18.1 - the cold war begins Flashcards
when did Truman assume the presidency at the end of WWII?
when roosevelt died
what was truman’s main goal
to preserve democracy and protect national security
what was truman’s first and only meeting with stalin? what happened?
the potsdam conference. tension rose immediately
what type of revolutionry was stalin?
bolshevik
what happened with stalin at the PD conference?
he was asked to remove occupation from eastern europe and hold free elections. however, he refused.
what was stalin’s ultimate goal?
to spread communism
what did the US and great britain strongly believe in?
self-liberation
where were the pro-soviet regimes?
poland, romania, bulgaria, hungary
a civil war in WHICH AREA created another place of conflict?
greece
what are satellite states?
countries that are economically and politically dependent on another country
what was the truman doctrine originally introduced as?
a speech to congress in 1947
what is the domino effect?
communism–if one country falls to it, they will all fall
which two states were under threat of communist takeovers?
turkey and greece
what did truman ask the congress do to help the taken-over countries?
provide $400 million in military and economic assistance
what was the marshall plan?
the European Recovery Program introduced by George Marshall
what was the goal of the marshall plan?
assistance in restoring the economic infrastructure of post-war europe. bringing political stability and a healthy world economy
how much did the european nations recieve in aid from the marshall plan?
nearly $13 billion
why was marshall awarded the nobel peace prize?
preventing famine and political chaos
what was comecon? what happened with the soviet response?
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, in which the Soviet response was not successful
what was the policy of containment?
a policy presented by Kennan, in which would keep communism within its existing boundaries and prevent soviet attacks
what was the controversial policy criticized for?
being to defensive
what was the first real conflict between the US and the soviets?
berlin blockade and airlift
what did stalin do because of his anger towards the east germany alliance?
he planned to cut off western road and canal access to berlin, to capture all of germany
what did truman do to help those cut off in berlin?
he ordered a year-long airlift to bring supplies to them
how was the blockade lifted?
there were so much supplies being brought down to berlin that the soviets gave in–who also didnt want war.
what was NATO?
the north atlantic treaty organization - it required the other states to provide support if another was attacked
the fear of communist expansion prompted the US and other countries to…?
form the NATO
NATO still exists today…?
true
what was the warsaw pact?
alliance formed by the Soviet union and communist nations in europe. acted much like NATO.
warsaw - communist or noncommunist?
communist
NATO - communist or noncommunist?
noncommunist
warsaw and nato formed the political division of…
europe
USSR and US become involved in an…?
arms race - building up armies and arsenal weapons
what weapons heightened the tension in the arms race?
nuclear bombs and ICBMs
deterrance
neither side would launch an attack because the other side would strike back
what was KGB?
the world’s largest spy and state-security machine
in 1955, who emerged as the leader of the USSR (berlin wall)?
nikita khrushchev
while khrushchev tried to solve the problem of west berlin, what did the west and east sides do?
the west flourished while the east lived in poverty
why was the wall built?
to stop refugees from flowing
how tall and long was the wall?
15 feet high; 100 miles long
