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THE COLD WAR AND ITS IMPACTS (CONTINUED):Truman Doctrine, Marshal Plan

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International Relations-PSC 201
VU
LESSON 21
THE COLD WAR AND ITS IMPACTS (CONTINUED)
Cold War in Europe
The October Revolution of 1917 had sowed the seeds of Communism in Europe. The Soviet Union's
ambitions were checked by the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany.
The Soviets agreed to join France, Britain and the US to check the power of the fascists during WWII. At
the end of WWII however, tensions grew between the former Allies over dividing the spoils of war. The
Soviets were reluctant to grant Poland independence and did not want to vacate their troops from eastern
Germany. Communism spread to Poland and led to East Germany.
The Cold War intensified in the next few years and the Soviets managed to install Communist regimes in
Bulgaria, Hungary and in Romania. Thereafter, Albania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia also came under
the influence of the Soviets and Finland's coalition government was also dominated by the Communists.
Europe was thus divided into two blocks: the Eastern block controlled by the Soviets and the Western
block backed by the US. The post-WWII outbreak of conflict in Greece between the government and the
Communist guerillas was a turning point in US foreign policy, when President Truman vowed to check the
Soviet influence and to actively protect its foreign interests abroad.
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was meant to fill the vacuum in power politics created by the weakening of Britain so
as to prevent the global domination of Communism.
The Truman Doctrine offered direct assistance to Greece and to Turkey to check Communist influence and
bypassed even the UN mechanism (a trend which was to reoccur in later years).
Marshal Plan
The Marshal Plan (named after the US Secretary of Defense) was an extension of the Truman Doctrine to
protect (western) Europe from economic collapse and communist domination.
Aid under the Marshal Plan was used to reconstruct war ravaged Europe and it became the basis for lending
for development to newly independent countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Expansion of the Cold War Arena
Communism also spread to China with the initial backing of Soviets. The disposed Chiang Kai Sek
government was exiled to Formosa, which is now Taiwan. The spread of Communism to China also lent
support to North Korea, where the US backed the South Koreans. Soviet support to the North Vietnamese
led to more serious US engagement in the conflict, due to the fear that Cambodia, Laos, Burma and
Thailand could also become Communist. Despite sending up to 600,000 troops to Vietnam by 1965, the
North Vietnamese won the battle with support of China and the Soviets.
In the M.E, the US provided active support to the Israelis but the Soviets were not able to influence the ME
conflict to its advantage. In Latin America, the Soviet influence in Cuban and Nicaragua made the US very
nervous and it supported brutal regimes like that of Pinochet in Chile to prevent its fall to communist
influence.
The Congo, Ghana and Gold Coast got military and financial aid from the Soviets, which also led the US to
take counter measures in Africa. In South Asia, besides Indian leaning towards the Soviet and the Pakistani
inclination towards the US, the invasion of Afghanistan became a major Cold War arena for a proxy war
between the Superpowers.
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International Relations-PSC 201
VU
Relevant Vocabulary
Exiled: expelled, being thrown out of a country
Regime: government
Counter measures: measures taken in reaction to those of the opponent
Fascist: totalitarian, dictatorial (for e.g. Italy and Germany around the WWII period)
Bypass: to sideline or ignore
Suggested Readings
Students are advised to read the following chapters to develop a better understanding of the various
principals highlighted in this hand-out:
Chapter 6 in `"A Study of International Relations" by Dr. Sultan Khan
Internet Resources
In addition to reading from the textbook, please visit the following web-pages for this lecture, which
provide useful and interesting information:
The Cold War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War
Table of Contents:
  1. WHAT IS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND WHAT IS ITS RELEVANCE?
  2. APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: THEORIES IN IR
  3. APPROACHES TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:Traditional Approach
  4. THE NATION-STATE SYSTEM:Further Evolution of Nation-State
  5. THE NATION STATE SYSTEM: BASIC FEATURES OF A NATION-STATE
  6. NATIONAL INTEREST:Criteria for Defining National Interest
  7. NATIONAL INTEREST:Variations in National Interest, Relevant Vocabulary
  8. BALANCE OF POWER (BOP):BoP from a historical perspective
  9. BALANCE OF POWER (CONTINUED):Degree of Polarization, Functions of BoP
  10. DIPLOMACY:How Diplomacy Functions, Traditional Versus Modern Diplomacy
  11. DIPLOMACY (CONTINUED):Diplomatic Procedures & Practices, Functions of Diplomacy
  12. COLONIALISM, NEO-COLONIALISM & IMPERIALISM:Judging Colonization
  13. COLONIALISM, NEO-COLONIALISM & IMPERIALISM:Types of Neo-Colonialism
  14. COLONIALISM, NEO-COLONIALISM & IMPERIALISM:Objectives of Imperialism
  15. NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER:Criticism of IEO, NIEO Activities
  16. NEW INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER:Prerequisites for the NIEO
  17. NON-ALIGNMENT MOVEMENT:Origin of NAM, NAM’s Institutional Structure
  18. NON-ALIGNMENT MOVEMENT (CONTINUED):Cairo Summit, Egypt - 1964
  19. NON-ALIGNMENT MOVEMENT:Criticism of NAM, NAM and Pakistan
  20. THE COLD WAR AND ITS IMPACTS - INTRODUCING THE COLD WAR PHENOMENON
  21. THE COLD WAR AND ITS IMPACTS (CONTINUED):Truman Doctrine, Marshal Plan
  22. THE COLD WAR AND ITS IMPACTS (CONTINUED):End of the Cold War
  23. DISARMAMENT AND ARMS CONTROL:History of Disarmament
  24. DISARMAMENT AND ARMS CONTROL (CONTINUED):Other Disarmament Efforts
  25. THE RELEVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
  26. THE RELEVANCE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (CONTINUED)
  27. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:Need for IGOs, Categorizing IGOs
  28. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (CONTINUED):United Nations, Criticism of the UN
  29. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (CONTINUED):European Union, World Bank
  30. THE ROLE OF DECISION MAKING IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
  31. DECISION MAKING (CONTINUED):Rational Actor Model, Group Politics Model
  32. SYSTEMS APPROACH TO IR:Underlying Assumptions, Elements of the System
  33. SYSTEMS BASED APPROACH (CONTINUED) – DISTINCT SYSTEMS IN IR
  34. LIBERALISM AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY:Neoliberalism
  35. LIBERALISM AND SOCIAL DEMOCRACY (CONTINUED):Liberalism vs. Social Democracy
  36. INTEGRATION IN IR:Preconditions for Integration, Assessing Integration
  37. GLOBALIZATION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS:Advocates of Globalization
  38. THE GLOBAL DIVIDE:World Social Forum, Can the Global Divide Be Bridged?
  39. FOCUS ON FOREIGN INVESTMENTS:Pro-poor Foreign Investments
  40. CONFLICT AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION:Components of a Conflict
  41. CONFLICT RESOLUTION:Creative response, Appropriate assertiveness
  42. THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT:Global Concern for the Environment
  43. THE GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT:Environmental Concerns and IR, Some Other Issues
  44. HOW IR DIFFER FROM DOMESTIC POLITICS?:Strategies for altering state behavior
  45. CHANGE AND IR:Continuity in IR, Causality and counterfactuals, IR in a nutshell