The US Containment Policy
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 16-05-17 14:14
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- The US containment policy
- When and why did the US fall out with USSR?
- Following revolution (soured relationship)
- US didn't like communism
- Lenin set up Comintern (aim to spread communism)
- Communism v. Capitalism
- 1939 Nazis-Soviet Pact
- Wartime allies to Cold War enemies
- 1941 - Operation Barbarossa
- Common enemies (Adolf Hitler, Hirohito)
- Yalta and Potsdam Conference 1945 saw re-appearance of disagreements
- Appearance of Stalin's intention to occupy countries it advanced through
- Disagreements over Gr and Poland
- Atomic bombs
- More and more clashes over territory (Iran, Turkey, etc.)
- War of words
- Clash of personalities (Truman and Stalin)
- Stalin claims to creating buffer zone, West saw it as 'Rampant Soviet expansionism'
- Biography of George Kennan
- American adviser, diplomat, political scientist and CW historian
- 'Father of Containment', developed Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan
- Criticised official US policies after his ideas had shaped them and lost influence to Dean Acheson as Secretary of State in 1949 - resigned saying aggressive US strategy
- Prominence in international affairs continued from 1954 to his death in 2005
- George Kennan's Long Telegram and US containment policy
- GK was leading State Department expert on USSR
- Feb 1946, State Department asked him for explanation of increasingly anti-American tone of Soviet speeches
- Responded with 8000-word 'Long-Telegram'
- Described Soviet antagonism was not result of any American actions but due to Soviet Government's need to exaggerate external threats in order to maintain domestic legitimacy
- Responded with 8000-word 'Long-Telegram'
- GK depicted the Soviet's as aggressive and this became Orthodox Western interpretation of origins of CW - successive US administrations would blame conflict on Soviet expansionism
- When and why did the US fall out with USSR?
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