Was America’s Main Aim to Stop the Spread of Communism in Europe.” How far do you agree with this view of American Foreign Policy in Europe from 1945 – 1948?
Uploaded by Jack250194 on Jan 19, 2012
With the defeat of Germany in 1945 a common enemy was destroyed by the joint forces of the USA and USSR with of course the help of Britain and France. Meetings at Yalta and Potsdam in 1945 saw the two superpowers work together to see the fall of Nazi Germany. However, now a common enemy had been destroyed, Hitler’s vacuum saw a race to Berlin and the coming together of communism and capitalism for the first time “eye to eye”. From this point tensions increased over the ruling of Europe under which ideology. It could be stated that it was America’s main aim to stop the spread of communism in Europe.
The “Iron Curtain” speech performed by Winston Churchill, 1946 in Fulton Missouri was certainly a clear indication of West and Americas policy towards the spread of communism. Since 1917 during the Russian Revolution and the Civil War the West intervened by helping the “whites” defeat the “reds”. Churchills speech was designed to shock but also to send a message. Although not fully appreciated at the time and somewhat discouraged by the public who still saw Russia as a wartime ally, it paved the way for American foreign policy in containing communism. However, Churchill’s speech was not done without first understanding Soviet intension. Keenan’s Long Telegram
essentially prompted the US to ask Churchill to write and present the “Iron Curtain” speech. Keenan’s long telegram proclaimed Soviet ideas and intentions in Europe with the spread of communism priority number one. Keenan’s telegram could in fact be the starting point of the Cold War, meaning that America would be ready for Soviet plans in stopping the spread of communism. However, in the telegram it could have been interpreted by Keenan in an exaggerated way. In the Telegram it could be said that Keenan over estimated Soviet ideas and plans for Europe. Some Historians now believe that Stalin’s plans were not as radical as first thought, such as Stalin allowing few Soviet satellites independence, such as Tito’s Yugoslavia. The consequence of this being that America’s policies were too vigorous in tackling communism and thus escalating the Cold War dramatically. In conclusion it could be said that the inspired “Iron Curtain” speech most definitely proved that Americas main policy was to contain communism, drawing a line over Europe and shaping communism from there. However, America had not yet...