t task as Britain's power waned. Under President Truman, the United States developed a policy of containment. This was a policy of support for free people who were resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. The United States also instigated the Marshall Plan. This plan provided broad economic aid to European states on condition only that they work together for their mutual benefit. The Marshall Plan was a great success in restoring prosperity to Western Europe and in setting the stage for Europe's unprecedented postwar economic growth.While early stages of the Cold War took place in Europe, the United States found itself confronting armed aggression in Asia. It intervened militarily in Korea, following the same principle of containment that directed its actions in Europe. Numerous border clashes had occurred between North and South Korea. In late June 1950, forces from North Korea invaded South Korea by crossing the thirty-eighth parallel. The United States intervened and was soon supported by a United Nations mandate. For the United States, the point of the Korean conflict was to contain the spread and to halt the aggression of communism. For more than two years the war dragged on. Eventually a border was restored and President Eisenhower concluded an armistice ending the Korean War.Another point of conflict was in the German city of Berlin. Throughout 1961 thousands of refugees from East Germany crossed the border into West Berlin. The western sector of the city was the single point in Eastern Europe where persons living under Soviet dominance might escape to a free political climate. This outflow of people was both a political embarrassment to East Germany and a detriment to its economy. For the Soviet Union, this movement of people indicated its inability to control events in Eastern Europe. In August 1961, the East Germans, with the support of the Soviet Union, took decisive action. They erected a ...
