What was 'containment', and to what extent did the US and UK work together to implement it?

Authors Avatar

11. What was ‘containment’, and to what extent did the US and UK work together to implement it?

The Cold War, the confrontation between America and the Soviet Union, each supported by their allies, dominated world politics from 1945 to 1991. The USSR was politically and economically the opposite of almost everything America and Britain stood for. Nevertheless, the Second World War and the threat of Nazism brought the two sides together in a marriage of convenience in order to defeat Hitler. In fact, Franklin D. Roosevelt liked to cite an old Balkan proverb from time to time during the Second World War ‘to explain the use of questionable allies to achieve unquestionable objectives: “My children, it is permitted you in time of grave danger walk with the devil until you have crossed the bridge.”’ Once that aim had been achieved the basis of their co-operation had disappeared. Furthermore, the issues which confronted the allies at the end of the war were complex - the future of Germany and Poland, the fate of the other liberated countries in Eastern Europe, reparations, the foundation of the United Nations, the control and use of atomic technology- and both sides had very different ideas about the post-war world. As each side recognised the other as their ideological enemy, it was inevitable that they approached each other with deep suspicion. From the misunderstandings and disagreements came the breakdown of trust and co-operation on which Europe’s restructuring depended: it was clear that each side had a different vision of post-war Europe and these two views were incompatible. Rapidly the wartime alliance disintegrated into a war of words- accusation and counter-accusation -soon to be backed up by the threat of military action. This was the Cold War; an armed stand-off between political and economic systems, each side convinced of the evils of the other and each side confident of economic and ideological victory. Containment was the doctrine which was to define and form the basis of American foreign policy. Harry Truman, president of the United States, could either try to ‘rollback’ Communism, which meant going onto the offensive to throw Stalin out of eastern Europe, or he could attempt to halt the flow of Communism into western Europe or into other areas of the world. As Truman possessed the atomic bomb and America was militarily superior to the USSR at the end of the war, the first option, ‘rollback’. had supporters in some sections of Truman’s administration; however, it would mean almost certain conflict and the possession of the A-bomb did not necessarily mean that its use would ‘rollback’ Communism - obliterating Eastern European cities, full of potential converts to American democracy, made no political sense. Therefore the second option, containment became the cornerstone of American foreign policy. America worked closely with Britain in order to implement this policy. Both Winston Churchill and Ernest Bevin had no love for communism and believed that Britain must stand up to the Russians in order to maintain a balance of power in Europe. The best way to accomplish this was by co-operation with the Americans, and the British government hoped for a joint Anglo-American effort to prevent the expansion of Russian power and communism into Europe and the rest of the world. In this essay, the term ‘containment’ will be explained and the extent to which the US and the UK worked together in implementing the policy of containment will be examined.

Before embarking on the attempt to define ‘containment’, looking at Stalin’s expansionist moves after the Second World War is crucial for gaining an understanding as to why America launched the policy of containment and elevated it to such a high position in US foreign policy. During the war, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria were Nazi satellite states, while Albania, Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia were occupied. By 1945, eastern Europe was experiencing great poverty, a high rate of illiteracy and very weak forms of democracy. In addition, eastern Europe was made up of numerous peasant societies that suffered from an uneven distribution of land. These states were thus extremely vulnerable after the war and could be easily lured by Stalin, who was looking to spread communism beyond the USSR. Stalin therefore took this opportunity and invaded most East European states, setting up communist governments and banning all other non-communist political parties, in turn strengthening his regimes and ensuring no opposition. By 1947, this was achieved Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Albania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Yugoslavia. In the words of P. Calvocoressi, ‘in American eyes the USSR was dedicated to the conquest of Europe and the world for itself and for communism and was capable of achieving or at least initiating, this destructive and evil course by armed forced abetted by subversion.’ Consequently, containment was a reaction towards the USSR’s annexations of eastern European countries. The Americans thus embarked on this policy in the hope of stopping any further communist takeovers.

Join now!

John Lewis Gaddis argues, in his book ‘Containment and its Strategies’, that containment can be seen as a series of attempts to deal with the consequences of the Second World War: to prevent the Soviet Union from using the power and position it won as a result of that conflict to reshape and restructure the post-war international order. George F. Kennan coined the term in July 1947, when he called publicly for a “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.” For Kennan, containment was a political concept. As a strategy, containment sought to achieve three goals: ...

This is a preview of the whole essay