chapter 7 - cold war Flashcards
decline of western europeans and emergence of superpowers
britain had exhausted many of its resources after world war II, france had declined in power as compared to before, germany had already been defeated. US and USSR emerged as superpowers due to their geographical size and population, economic output and military strength
competing ideologies between US and USSR
US held a democratic stand, and aimed to create a world where individual liberty in areas, like freedom of speech and assembly are protected, while USSR aimed to destroy capitalism through communist revolutions, creating a utopian world where all property are equally shared among the people. US valued indivdual freedom, where USSR valued protecting society’s interest
US and USSR history of suspicion pre 1939
USSR was aligned to the communist manifesto, which called for worldwide communist revolutions to overthrow capitalist states. this alarmed democratic countries as they feared that communism would also spread in their own countries.
at the ppc in 1919, britain and america was worried about the possibility of a new communist state, therefore decided against breaking germany and intended to use them as a barrier against communism
a civil war broke up against russia and the whites. us and british troops intervened supporting the whites, hoping to prevent communist victory. the red scare in the 1920s causing US to arrest many, accusing them of being communists
the policy of appeasement adopted by the british and french was driven by the fear of USSR spreading communism by force. to USSR, the policy threathened its security.
marraige of convenience between US and USSR
the wartime alliance of britain, US and USSR was solely an emergency arrangement against a common enemy, germany. however, tensions within the alliance had already started to grow. stalin was concerned about the immense pressure the soviet troops were facing due to germany’s attacks and urged US and britain to open up a second front, but they had delayed an entire year to do so, leading stalin to believe that they wanted to minimise their own losses, deepening his distrust of the US and britain.
yalta conference
it was held in february 1945 to discuss post-war matters as it was already clear that the allies were going to win. however, both the major leading states had some conflicts in terms of views. US mainly wanted peace and democracy, and to recover wwestern europe, to fix their trade and aachieve economical stability. however USSR wanted war reparations from germany as they wanted to ensure that germany could not threathen them again. they had agreed on serveral important issues, like dividing germany, and berlin into four zones, US french, british and soviet. they also agreed that countries liberated from german occupation could hold free elections to choose the goverment they wanted. however, stalin wanted soviet border to move within poland, but both roosevelt and churchill were unhappy about it. overall, it seemed as if roosevelt was more willing to work with stalin while stalin and churchill had more clashes. the leaders put up a united front, posing for publicity photos to show their friendliness and unity.
potsdam conference
in july 1945, the potsdam conference had seen many changes in the world
change in leadership :
US was now under harry truman. truman did not have the same relationship with stalin that roosevelt had. he was concerned about the potential threat USSR had posed and was determined to challenge stalin. churchill was replaced with clement atlee, who let most of his duties to ernest bevin, who was anti-communist, creating policies closely aligned with taht of truman’s. both new leaders were younger and more inexperienced as compared to their predecessors.
increasing soviet control :
red army had already liberated many countries in eastern europe, but instead of withdrawing his troops, stalin decided to leave them there. poland remained a source of tension, as stalin had set up a communist government and encouraged communists in other states to take power. britain and US protested as tehy felt he broke the agreemeents made during the yalta conference. stalin, driven by his need for security of USSR, insisted this action was just a defensive measure.
manhattan project :
US had been secretly developing the atomic bomb under a state-funded nuclear development programme called the manhattan project. initially, truman decided to keep this a secret until the potsdam conference, but information had already been leaked out to stalin, deepening his suspicions towards the US’s intentions
after effects of potsdam
using the atomic bomb, truman wanted to initmidate stalin, but since stalin already knew about it, he did not react as to not show his concern and had already ordered soviet technicians to develop an atmoic bomb before the potsdam conference. also the issue of eastern europe had already been prevalent at yalta and potsdam, and it only worsened from there. stalin wnated to control the goverments of EE, adopting salami tactics to remove his poltical opponents one by one and make sure that the new communist goverments are led by politicians loyal to him.
truman doctrine
it was announced that the US would provide money, military resources and advice to democratic countries. it was the beginning of a policy of containment to stop the spread of communism. this was introduced due to the events in turkey and greece. initially, greece was occupied by the germans, but there was discussions on how it would be run after as the royalist wanted the monarchy to return, but the GCP wanted a communist state. a civil war broke out between the two sides, and since the british did not have enough resources to control the situation, truman had to face the prospect of yet another communist state. meanwhile, in turkey, stalin was trying to gain influence as he needed access to the turkish straits for soviet ships to pass. truman was concerned if turkey became a ally of USSR, stalin would use it as a stepping stone to spread communist influence. to gain the support of US, truman exaggerated the scale of events in turkey and greece in american newspapers. in may 1947, the US congress passed the greece and turkey aid bill of 400 million USD to secure turkey and greece as US’s ally, but this actions would worsen the relationship between US and USSR. the doctrine made it clear that US would not withdraw from the world affairs, and actively resist the spread of communism. the doctrine alarmed stalin and led to his retaliation, the creation of cominform.
the marshall plan
by using US’s economic power as an aide, the marshall plan was put in place. this plan would put 13 million USD into helping europe recover its economies. food, machinery and countless other items were shipped to democratic countries in europe, to help people get back to work and feel good about capitalism. many of US’s allies saw it as an incredibly generous act, but US also had their own intentions to help europe. they needed europe to recover so that they had a market to export their goods to. the plan provided a massive boost to europe and brought about speedy recovery, as well as tying US closer to their allies against communism
USSR’s response to the marshall plan
stalin was appalled and angered by the plan. he was concerned that their domination of western europe was he first step to advance into eastern europe and threaten soviet control. stalin tightened his grip on the EE states, turning them into satellite states, forcing them to stay close to the USSR, by creating two new organisation, cominform and comecon. cominform included numerous leaders of the communist parties in Ee, and they published propaganda to ensure satellite states implement a soviet-style communism. cominform was sued to tighten talin’s grip over the satellite states and ensure that US woul o have any political influence in them. stalin told EE states on what policies they had to follow, like rejecting financial support from the marshall plan and cutting off trade. comecon was set p to make sure that the satellite states were free from any influence of the US by promising them benefits similar to the marshall plan. n reality, USSR was the most favoured one, and other countries, like poland were forced to sell its coal to USSR at one-tenth of its market price.
berlin blockade
in 1944, US drew up the morgenthau plan, which broke up germany and dismantled their industries so that they would ever be stern enough to wage wars again. however, truman began to see germany as an ally against USSR, and in 1948, US, france and britain combined their zones into a single economic unit known as the trizone. to stalin, it seemed as if US was trying to rebuild his led energy, and wanted to make a point by trying to fore them out of berlin. in june 1948, he carried out the berlin blockade, cutting road and rail links from the allied zones to west berlin, and all food, water and electricity supplies.
US retaliation to berlin blockade
truman was not prepared to be driven out of berlin, and therefore to counter the blockade, he ordered the berlin airlift, and for almost a year, US and its allies supplied west berlin with coal, food and medicine by air. stalin eventually gave up and lifted the blockade as e did not want to risk war between US and USSR.
consequences of the berlin blockade.
after the blockade, truman announced that the french, britain and US zones would be united to form the federal republic of germany. berlin was divided into east and east germany, the divide taking the frm of a concrete wall known as the berlin wall.
at the height of the berlin blockade,the western powers came together and formed the organization known as NATO, north atlantic treaty organization, where members agreed to go to war for each other if any was attacked. NAO countries provided US forces with secure bases, guaranteeing their protection from a possible soviet attack. USSR saw it as a threat by the western powers.
warsaw pact
after stalin’s death in 1953, USSR continued to believe that west germany joining NATO was an extreme threat. in retaliation, the warsaw pact was created, where all the communist states of EE agreed that if one was attacked, they would also help to defend them. the warsaw pact strengthened USSR, giving them the command of all the satellite states. numerous of US troops tanks, aircrafts and weapons were stationed in bases across europe, and the warsaw pact members also trained their military forces in case NATO attacked.
