Containment and the Marshall Plan and NATO
- From 1946 on, the US policy towards the Soviet Union was containment
- US would limit the territorial expansion of the Soviet Union
- Based on the Long Telegram
- We would allow the Soviet Union to retain control over E Europe (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc)
- Soviet Union had left their troops and tanks in these countries
- By 1948, these countries will have a Pro-Soviet, Communist government installed inside them
- US policy of containment accepted this
- We would not allow the Soviet Union to get into W Europe or Southern Europe (Greece, France, Great Britain, Belgium)
- To make sure this really happened:
- 1948: Marshall Plan
- Generous economic assistance plan
- US poured money into countries of W Europe para stabilize and solidify their economy, which hadn’t recovered since the end of WWII
- Also to make sure their disastrous economies would not lead voters to vote for a socialist party that would then open itself up to the control of the SU
- Approved and worked
- Offered to the countries of E Europe but the Soviets didn't let them choose it
- 1949: NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
- Defense treaty between US and countries of W Europe
- If Soviet Union attacked any country in W Europe, the US would act like the Soviet Union attacked them
- Never used during the cold war
- Demonstrated our commitment to containment