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US Cold War Strategy Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

US Cold War Strategy notes

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

The Policy of Contai­nment

Origins of Contai­nment
Contai­nment was first articu­lated by George F. Kennan, a U.S. diplomat, in his 1946 "Long Telegr­am" and the 1947 "X Articl­e" published in Foreign Affairs.
 
Kennan argued that the Soviet Union was inherently expans­ionist and that the U.S. should focus on preventing the spread of communism to other nations.
Truman Doctrine (1947)
Announced by President Harry S. Truman, the doctrine committed the U.S. to providing military and economic assistance to countries resisting communist aggres­sion, beginning with Greece and Turkey.
 
It marked the official start of U.S. contai­nment policy and set the stage for future interv­entions in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.
Marshall Plan (1948)
The Marshall Plan provided $13 billion in economic aid to help rebuild Western European economies after World War II, with the aim of preventing the spread of communism by stabil­izing the region.
 
It was instru­mental in the recovery of Europe and in streng­thening U.S. alliances against the Soviet Union.

Military Alliances and Confro­nta­tions

NATO (1949)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organi­zation (NATO) was establ­ished as a military alliance between the U.S., Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet threat.
 
NATO was central to the U.S. strategy of deterr­ence, ensuring that an attack on one member would be met with a response from all.
The Korean War (1950-­1953)
The Korean War was the first signif­icant military conflict of the Cold War, with the U.S. and its allies supporting South Korea against the communist forces of North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union and China.
 
The war ended in a stalemate, but it reinforced the U.S. commitment to containing communism in Asia and set a precedent for U.S. involv­ement in future conflicts like Vietnam.
The Vietnam War (1955-­1975)
The Vietnam War was a protracted conflict in which the U.S. sought to prevent the communist takeover of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
 
The war was deeply contro­versial and ultimately ended in failure for the U.S., leading to a reasse­ssment of contai­nment strategy and U.S. foreign policy.
 

The Arms Race & Nuclear Strategy

The Nuclear Arms Race
The Cold War saw a massive buildup of nuclear weapons by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union, leading to a state of mutually assured destru­ction (MAD).
 
Key events included the Soviet Union’s first successful atomic bomb test in 1949, the develo­pment of the hydrogen bomb, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Eisenh­ower’s "New Look" Policy
President Dwight D. Eisenh­ower’s "New Look" policy emphasized the importance of nuclear deterrence over conven­tional forces, focusing on the idea that a strong nuclear arsenal would deter Soviet aggres­sion.
 
This policy also sought to reduce military spending by relying on nuclear weapons as the primary means of defense.
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
Proposed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, SDI (often called "Star Wars") was a plan to develop a missile defense system that could protect the U.S. from a nuclear attack.
 
While the initiative faced signif­icant technical challenges and was never fully realized, it repres­ented a shift in U.S. strategy towards defense rather than just deterr­ence.

Shifts in Strategy: Détente & Rollback

Détente (1969-­1979)
Détente was a period of reduced tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, marked by diplomatic efforts to avoid nuclear conflict and promote peaceful coexis­tence.
 
Key events included the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I and II), the Helsinki Accords, and the opening of diplomatic relations with China.
Rollback Strategy
Rollback referred to a more aggressive approach that sought to reduce Soviet influence by supporting anti-c­omm­unist movements and insurg­encies in various countries.
 
The Reagan Doctrine, implem­ented in the 1980s, was a form of rollback, where the U.S. provided support to anti-c­omm­unist resistance movements in places like Afghan­istan, Nicaragua, and Angola.
Impact of Détente and Rollback
Détente eased Cold War tensions tempor­arily, but its decline in the late 1970s led to a return to more confro­nta­tional policies under the Reagan admini­str­ation.
 
The rollback strategy contri­buted to the strain on the Soviet Union’s resources and its eventual collapse.
 

The End of the Cold War

Gorbac­hev’s Reforms
Mikhail Gorbac­hev’s policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perest­roika (restr­uct­uring) in the mid-1980s aimed to reform the Soviet system but inadve­rtently accele­rated its decline.
 
Gorbachev also sought to reduce Cold War tensions through arms control agreem­ents, such as the Interm­edi­ate­-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 1987.
The Collapse of the Soviet Union
A combin­ation of economic stagna­tion, nation­alist movements within the Soviet republics, and external pressure from U.S. policies led to the dissol­ution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
 
The end of the Cold War marked the triumph of U.S. contai­nment strategy, though it also left the U.S. with new challenges in the post-Cold War world.

Legacy of U.S. Cold War Strategy

Global Impact
The Cold War shaped U.S. foreign policy for nearly half a century, leading to extensive military, economic, and political commit­ments around the world.
 
The legacy of U.S. Cold War strategy can be seen in ongoing alliances like NATO, as well as in the persis­tence of military engage­ments and interv­entions in regions like the Middle East.
Lessons Learned
The Cold War demons­trated the dangers of nuclear prolif­eration and the importance of diplomacy and intern­ational cooper­ation in preventing global conflict.
 
It also highli­ghted the comple­xities of interv­ent­ionism, partic­ularly in cases where U.S. involv­ement in foreign conflicts led to long-term instab­ility and backlash.