The Marshall Plan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were very successful in their attempts to stopping communist expansion in Europe. In the Marshall Plan, the US gave $13 billion worth of aid to countries in western Europe in order to help them recover from World War II and to ensure communism does not spread to these countries. All the countries helped through the Marshall Plan remained free of Soviet rule/influence.
NATO helped in stopping the spread of communism as well. This political/military alliance between the US, France, Great Britain, Italy, and other European countries ensured that the Soviet Union did not try to spread their power by force. If they tried to attack one of the nations involved in NATO, they would be starting a war with all the countries who were part of this organization. This prevented the Soviet's from trying to take over any member of NATO.
