apsuki-2006

The Cold War-Containment Policies

One of the longest wars in history, the Cold War, went from the end of WWII through the late 90's between the U.S and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was for communism, while the U.S was for capitalism. So the U.S created containment policies in many places as possible, like Europe and Asia, to stop them from moving towards communism. The policies were success in Europe and South Korea, but unfortunately, China, the largest population in the world, fell in the hands of communism, and so did Vietnam.

In Europe, there were the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and the formation of NATO. The Truman Doctrine was the request of $400 million to Greece and Turkey to prevent communist rebels from overthrowing their governments. Neither country became communist. The Marshall Plan helped restore the economies of important U.S trade partners and prevent the spread of communism. The NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was formed by 15 nations to attack Soviet Union. In response to this, the Soviet Union tested and announced that they had nuclear weapon.

In Asia, the Chinese Civil War, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War were major conflicts, which the U.S intervened to prevent the spread of communism. China had two sides, communist and anti-communist. The Truman administration sent $2 billion in economic and military assistance to anti-communist military, but was defeated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)due to the growing popularity. In the Vietnam War, Nixon planned Vietnamization, where the U.S train and equip South Vietnamese army to fight against North Vietnamese, where it was warmly supported by China and the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, the U.S government was defeated in the Tet Offensive, where the North Vietamese attacked major cities in South Vietnam. The war ended when an agreement was announced in 1973, the withdrawal of all U.S troops. Two years later, South Vietnam unified with North Vietnam where it became a communist.

North Korea was for communist, while the South was for anti-communist. Wanting to unite, the Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. U.S immediately sent troops to assist South Korea and drove back North Koreans across the 38th parallel. China threatened to enter the war if MacArthur's(U.S) troops continued their invasion of North Korea. Believing that Chinese would do nothing, he crossed the 38th parallel where Chinese troops poured across the border. He was fired later due to criticizing Truman in public for not attacking China. But thanks to him, the U.S successfully contained communism in South Korea.

In conclusion, the containment policies were alike in that they both were economically and militarily supporting the countries. The difference was the outcome, the unpredicted defeat of China and Vietnam under communism. This could have been all avoided if they both left each other alone, costing many lives.

posted by Yoshimi Nomura @ 11:51 AM