How Successful Was the West in Containing Communism in Europe Up to 1949?

445 Words2 Pages
How successful was the west in containing communism in Europe up to 1949? INTRODUCTION A successful American foreign policy must be able to contain threats of communism and at the same time win over allies. FIRST PARAGRAPH The Truman Doctrine was a policy established after President Roosevelt died in 1945 and Truman became his successor. After realizing that the USA could no longer continue with their policy of isolationism if the spread of communism was to be halted. To defend the US and other countries from the rapidly developing ideology Truman believed that the USA would have to become more active in world affairs and provide support to other countries, financially and military, that were under threat. In 1947, when it appeared that Greece and Turkey were verging on the edge of becoming communist states, Truman promised assistance to any country threatened by communism. Stating that the USA would ‘contain’ soviet expansion, this became know as the Marshall Plan. Under this act the USA supplied Greece and Turkey with $400 million dollars. Under the belief that economically strong countries were unlikely to become communist, he set aside $15 billion of Marshall Aid for European countries to draw on. However Stalin forced the eastern European countries to withdraw applications for assistance, forcing them to apply for Comecon instead, although this was ineffective as the USSR had little to offer. SECOND PARAGRAPH However alternate factor was the Berlin Blockade, which was unsuccessful. On June 1948,all roads, rails and canal links between West Berlin and west Germany was closed, to starve people in west Berlin in order to force them to Communist rule as west Berlin was a symbol of the West's determination to resist communism. Also to get the West to withdraw from Berlin. The west responded by airlifting food, clothing, medicine and other supplies
Open Document