American History

Communism, also known as Marxism or Revolutionary Proletarian Socialism is a philosophy which is both political and economic. It refers to the collective ownership of resources available. In communism, there is equality in the distribution of property to all. Wealth and resources are held at one point where they can be accessed and used by all. It leads to the development of Communist Manifesto which was written by Frederich Engels and Karl Marx. The manifesto caused violent revolution in most areas. It has been believed that communism is just a theoretical state and it does not exist.

Containment (also known as foreign policy) is the process of checking the influences of an ideology which is considered powerful. It prevents the expansion of such thoughts hence protecting the interests of the people.

Truman Doctrine 1945-1990
The Truman Doctrine was established on 12th March, 1947 by President Harry Truman to offer assistance to the war torn countries in Europe. During this period, the Soviet Union forced the weak governments to equally share control of the Dardanelle Straits. Following withdrawal of aid by Britain, the United States took over to assist Greece and Turkey (Sexton, para. 1). There was fear of spread of communism to Iran and India. This prompted the establishment of the Truman Doctrine in a joint congress meeting.

The Marshal Plan
The Marshal Plan (or European Recovery Plan) was approved in 1947 in the US by the congress. Its main purpose was to assist in rebuilding of Europe immediately after the World War 2 ended. It was enacted by the US Secretary of State, George Marshall. He was assisted by George Kennan and William Clayton. The Marshall Plan prevented chaos and improved the agricultural productivity and economic stability.

Most of the assistance was in form of grants which were distributed in installments in a span of three years. This occurred from July 1948 to June 1951. The allocation was carried out by the U.S. board which was in Europe under what was known as Economic Cooperation Agency (ECA). The ECA received requests from the different countries which were in need of goods to be delivered. Evaluations were then done by the ECA depending on priorities.

The marshal plan proved to be consistent compared to other programs which were established. It was established in order to get rid of these ineffective programs. The Economic Recovery Plan had a centralized administration hence ease of grants allotment.

The NATO
The Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was signed to enhance a collective defense system during an attack. This was on April 4th 1949. It was integrated to involve different military structures.

The Cuban Missile Crisis
The United States felt threatened after suspecting the presence of weapons in Cuba. In October 1962, proof of evidence was sought and found. The photographs of the missile sites were presented to President Kennedy by McGoerge Bundy. These lead to cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet.

The arms race
This was a competition for supremacy between the Soviet Union, the United States and other nations involving nuclear warfare at the time of cold war. Most countries produced nuclear weapons during this period. The supremacy was more between the Soviet and the U.S.

Collapse of the Soviet Union
The collapse of the Soviet Union began in 1985 resulting into formation of independent nations. The reasons for its collapse were economic and political factors. These were due to the aftermath of the war. For a long time, the Soviet Union competed with the west. When the Soviet Union lost the arms race, this marked the beginning of its collapse. The Soviet consumers could not also benefit from the local goods since the military took their control. Most of their goods were also poor in quality hence could not meet the international standards. Secondly, poor policies which failed affected the people, the Afghanistan war. Thirdly, propaganda warfare led to political instability and mistrust among the people.

Communism exists currently with various nations fighting over the control of resources.