The beginning of the cold war: the Truman doctrine and the Marshall plan, 1947 1945-1991 To what extent can we say the Marshal plan and the Truman doctrine that took place during the cold war, were successful attempts to repel Communism from Europe?

I. The beginning of the cold war A. There were deep ideological, economic and political differences between the United States and the Soviet Union before the Second World War. These differences were intensified as a result of their suspicions immediately after the Second World War. First of all ideologically speaking the two blocs were at antipodes In the United States, the government is elected by free elections. The people can form political parties to voice their political opinions. They also possessed the right of assembly, of speech and of the press. In the Soviet Union, the government is formed by the Communist Party. Soviets are not given most of the rights such as speech or multipartism. Economically speaking the American model is based on a free market economy whereas the Soviet union is mainly national independence market governed by the government. In addition they were the two most influential blocs and wanted dominate each other. Tensions were also created by the divulgation of the Truman and the launch of the Truman doctrine in 1947 at the peace time conferences. In addition America feared a spread of communism to Europe at first and then to the world? They did not trust each other so they could not agree, the war was inevitable. B. Cold War and collapse In the 1980s, the United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures against the USSR, which had already, went through severe economic stagnation. Thereafter, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the liberalizing reforms of perestroika ("reconstruction", "reorganization", 1987) and glasnost ("openness", ca. 1985). The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, leaving the United States as the dominant military