Containment after World War II

Immediately following the World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as two conflicting super powers. In the stir of this development, a fresh national defense rule was required by the United States to contain the Soviet Union. Its focus was in the premise that the Soviets were aiming to inflict absolute authority over the world, and the United States had to confront that issue. This resulted in disagreement between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In reaction to the developments, the United States adopted the Doctrine of Containment as a pillar of its hard policy following the World War II to manage the spread of Soviet authority outside its borders and thwart the extend of communism. The author of the doctrine, George F. Kennan, suggested that a permanent, patient, but firm and watchful containment of Russian extensive tendencies. Containment became a famous feature of the Truman Doctrine that hardened the United States' position concerning containment. It was further strengthened by the introduction of the Marshall Plan in which the United States offered huge financial aid to Europe in order to preempt such financial conditions the Communism thrives.

Grounds for conflict between the United States and the Soviet are that both nations emerged as two significant world powers soon after World War II, and both were determined to play in a leading position in the global matters. In addition, the two nations represented the conflicting spectrums of political ideologies. This reality put them on a lane of conflict. The soviets wish to set up their sphere of influence in the Eastern Europe. The United States hit back by issuing the Truman Doctrine in which it gave the United States powers to respond to anti-communist forces in the nations controlled by communists. The Soviet experimenting of the atomic bomb in 1949 and its unspoken approval of a North Korean assault on South Korea further soured the associations between the two countries. The Vietnam conflict in which the United States interceded militarily to prevent a communist control of the nation was another cause of conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union (Bell, 2001).