Chapter twenty-four - The transformation of the Soviet Union's international position

Question 1

How many troops were there in 1945?

Answer 1

May - 1945 - 7.5 million

Question 2

When was the first summit to include Stalin?

Answer 2

Tehran in November 1943

Question 3

When did Churchill meet Stalin in Moscow?

Answer 3

October 1944

Question 4

When was the Yalta conference?

Answer 4

February 1945

Question 5

When did the US reveal it had atomic bombs?

Answer 5

August 1945 - the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Question 6

When was the first successful test of the Soviet atomic bomb?

Answer 6

August 1949

Question 7

What were satellite states?

Answer 7

Countries that retained their national identity but had pro-Soviet governments - from 1949 onwards these came increasingly under Soviet control

Question 8

What were buffer states?

Answer 8

A term used to describe the satellite states of Eastern Europe, which emphasises Stalin’s intention that these should provide security for the USSR’s western borders

Question 9

What was the Katyn Forest Massacre?

Answer 9

From September 1939, Beria was responsible for about 40,000 Polish prisoners, those deemed ‘pro-Soviet’ were allowed to live, the rest were killed. At Katyn near Smolensk, 22,000 were shot and put in mass graves. A propaganda campaign in 1943 blamed the Nazis and the secret was maintained until the 1980s

Question 10

What was the long telegram?

Answer 10

A report sent to Washington from Moscow by the American diplomat George Kennan in february 1946, urging the US to take action to contain the spread of communism in Europe

Question 11

What was the iron curtain?

Answer 11

Winston Churchill’s speech at Fulton in 1946, warning of the extent of Soviet power and influence in east central Europe, used this term to give his warnings maximum dramatic effect

Question 12

What was the Truman doctrine?

Answer 12

March 1947 - asserted the new US policy of containment and the rolling back of communism

Question 13

What was the Marshall plan?

Answer 13

June 1947 - a massive injection of aid to rebuild Europe. Stalin believed that the plan was fundamentally hostile to Soviet interests

Question 14

What was the Soviet bloc?

Answer 14

The territory of the USSR was extended and in neighbouring national states the USSR used its military presence and its political influence over local communist parties to encourage the formation of governments that were friendly to the Soviet Union

Question 15

When did neighbouring national states become satellite states?

Answer 15

By 1948. This created a zone of buffer states

Question 16

What was the Warsaw uprising?

Answer 16

August 1944 - advancing Red Army approached Warsaw. Fighters in the AK launched an uprising to liberate the city from German occupation, and to support the nationalist Polish Underground State. Soviet forces halted their advance east of the Vistula; they did nothing to assist the AK. The uprising was crushed over 63 days.

Question 17

What was the provisional government in Poland?

Answer 17

It was set up in Lublin, dominated by pro-Moscow communists

Question 18

What was the government in Yugoslavia?

Answer 18

Communist partisans led by Josip Tito gained control over the post-war government, and this was expected to be an important part of the Soviet bloc. Communist regimes also controlled Bulgaria and Romania

Question 19

What were Salami tactics?

Answer 19

This was named by the Hungarian communist leader, Miklos Rakosi, to explain the subverting bourgeois parties to gain power from within by small incremental steps. This could be the quiet infiltration of trade unions or sometimes violence - in 1948 the anti-Soviet foreign minister of Czechoslovakia died from a fall from a high window in Prague

Question 20

What did salami tactics enable?

Answer 20

Pro-Soviet governments to gain power in Hungary in 1947 and Czechoslovakia in 1948 where it was suggested that the communists had even stooped to the murder of the pro-western minister . Jan Masaryk

Question 21

What happened in the meeting between Stalin and Churchill in Moscow?

Answer 21

Late 1944 - was plagued by disagreements over the future of Poland

Question 22

What happened in the Yalta conference?

Answer 22

February 1945 was dominated by conflicting ideas about the post-war borders of Germany and Poland. It was agreed that Germany should be placed under zones of occupation.

Question 23

What happened at the Potsdam conference?

Answer 23

August 1945 - ended with no final peace agreement. Differences between the allies became apparent - now with Truman and Attlee.

Question 24

What was the Berlin blockade?

Answer 24

1948 - 49 - hardening the division of Germany

Question 25

What was the formation of NATO?

Answer 25

1949 - establishment of the Atlantic Alliance for the defence of Europe was seen by the USSR as a hostile act

Question 26

What was the USSR reaction to the Marshall plan?

Answer 26

Stalin expressed fears that the US would rebuild the industrial economy of Western Germany, leading to the resurgence of German power.

Question 27

How did the west view the events in Czechoslovakia?

Answer 27

In February 1948, Gottwald, the leader of the communists in Czechoslovakia, took full control of the government. The west regarded this as a communist coup backed by the USSR

Question 28

When was a separate currency in the Western areas of Berlin introduced?

Answer 28

June 1948

Question 29

When was the Berlin blockade introduced?

Answer 29

June 1948 a day after the separate currency was introduced

Question 30

What was the Berlin airlift?

Answer 30

Stalin thought that the west was not willing to risk war so the blockade would force the US to agree to Soviet terms.
The Berlin airlift was coordinated by the US military governor, General Lucius Clay. This was a massive allied operation where allied aircraft flew essential supplies into West Berlin throughout the Winter of 1948 - 9. The population of West Berlin resisted Soviet inducements and pressure. After 318 days, Stalin called off the blockade in May 1949.

Question 31

What were the events in China?

Answer 31

The long civil war ended with the victory of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Stalin met with the Chinese leader, Mao Zedong, in Moscow to agree a treaty of alliance. Conflict between the USSR and its allies and the US became the norm until 1989.

Question 32

When did Stalin die?

Answer 32

5 March 1953

Question 33

What was Khrushchev’s Secret speech?

Answer 33

He openly attacked Stalin’s legacy in the Party Congress of February 1956. The speech was long and detailed in denouncing Stalin’s crimes and errors.

Question 34

What was Stalin’s legacy abroad?

Answer 34

Communist Yugoslavia had already broken with Stalin in 1948. After the 1956 Secret speech, unrest spread to East Germany, Poland and Hungary, where reform of the communist system spilled into violent revolution in the 1956 Budapest rising. Stalin’s statue was symbolically demolished.