"Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters" -President harry S. Truman
After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union maintained an alliance based off of a mutual enemy: Germany. Their alliance withered away as they both distinguished themselves as antipodes in political ideals, with a more capitalist United States and a growing communist Soviet Union. The United States' government, which greatly feared and opposed communism, began to utilize and practice the strategy of containment, or the act of containing Soviet expansion as much as possible in order to prevent an expansion of communism. |
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Harry S Truman and Joseph Stalin had polar opposite desires for the post-war world. Truman wished to settle Germany peacefully and believed that industrialization and the establishment of democratic governments in Germany and Eastern Europe was the only way to create stability. Stalin, however, wished to industrially destroy Germany in order to prevent them from demilitarizing and regaining any source of power. Stalin also wanted to force Germany to pay an enormous amount of war reparations. Stalin not only wanted to manipulate Germany, but he also wanted to establish pro-Soviet governments in Eastern Europe in order to prevent and minimize any threats or invasions towards the Soviet Union. This difference in political ideals between the Soviet Union and the United States pushed the two countries further and further apart, thus pushing them closer and closer into the Cold War. _
Truman came up with a policy that would help enact and spread the ideas of containment, or the idea to suppress communism in developing European countries. On March 12th, 1947, Truman announced his new policy known as the Truman doctrine. With this, the United States practically stated that it would involve itself to support any nation that was threatened by any armed military force. During the post-World War II conference between Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill, Stalin had promised that he would hold free elections. Nevertheless, Stalin did not keep his promise for free elections, but rather established an "iron curtain" around the Soviet Union which forced each Eastern European country that was near the USSR to have loyal communist governments with communist leaders who obeyed Stalin's ideals and doctrines. As a result, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania all fell to communist governments who looked to the USSR for orders. Germany was divided into communist East Germany and democratic West Germany, thus separating Berlin into communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin as well. Truman's response to these Eastern European nations falling to communism was a Berlin Airlift, where he ordered an airlift to provide food and supplies to allies in West Berlin. In 1949, Truman also encouraged and convinced the non-communist Western European countries to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) in order to protect themselves from communist influence and Soviet invasion. However, the USSR responded efficiently with the creation of the Warsaw Pact in 1955 with the Eastern European powers._
Cold war tensions heightened as the USSR and the US dove into a nuclear arms race. It started in 1949 when the USSR exploded its first atomic bomb. Threatened, the United states developed and exploded its first hydrogen bomb, a bomb with power never seen before. The USSR responded quickly, exploding its first hydrogen bomb in 1953, shortly after the US_. In 1957, the Russians created the world's first satellite, called Sputnik. This USSR step threatened Americans, as it produced widespread American fear of a missile attack. The US again responded in 1958 by launching its own satellite, named the Explorer_. Throughout the 1960s, the US was producing more and more higher quality missiles, while the USSR was producing more lower-quality missiles, focusing more on quantity not quality. Although neither country actually used their new developed weapons on each other, the arms race symbolized both American and Soviet desires to distinguish themselves as the super power of the world.
Truman came up with a policy that would help enact and spread the ideas of containment, or the idea to suppress communism in developing European countries. On March 12th, 1947, Truman announced his new policy known as the Truman doctrine. With this, the United States practically stated that it would involve itself to support any nation that was threatened by any armed military force. During the post-World War II conference between Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill, Stalin had promised that he would hold free elections. Nevertheless, Stalin did not keep his promise for free elections, but rather established an "iron curtain" around the Soviet Union which forced each Eastern European country that was near the USSR to have loyal communist governments with communist leaders who obeyed Stalin's ideals and doctrines. As a result, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania all fell to communist governments who looked to the USSR for orders. Germany was divided into communist East Germany and democratic West Germany, thus separating Berlin into communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin as well. Truman's response to these Eastern European nations falling to communism was a Berlin Airlift, where he ordered an airlift to provide food and supplies to allies in West Berlin. In 1949, Truman also encouraged and convinced the non-communist Western European countries to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) in order to protect themselves from communist influence and Soviet invasion. However, the USSR responded efficiently with the creation of the Warsaw Pact in 1955 with the Eastern European powers._
Cold war tensions heightened as the USSR and the US dove into a nuclear arms race. It started in 1949 when the USSR exploded its first atomic bomb. Threatened, the United states developed and exploded its first hydrogen bomb, a bomb with power never seen before. The USSR responded quickly, exploding its first hydrogen bomb in 1953, shortly after the US_. In 1957, the Russians created the world's first satellite, called Sputnik. This USSR step threatened Americans, as it produced widespread American fear of a missile attack. The US again responded in 1958 by launching its own satellite, named the Explorer_. Throughout the 1960s, the US was producing more and more higher quality missiles, while the USSR was producing more lower-quality missiles, focusing more on quantity not quality. Although neither country actually used their new developed weapons on each other, the arms race symbolized both American and Soviet desires to distinguish themselves as the super power of the world.