the containment policy was the new US foreign policy from 1947 during the Cold War. Their goal was to stem Soviet expansion and expand American power. That is why it is often called containment policy.
Causes of Containment Policy
After 1945, war-ravaged Europe had to be restructured and rebuilt. This was advantageous for the two superpowers, the United States of America (USA for short) and the Soviet Union (USSR for short). Both superpowers did everything they could to expand their respective spheres of power and influence and to secure their supremacy in the world.
The Second World War ends
After the war, three of the victorious powers, Great Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union in the Potsdam Conference on the future of the loser Germany and on a general peace order in Europe. Officially, a number of principles were agreed.
However, it quickly became clear that each victorious power was pursuing different interests. In particular, the differences between the ideologies of the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, became increasingly clear. The Cold War was mainly about the ideological struggle between the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union. While the USA represented a capitalist world view, the Soviet Union stood behind communism or Stalinism.
Through the division of Germany, each victorious power was able to expand its sphere of influence. The ultimate goal of the Potsdam Conference was to restructure Germany and bring about post-war peace in Europe. However, this was quickly overshadowed by the ideological battle between the two superpowers.
expansionist efforts of the USSR
Both the Soviet Union and the USA tried to expand their sphere of influence in Iran during the Second World War and afterwards until 1947. Furthermore, after the war, the Soviet Union converted several European states into satellite states, which together formed the Eastern Bloc. Satellite states are states that are officially independent but are informally under another state. In this case they belonged to the Soviet Union.
The US government felt threatened by the Soviet Union’s expansionist efforts. She developed various concepts that should stop the spread of the USSR. The US government hoped to contain communism or Stalinism.
Implementation of the US containment policy and reaction of the Soviet Union
«Containment» means translated from English «containment» or «limitation». With the new policy, the US government wanted the Soviet influence after the Second World War from 1947 targeted contain. She tried this with various means, which ultimately shaped the Cold War.
Truman Doctrine 1947
Figure 1: US President Harry S. Truman Source: Biography.com
Harry S. Truman was Democratic US President from 1945 to 1953. Truman presented the Truman Doctrine on March 12, 1947. In it he campaigned for US military and economic support for free states threatened by communism and Stalinism. According to Truman, the feared Soviet expansion should be curbed.
The Truman Doctrine finally initiated the failure of a common Germany policy between the USA and the Soviet Union.
Marshall Plan 1947
The Marshall Plan was established by US diplomat George F. Kennan and was an integral part of the containment policy. The US government offered economic support in the form of money and goods to both states of Germany and other European countries. This was to ensure that these countries could recover more quickly from the devastation of World War II.
However, Kennan also intended further expand the western influence of the USA in Europe with the Marshall Plan. In addition, there were hopes for new European sales markets for the USA. The US also supported developing countries outside of Europe. However, this aid was not as efficient as that for European states.
The USSR bsaw Kennan’s Marshall Plan as «imperialist interference». Therefore, she put pressure on the Eastern Bloc countries to reject the Marshall Plan. The USSR stuck to the not very efficient planned economy. As a result, the Eastern Bloc countries were not economically as strong as the countries supported by the Marshall Plan.
NATO and Warsaw Pact from 1955
Another important aspect of the containment policy is the inclusion of the FRG in 1955 in the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) founded in 1947. At that time, only western states belonged to NATO. This was to ensure that the USSR would be deterred from starting a war against a NATO member state.
The Warsaw Pact was founded shortly after Germany was admitted to NATO. Like NATO, the Warsaw Pact was a military alliance. However, members were communist European states. The Warsaw Pact lasted until the end of the Cold War in 1991.
Figure 2: World map during the Cold War. Countries are colored in different shades of blue or red, depending on whether they belong to the western block (blue) or the eastern block (red). Source: 30years-wall-fall.kantschule-falkensee.de
Proxy wars from 1950 onwards
The Cold War was also marked by proxy wars. In proxy wars, the superpowers involved do not attack each other directly, but indirectly by interfering in the civil wars of other states. With this warfare, the two superpowers tried to increase their power and influence and to supplant the other superpower.
The first proxy war was the Korean War. It began in 1950 and ended in 1955. It represented the first climax of the Cold War.
Construction of the Berlin Wall from 1961
The Truman Doctrine caused an economic miracle in Germany. In the Folger more and more people emigrated from the GDR. In order to stop the wave of emigration and prevent a «brain drain», the leadership of the GDR decided to build the Wall. This is how the Berlin Wall was built on August 13, 1961. She remained in her position until 1989.
It was propagated by the GDR government as an «anti-fascist protective wall». The GDR’s chief of staff, Grotewohl, took the view that the Western Allies were imperialist and fascist. This «protective wall» was intended to ensure that Western influence in the GDR could be repelled.
If you want to know more about this topic, check out our summary of the Berlin Wall.
Consequences of the containment policy
The Truman Doctrine, as an important part of containment policy, divided the world into two camps, East and West blocs. The Cold War began. The opposing parties competed internationally for power and influence using increasingly aggressive methods.
Emergence of the bipolar world 1947
The implementation of the containment policy based on the idea of the Truman Doctrine ensured that a bipolar world emerged after the Second World War from 1947 onwards.
The term «bipolar world» can be explained with a magnet: As with the magnet, the world during the Cold War consisted of two opposite poles. While these are called the plus and minus poles of the magnet, the bipolar world in the post-war period was divided into a western and an eastern bloc.
The western bloc was led by the capitalist USA and the eastern bloc was under the communist Soviet Union. The direct border between the two political camps ran through Germany. In 1947 Germany was divided into two states, the western FRG and the eastern GDR. The FRG belonged to the Western Allies USA, Great Britain and France; the GDR was part of the Eastern bloc.
Eisenhower era and transition from containment policy to roll back policy from 1945
Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was US President from 1953 to 1961. As a result, the containment policy became increasingly aggressive from 1953 onwards. It eventually morphed into the roll-back policy.
The aim of the roll-back policy was no longer just to curb communism and Stalinism, but to push them back. This was attempted from 1952 with drastic threats of “massive retaliation”: if the USSR had in any way attacked a NATO member, NATO would have retaliated with nuclear weapons.
End of the Cold War (1991)
On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Germany was reunified almost a year later, on October 3, 1990. From 1991 there was no longer a Western or Eastern bloc and the Cold War ended.
The USA are considered the winners of the Cold War, because after the Cold War the capitalist world view and the right of self-determination of peoples remained in place across the board. The idea of containment policy against communism and Stalinism had thus prevailed.
Containment policy – the most important things at a glance
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Containment means containment.
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The containment policy started the Cold War.
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With the containment policy, the US government wanted to protect other states from the influence of the USSR and thus expand its own sphere of power.
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The containment policy was transformed into an aggressive roll-back policy as the Cold War progressed.
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The goal of containment policy prevailed after the end of the Cold War.