Spreading American values and culture has always been the goal of the nation since the very beginning of World War I. This interest in spreading democracy and later on encouraging a capatilistic world, helped to fuel both WWII and the Cold War. In this attempt to make the world more safe for democracy to exist, the U.S. started its own battle with communism. Additional efforts extended a helping hand to European nations which desperately needed the help after falling apart post Cold War. Examples supporting this are the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. This informally changed American foregin policy in regrard to the U.S.S.R. No longer was the U.S. trying to build relations with the nation or suggest friendship (detente), but rather preferred a policy of containment of the U.S.S.R’s expansion.
How did the Cold War start? Who started it and for what reason it was fought are all questions which are important, but can all pretty much be answered by one word: containment. The fear of the spread of communism as the U.S.S.R expanded posed a direct threat to the U.S. In accordance with American ideals and capitalism, a world with safe choice of communism would possibly even create an uproar in the U.S. as well. In order to prevent this from happening, American foreign policy in Europe changed quickly.
As I read through your post I kept wrinkling my forehead in confusion. It seems very strange to claim that “spreading democracy and encouraging a capitalistic world helped fuel both WWII and the Cold War.” Firstly, America didn’t join WWII until December of 1941 (after Pearl Harbor). This whole idea of making the world more safe for “democracy” has resulted in more conflicts than ever. Nor was it a helping hand but rather a profitable hand (the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan helped pull America out of the Great Depression in tandem with the military action). As far as the spread of communism being a threat to American ideals, they were a threat to American consumerism and potential international markets, the Soviets barely took care of their own people in their country’s capital, they surely weren’t going to reach the shores of America. Economics plays a much bigger role in politics than you may have been led to believe, the very reason why “Change” is so hard to achieve in this nation.
I like your post however one thing, i don’t think communism started world war two it was just a major factor as to why america joined world war 2. Communism was a huge factor in the mid 1900’s and has caused many problems throughout recent history. It is hard to believe that a way a country runs its government can cause war and millions of peoples death