After world war two, we and the USSR were the only two nations with any power left. The United States was far much more superior in terms of strength compared to the USSR partly because they had atomic weapons and also because the Soviets had lost more than 20 million people in the war led by Joseph Stalin. Us however still had worries. they needed a strong free-market-oriented Europe and to a lesser extent Asia. This was particularly important as they were proper markets for manufactured goods as well as other market products from u sites states. the Soviets were however concerned with something more immediate and this was Germany invading them. Germany was very slow to learn the central lesson of world history that Russia should not be invaded. at the end of the second world war, the USSR, therefore, encouraged the creation of pro-communist governments in Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland which happened to be something easy to encourage because these countries were occupied by Soviet troops. The idea behind this was to create a buffer between them and Germany but to the United states the threat of communist expanding was seeming more and more viable. This was not supported by the Americans as it would mean major negative effects on the industrial goods market. America, therefore, responded with the policy of containment as introduced in diplomat George f Kennedys long telegram. Communism could stay where it was but it was not allowed to spread and ultimately this is what led to. The United States fighting wars in Korea as well as Vietnam. A 950 report stated that there were three main goals of containment and these w
ere; prevent any more expansion of the Soviet power then expose the pretense and lies and finally to induce a retraction of the Kremlins control and influence. the main agenda behind it, however, was to ensure that the Soviet system ultimately crumbles.
Harry Truman, who became president in the year 945 after Franklin Roosevelt died supported containment. The first real test of this policy came in Greece and Turkey in 947. this was a strategically valuable region because it was near the middle east which was of interest to the United States because of oil. Truman, therefore, announced the Truman doctrine in which he pledged to support any freedom-loving people against the threat of communism. The United States, therefore, sent $400 million in aid to Greece and Turkey and this was some of the first things that propelled the world into the cold war. The Truman doctrine created a way in which America would view the world, with America as free and communist as tyrannical. According to Eric former , the speech set a precedent for American assistance to anti-communist regimes through the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union. It also led to the creation of a new security apparatus- the national security council, the central intelligence agency, the atomic energy commission, all of which were immune from government oversight and not democratically elected the containment policy along with the Truman doctrine also laid the foundations for a military build-up and arms race which would become one of the key features of the cold war.