How did the USA react to Soviet Expansion?
The western powers were alarmed by Stalin’s takeover of eastern Europe
Roosevelt, Churchill and their successors had accepted that Soviets
needed security from eastern Europe
- They had agreed that eastern Europe would be a Soviet “sphere of
influence” and that Stalin would be allowed to influence the countries
--However, they didn’t expect total domination, they thought that
democratic governments should have been able to live side by side
Stalin saw his policy with Eastern Europe as security, but Truman could
only see the spread of communism
By 1948 Greece and Czechoslovakia were the only Eastern countries not
under USSR control.
To America it seemed that France and Italy were vulnerable to
communism takeover
Greece 1947
When the Germans retreated from Greece in 1944, the monarchists
and the communists were both groups wanting to rule the country
Both had been involved in the resistance against the Nazis
The Communists wanted Greece to be a Soviet republic
The monarchists wanted the return of the king to Greece
Churchill sent British troops to supposedly supervise free elections,
when actually they supported the monarchists and helped the king get
back on the throne
In 1946, the USSR told the United Nations that British troops were a
threat to Greece
The UN did nothing and so the communists tried force
A civil war developed
The British couldn’t afford this and announced on 24 th February 1947
that they were withdrawing their troops
The Americans funded some British troops so that they could stay in
Greece and help the royalists stay in ower
By 1950, the royalists were in power but they were very weak and
always in crisis
The Truman Doctrine
American intervention in Greece marked a new era in the USA’s
attitude to world politics, which became known as “the Truman
Doctrine”
Under this Doctrine the USA would send money, equipment and advice
which was, in the American view, threatened by communism
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