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History Cold War > Chapter 2 - Developing Tensions up to 1948 > Flashcards

Chapter 2 - Developing Tensions up to 1948 Flashcards

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1
Q

What had Stalin achieved by 1948?

A
  • Establishment of a defence zone / buffer zone to West of USSR, based on satellite states
  • This would reinforce defence capability of USSR against possible future threat from the West
  • USSR had succeeded in establishing pro-Soviet, communist regimes across Eastern Europe
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2
Q

Which Eastern European countries were pro-Soviet and Communist?

A
  • Poland
  • Hungary
  • Bulgaria
  • Romania
  • Albania
  • Czechoslovakia
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3
Q

How did Stalin handle elections in Poland?

A
  • DIdn’t simply impose a pro-Soviet communist regime on Poland
  • Appeared to allow free, multi-party elections
  • BUT had clear intent to ensure the result he wanted would emerge
  • Used the pro-Stalin Lublin Government as his instrument of political control
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4
Q

Who lead the Peasant Party in Poland?

A
  • Stanislaw Mikolajczyk
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5
Q

How did communists deal with the Polish Peasant Party?

A
  • Communists strengthened their own links with the Polish socialists
  • January 1947 = Communists and Socialists merged = Communists became the dominating group within this merge
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6
Q

What happened to Gomulka?

A
  • Wladyslaw Gomulka = Polish Deputy Prime Minister
  • Was not fully pro-Moscow
  • He declared that because Poles had fought for their own liberation, they should have the right to determine their own future
  • G opposed Soviet policies (believed them irrelevant to Poland)
  • 1948 = accused of ‘nationalist deviation’
  • 1948 = replaced by Boleslaw Bierut (compliant pro-Stalinist)
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7
Q

Why was opposition to Stalin minimal in Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary?

A
  • Romania = Communists popular as they offered alternative to pre-war regime
  • Red Army occupied Romania
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8
Q

How did Communists deal with elections in Bulgaria?

A
  • Gradualism
  • Manipulated elections
  • Forced removal of opponents
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9
Q

How did the Communists deal with Petkov?

A
  • Agrarian = strongest political opponent of communists (lead by Petkov)
  • Agrarian party won over 20% popular vote in October elections
  • BUT Petkov accused of false charges = executed
  • Agrarian party was forcibly absorbed into Bulgarian communist movement
  • April 1947 = all other political parties had been banned
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10
Q

What tactics were used to ensure Communist control in Hungary?

A
  • Allying with other political groups to challenge power of their greatest opponent (Smallholders Party)
  • Political opponents arrested
  • Elections manipulated and rigged by communists
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11
Q

How was a lack of Communist support in Hungary dealt with?

A
  • Hungarian communists didn’t display the loyalty Stalin wanted
  • They formed close links to Yugoslavia (which had a non-Soviet regime)
  • 1949 = Rajk (Communist leader) executed for ‘anti-Soviet’ activities
  • 1949 = all political opposition to Moscow-backed Hungarian communists had disappeared
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12
Q

Why were communists popular in Czechoslovakia?

A
  • Czech Communists had given rural peasants land at end of war = popular
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13
Q

How did Communist power increase in Czechoslovakia?

A
  • Members from rival non-communist groups resigned in 1948 = Communists could create an alternative right-wing group
  • Result = Edvard Beneš (respected President) agreed to support communist-dominated government
  • When Beneš resigned (June 1948) = pro-Moscow Communists left in complete control
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14
Q

Edvard Beneš

A
  • Czechoslovakia President
  • Highly respected
  • Agreed to support communist-dominated government
  • Resigned in June 1948
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15
Q

How did Soviet influence over Yugoslavia change?

A
  • Leader = Marshal Josip Broz Tito (committed Stalinist)
  • Communist movement in Yugoslavia firmly in place when war ended
  • By 1948 = Soviet influence over Y limited
  • Stalin determined to keen to impose Soviet influence over economic and foreign policies of Southern and Eastern European states
  • These states had to conform to Stalin’s interests
  • Yugoslavia refused to be Soviet puppets
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16
Q

What did Soviets do in response to Yugoslavia’s disloyalty?

A
  • June 1948 = Yugoslavia expelled from Cominform
  • Y’s leaders accused of abandoning Marxist-Leninism = no longer conformed to acceptable political position
17
Q

How did the USA exploit Yugoslavia’s position?

A
  • Yugoslavia only able to survive because of USA’s offering of economic aid
  • Any state the USSR opposed was seen by USA as a friend
18
Q

What was the ‘Long Telegram’?

A
  • 22nd February 1946
  • Sent by George Kennan (2nd ranking officer)
  • Sent from US embassy in Moscow to US State Department in Washington
  • Fundamental in shaping of US policy towards Soviet Union and determining USA’s role as a global power
19
Q

What did the ‘Long Telegram’ state?

A
  • Emphasised that the USSR saw West as hostile and menacing
  • Kennan drew conclusions on the direction of US foreign policy
  • Argued that USA must be prepared to threaten use of force to ensure unity amongst its allies
  • Urged USA to adopt proactive role, particularly in Europe
  • Referred to urgency for action by USA
20
Q

What did the ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech state?

A
  • 6 March 1946
  • Iron Curtain has formed across Europe
  • All states in Soviet sphere are subject to Soviet influence and high amounts of control from Moscow
  • USSR want the possibility of war (but not war itself)
  • USSR was to indefinitely expand their power
21
Q

What was Stalin’s response to the ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech?

A
  • Stalin delivered response 10 days later:
  • Presented Soviet Union as peacefully seeking Eastern European allies to reinforce its own security
  • USSR was using traditional Soviet explanation for its policies towards Eastern Europe
  • Oct 1946 USSR analysis of international relations = further justification for Soviet policy in Eastern Europe
  • Foreign Minister Molotov accused USA of being an imperialistic power, and to have abandoned Declaration on Liberated Europe (agreed at Yalta)
22
Q

How did the Greek Civil War change US foreign policy?

A
  • Stalin had agreed Greece should remain within Western sphere of influence following war
  • When Greece liberated from Nazi occupation, civil war broke out between monarchists and Greek communists
  • Britain had been providing aid to anti-communist forces in Greece
  • Feb 1947 = Britain announced this aid no longer available and appealed to USA to take on the financial burden
23
Q

What was the impact of the Truman Doctrine?

A
  • 1947
  • Held fundamental importance in terms of international relations
  • Institutionalised suspicion between the sides as the basis of East-West relations for at least the next 25 years
  • First step in Containment as basis of US post-war foreign policy (next step = Marshall Plan)
24
Q

What were the possible motives for the Truman Doctrine?

A
  • Blunt piece of diplomacy to keep Soviets from aiding Greek Communists, had no relevance to US policy beyond Greek Civil War
  • Designed to protect democracy, w/ no aggressive intent to any other state. Response to Soviet aggressive political, strategic and ideological expansionism in Eastern Europe
  • Means of Truman demonising Soviets to US public to justify his aims of turning USA into a global power
  • Wanted to provoke USSR = wanted Cold War as wanted to justify USA’s role as defender of freedom and enable USA to function as a world power
  • Make other states militarily and economically dependant on USA = trade relations and political allies
25
Q

Why did Stalin establish Cominform?

A
  • September 1947
  • Determined to respond to US economic imperialism and reconstruction of Germany through Marshall Plan
  • Late 1947 = convinced USA not interested in international relations that was based on multiple spheres of influence, coexisting
  • Previously believed Capitalist states would collapse, but was now certain USA were engineering anti-Soviet, US-led global alliance
  • Wanted to undermine US strategy
26
Q

What happened during the first Cominform meeting in Poland?

A
  • Communist representatives from across Europe summoned
  • In preparation for creation of Communist Information Bureau
  • Andrei Zhdanov (author of Zhdanov Doctrine) spoke at this meeting
  • Z convinced USA wanted to establish anti-Soviet empire based on economic dependancy upon USA for states who entered US sphere of influence
27
Q

What was the purpose of Cominform?

A
  • To unite and coordinate the role and actions of Communist groups throughout Europe
  • This was in order that Communist Party functioned as a united whole under the direction of Moscow

History Cold War (19 decks)

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