Transcript U.S. Tries to Contain the Soviets

U.S. Tries to Contain the Soviets
• Truman adopts a foreign
policy of containment
• The Truman Doctrine was
support to countries that
rejected communism
• Congress authorizes $400
million to aid Greece & Turkey
• Many felt that the U.S. could
not lead this campaign against
communism
Berlin
Marshall Plan
• Assistance program to provide food, machinery
and other materials to rebuild Europe
• Established by Sec. of State George Marshall
What’s the problem with Berlin?
Berlin Airlift
• Soviet Union began to
cut off supplies to Berlin by
closing the main highway
into Berlin.
•Stalin’s hope that the
Allies would surrender
West Berlin.
•U.S. and British officials
began to fly goods into the
city (lasted 11 months)
Berlin Airlift
Cold War Begins
• By 1949, both sides
begin to use spying,
propaganda, diplomacy
and secret operations
• The two powers
influenced world
alliances
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
• Forms in 1949 when
western European nations
feared Soviet strikes.
• Soviets form their own
alliances in 1955 with the
Warsaw Pact
• Not every country sided
with the U.S. or the Soviets
Berlin Wall Goes Up in 1961
Berlin Wall
East Germany builds the
wall to separate West
Berlin from East Berlin
No longer people could
cross the border to visit
family or friends
Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Threat of Nuclear War
• By 1949, the Soviets began testing their own
atomic weapons
• Truman wanted to stay one step ahead of the
Soviets by building more deadly weapons
• By the 1952, the U.S. is testing the H-Bomb
• U.S. uses brinkmanship (willingness to go to
war at a moments time)
• 1957 Soviets develop ICBM (Intercontinental
ballistic missile)