-
Truman Doctrine
President Truman established the Truman Doctrine in which he promised American financial, political, and military support to any country's threatened by external or internal communist threats. This new foreign policy led to America intervening in many foreign wars throughout the rest of the 20th century. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a program of financial aide from the U.S. to rebuild post WW2 Europe and prevent the spread of communism in Europe. The plan provided more markets for American companies. -
NATO
NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a military alliance formed between the U.S., Canada and several Western European nations in 1949. It was formed to curtail the spread of communism in Europe and contain the Soviet Union. The alliance is still existent today albeit expanded to include several former Warsaw Pact states. The U.S.' first ongoing military alliance -
Korean War
North Korea invaded South Korea with Soviet support and in response a UN coalition led by the US and South Korea and several other nations launched a counteroffensive, invading the North eventually reaching the Chinese border and pulling China into the war. The war degenerated into a stalemate until 1953 which saw a ceasefire signed by the North and South which holds today. This war was the first war fought by the US against honest to good communist powers. -
Warsaw Pact
A military alliance formed between the Soviet Union and several communist Eastern European nations to act as a counterweight against NATO. It collapsed in 1989. America's main opponents during the Cold War -
Hungarian Revolution
An anti-communist uprising in Hungary against the Hungarian communist government that was brutally crushed by the Soviet Army. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
A U.S. sponsored invasion of Cuba by anti-communist Cuban exiles from Florida to overthrow the communist regime of Cuba under Fidel Castro. The invasion was a failure and was considered a major embarrassment for the U.S. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
-
Detente Under Nixon
The easing of geopolitical tensions between the Western and Eastern blocs that started under the Nixon administration in 1969 and ended with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. -
The Reagan Doctrine
A policy established by President Reagan meant to overwhelm Soviet global influence in the 1980's. Under the Reagan Doctrine the U.S. supported anti-communist insurgencies to defeat Soviet backed governments in the third world in order to win the Cold War.
