What Was The Impact Of The Truman Doctrine On The Cold War

Assess the impact of the Truman Doctrine on the development of the Cold War in the period to 1953
Intro: In march 1947, President Truman announced the Truman Doctrine to the US Congress. The Doctrine contained the principle of containment. It was of the utmost fundamental importance after its introduction as it proved to be the basis of US foreign policy for the next forty years. In the period to 1953, the Truman Doctrine was to have a major impact on events in Europe and Asia, and in the general conduct of the Cold War. IT ensured a period of continuing antagonism (resentment) with the Soviet Union.

Some background will be needed on the Truman Doctrine
Brief mention of Greece and Britain’s weak state:
The situation in Greece brought
Kim II Sung acted without prompting the Soviet as he believed a rapid surprise attack would bring victory and allow him to unite the country under communist rule
US General Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the UN force which comprised from 15 countries  china was worrying about a possible invasion from these forces and therefore they met with the Chinese red army, pushing the UN forces back to the 38th parallel
Briefly describe the actions of North Korea
North Korean troops invaded the south and were very successful  by sept they had pushed back southern forces to the Pusan perimeter
Northern Korean troops retreated after Macarthur landed troops behind North Korean lines near Seoul as they feared entrapment
Introduce Truman’s response on the basis of the Truman Doctrine
As part of the Truman doctrine, no communist attack could go unanswered, thus entering a war against the North was therefore “containment in action”
Truman decided to limit the war to securing South Korea  the doctrine states that the US will only help those who have not already succumbed to communism, and the North and China was already communist therefore Truman wanted to stop at securing the
As Macarthur approached the Yalu river, 300000 Red army Chinese troops crossed from China to Korea and Un forces were pushed down to the 38th parallel
Macarthur had visions of going further in the war whereas Truman wanted to focus on securing South Korea, and therefore MacArthur went against Truman’s head and personally threatened China, and for this he was sacked
Armistice talks continued for 2 years while a bloody war of attrition continued
The Truman Doctrine manifested itself in other ways. The containment of communism was to be achieved not only by means of specific military action (Korea) and dramatic intervention (Berlin). The Doctrine also envisaged this occurring in other ways
Forming alliances against communist expansionism
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, before US joined it was known as the Brussels treaty
ANZUS: Australia New Zealand US
SEATO: South east Asia treaty organisation
Strengthen US Defences
NSC68: National Security Council Report 68  entrenched the US hard line against the Soviets, it called for the development of the hydrogen bomb, a strengthened alliance system, a large build up of western conventional forces and a call for no negotiations with the