(7) Increasing Cold War Tensions Flashcards
How did McCarthyism in the USA develop?
✩ The USA felt vulnerable against Communist influence at home as China fallen to communism in 1949
✩ This had been intensified by the Sino-Soviet Alliance
✩ Eventually, McCarthy rose up by exploiting and exacerbating these already growing communist fears.
When did McCarthyism develop?
✩ The paranoia about the internal Communist threat—known as the Second Red Scare—reached a fever pitch between 1950 and 1954.
What had been further context behind the development of McCarthyism, and when?
✩ President Truman was compelled to introduce Loyalty Boards in 1947, which destroyed people’s lives as 3000 government employees were forced to resign.
What repercussions did the Loyalty Boards have?
✩ The state department was purged to such an extent that only Hawks were left, who advocated for more aggressive policies, leading to a drastic shift in the US Cold War policy.
Who is McCarthy?
✩ A senator who rose to prominence through his extreme accusations that American society was infiltrated by communists.
How did McCarthy’s downfall occur?
✩ His downfall occurred when he went a step too far by accusing the US army of being run by communists - this was the final straw for President Eisenhower and the US Senate as the US army had been risking their lives in other countries against communism.
Why would some say that McCarthy had little infuence?
✩ Many people saw through McCarthy and his allegations immediately-only working class people mainly supported him being more susceptible to simplistic conspiracy theories
What were some notable scandals during McCarthyism?
✩ A British physicist, Klaus Fuchs, was convicted of giving nuclear secrets to the USSR
Scientists Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for giving away atomic secrets
Why did McCarthy emphasise the urgency of the US adopting an Asia-first strategy?
✩ McCarthy urged the US to adopt an Asia-first policy whereby the Cold War has now become globalised and moving away from being solely eurocentric and now actions must be taken in Asia to prevent the spread of communism.
✩ McCarthy had believed that Europe containment, especially in Western Europe, had consolidated the Western position, but in Asia it was less secure and containment of those countries needed to be secured.
Why did Britain view the new US policy of Asia-first as dangerous?
✩ It was viewed as dangerous due to the belief that since the US took an aggressive stance in Korea and is now starting to focus on Asia, it would distract them from Europe, allowing the USSR to cause instability in Europe.
What was Britain’s primary concern which stopped them from acting against the USA’s aggressive cold war thinking and Asia First viewpoint?
✩ Britain instead made a significant military contribution to the allied war effort in Korea as their primary concern was to remain a close ally of the USA
What was the Sino-Soviet Alliance?
✩ On February 14, 1950, the Governments of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China signed a 30-year Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance which was ratified by both sides and entered into force on April 11, 1950.
How did McCarthyism influence the DPS strategy?
✩ The annual cost of the DPS was thought to be around 50 billion dollars per year, which went against common US policy of not increasing taxes to support the military, in times of peace.
✩ people accepted this though, as they were bombarded with propaganda that made them want to defeat the communists (influence of McCarthyism)
