Consequences of the Truman Doctrine

Question 1

1st consequence

Answer 1

The first effect was that the Truman Doctrine was highly successful in providing sufficient economic aid to war-torn Europe facing an economic crisis in 1947 preventing the spread of communism

• When Britain was unable to provide military support to the Greek government against communist guerrillas, Truman took action
• The USA realized that unless conditions improved, there was a high chance that communism could come to power, since it advocated sharing out the wealth of the richest people, appealing to the poorer members of society
• Therefore, an economic aid package was given to Greece and Turkey where the USA would provide $400 million in aid and send American civilian and military personnel to the region, which had highly successful outcomes

Question 2

2nd consequence

Answer 2

The second effect of the Truman Doctrine was that it showed the world was now divided according to ideology and that the two sides could not cooperate distinguishing the end of the Grand Alliance and the beginning of the Cold War.

• Truman believed choosing democracy over communism was like choosing good over evil
• He said communism should not grow and that the USA was prepared to send troops and economic aid to those countries trying to resist it
• Before WWII, the USA had followed a policy of isolationism which was now replaced with containment, setting up the USA as the leader of the fight against communism

-> indicated the beginning of a new approach to international relations where communism and capitalism could not coincide