Containment

Containment was a <a href="/facts/Geopolitics/4bmB8oCM">geopolitical</a> strategic foreign policy pursued by the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a> during the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a> to prevent the spread of <a href="/facts/Communism/PkUwa9xK">communism</a> after the end of <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>. The name was loosely related to the term <a href="/facts/Cordon_sanitaire_(international_relations)/zP65D3g4">cordon sanitaire</a>, which was containment of the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> in the <a href="/facts/Interwar_period/EWLuS41R">interwar period</a>.
Containment represented a middle-ground position between <a href="/facts/D%25C3%25A9tente/04U1rTlj">détente</a> (relaxation of relations) and <a href="/facts/Rollback/Ll0RDSyK">rollback</a> (actively replacing a regime). The basis of the <a href="/facts/Doctrine/MtDwPUVg">doctrine</a> was articulated in a <a href="/facts/Long_Telegram/sBayPTze">1946 cable</a> by U.S. diplomat <a href="/facts/George_F._Kennan/YCuVTdq3">George F. Kennan</a> during the post-<a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a> term of U.S. President <a href="/facts/Harry_S._Truman/2E2LmMoB">Harry S. Truman</a>. As a description of <a href="/facts/Foreign_policy_of_the_United_States/LqGcw96t">U.S. foreign policy</a>, the word originated in a report Kennan submitted to US Defense Secretary <a href="/facts/James_Forrestal/hqaRp1mQ">James Forrestal</a> in 1947, which was later used in a <a href="/facts/Foreign_Affairs/vLy5YFTq">Foreign Affairs</a> article.
In a broader context, the term is employed to denote a strategy designed to limit or hinder an opponent's capacity for international <a href="/facts/Power_projection/kW3ypzUF">power projection</a>. <a href="/facts/China/lTjIXY5p">China</a> used this term to characterize the United States' efforts <a href="/facts/Second_Cold_War/XFfgK8wK">to impede its global ascent</a>.

Containment open-in-new

Containment