Containment of Communism

During the mid 1940s, Russia began to spread their communism widely. The Capitalist nations fought the Communists very hard in order that communism should not preside among Western nations. So that the non-Communist countries would hold strongly against pressure from Communist nations, the United States gave them military aid, whether they supported the U.S. or not.

At the end of World War II, Capitalist strongholds, such as France and Britain, were devastated from lack of food, clothing, shelter, and medical care. American money flowed into countries such as these in the form of supplies, equipment, and loans. The U.S. tried to support them to keep them safe from Communist harm, but by 1948, the USSR was deeply entrenched in East Asia as well as Europe. The Soviet Union was attempting to take over the Capitalist world, over which the U.S. presided, and form Communist nations. To form a stronghold, they attacked and conquered all its neighboring Communist nations. The U.S. disagreed with and hated the Soviets' methods of ruthlessly crushing all opposition. This conflict resulted in what is called the Cold War. The United States did not actually break out in war with the Soviet Union, but constantly competed with them over weapons and technology.

Inability to come to an agreement on international control of the atomic bomb added greatly to the building tension between the United States and the U.S.S.R. Wary of a Communist uprising, the U.S. formulated a policy of containment called the Truman Doctrine. This policy would contain, or restrict, Soviet expansion to check the spread of communism. It was first applied to Greece and Turkey, as the USSR tried to spread communism into them; the United States dumped 400 million dollars into strengthening and arming these countries against communism.

Helping Greece and Turkey, however, was not enough to prevent the spread of communism. All of war-torn Europe was in economic difficulty. Throughout Europe communists were winning converts among hungry and disillusioned people.