What was the main goal of containment?

The main goal of containment during the Cold War was to prevent the spread of communism and Soviet power beyond its existing borders after World War II, without triggering a direct hot war between the United States and the Soviet Union that could lead to nuclear destruction. Formulated by diplomat George F. Kennan and adopted by President Harry Truman in 1947, containment aimed to box in the Soviet Union politically, economically, militarily, and ideologically, allowing communism to exist where it already was but stopping it from expanding into new countries. This was to be achieved through a mix of strategies including economic aid like the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Western Europe so populations would not turn to communism out of poverty, military alliances like NATO to provide collective defense, diplomatic pressure, espionage, and when necessary, limited military intervention in proxy wars such as Korea and Vietnam. The underlying belief was that Soviet communism was expansionist but would eventually collapse from internal weaknesses if prevented from spreading and forced to bear the costs of maintaining its empire. Containment was not about destroying the Soviet Union immediately but about long-term patience, firmness, and vigilance to limit its influence while protecting democratic societies and capitalist economies, ultimately contributing to the Soviet collapse in 1991.