1 Flashcards
Long term tensions during the cold war
• differing ideologies (capitalism vs communism)
• US and GB support for Communists’ enemies in Russian Civil War
• United by common danger only
• Emergence of USA and USSR as global superpowers in 1930s
When was Germany defeated?
May 1945
When was the Yalta conference?
February 1945
Who was the Big 3 at the Yalta conference?
FDR , Churchill, Stalin
What was the point of the Yalta Conference?
To plan post-war Europe
Agreements at the Yalta Conference
• USSR to help USA defeat Japan
• Division of Germany (Berlin) into 4 zones
• Hunting down and punishing Nazi war criminals
• Free elections for liberated countries
• All agree to join United Nations to keep peace post-war
• Eastern Europe to be seen as a Soviet sphere of influence
Disagreements at Yalta Conference
Stalin wanted to move Poland’s border west. Red army was in control of Poland and East Germany. Churchill disapproves but persuades FDR to agree. USSR agreed to not interfere in Greece.
When was the Potsdam Conference?
July-August 1945
Changes between Yalta and Potsdam
• Death of ‘common danger’
• USSR occupation of Baltic States
• Communist government established in Poland despite protests
• FDR replaced by Truman
• US development of the atomic bomb
-> no longer reliant on russian support against Japan
• Atlee elected over Churchill
Disagreements at Potsdam Conference
• Stalin would like to cripple Germany to protect USSR
-> Truman doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes of Treaty of Versailles
• Stalin demands $10 billion from Germany to pay for destruction done and 20 million lives lost
-> Truman views Stalin’s demands as too harsh and wants to give Germany a chance to rebuild
• Stalin wanted to unite Eastern Europe
-> Truman believed Stalin was trying to build a soviet empire
When was the first successful test of the atomic bomb?
16th July
Development of the Atomic Bomb
developed secretly - truman only informed stalin he had ‘a weapon of great power’
When was Hiroshima bombed?
6th August 1945
When was Nagasaki bombed?
9th August 1945
Impact of Atomic Bomb
• Viewed by Stalin as a direct threat to the USSR
• lead to an imbalance of power
• makes lack of trust obvious
Romania
1945- elected prime minister
1947- monarchy abolished
Bulgaria
1945- elected + leaders of non-communist parties executed
Albania
elected 1945
Yugoslavia
Marshall Tito elected in 1945 but refuses to be controlled by Moscow
Czechoslovakia
1945- elected
1948- communists ban other parties and become a one-party state
Poland
1945- elected
1947- non - communist leaders forced into exile
Hungary
1947- elected + opposition politicians imprisoned and church leaders attacked
Fear of further Communist advance in the West
• France and Italy had strong Communist parties
• Britain and the USA supported Greece royalists against Communist opposition
Stalin insists the spread of communism is defensive but…
• increased russian control in communist countries
• Cominform
Purpose of Cominform
co-ordinate the work of all Eastern-Europe Communist parties
- leaders regularly brought to Moscow to be briefed
- Tito expelled in 1948 for hostility to Stalin’s control
When was the Iron Curtain speech?
5th March 1946
Iron Curtain speech
• coins phrase ‘iron curtain’ to describe the communist states
• claims communist parties are seeking to obtain totalitarian control
• portrays the ‘east’ as secretive and closed with trade and tourism
• accuses stalin of use of salami tactics
Salami tactics
divide and conquer via threats and alliances to overcome opposition
aim of the iron curtain speech
prevents US post war isolationism and ensures continues support in Europe against USSR
western reactions to the spread of soviet power
• surprised and alarmed by communist domination of Eastern Europe
Which were the only two countries without Communist governments by 1948 in Eastern Europe?
Greece and Turkey
Greece
• 1944- communist vs monarchists power struggle
• 1946- civil war + truman fears further spread of communism
turkey
- stalin wanted influence to get access to the mediterranean
- truman fears it might be a stepping stone to the spread of communism in the middle east [oil reserves]
When was the Greece and Turkey Aid Bill?
March 1947
what was the Greece and Turkey Aid Bill?
- $400m US aid to Greece and Turkey
- secured Turkey as a US ally
- supports monarchist government in Greece
- worsens East/West relations
When was the Truman Doctrine?
March 1947
Truman Doctorine
- US prepared to send money, equipment and advice to any country threatened by communist takeover
- aim of containment
How did Truman believed Communsit spread?
where people faced hardship
economic state of Europe
- ruined economy
- $11.5 billion debt to USA
- shortage of all goods
Marshall Plan - how much money?
$17 billion
When was the Marshall Plan first proposed?
December 1947
• resistance over cost and non-isolationist policy
When was the Marshall Plan passed?
March 1948
Why was the Marshall Plan passed?
- Czechoslovakia takeover
- US minister died in suspicious circumstances
Stalin’s reaction to the Marshall Plan?
- bans all Eastern European states from applying for aid
- sets up comecon and cominform
When was Comecon introduced?
1949
What is Comecon?
- co-ordinate the industry and trade of all Eastern-European countries
- traded with each other not the west
- favoured russia
