6.4 The Emergence of a Superpower Flashcards
How did the USSR begin to emerge as a superpower during and after the Great Patriotic War?
- By May 1945, the USSR consisted of 7.5 million well-equipped troops
- The USSR had absorbed the Baltic’s and large areas of eastern Poland
- The Red Army remained in control the nation states in east Central Europe (Romania, Hungary, Poland)
- Other European superpowers had been severely weakened by war
What four summit meetings took place to decide what would happen after the Grand Alliance won?
Tehran in November 1943.
Churchill met Stalin in Moscow in October 1944.
The Big Three met at Yalta in February 1945.
Potsdam in July 1945.
What was the Warsaw Uprising (Aug 1944 - Oct 1944)?
Poles attempted to oust the Nazi army and control the city. The Soviets allowed the Nazis to eliminate the Polish military officers in the uprising which supported the Polish Government taking refuge in London.
This diminished relations with GB and the USSR as GB had entered the war to protect Poland.
What was the formation of the Eastern Bloc in 1945?
Eastern European countries were grouped under a sphere of influence, with many governments encouraged to form that were friendly to the USSR.
By 1948, this had created a set of satellite states closely linked to the USSR which could act as buffer states in the event of war with the West.
This caused tensions with the US, who did not want the USSR to have a sphere of influence.
What was the development of the atomic bomb in July 1945?
The US creates at atomic bomb and tests it in New Mexico. The next month, 140,000 people in Japan are killed, forcing Japan to surrender.
The atomic bomb posed a threat to the USSR, who desperately started to invent a Soviet atomic bomb for protection.
What was the Potsdam Conference in July 1945?
The Allies disagreed on how to handle post-war Germany, leading to polarising terms in which all three allies would never meet again.
What was the Long Telegram in February 1946?
George Kennan, an official at the US embassy in Moscow reported that the USSR’s heavy armament and desire to spread communism.
This confirmed the US fears and spurred containment policy.
What was the Iron Curtains Speech March 1946?
Churchill stressed that the UK and the US needed to stabilise Eastern Communism.
This bolstered American and Western European aggression toward the Soviet Union.
What was Containment Policy 1946/47?
This was US foreign policy with the motive of subduing the expansionist ideals of the Soviet Union.
This was perceived as a threat by the USSR as the countries ideologies opposed one another.
What was the Marshall Plan April 1948?
George Marshall proposed that the US should provide economic assistance to restore postwar Europe’s economy.
What was the Berlin Blockade in June 1948 to 1949?
The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies railway and canals to Western Berlin, offering only to drop the blockade if the West withdrew the D-mark currency.
This marked one of the first major crises of the Cold War.
Why did Russia gain the atomic bomb in Aug 1949?
The USSR creates and test fires an atomic bomb in Kazakhstan.
The development of atomic bombs posed a threat to the West and led to a nuclear stalemate.
