The policy of containment can also be seen in the Vietnam War from 1968- 1975 in which they also attempted their policy of containment and ‘roll-back’ and just like what had occurred in Korea, they failed to roll back communism back into China but succeeded in containing it within South Vietnam although the turned communist after they pulled out.
In some ways, this policy can be seen as a cause to the end of the cold war as it showed that America was prepared to take action even if it meant that the government would have to go against everything that the public of America was saying and fight this war in order to achieve their policies. After the Vietnam War, the Soviet Union, which had not provided any more support than it had in the Korean War, decided that she to would further tighten her control over the territories that she considered her sphere’s of influence.
The policy of containment continued until the end of the Cold War when the Gulf War erupts in 1991. On August 2, Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait, which caused the rest of the world to condemn Iraq. The Soviet Union had always been a keen supporter of Iraq and the UN, thoroughly backed by America threatened to use force unless Iraq withdrew her troops. As a result of this war, more of the Middle Eastern countries turned towards the USA, but, more importantly, Truman’s policy of containment was once more set alight as the American government were not prepared to see the Domino Theory put into practice – if Kuwait fell then that would mean that communism was spreading and this had to be ‘contained’.
Public pressure has been another cause for the end of the Cold War and evidence that containment was not a success that ended the Cold War. The Vietnam War saw a rise in intense public opinion and one that the government, mainly of America, could not ignore. With large demonstrations occurring, more frequently across the globe and now even in Hungary when a student burnt himself in protest. For people such as Reagan, Nixon and Johnson, they had to find alternative methods to keep the peace in order that they remain popular with their people. All three of these Presidents felt that the policy of containment was the only method to keep down the Soviet Union (it was Nixon and Johnson who were the presidents during the Vietnam War). Nixon was the president who realized that he had to make peace with the Far East if he was to remain popular, as America had been fighting the Vietnam War for nearly ten years. He set about make peace talks and ended the Vietnam War. Therefore, by taking this point of view, it can be said the Cold War ended because of peace talks, negotiations and a general weariness and fear of the tension.
And so, with this in mind, it can be said that containment did help to bring an end to the Cold War as America showed the Soviet Union that they were prepared to go to battle and even fight to stop the spreading of the ‘evil empire’ (as Reagan put it). This argument is backed by Robert Gates who claimed that Reagan had seen how containment could work but at the end of the day, he needed to stand up to Russia, with a stronger stance, and prove to him that they were not going to subside to appeasement. On the other hand, it scared the USSR even further and this made the relations even tighter as well as control on Eastern Europe.
However, other factors have contributed to the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Communism within Russia. Historian Raymond Garthoff once argued that ‘victory came when a new generation of Soviet leaders realized how badly heir system at home and policies abroad had failed’. He disputed that although containment had deterred USSR militarism, Truman’s policies had only helped those who were pro-West but this was not the only factor that had helped bring down Communism. He debates that the new breed of Soviet leaders had helped change that USSR. Historian Archie Brown claims that Gorbachev was the leading figure of this new age of leaders, and it was he that ended the Cold War through his policies for openness. He argues that ‘the decisive factor was Gorbachev’s idealistic view of the world which was based on universal reconciliation’ and by this he means that it was Gorbachev himself who wanted a brotherhood of nations and went about making the peace by himself.
Nevertheless, in my opinion, Gorbachev’s policies of increased reform and freedom went grossly out of hand and with his lenient ways, the people took his policies too far and the result was a downward spiral of Communism. It was Gorbachev himself who stated that ‘I thought we could unite democracy and socialism and give socialism a second wind…I wanted to change the Soviet Union, not destroy it’. Mark Almond once stated that ‘a different approach by Gorbachev could have had significantly different results’. Gorbachev had two policies that included ‘perestroika’ (economic restructuring) and ‘glasnost’ (openness). These meant that he allowed the people more freedom and rights to say what they thought and believed, without being condemned by the party.
The collapse of communism within Eastern Europe has been interpreted as the cause to the end of the Cold War. Poland is an example of how Eastern Europe broke away from the Soviet Union without any military intervention from Russia. She brought back Solidarity and through this, free elections were held and these saw the Communist Party grossly out-voted. George Bush once commented that ‘In the East, brave men and women are showing us the way. Look at Poland, where solidarity and the Catholic Church have won legal statuses’. All of these movements, which later spread across the rest of Eastern Europe, saw the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine, which had stated that Russia had the right to intervene with any country that was under the threat of losing communism. The rest of the Communist world now saw the hope of liberation from a force that had controlled and put them down over the years. Through this, demand for reform rapidly increased and this was the beginning of Gorbachev losing his grip.
There were huge problems at home in Russia, including desperately poor living standards, social unrest, corruption within the Soviet Party and most of all the lure of the people towards the West. It was argued then that Gorbachev radical proposals for arms reductions largely stemmed from his economic difficulties. Soon after Gorbachev introduced his policy of ‘glasnost’, the people began to bombard him with calls for reform and he gave in to them, therefore allowing the people to end communism. As relations with the West improved, so did the receptiveness to western culture, as people began to listen to western music and read western books. While political reform took on a life of its own, economic reform only served to make the situation worse, thereby feeding discontent. Soon, a rival, Boris Yeltsin emerged and pushed Gorbachev even further from power with his support from the people. Soon, he lost support and was therefore forced to resign from office.
It has been argued that it was treaties between Gorbachev and Reagan that ended the Cold War. As I previously stated, Gorbachev saw the need for reform within the Soviet Union and so he went about this through a number of arms reduction talks with Reagan. For example, the INF (Intermediate Nuclear Forces) talks in 1985, led to both leaders destroying any intermediate – range missiles that they possessed. This is the first time that they had both agreed to an arms reduction and not an arms control and marked to reduction of any tension. Gorbachev now felt that there was no longer the threat that the West were in favour of attacking Russia and so she no longer needed her ‘buffer states’ of Eastern Europe. The START talks in the summer of 1991 are also an example of an event that marked the end of the Cold War. These were talks where they promised to reduce the number of nuclear targets aimed at one another. With this, many historians have argued that the Cold War was now finally over.
Therefore, in conclusion, it can be said that Truman’s policy of containment did bring about the end of the Cold War as it showed the Soviet Union that America was not going to appease them and that they would fight at all costs to stop communism spreading. This policy that was used all the way until 1991 with the Gulf War preventing communism from spreading (with the exception of South Vietnam) and therefore making it weaker. On the other hand, personalities played a huge role in the diminishing of the Cold War. For example, Gorbachev was the leader of Russia and who wanted an end to the Cold War so that he could focus on restoring his country. He went through series of peace and arms reduction talks with Reagan and these were the physical signs to the end of the war. Public opinion also played a large role as it meant that the leaders had to abandon violence and turn to peace in order to keep their popularity.
