Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
This article is about the United States policy. For other 1 Early uses
uses, see Containment (disambiguation).
Containment is a military strategy to stop the expansion Although the term containment was rst used for the
strategy in the 1940s, there were major historical precedents familiar to Americans and Europeans. In the 1850s
anti-slavery forces in the United States developed a containment strategy (they did not use the word) for stopping
the expansion of slavery and forcing its collapse. Historian James Oakes explains the strategy:
The federal government would surround the
south with free states, free territories, and
free waters, building what they called a 'cordon of freedom' around slavery, hemming it
in until the systems own internal weaknesses
forced the slave states one by one to abandon
slavery.[1]
Following the 1917 communist revolution in Russia,
there were calls by Western leaders to isolate the
Bolshevik government, which seemed intent on promoting worldwide revolution. In March 1919, French Premier Georges Clemenceau called for a cordon sanitaire,
or ring of non-communist states, to isolate the Soviet
Union. Translating this phrase, U.S. President Woodrow
Wilson called for a quarantine. Both phrases compare
A 1962 nuclear explosion as seen through the periscope of a U.S. communism to a contagious disease. The U.S. refused
Navy submarine. The goal was to contain Communist expansion to recognize the Soviet Union, but President Franklin D.
Roosevelt reversed the policy in 1933, hoping to expand
without a nuclear war.
American export markets. The Munich Agreement of
1938 was an attempt to contain Nazi expansion in Europe; it failed. The U.S. tried to contain Japanese expanof an enemy. It is best known as the Cold War policy of
sion in Asia in 1937-41, and Japan reacted with its attack
the United States and its allies to prevent the spread of
on Pearl Harbor.[2]
communism abroad. A component of the Cold War, this
policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet After Germany invaded the USSR in 1941 during the
Union to enlarge communist inuence in Eastern Europe, World War II, the U.S. and the Soviet Union found themChina, Korea, Africa, and Vietnam. Containment rep- selves allied in opposition to Germany. The policy was
resented a middle-ground position between detente and rollback to destroy Germany and Japan.
rollback, but it let the opponent choose the place and time
of any confrontation.
2 Origin (19441947)
The basis of the doctrine was articulated in a 1946 cable by U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan during the postWWII administration of U.S. President Harry Truman.
As a description of U.S. foreign policy, the word originated in a report Kennan submitted to U.S. Defense Secretary James Forrestal in 1947, a report that was later
used in a magazine article. It is a translation of the French
cordon sanitaire, used to describe Western policy toward
the Soviet Union in the 1920s.
Key State Department personnel grew increasingly frustrated with and suspicious of the Soviets as the war
drew to a close. Averell Harriman, U.S. ambassador in
Moscow, once a conrmed optimist regarding U.S.Soviet relations,[3] was disillusioned by what he saw as
the Soviet betrayal of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising as well
as by violations of the February 1945 Yalta Agreement
1
concerning Poland.[4] Harriman would later have a signif- was not something he believed the United States could
icant inuence in forming Trumans views on the Soviet necessarily achieve everywhere successfully.[14]
Union.[5]
In February 1946, the U.S. State Department asked
George F. Kennan, then at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow,
3 Harry Truman (194553)
why the Russians opposed the creation of the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund. He responded with
a wide-ranging analysis of Russian policy now called the After Republicans gained control of Congress in the 1946
elections, President Truman, a Democrat, made a draLong Telegram:[6]
matic speech that is often used to mark the beginning of
According to Kennan:
the Cold War. In March 1947, he requested that Congress
appropriate $400 million in aid to the Greek and Turk The Soviets perceived themselves to be in a state of ish governments, then ghting Communist subversion.[15]
perpetual war with capitalism;
Truman pledged to, support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by
The Soviets would use controllable Marxists in the outside pressures.[15] This pledge became known as the
capitalist world as allies;
Truman Doctrine. Portraying the issue as a mighty clash
Soviet aggression was not aligned with the views of between totalitarian regimes and free peoples, the
the Russian people or with economic reality, but speech marks the adoption of containment as ocial U.S.
policy. Congress appropriated the money.
with historic Russian xenophobia and paranoia;
Trumans motives on this occasion have been the sub The Soviet governments structure prevented objec- ject of considerable scholarship and several schools of
tive or accurate pictures of internal and external re- interpretation. In the orthodox explanation of Herbert
ality.
Feis, a series of aggressive Soviet actions in 194547
in Poland, Iran, Turkey and elsewhere awakened the
Kennans cable was hailed in the State Department as American public to this new danger to freedom and Truthe appreciation of the situation that had long been man responded.[16] In the revisionist view of William
needed.[8] Kennan himself attributed the enthusiastic Appleman Williams, Trumans speech was an expresreception to timing: Six months earlier the message sion of longstanding American expansionism.[16] In the
would probably have been received in the State Depart- realpolitik view of Lynn Davis, Truman was a naive idement with raised eyebrows and lips pursed in disap- alist who unnecessarily provoked the Soviets by couching
proval. Six months later, it would probably have sounded disputes in terms like democracy and freedom that were
redundant.[8] Clark Cliord and George Elsey produced alien to the Communist vision.[17]
a report elaborating on the Long Telegram and propos- According to psychological analysis by Deborah Larson,
ing concrete policy recommendations based on its anal- Truman felt a need to prove his decisiveness and feared
ysis. This report, which recommended restraining and that aides would make unfavorable comparisons between
conning Soviet inuence, was presented to Truman on
him and his predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt.[18] I am
September 24, 1946.[9]
here to make decisions, and whether they prove right
In January 1947, Kennan drafted an essay entitled "The
Sources of Soviet Conduct.[6] Navy Secretary James V.
Forrestal gave permission for the report to be published in
the journal Foreign Aairs under the pseudonym X.[10]
Biographer Douglas Brinkley has dubbed Forrestal godfather of containment on account of his work in distributing Kennans writing.[11] The use of the word containment originates from this so-called X Article": In
these circumstances it is clear that the main element of
any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must
be that of long-term, patient but rm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.[12]
Kennan later turned against the containment policy and
noted several deciencies in his X Article. He later said
that by containment he meant not the containment of Soviet Power by military means of a military threat, but the
political containment of a political threat. [13] Second,
Kennan admitted a failure in the article to specify the geographical scope of containment, and that containment
3
challenge of Communism taking control of Greece. He
won wide support from both parties as well as experts in
foreign policy inside and outside the government. It was
strongly opposed by the Left, as represented by former
Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who ran against Truman in the 1948 presidential campaign.[25]
10
Cuba
SEE ALSO
11
13
12
Further reading
13
External links
EXTERNAL LINKS
14
14.1
Containment Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Containment?oldid=668894928 Contributors: Andre Engels, SimonP, Stevertigo, Edward, Boud, Kwertii, Ixfd64, Ellywa, Darkwind, Schutz, Jmabel, Lowellian, Hadal, Ferkelparade, Neilc, Formeruser-81, Antandrus,
Kingal86, D6, Michael Alaly, Paul August, Bender235, ESkog, El C, Pearle, Perceval, Mdd, Msh210, Gary, Anthony Appleyard, Abe
Lincoln, Redmage, Yummifruitbat, Snowolf, Wtmitchell, Dhartung, Mikeo, MIT Trekkie, Zereshk, Kelly Martin, Scriberius, WadeSimMiser, Magister Mathematicae, Rjwilmsi, Ansend, Nobs, Tawker, Nneonneo, Exeunt, FlaBot, RexNL, President Rhapsody, Butros,
Simesa, Roboto de Ajvol, YurikBot, Kauner, Nobs01, Stephenb, Ksyrie, Rsrikanth05, ZacBowling, CJK, Rjensen, Howcheng, Mshecket,
Cholmes75, BBnet3000, Aaron Schulz, Everyguy, Davidizer13, Mike Selinker, SMcCandlish, GraemeL, Curpsbot-unicodify, Hirudo,
Blue mun89, Teryx, Pankkake, SmackBot, Unschool, InverseHypercube, McGeddon, Archangel1054, Pgk, Aivazovsky, Filius Rosadis,
Persian Poet Gal, Jprg1966, Hibernian, Colonies Chris, Famspear, Tsca.bot, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, TheKMan, Flubbit, Engwar,
Nakon, Dreadstar, Wkerney, BullRangifer, Weregerbil, Krasnayaarmiya, Will Beback, Nishkid64, Tazmaniacs, Shaoquan, Ckatz, JHunterJ,
Special-T, Kevin W., Levineps, Muro, UncleDouggie, Civil Engineer III, Courcelles, Tawkerbot2, MFG~enwiki, Vints, Basawala, MiamiDolphins3, Zack3rdbb, NickW557, Joshuamonkey, Hemlock Martinis, Sopoforic, Cydebot, Kallerdis, Flowerpotman, Tec15, Mannyt, Trident13, Imperator Honorius, Rougher07, Epbr123, Biruitorul, Marek69, JustAGal, Heroeswithmetaphors, Beagle84, Thadius856,
Mrodowicz, Hires an editor, AntiVandalBot, Gkhan, Aetarasirhc, MelanieN, Ryan4314, Toutoune25, Magioladitis, Bongwarrior, VoABot
II, KConWiki, Catgut, BLethat, DerHexer, MartinBot, CliC, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Bogey97, Bandieros, Mufka, 2help, Gtg204y,
TWCarlson, Funandtrvl, VolkovBot, VmanBG, Philip Trueman, Jacob Lundberg, Bunny.3, Anna Lincoln, DennyColt, Broadbot, PGWG,
Wheasley, Ganadi, RJaguar3, Grimey109, XCBert, Hobartimus, TheCatalyst31, Atif.t2, ClueBot, LAX, GorillaWarfare, The Thing That
Should Not Be, Doc1978, Afrique, CounterVandalismBot, Puchiko, Ktr101, Excirial, Gwguey, Iohannes Animosus, Moge20, Redjello979, Thingg, Dynesclan, AndreNatas, SilvonenBot, Kodster, Addbot, Proofreader77, Some jerk on the Internet, Kat11589, Tcncv, Tom
Ketchum, Jncraton, Laurinavicius, Download, Bassbonerocks, 5 albert square, Wilkoenm, I am hot2, Tide rolls, Lightbot, Frehley, Luckasbot, Yobot, Granpu, KamikazeBot, RonaldSmif, AnomieBOT, Andrewrp, FloydSmif, DemocraticLuntz, TwistedMango, Kingpin13,
Qwertzy, Racconish, ArthurBot, Phillip64, Gsmgm, JimVC3, Tomwsulcer, Srich32977, Carrite, Eugene-elgato, Operdyne7, Captainn00dle, Jeremy94117, FrescoBot, LucienBOT, Wikipe-tan, Sangmin082, Hoo man, Damastaryu, Fumitol, Dude1818, Clarkcj12, Weedwhacker128, Howief (WMF), Mr.Trumpet1991, EmausBot, WikitanvirBot, Heracles31, Tvtrojan11, Liamwillco, Tommy2010, Pimpdaddywesleywest69, ZroBot, Josve05a, Gakzilla48, Supernova3, Ubikwit, Donner60, TheTimesAreAChanging, ClueBot NG, Cntras, Widr,
Kingtuck, BG19bot, Ishmealex, MusikAnimal, CimanyD, MartinZwirlein, Dissident93, Builtiger, ColaXtra, Acetotyce, 00100000ZU,
Scarlettail, Point Four, Eolith, Kburga, Username24601, KasparBot, The Amazing Hunter, Jonny Poops and Anonymous: 477
14.2
Images
14.3
Content license