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Significance Of The Truman Doctrine

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Firstly, I would like to start with the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was launched shortly after the end of World War II and the use of atomic bombs against Japan. This doctrine provides the starting point and foundations of US foreign policy towards the Middle East throughout the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine was a foreign policy initiative announced by US President Harry Truman in 1947, making the US a free world leader against communist aggression. The doctrine declared that the United States would provide military and economic assistance to any country threatened by communism and sought to contain the spread of Soviet influence in Europe and other parts of the world. For this, with the Marshall Plan, 13 billion dollars of aid was …show more content…

At the time, the United States was concerned about Soviet expansion in the region and feared that the oil-rich Middle East would become a Soviet domain of influence. Against this threat, the USA provided military aid to countries such as Turkey and Iran and established military bases in the region. Additionally, the Truman Doctrine was a precursor to the Eisenhower Doctrine, which extended US military aid to any Middle Eastern country facing external attack or internal communist destruction. Truman also commented on the following factors affecting the US foreign policy in the Middle East during the Cold War, according to his own period. The first of these factors is the existence of anarchy in the international system. President Truman saw the existence of anarchy in the international system as a threat to the security of the United States and its allies. He believed that the absence of a global authority to regulate the behavior of states and prevent conflict required the US to assert its leadership in the international arena. He felt that the United Nations was too weak to deal with strategic issues involving major …show more content…

In 1945, the Soviet Union was the world's largest defense establishment, and its military strength consisted of 175 divisions, 25,000 frontline tanks, and 19,000 aircraft (Bitzinger, 1989). The Soviet Union spent the largest percentage of its GDP (13%) on defense compared to any other major power, and military spending gradually increased each fiscal year, reaching a staggering 72% in 1970 (Shlykov, 2018). President Truman interpreted the considerable military strength of Russia and its allies as a direct threat to US geostrategic interests in the Middle East. He believed that the Soviet Union was trying to expand its influence and spread communism in the region to the detriment of US security and economic interests. Truman saw the considerable military might of Russia and its allies as a major threat to US interests in the Middle East, and pursued a multi-pronged strategy to counter this threat through military deterrence, diplomacy, and economic engagement. A third factor is fear and suspicion of the intentions of the

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