AMH2020 Final Exam Review pt. 1 Flashcards
what was the opening of the cold war characterized by?
a prolonged period of tension and competition between the US and the Soviet Union
there was no _____ ______ between the US and the Soviet Union
direct fighting
2 things that the Cold War was about:
- global influence (who has more allies and influence on
- superiority (which is the better country, culture, standard of living, and more gold medals from the olympics)developing nations)
what was the US’s ideology?
capitalist democratic republic (or capitalism)
what was the USSR’s ideology?
communist, one part rule (gov has complete control over society to create a classless system)
the US and Soviet Union were _____ in WW2
allies
What happened in february 1945?
the Yalta Conference
What is the Yalta Conference
meeting between Churchill (Great Britain), FDR (US), and Stalin (Russia) during WW2 talked about surrender of Nazi Germany
what was the status of the war (WW2) by the time of the Yalta Conference?
-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
what happneed July-August 1945?
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
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
what caused the US/Soviet Union relationship to break down?
Stalin and Truman hated each other
What did the allies settle on doing with Germany?
splitting it into 4 zones
What was the thought process behind German zones?
that they would be pieced back together when it became stable
What was Stalin’s attitudes towards the German zones?
he disagreed with this approach
what was the result of German zones?
-The west zones meshed to form West Germany
-The soviet union took East Germany
-Result: two separate Germany’s
what happened when Berlin was divided among these 2 new zones?
it created 2 separate spheres of influence in germany until 1989
what was the US foreign policy during the Cold War?
containment
who was George Kennan?
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
Kennan’s reccomendations (containment)
- not focusing on reversing communism where it already existed
- INSTEAD, focus on containing the spread
- the US should use economic aid to contain communism
- the US should only focus on Europe because they were extremely vulnerable
the Marshall Plan 1947
funnels $13 billion of economic aid to post war Europe (free cash)
who could apply to the Marshall Plan?
any EU country (minus Soviet Union and Soviet Eastern Bloc
what is NSC-68?
a top secret document: the 68th report of the National Security Council
what did the report NSC-68 identify?
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
What were the 2 ways that containment policy had to change?
- the US couldn’t just focus on Europe, it had to intervene anywhere that communism threatened to spread
- containment had to expand from an economic aid policy to a military policy
why was NSC-68 the most important document in the 20th century?
it completely shaped foreign policy
proxy war
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
the korean war was a _______ ______
proxy war
what happened to the korean peninsula?
it was divided into north (communist) and south (democratic republic)
why did North Korea invade South Korea in 1950?
to reunite Korea into a communist party
the US devoted their forces to fight on the side of ______ ______
South Korea
when did the US end involvement in Korea?
1953 - before the war was over
conformity
go along with the mainstream/typical values (everyone had to agree with the same assumptions)
why was conformity emphasized?
to prove superiority
what happened if people opposed conformity (directly or suspected to)?
they were investigated and seen as secret communists
the house on american activities committee 1945
congressional committee that identify/investigate americans who are engaging in activities considered “unamerican”
what happened if you were investigated under HUAC?
you would be put under oath (lie = go to jail) and asked personal questions (affairs, political leaning, etc.)
the investigation of hollywood
thought hollywood was infested with communism and used movies to indoctrinate people to communism
events at home during the Cold War reveal that the US government was very __________.
paranoid
red scare
period of time of hysteria/paranoia about communism in the US
Who is Joseph McCarthy
Young senator from Wisconsin who wanted to make a name for himself.
what did McCarthy claim?
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
what did mccarthy do with his committee?
- punish his political enemies
- gain political power
- make very dramatic allegations (such as George Marshall being a communist)
what happened when mccarthy accused high army officials of being secret communists in 1954?
it made the army furious and led to his committee getting taken away
what did people like mccarthy embody?
the level of intense paranoia and hysteria during this period
