US & USSR
From Allies to Enemies
From “Iron Curtain” Speech to
Truman Doctrine
Winston Churchill & Fulton Speech
March 1946
Fulton, Missouri
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across
the continent.”
Churchill’s Messages
USSR building an empire in Eastern Europe
US cannot sit idly and, worse still, return to
isolationism
From “Iron Curtain” Speech to
Truman Doctrine
Winston Churchill & Fulton Speech
March 1946
Fulton, Missouri
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron
curtain has descended across the continent.”
Churchill’s Messages
USSR building an empire in Eastern Europe
US cannot sit idly and, worse still, return to isolationism
US should stop entertaining the idea of post-war
cooperation with the USSR
From “Iron Curtain” Speech to
Truman Doctrine
Truman Doctrine
March 12, 1947
$400 million as eco & military aid to Greece &
Turkey
Help free people maintain institutions, nat’l
integrity
Official pronouncement of containment policy
From Allies to Enemies
What went wrong?
Why couldn’t West-USSR continue wartime
collaboration in post-war years?
Russian historical experience
Mongol invasion (13th and 14th centuries)
Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion (1812)
British & French invasion of Crimea (1854-1856)
Japan took Russian interest in Far East (1905)
From Allies to Enemies
Russian historical experience
Western hostility towards the Soviet Russia (1917-
1921)
A cordon sanitaire in eastern Europe to check spread
of Soviet system
British appeasement towards Hitler
The Munich agreement
Japanese attack in east Russia (1939)
German invasion (WWI & WWII)
Delay of second front in W Europe
US possession of nuclear bombs
Churchill’s Fulton speech
From Allies to Enemies
Russian Geopolitical Concerns
Unprotected by natural barriers such as
oceans or mountains
Vulnerable to invasions from several
directions
Enormous territorial size makes int’l
cohesion, communication & transportation
difficult
Policy implications
Territorial expansion as a means of national defense
Expand spheres of influence
Build pro-Soviet regimes
From Allies to Enemies
Russian Security & State
Obsession with security & militarism
Military for defense and expansion purposes
Leninist Party-state & authoritarianism
Centralization of power
Soviet Communist Party
Joseph Stalin
Russian foreign policy & expansionism
Power top priority
Territorial security
Self-reliance
Distrust of other countries
From Allies to Enemies
Soviet Ideology
Marxist class struggle
Internally, struggle btwn bourgeoisie & proletariat
Int’lly, struggle btwn capitalist West & socialist
states
Soviet mission to liberate the entire humankind
from capitalism
Western attempt to overthrow socialist states
George Kennan & Containment
Irreconcilable conflict of interest btwn USSR & West
Irreversible confrontation bwtn USSR & West
Ideologically, USSR to bury capitalist West
From Allies to Enemies
George Kennan & Containment
Russian historical experience & cultural heritage
sustaining USSR hostility towards the West
USSR strategy: no hurry to disrupt the status quo
American response: “long-term, patient, but firm and
vigilant containment”
Feasibility of Containment
US patience and persistence necessary
West in control of 4 of the 5 industrial centers
1947 & Truman Doctrine
US determination to confront Soviet expansionism
US farewell to isolationism