Second World War Case

Once the second World War had ended the U.S and Soviet Union had no further need for an alliance. The conflicting ideological and political differences between the two superpowers, which had taken a back seat during the war, now came to a forefront. Growing distance between the two nations leaders and confrontational policies lead to a heightening of tensions and ultimately resulted in the era of uncertainty and conflict known as the Cold War. Although blame can be laid on either nation the majority lies with the Soviet Union due to its expansive tendencies, rejection of the Marshall plan and development of atomic weaponry.

With the Soviet Union's establishment of satellite nations and its overall expansionist behavior, the U.S was forced to implement a containment policy to counteract their aggressive actions. At the Yalta conference during the war, Stalin had promised to allow free elections within Poland. Stalin's failure to follow through with his promise led to the rising tensions between the U.S and the Soviet Union. According to George F. Kennan, the main goal of the United States was to prevent Russian Expansive Tendencies (Doc.3). The Soviet Union had shown a clear interest in creating many satellite states to bring under their control in areas such as Greece and Turkey. Due to the growing aggression of the Soviets to move into new territories and their efforts to spread communism to unwanting and helpless countries, the United States implemented the policy of Containment. With this new policy of containment in action the USSR saw this as a way for the U. S to gain colossal profits and as a form of enslavement that would lead to dependence on the United States economically (Doc. 5). The USSR's disagreement with the U.S containment policy and conflicting political views between the U.S and USSR led to increased animosity as well as many proxy wars in an attempt to gain influence and control in certain areas. Proxy wars were wars fought in support of countries that represented their respective political interests. The Soviets continual influence and spread of communism into countries such as Korea forced the United States to counteract their actions to protect the freedom of countries.. Overall the United States was forced to implement containment in order to prevent the Soviet's aggressive actions, this increased tensions and furthered the conflicts between the U.S and the USSR.

On March 12, 1947 President Truman announced that the United States would "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures". This became known as the Truman Doctrine and committed the United States to containing the spread of Communism. After World War II Europe was left in ruins and was on the verge of an economic collapse which left many countries in Europe vulnerable to communist influences and takeovers by the Soviet Union. The U.S implemented the Marshall plan in an effort to restore Europe's economy and promote peace throughout the countries. It was stated that the plan was not directed at "any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos". The plan gave over $17 billion in aid to European countries to protect countries from the communist influence of the Soviet Union (Doc. 7). The USSR immediately rejected this plan due to their false perceptions of the U.S's motives as well as Stalin's want to increase their influence and over European countries. The Soviet Union felt that