1.4 Long Telegram and Iron Curtain Speech Flashcards
When was the Long Telegram released and how long?
22nd February 1946
- 8000 words
Overview of what the USA wanted in the telegram
- How Soviets saw post WW2 World
- Why
- What they’d do officially and unofficially
- What the USA’s plan should be
Predictions Kennan made correctly
- Soviets international policy to increase strength and prestige
- Attempts to weaken Western powers
- Develop relations with countries hating the West
- Weakening of power and influence by Western nations
Why was the Long Telegram so significant?
- Outlines beliefs which were to be the basis of American Policy
- US couldn’t further work with the USSR
- Soviets were the weaker force so predicted the USSR would collapse
What was containment?
US policy of preventing the spread of communism
- Basis of US foreign policy under Truman
When was the Iron Curtain speech given?
6 March 1946
What is meant bu the term ‘iron curtain’?
A divide of Western and Eastern Europe suggesting the division Stalin has created
Who was George Kennan?
- Hated communism and Soviet Gov
- Lived in Moscow for 13 years
- Writer of Long Telegram
Who gave the Iron Curtain Speech?
Winston Churchill
Reaction of the Iron Curtain Speech by Stalin and what had been done by October 1946?
10 days after speech Stalin responded via Pravda in March
- Presented SU as peacefully seeking Eastern European allies in order to reinforce the USSR’s security
- By October 1946 the USSR had developed a robust analysis of the state of international relations which was to act as a further justification for Soviet policy in Eastern Europe
What was Pravda?
Opposition newspaper and official for Communist and Soviet party
Overview to why USA was so hostile to communism following 1945
- USSR’s views threatened freedoms of Western ideologies
- Long Telegram saw USSR as aggressive and expansionist
- Communist spread through Europe
- Military concerns for security/arms
