Cold War Dbq Analysis

During the Cold War, many missile drills happened daily. They occurred at schools, work, and occasionally in the street. When people heard the siren, they would duck and cover their heads to protect themselves from falling debris. To prevent the actual event of a nuclear attack, the United States used a policy called containment to stop the spread of communism. They used this approach mainly in the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, and in the Cuban Missile Crisis. This DBQ is about how containment was used by the United States during the Cold War.

The first major use of containment was used in the Berlin Airlift. When the United States defeated Germany in WWII, the Soviet Union and the United States split Germany. When they split Germany,

the capital of Germany, Berlin, was on the Soviet’s side, the United States and the Soviet Union split the capital, separating it into West and East Berlin. When the U.S. needed to get supplies to West Berlin, the U.S.S.R. (the Soviet Union) did not allow the United States to deliver materials on the going through the Soviet zone on the ground. According to Document B, planes from France, Great Britain, and the United States would constantly fly materials over the Soviet zone so that the West Berliners could survive over there. The United States did this so that communist would be contained in East Germany and East Berlin. This is how containment was used in the Berlin Airlift.

The second major way that America used containment in the Cold War is the Korean War. When North Korea attacked South Korea, the United States had to step in because they were using the protocol of containment so that communist North Korea would not defeat a capitalist South Korea. According to Document C, North Korea (with the Soviet Union’s help) attacked South Korea first and South Korea was trapped in the southeastern part of South Korea. The United States, led by General Douglass MacArthur then stepped in and helped South Korea with a risky attack on the port of Inchon. The Americans and South Koreans pushed North Korea back to the northwest part of North Korea. North Korea came back but just to the original border between the two Koreas. In the end, no country really gained more or had less land than before. The United States method of containment played a huge role in the Korean war because communism did not spread any farther than it did in the first place.

The final major way that America used containment was in the Cuban Missile Crisis.