During the Cold War, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were the common denominator in the foreign affairs of these two countries. Russia wanted to spread communism in many regions of the world. The Soviets had already influenced Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Cuba. The United States always tried to stop communism from spreading throughout the world. So, the end result of the United States' decision to provide military aid to Central American countries was that it achieved its goal of containing Communism within the Central American region.