Co-operation ends and the Cold War begins

Question 1

What five countries made up the Allies?

Answer 1

Britain
USA
USSR
China
France

Question 2

What three countries made up the Axis powers?

Answer 2

Germany
Italy
Japan

Question 3

Why was this time period called the ‘Cold War’?

Answer 3

The two major powers (USA & USSR) suffered a breakdown of relations due to ideological differences and by 1950 they both had nuclear weapons. They had to fight a ‘Cold War’ to avoid nuclear destruction.

Question 4

What are the main differences between capitalist and communist systems?

Answer 4

Political system - free choice in elections (capitalism)/no choice in elections (communism)
Media - freedom of speech (capitalism)/no freedom of speech (communism)
Wealth - individuals own their own property (capitalism)/government owns all property (communism)

Question 5

What happened at Yalta, 1945?

Answer 5

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin (the Big Three) met at Yalta to decide what would happen in post-war Europe. They decided that Germany and Berlin would be divided into four zones and be occupied by the Allies, that Germany would pay for reparations, the new UN would help keep peace and Eastern Europe would come under the influence of USSR.

Question 6

What happened at Potsdam, 1945?

Answer 6

The Big Three agreed on how Germany and Austria would be divided and occupied and changes made to Germany’s border with Poland and Poland’s border with the USSR.

Question 7

What happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Answer 7

Truman was worried that the USSR would try and spread communism in the Pacific. The USA had begun developing an atomic bomb. In August, 1945, the USA dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A quarter of a million people died. Three days later, the Americans dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on 14 August.