AMH2020 Final Exam Review pt. 1

Question 1

what was the opening of the cold war characterized by?

Answer 1

a prolonged period of tension and competition between the US and the Soviet Union

Question 2

there was no _____ ______ between the US and the Soviet Union

Answer 2

direct fighting

Question 3

2 things that the Cold War was about:

Answer 3

1. global influence (who has more allies and influence on
2. superiority (which is the better country, culture, standard of living, and more gold medals from the olympics)developing nations)

Question 4

what was the US’s ideology?

Answer 4

capitalist democratic republic (or capitalism)

Question 5

what was the USSR’s ideology?

Answer 5

communist, one part rule (gov has complete control over society to create a classless system)

Question 6

the US and Soviet Union were _____ in WW2

Answer 6

allies

Question 7

What happened in february 1945?

Answer 7

the Yalta Conference

Question 8

What is the Yalta Conference

Answer 8

meeting between Churchill (Great Britain), FDR (US), and Stalin (Russia) during WW2 talked about surrender of Nazi Germany

Question 9

what was the status of the war (WW2) by the time of the Yalta Conference?

Answer 9

-The allies were on the verge of taking Berlin, meaning an allied victory

• Churchill and FDR were under the impression that everyone would go home and Europe would have self determination after the war
• Stalin still didn’t want to give up Eastern Europe

Question 10

what happneed July-August 1945?

Answer 10

Potsdam Conference

Question 11

Potsdam Conference

Answer 11

The same disagreement was happening between the US and Russia

• Truman kept a secret during this conference (the US was prepared with a successful atomic weapon)
• Stalin secretly knew about the Manhattan Project (making atomic bombs) because of spies

Question 12

what caused the US/Soviet Union relationship to break down?

Answer 12

Stalin and Truman hated each other

Question 13

What did the allies settle on doing with Germany?

Answer 13

splitting it into 4 zones

Question 14

What was the thought process behind German zones?

Answer 14

that they would be pieced back together when it became stable

Question 15

What was Stalin’s attitudes towards the German zones?

Answer 15

he disagreed with this approach

Question 16

what was the result of German zones?

Answer 16

-The west zones meshed to form West Germany
-The soviet union took East Germany

-Result: two separate Germany’s

Question 17

what happened when Berlin was divided among these 2 new zones?

Answer 17

it created 2 separate spheres of influence in germany until 1989

Question 18

what was the US foreign policy during the Cold War?

Answer 18

containment

Question 19

who was George Kennan?

Answer 19

an American diplomat working in West Germany during the end of WW2

• he watched the Cold War emerge and sent recommendations for US foreign policy

Question 20

Kennan’s reccomendations (containment)

Answer 20

1. not focusing on reversing communism where it already existed
2. INSTEAD, focus on containing the spread
3. the US should use economic aid to contain communism
4. the US should only focus on Europe because they were extremely vulnerable

Question 21

the Marshall Plan 1947

Answer 21

funnels $13 billion of economic aid to post war Europe (free cash)

Question 22

who could apply to the Marshall Plan?

Answer 22

any EU country (minus Soviet Union and Soviet Eastern Bloc

Question 23

what is NSC-68?

Answer 23

a top secret document: the 68th report of the National Security Council

Question 24

what did the report NSC-68 identify?

Answer 24

2 new terrifying realities of the cold war:
- another major country (China) had fallen to communism by 1950, meaning containment wasn’t working
- the Soviet Union had acquired its own atomic weapons

Question 25

What were the 2 ways that containment policy had to change?

Answer 25

1. the US couldn't just focus on Europe, it had to intervene anywhere that communism threatened to spread 2. containment had to expand from an economic aid policy to a military policy

Question 26

why was NSC-68 the most important document in the 20th century?

Answer 26

it completely shaped foreign policy

Question 27

proxy war

Answer 27

a war where the soviet union or the US fights in a non head to head conflict but it's still about the Cold War - instigates in a war without getting directly involved

Question 28

the korean war was a _______ ______

Answer 28

proxy war

Question 29

what happened to the korean peninsula?

Answer 29

it was divided into north (communist) and south (democratic republic)

Question 30

why did North Korea invade South Korea in 1950?

Answer 30

to reunite Korea into a communist party

Question 31

the US devoted their forces to fight on the side of ______ ______

Answer 31

South Korea

Question 32

when did the US end involvement in Korea?

Answer 32

1953 - before the war was over

Question 33

conformity

Answer 33

go along with the mainstream/typical values (everyone had to agree with the same assumptions)

Question 34

why was conformity emphasized?

Answer 34

to prove superiority

Question 35

what happened if people opposed conformity (directly or suspected to)?

Answer 35

they were investigated and seen as secret communists

Question 36

the house on american activities committee 1945

Answer 36

congressional committee that identify/investigate americans who are engaging in activities considered "unamerican"

Question 37

what happened if you were investigated under HUAC?

Answer 37

you would be put under oath (lie = go to jail) and asked personal questions (affairs, political leaning, etc.)

Question 38

the investigation of hollywood

Answer 38

thought hollywood was infested with communism and used movies to indoctrinate people to communism

Question 39

events at home during the Cold War reveal that the US government was very __________.

Answer 39

paranoid

Question 40

red scare

Answer 40

period of time of hysteria/paranoia about communism in the US

Question 41

Who is Joseph McCarthy

Answer 41

Young senator from Wisconsin who wanted to make a name for himself.

Question 42

what did McCarthy claim?

Answer 42

That he had a list of known communists working in the State Department and that he should get his own Senate committee to investigate them

Question 43

what did mccarthy do with his committee?

Answer 43

- punish his political enemies - gain political power - make very dramatic allegations (such as George Marshall being a communist)

Question 44

what happened when mccarthy accused high army officials of being secret communists in 1954?

Answer 44

it made the army furious and led to his committee getting taken away

Question 45

what did people like mccarthy embody?

Answer 45

the level of intense paranoia and hysteria during this period