet Union and why has the Chinese communist-party state has been more durable than the Soviet Union s?The ...
America could not blindly sit back and allow Communism to overtake other nations, because then history would inevitably repeat itself and another world war could occur (as paraphrased from the Truman Doctrine).
Empires cannot coerce weaker counties to join. It stands as an injustice, and yes, while the U.S. received many perks from this containment policy, the overall effect for everyone (except the Communists one surmises) turned out fantastically.