Containment was a United States policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad.
A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam.
The basis of the doctrine was articulated in a cable by United States diplomat, George F. As a description of United States foreign policy, the word originated in a report Kennan submitted to the U. Although President Dwight Eisenhower —61 toyed with the rival doctrine of rollback, he refused to intervene in the Hungarian Uprising of President Lyndon Johnson —69 cited containment as a justification for his policies in Vietnam.
Central programs begun under containment, including NATO and nuclear deterrence, remained in effect even after the end of the war. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in , a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War.
The West agreed and talks began towards actual limits to the nuclear capabilities of the two superpowers. This ultimately led to the signing of the treaty in The Helsinki Accords, in which the Soviets promised to grant free elections in Europe, has been seen as a major concession to ensure peace by the Soviets. The Helsinki Accord were developed by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a wide ranging series of agreements on economic, political, and human rights issues.
Among other issues, one of the most prevalent and discussed after the conference was the human rights violations in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Constitution directly violated the declaration of Human Rights from the United Nations, and this issue became a prominent point of dissonance between the United States and the Soviet Union.
This prompted intense discussion of whether or not other nations may interfere if basic human rights are being violated, such as freedom of speech and religion. The basic differences between the philosophies of a democracy and a single-party state did not allow for reconciliation of this issue.
Furthermore, the Soviet Union proceeded to defend their internal policies on human rights by attacking American support of countries like South Africa and Chile, which were known to violate many of the same human rights issues.
The post-Cold War era saw optimism, and the balance of power shifted solely to the United States. With the breakup of the Soviet Union into separate nations, and the re-emergence of the nation of Russia, the world of pro-U.
Different challenges presented themselves, such as climate change and the threat of nuclear terrorism. Regional powerbrokers in Iraq and Saddam Hussein challenged the peace with a surprise attack on the small nation of Kuwait in President George H. Bush organized a coalition of allied and Middle Eastern powers that successfully pushed back the invading forces, but stopped short of invading Iraq and capturing Hussein.
As a result, the dictator was free to cause mischief for another twelve years. After the Gulf War, many scholars like Zbigniew Brzezinski claimed that the lack of a new strategic vision for U.
The United States mostly scaled back its foreign policy budget as well as its cold war defense budget during the s, which amounted to 6. The aftermath of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the post—Cold War world was widely considered as unipolar, with the United States the sole remaining superpower.
The Cold War also marked the apex of peacetime military-industrial complexes, especially in the United States, and large-scale military funding of science.
These complexes, though their origins may be found as early as the 19 th century, have grown considerably during the Cold War. The military-industrial complexes have great impact on their countries and help shape their society, policy and foreign relations. A concept that defined the world power after the Cold-War was known as the new world order.
The most widely discussed application of the phrase of recent times came at the end of the Cold War. Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and George H. Bush used the term to try to define the nature of the post Cold War era, and the spirit of a great power cooperation they hoped might materialize.
Historians will look back and say this was no ordinary time but a defining moment: an unprecedented period of global change, and a time when one chapter ended and another began. Bush and Gorbachev : Bush and Gorbachev helped shape international relation theories after the cold war. Furthermore, when no weapons of mass destruction were found after a military conquest of Iraq, there was worldwide skepticism that the war had been fought to prevent terrorism, and the continuing war in Iraq has had serious negative public relations consequences for the image of the United States.
The big change during these years was a transition from a bipolar world to a multipolar world. While the United States remains a strong power economically and militarily, rising nations such as China, India, Brazil, and Russia as well as a united Europe have challenged its dominance.
Foreign policy analysts such as Nina Harchigian suggest that the six emerging big powers share common concerns: free trade, economic growth, prevention of terrorism, and efforts to stymie nuclear proliferation. And if they can avoid war, the coming decades can be peaceful and productive provided there are no misunderstandings or dangerous rivalries.
The War on Terror refers to an international military campaign begun by the U. To explain this trend requires wading into the interpretative schools of the origins of the Cold War. In seeking to demonstrate the U. In contrast, those of the traditionalist school like Charles Maier explain the militarisation of containment as a reaction to the expansion of the Soviet threat. It is clear that at times elements of both schools succinctly explain how military factors became the most significant aspect of the U.
A true understanding of the strategy incorporates these ideas with the notion that the seeds of the militarisation of containment were sown inadvertently by Kennan himself. For Truman the fate of Eastern Europe and extent of its domination by the Soviets remained an issue of continued concern, having just fought a war against an empire seeking to subjugate the peoples of the same territory.
In this arena the U. Byrnes notably suspended loans given to Prague after a foreign minister of the Czech government was seen rapturously applauding a speech with distinctly anti-American sentiments, whilst aid to Poland was similarly withdrawn after its government failed to publicize the American source. Robert Garson argues its withdrawal can be understood as an instance of ideological containment of Soviet expansionism.
By relinquishing aid the U. Kennan argued the sources of Soviet international hostility were internal preventing any foreseeable normalization of relations. Ideology did not determine action; it provided merely a vehicle to legitimize totalitarian power for the Communist Party, by constructing the image of a lurid and hostile capitalist world and cloaking the traditional expansionist tendencies of Russian imperialism. The U.
Economics was deemed the most useful instrument to address this. When guerrilla warfare in Greece intensified through , the Truman administration realised internal security had to be guaranteed before economic stability could be prioritized, resulting in a short-term transfer of approximately half the funds allocated for Greece to the provision of military equipment.
This merging of the economic and military forms of containment in Greece reflects how the U. The Truman Doctrine, regarded as an official endorsement of containment, thus reveals through a variety of approaches its multifaceted nature. The emphasis placed on economics as the most significant aspect amongst many arguably suggests Gaddis is correct in his interpretation U. Consensus exists amongst historians that Kennan did at times exercise a crucial influence over policy. Wilson Miscamble recognizes the P.
However his approach imposes a sense of order scarcely apparent at the time which neglects the reality of how foreign policy was formed. This critique of the modern interpretive approach to history is used by John Gimbel to explain what he argues are the true origins of the Marshall Plan, formally known as the European Recovery Programme E.
He argues the dissemination of the idea the plan originated as part of the U. By going too far in the other direction Gimbel completely rejects the wider European diplomatic intentions of the plan that a true understanding of the past needs to account for.
The creation of the E. It is not intended to provide medical or other professional advice. Moreover, the views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of Inquiries Journal or Student Pulse, its owners, staff, contributors, or affiliates.
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Socialism had not begun on a good note, and Vladimir Lenin was becoming concerned with the unfortunate state of the economy. His response to the poor economy he adopted and how he planned to improve it was called the New Economic MORE ». As the world's first real Marxist experiment, the Soviet Union, by virtue of lasting seventy odd years, proved Western intelligentsia wrong. The latter had long thought it was doomed to fail.
When the Berlin Wall fell in and the Soviet Union disintegrated two years later, Western conservatives and liberals alike felt vindicated The Soviet nationality policy for Central Asia in the early twentieth century was an acceleration of the processes of modernization that the Russian Empire had already begun.
However, building socialism in a region where no working class existed and intellectuals based their knowledge primarily on religious texts presented inherent Follow IJ.
In , the United States entered what some historians consider a proxy war with the Soviet Union, by sending troops into Vietnam to support the South Vietnamese in their battle against the communist North Vietnamese. The United States' involvement in the war lasted until , the year the North Vietnamese captured the city of Saigon.
A similar conflict took place during the early s in Korea, which was likewise divided into two states. The war ended with an armistice in and the establishment of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, a mile barrier between the two states. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.
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