Chapter 19 Flashcards
What was the Cold War?
A period of tension between the Americans and the Soviets that stopped short of becoming a war
What caused the Cold War?
- different political systems
- the iron curtain
- the Truman doctrine
- The Marshall plan
What system of government did the Soviet Union have?
Communism
What system of government did America have?
A capitalist system
What was the iron curtain?
Instead of allowing free elections in the countries they drove the Nazis out of instead they established communist governments and turned them into satellite states
What was the Truman doctrine?
Americas response to the iron curtain, Harry S. Truman stated they would not roll back communism from where it was already established but they would not allow to spread further, this policy was called containment
What was the Marshall Plan?
The American government believed communism spread as a result of poverty so it provided financial aid to Europe to pay for the recovery after WW2.
Stalin was suspicious, believing America was trying to entice his satellite states away from communism and refused to allow them to apply for financial aid
(BERLIN BLOCKADE) Why did Stalin want Germany to remain divided?
A weak and divided Germany posed no future threat to the Soviet Union
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
what new currency did BFA (Britain, France, America) try to introduce in west Germany and Berlin?
The Deutschmark
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
Why was Stalin suspicious about the Deutschmark?
He believed they were pressuring him to accept the reunification of Germany
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
What did Stalin do on the 24th June 1948?
All land and water routes between west Germany and West Berlin were closed
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
When did Stalin order the Berlin blockade?
The 24th June 1948
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
What did BFA see the Berlin blockade as?
A deliberate attempt to push them out of West Berlin
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
How long could West Berlin last without food?
A month
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
Why did BFA choose to airlift supplies to West Berlin?
They didn’t want to start another war
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
What were the three airways?
Hamburg
Hanover
Frankfurt
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
When did the airlifts begin?
On the 26th of June, two days after the start of the Berlin blockade
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
Where did the airlifts land and how often?
At Templehof Airport every three minutes
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
What kind of items where in the airlifts?
- tinned foods
- water bottles instead of coal
- goats
- even a guide dog for a blind man
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
What did Stalin hope would force the Berliners to give in and why did it fail?
He thought the winter would force them to give in but the bad weather never came
(BERLIN BLOCKADE)
When did Stalin reopen the borders?
12 May 1989
What were the results of the Berlin Blockade?
- Germany was divided until 1990. BFA brought their zones together to form the Federal Republic of Germany and the eastern zone became the German Democratic Republic
- some western countries set up a defensive organisation called the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to shield against further aggressions, the Soviet Union responded by setting up an alliance with the satellite states called the Warsaw Pact
- the Berlin Wall: in the 1950s many people moved from East Berlin to West Berlin. Without warning the East German government shut down the border between east and West Berlin August 1961 and they built a 25 mile walk, anyone who tried to escape over the wall was shot
(THE KOREAN WAR)
Where was Korea divided?
Along the 38th Parallel Line
(THE KOREAN WAR)
Why was Korea divided?
After WW2 Korea was supposed to be divided only until all the Japanese troops were gone, the SU occupying the north and American occupying the South but even after all SU and American troops left Korea the two governments (now communist v.s pro-democracy) couldn’t agree
(THE KOREAN WAR)
Who ruled north Koread
Kim il Sung
(THE KOREAN WAR)
Who ruled the south?
Syngman Rhee
(THE KOREAN WAR)
What happened in June 1950?
The North invaded the south, armed with soviet weapons and quickly overran much of the south forcing the southern gov to retreat from the capital (Seoul) to a southern city (Pusan)
(THE KOREAN WAR)
What did the UN do in response to the invasion?
They declared North Korea to be an aggressor and sent an international army (mainly made up of Americans)
(THE KOREAN WAR)
Who led the UN force?
General Douglas MacArthur
(THE KOREAN WAR)
What did the UN troops do after running the North Koreans back across the border?
They didn’t stop and secure the border, they pushed them almost to the Yalu river
(THE KOREAN WAR)
Who was the Chinese leader?
Mao Tse-Tung
(THE KOREAN WAR)
Why did Mao Tsu-Tung send massive amounts of Chinese troops to push the American armies back to the border?
He believed general MacArthur was planning on invading China
(THE KOREAN WAR)
What did General MacArthur suggest?
That America should drop an atomic home on bases in China
(THE KOREAN WAR)
Why did Truman reject General MacArthur’s idea and what did he do to MacArthur?
Truman rejected the idea because he was scared it would lead to an atomic war so he sacked MacArthur
(THE KOREAN WAR)
What was the turning point in the Korean War?
A change of power.
Dwight D Eisenhower became president
Stalin died and was replaced by Nikita Khrushchev
They both wasted to end the war
(THE KOREAN WAR)
When was an armistice signed and what did it agree to?
July 1953
The border was fixed where it was before the war
(THE KOREAN WAR)
What were the results of the Korean War?
- the Cold War spread to Asia
- almost 4 million people died, half of them were civilians
- the UN proved they could raise an army against aggression
- the north and south remained divided and their relations have not improved
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What was the change of power in Cuba in 1959?
General Batista was overthrown by Fidel Castro
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What was Americas response to the revolution?
Initially America was supportive
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What happened when Fidel Castro announced his intentions to turn Cuba into a communist country?
America immediately stopped trading with Cuba and refused to buy its sugar. The SU was eager to have an ally so close to America and agreed to buy Cuban sugar in return for oil and machinery
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What did the CIA plan to try and resolve having a communist country so close?
John F Kennedy agreed to a play by the CIA for an invasion of Cuba. The invasion force was made up of about 1500 Cuban exiles that landed on the bay of pigs in southern Cuba
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
How did the invasion go?
It was a disaster with the Cuban exiles being outnumbered 1 to 300
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What was the result of the Bay of Pigs invasion?
It drew Cuba closer to the SU
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What were the rumours about Cuba?
There were rumours that the SU was placing nuclear missiles in Cuba and they were denied by Khrushchev
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
How were the rumours confirmed?
American U2 spy planes took photographs clearly showing that missile bases were being prepared in the Cuban jungle
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What did Khrushchev claim about the missiles?
He claimed they were to protect Cuba from any American invasion and also that there was no difference between the SU missiles in Cuba and the American missiles in Turkey
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What did Kennedy order instead of an invasion?
He ordered a naval blockade, announcing all ships heading for Cuba would be stopped and searched for weapons
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
When did tensions reach the highest?
Between 22-28th October
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What was happening between 22-28 October?
12 Soviet ships steamed towards Cuba and America placed its navy and Air Force on Defcon-2 the second highest state of readiness
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
How did the Cuban missile crisis end?
Within 30 minutes of the Soviet ships reaching Cuba Khrushchev ordered his ships around. The two countries agreed that if Khrushchev removed the missiles America shouldn’t invade Cuba
(THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS)
What were the results of the Cuban missile crisis?
- because they were desperately close to starting a nuclear war the two countries started discussing détente
- a special line connecting the White House and the Kremlin was established so the two leader could contact each other within minutes
- the SU and US started considering a reduction of arms and they signed and Test Ban Treaty forbidding the use of nuclear bomb testing in the atmosphere
Who replaced Nikita Khrushchev?
Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985
What improvements happened under Gorbachev’s leadership?
- he encouraged ‘glasnost’
- called for ‘perestroika’ so he ended the arms race as the SU couldn’t afford to keep up and was going to go bankrupt
- stated in 1988 that the SU would no longer interfere with the affairs of the satellite states
What happened to the satellite states after Gorbachev’s announcement?
They all slowly collapsed, most of the revolutions being bloodless.
The Berlin Wall was torn down and Germany was reunited in 1990
What is glasnost?
Openness- this allowed for criticism of the way the SU and the satellite states were being governed
What was perestroika?
A restructuring of the economy
