How the USA contained communism

G2 Full History - syllabus K227, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can explain how rivalry between the USA and the USSR after 1945 divided Europe and shaped the Cold War.

    Syllabus K227, The Cold War, Learning Outcomes. Explain the impact of rivalry between the USA and USSR in the aftermath of World War II.

Make a guess

In 1947 the USA wanted to stop communism spreading in Europe. Which method do you think it relied on most?

  1. Sending US troops to overthrow communist governments in the East.
  2. Money and supplies to rebuild countries and support friendly governments.
  3. Leaving Europe to recover by itself and hoping communism would fade away.
Show the answer

Money and supplies to rebuild countries and support friendly governments.

Containment used aid to Greece and Turkey and the Marshall Plan. Better lives were meant to make communism less attractive.

Containment meant stopping communism from spreading, and the USA used aid to Greece, Turkey and Western Europe to do it.

In March 1947, President Harry Truman asked Congress, the US law-making body, to fund help for Greece and Turkey. Britain could no longer afford to support them. Greece faced a civil war with communist-led forces, and Turkey faced Soviet pressure. Truman argued that threats to these faraway countries could also endanger world peace and American security. The Truman Doctrine was his public promise to help peoples resisting armed groups or outside pressure.

This was containment: stopping communism from spreading further. It was different from rollback, which meant removing communism where it already ruled. Containment could use money, supplies and military aid; it did not always mean sending US troops.

In June 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed aid to rebuild Europe. The Marshall Plan began in 1948. Aid restored production, food supplies, jobs and trade. US leaders hoped that better lives would reduce desperation and make communist parties less attractive. It would also create strong trading partners for the USA. So the same programme could help people and gain the USA influence at the same time.

Sort these

Mark it like an examiner. The question: does Novikov's 1946 telegram, which says the USA sought world dominance through bases and economic power, prove that American economic help was only an attempt to dominate Europe? Sort each answer into its level.

Groups: Level 1: provenance only, Level 2: uses the content, Level 3: checks it against what happened, Level 4: explains the writer's purpose.

  • Yes, because Novikov was the Soviet ambassador in Washington and saw American policy up close.
  • Yes. Novikov says the USA wanted world dominance through bases and economic strength, so its aid was about control.
  • No. Novikov wrote a secret report for Soviet leaders who already distrusted the USA, so he had reason to tell them what fitted their view; it shows Soviet fears, not American aims.
  • No. Marshall said in 1947 that aid was aimed at hunger and chaos, not at any country, which contradicts Novikov.
  • Not fully. Marshall aid was offered to the USSR too and restored jobs and food in Western Europe, so it was not only about control.
  • No, because it is a Soviet source, so it must be biased.
Show the answer

Level 1: provenance only

  • Yes, because Novikov was the Soviet ambassador in Washington and saw American policy up close. It accepts the source because of who wrote it, without checking what it says against anything.
  • No, because it is a Soviet source, so it must be biased. Calling a source biased because of where it comes from is a provenance claim with no evidence or explanation.

Level 2: uses the content

  • Yes. Novikov says the USA wanted world dominance through bases and economic strength, so its aid was about control. It uses what the source says but takes it at face value, so it only repeats the claim it was asked to test.
  • No. Marshall said in 1947 that aid was aimed at hunger and chaos, not at any country, which contradicts Novikov. It sets one source's content against another, but does not check which account is more believable.

Level 3: checks it against what happened

  • Not fully. Marshall aid was offered to the USSR too and restored jobs and food in Western Europe, so it was not only about control. It tests the claim against known facts about the aid, but does not explain why Novikov wrote as he did.

Level 4: explains the writer's purpose

  • No. Novikov wrote a secret report for Soviet leaders who already distrusted the USA, so he had reason to tell them what fitted their view; it shows Soviet fears, not American aims. It judges the telegram by its purpose and audience and says what it is really evidence of, which is the top level.
Truman Doctrine, March 1947
Aid to Greece and Turkey against communist pressure.
Containment
Stopping communism spreading further.
Marshall Plan, from 1948
US aid to rebuild Western Europe.

Real examples to use

Truman Doctrine, 12 March 1947

Truman asked Congress for 400 million dollars of aid, 300 million for Greece and 100 million for Turkey.

Marshall aid totals, 1948 to 1951

About 13.3 billion dollars in grants and loans went to 16 Western European countries between April 1948 and June 1951.

Biggest receivers

Britain got about 3.3 billion dollars, France about 2.3 billion and West Germany about 1.4 billion.

Worked example: From a source detail to an inference

In his speech to Congress on 12 March 1947, Truman asked for help for Greece and Turkey and linked economic stability to freedom.

  1. Detail: he wanted US money spent on two faraway countries.
  2. Link: he believed unstable countries could fall to hostile influence.
  3. Inference: Truman saw stability abroad as part of US security.

Watch out for this

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were the same announcement.

The Truman Doctrine (March 1947) promised help to Greece and Turkey. The Marshall Plan (proposed June 1947) was aid to rebuild Europe.

Check your understanding

What is the difference between containment and rollback?

  1. They are two names for the same American aim of stopping communism in Europe.
  2. Containment stops communism spreading; rollback tries to remove it where it already rules.
  3. Containment means sending US troops to threatened states; rollback means sending money.
Show the answer

Containment stops communism spreading; rollback tries to remove it where it already rules.

Yes. US policy after 1947 was mainly containment.

Check your understanding

How was the Marshall Plan linked to containment?

  1. It was offered to communist states in the East first, to win them away from Moscow.
  2. It paid for American troops to be stationed in Eastern Europe to block Soviet control.
  3. Rebuilding Europe's economies would reduce the poverty that made communism attractive.
Show the answer

Rebuilding Europe's economies would reduce the poverty that made communism attractive.

Economic recovery was a way to contain communism.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • National Archives: Truman Doctrine

    Paraphrase of President Harry S. Truman's address to Congress, 12 March 1947; US National Archives transcript.

  • George C. Marshall Foundation: Harvard speech

    Paraphrase of Secretary of State George C. Marshall's Harvard speech, 5 June 1947; transcript held by the George C. Marshall Foundation.

  • Novikov telegram, University of Oregon primary-text transcription

    Paraphrase of Nikolai Novikov's telegram from Washington to the Soviet leadership, 27 September 1946, opening sections; English text hosted by the University of Oregon.

  • George C. Marshall Foundation: Harvard speech

    An original cartoon drawn for these notes in the style of a Soviet magazine cartoon of late 1947, after the USSR refused Marshall aid and made its Eastern European allies refuse it too. It is not a copy of a real cartoon.

  • Truman addresses Congress, March 1947

    Extract from President Harry Truman's address to a joint session of Congress, 12 March 1947, asking for aid for Greece and Turkey (the Truman Doctrine). A US government document in the public domain; text from the Avalon Project.

  • the British Foreign Secretary reports Molotov's warning, July 1947

    Extract from British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin's report of the final meeting of the British, French and Soviet foreign ministers in Paris on the Marshall Plan, 2 July 1947, sent to the US Secretary of State through the US Ambassador in London, 3 July 1947. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, volume III, document 180. A US government publication in the public domain.

  • the Cominform declaration, October 1947

    Extract from a telegram from the US Charge d'Affaires in Moscow, Elbridge Durbrow, to the Secretary of State, 6 October 1947, quoting the declaration issued when the Soviet Union and other communist parties set up the Cominform. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, volume IV, document 412. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the North Atlantic Treaty, April 1949

    Extract from Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington on 4 April 1949 by the USA, Canada and ten Western European states, during the Berlin Blockade. Text from the Avalon Project.

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