The Cold War was the time period after WWII from 1946 to 1991. It was between The United States, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union. A great portion of this war happens in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union attempts to set up communist governments throughout Europe and parts of Asia. The United States tries to counter the acts of the Soviet’s by containing the spread of communism by putting a policy called “containment” in place and by this being put in place Europe will eventually become democratic.
In Eastern Europe there were many attempts to spread Communism. The USSR liberated Poland and Czechoslovakia from German occupation. The Soviets also occupied Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary who were all allies of Nazi Germany before occupying eastern Germany. As a result, these areas fell under Soviet influence. In the years immediately following World War II, the USSR established Soviet style Communist governments in these countries. The USSR maintained a strong military presence in these countries throughout the Cold War. The Soviets also developed strong economic relationships with these countries by helping them rebuild after the war.
To counter the spread of Communism the use put a policy in place called containment”. This policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to increase communist influence in Europe and Asia. The U.S. used multiple strategies like creating alliances or support to help weak countries to resist Soviet advances. The U.S. felt if more countries started to fall to Communism then other countries would fall almost like a domino effect. The U.S. poured money into the European countries so the majority of people did not turn to communism.
The containment policy was a success even though it failed in places like Vietnam and Cuba but It was successful in Europe and Korea. Considering that Communism didn’t spread any further I would say containment was a success. The containment policy didn’t allow communism to spread to Eastern Europe and other parts of Asia. The containment policy kept communism where it was and didn’t allow it to advance.
Communism ended in 1991. After a surprising series of events between 1989 and 1991 communism collapsed under its own weight. Communist governments lost power, first in Poland. There were demands for reform spread across East Germany this led to the end of the Berlin wall and the coming together of East and West Germany.
The failure of a communist-led decision against Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union in August 1991 ended the party’s control of the military and government.
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