Why Did The Us Contain Communism Dbq Analysis

How did the U.S. contain communism?
After the ending of World War II l, the United States and the Soviet Union rejoiced. The worst war in human history was over. However, the peace did not last. The United States and Soviet Union had many ideological differences. The Soviet Union was the birthplace of communism and a huge proponent of it. Communism and capitalism are direct opposites. This caused tension between the countries which eventually led to the culmination of the Cold War. It was an obvious fact that the Soviet Union wanted to expand the size of its empire. The United States’ efforts to oppose this expansion were known as containment. The United States was able to contain communism by aiding West Berlin, intervening in the Korean War,

On June 25th, 1950, Communist North Korea invaded South Korea. South Korea was supported by the United Nations and the U.S., so the soldiers stationed in Japan were moved to South Korea to fight the communist offense. The U.S. forces were overwhelmed by the communists and almost pushed off of the Korean peninsula. In document C, which features some graphics, it is shown that General Douglas MacArthur executed a very risky, but successful counterattack. This risky move allowed the U.N. forces to push the North Korean all the way into the Yalu River, which was the border between North Korea and China. China had recently become communist and entered the conflict on North Korea’s side. The war dragged on for three more years before ending on July 27th, 1953, close to the original borders at the 38th parallel. It is also stated in document C that, “The war caused more than two million deaths, including over 50,000 Americans.” The Korean War demonstrated the United States’ policy of containment because they had invaded Korea to the try to stop communism from being able to spread. They also were able to arm the people who wanted democracy to fight alongside

In January of 1959, became communist under Fidel Castro. The United States tried to stage a coup to get rid of Castro, but the attack failed. In May 1962, the Soviet Union began to secretly ship nuclear warheads to Cuba. In October, U.S. spy planes detected medium range nuclear missiles being installed on the island. In the graphic shown for document D, it is shown that medium range missiles had the potential to reach New Orleans, Miami, and Washington D.C. The United States decided to quarantine all of the incoming ships to Cuba. The United States and Soviet Union officials began diplomatic relations to deactivate the nuclear missiles. Just three days after the missile became functional; Soviets began to remove the missiles. A few months later, in an unpublicized agreement with the Soviet Union, the United States removed the nuclear warheads it had in Turkey. The Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrated the United States’ use of the policy of containment because the United States issued a quarantine of Cuba and also entered in diplomatic talks with the Soviet Union to try to halt the conflict. However the Cuban Missile Crisis also demonstrated how containment was not successful because despite how friendly the two leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States became Cuba still became a communist