(2) Developing Tensions Flashcards
2.1 The Soviet occupation and control of eastern and southern Europe.
What did Stalin do which broke the agreements set at Yalta and Potsdam?
- Although agreeing to hold free elections in the countries in Eastern Europe, he ignored the agreements set at Yalta and Potsdam and decided to hold great influence over these countries to expand his Eastern Bloc.
How did Stalin gain influence over Poland?
✩ In Poland, Stalin held a substantial amount of influence within the political parties such as the Polish socialists. The communists took control over Poland by strengthening links with Polish socialists, which weakened the Peasant Party.
✩ Eventually, these two groups merged in 1947, after the rigged elections which Stalin supported, and the communists became the dominant group within the merger.
✩ Lastly, the Polish prime minister Gomulka was replaced by a pro-Stalinist - Bierut. This led to Stalin safely acquiring Soviet influence over Poland.
What were Salami Tactics, and how did it help Poland gain influence over Eastern Europe?
✩ The USSR used ‘salami tactics’, in which anti-communist parties were dismantled into smaller disunited groups.
✩ Pro-communist parties often ‘united’ with other left-wing parties to ‘strengthen’ their powerbase but in reality, they dominated the party.
✩ Manipulation and fear were used at elections to promote communist support.
What historical interpretations were put fourth by Mark Pittaway?
✩ Mark Pittaway (2004) argues that in South-East Europe the Communists barely attempted to look like they were working democratically.
✩ They took control by military victory and faced very little resistance.
✩ For example, in Yugoslavia and Albania the Communists governed through democratic front until they got 93% of the vote in rigged elections of 1945.
What happened in Czechoslovakia?
✩ In February-March 1948, the communists staged a coup d’etat and purged (expelled from the party and more often than not killed) the non-communist members of the government and police force.
✩ The pro-American Foreign Minister Jann Masaryk was found dead beneath an open window. Masaryk was probably killed by the communists.
Why had this caused tensions?
✩ The reaction in the West was characterized by deep suspicion. Secretary of State George Marshall stated that Czechoslovakia was under a “reign of terror,” and that Masaryk’s “suicide” indicated “very plainly what is going on.” showing the underlying tension that his death was caused by the communists.
✩ Fear of communist expansion in the west increased.
2.1 The Soviet occupation and control of eastern and southern Europe.
How did the USSR’s influence in Eastern European countries break the agreements put fourth in the Yalta and Potsdam conferences?
✩ Pro-communist governments were set up in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania. The USSR placed pressure on these countries to have communist politicians within their government.
✩ Despite promises to the allies that he would hold free elections within these countries, Stalin did not do so. This caused much distress to the Western Powers.
What was his intensions when he used his Red Army
✩ Stalin also wanted to use his Red Army to maintain his power-base in Europe and protect the Soviet Sphere of Influence in Europe and Asia.
How influential did the Red Army become by 1948?
Why did this cause tensions?
✩ By 1948, 60 Red Army divisions remained in Europe to act as a policing force over satellite states and acted as an enforcer for communist regimes.
✩ This stance was not welcomed by the other Allied powers who saw Stalin’s beliefs as simply a way to try and spread Communism.
2.1 The Soviet occupation and control of eastern and southern Europe.
Why was the USSR’s influence in Eastern European countries such as Poland merely a protective measure?
✩ Influence in Poland was merely a protective measure. This is because Poland was used as the Nazi route for invasion in WW2.
✩Thus, it was necessary for the USSR to have a pro-Soviet government in Poland to act as a buffer zone to protect the Soviet Union against future attacks or invasions.
2.1 The Soviet occupation and control of eastern and southern Europe.
How did the West view this ‘protective expansion’ of the Soviets?
✩ Conversely, the West and some scholars view the expansion as a pursuit of global communism and an aggressive threat to Western capitalism, despite the scrapping of Comintern in 1943.
2.2 Kennan’s Long Telegram
What was the Kennan’s Long Telegram and why was it significant?
✩ Analysis of Soviet policy, which provided one of the most influential underpinnings for America’s Cold War policy of containment.
It outlined that:
- Soviets wanted to undermine general political and strategic potential of major Western Powers
- The USA must be prepared to threaten the use of force and ensure unity among its allies.
✩This hardened American attitudes towards the Cold War..
What did the Kennan’s Long Telegram lead to?
✩ It confirmed that Truman needed to have a stronger grip on the situation, so he launched the policy of containment.
What was containment, and how did the USSR interpret containment?
✩ Policies aimed at preventing the spread of communism.
✩ Stalin thought containment was a direct show of economic power over the USSR and a threat.
When was Kennan’s Long Telegram?
✩ February 1946
2.3 The Iron Curtain speech
What was The Iron Curtain speech?
Why was it significant?
✩ The Iron Curtain speech was delivered by Churchill, expressing the necessity for Britain and the USA to protect Europe from the advances of soviet communism which had “lowered a Iron Curtain” over eastern Europe.
✩ This speech helped to push the US towards a policy of containment.
✩ The speech seemed to be in line with Truman’s ‘Iron Fist’ approach, but Stalin referred to the speech as a declaration of war.
What did Stalin state in response to this?
Extra information
✩ In an interview with the Soviet newspaper Pravda following Churchill’s speech, Stalin stated that the USA and Britain were meddling and trying to prevent peaceful alliances between all the communist states.
When was the Iron Curtain speech?
✩ March 1946
2.4 The Greek Civil War and the Truman Doctrine on containment
What was the Truman Doctrine and what was it a response to?
✩ The Truman Doctrine was a direct response to the Greek Civil War (in which there was conflict between the communist resistance organization and the anti-communist resistance forces) and a promise to the American people that Truman would help any country by providing financial or military aid or equipment to countries under the threat of falling to communism.
✩ This promise had been implemented as Americans were concerned as they believed that both countries (Greece and Turkey) were in danger of falling to communism.
✩ The Americans believed that where there was economic weakness, communist regimes could flourish.
When was the Truman Doctrine?
✩ March 1947
2.5 Cominform
What was Cominform?
✩ Cominform was set up in retaliation to the Marshall Plan. This linked Eastern European Communists together and made them follow the same policies, one of which made it mandatory for Soviet countries to refuse Marshall Aid.
When was Cominform?
✩ October 1947
What was the Warsaw Pact and why was it significant in causing tensions?
The Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact as a counterbalance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
+ The USSR increased control over the satellite states in eastern Europe because it dominated the Pact.
+ Europe was now divided politically, economically and militarily into two hostile camps.
+ It intensified the arms race with the West.
When was the Warsaw Pact created?
✩ May 1955
What was Comecon and why was it significant?
✩ Comecon was Stalin’s method of economic control. As the USSR centralised communist economies and aided the Eastern European post-Second World War recovery, he made communist trade exclusive.
✩ This attempted to isolate communist countries from Western trade, both furthering communist nations’ reliance on the USSR and restricting Western trade from Eastern Europe.
When was Comecon introduced?
✩ January 1949
How did the USA view the USSR policies?
✩ The creation of Cominform and Comecon were viewed as ‘antagonistic communist actions’ in opposition to Western capitalist ideology’.
