Cold War Flashcards
What countries were in the Grand Alliance?
USA, Britain, USSR
When was the Tehran Conference?
1943
What was agreed at Tehran?
- USA and Britain would open a second front and launch an attack on Germany from the West
- Stalin would declare war against Japan
What impact did this have on international relations?
- Stalin was pleased the USA and Britain were opening a second front
- Britain was annoyed and wanted the second front in the Balkans
- Good relations between the USA and USSR
Which leaders met at Yalta Conference, Feb 1945?
Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin
What was agreed at Yalta?
- Germany and Berlin would be divided into zones of occupation between USA, USSR, GB, and France
- USSR would join the war against Japan
- UN to be set up after WW2
- Eastern European countries could hold free elections after the end of the war
What did the Allied leaders disagree on at Yalta?
Stalin wanted to move the border of Poland westwards into German territory - Roosevelt was unhappy but agreed since Stalin promised not to help Communist rebels in Greece.
Which leaders met at Potsdam Conference, July 1945?
Truman, Attlee, Stalin
What was agreed at Potsdam?
- Germany and Berlin would be divided as agreed at Yalta
- Poland’s eastern border moved west - this would give the USSR more territory
- Nazi leaders to be tried as war criminals
What were the disagreements at Potsdam?
- Truman blocked Stalin’s demand for crippling fines to be placed on Germany
- Truman refused to allow the USSR to occupy Japan once it was defeated
- Truman and Attlee opposed Stalin’s demand that he set up pro-Soviet governments in Eastern Europe
Why was Potsdam less successful?
- Stalin’s troops remained in Eastern Europe - hopes of free elections seemed very distant now
- Truman informed Stalin that the USA now possessed the atom bomb - Stalin feared that the USA might use this weapon in the future against the USSR - weakened relations
- Truman adopted a far more hard-line approach to Stalin than Roosevelt had - less willing to negotiate
- GB and US were suspicious of Stalin who had now set up a pro-Communist government in Poland
- Stalin was suspicious as to why USA wanted Germany to ‘recover’ economically
When did the USA drop atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
August 1945
How did the development of the atom bombs make the USA/West feel?
more confident/ secure. Could use it to persuade Stalin to hold free elections in Eastern Europe
What did Stalin do in reaction to the bomb?
- he made a buffer zone between Eastern European countries and the West
- tested their own atomic bomb in 1949
How did the development of the atom bomb affect USA/USSR relations?
- increased cold war tensions as the bomb was so powerful
- made both sides reluctant to go to war
- arms race between USA and USSR
What was the Kennan Long telegram?
- telegram that discussed US-Soviet relations
- sent by George Kennan - US ambassador in Moscow
- said Stalin wanted to destroy capitalism but that the USSR would back down if threatened by the USA
What was the Novikov Telegram?
-telegram sent by Nikolai Novikov - Soviet diplomat in Washington that said that the USA wanted to dominate the world
How did both telegrams affect American Soviet relations?
- increased distrust of the other side
- eventually led to America’s policy of containment as the USA felt the USSR was now looking to spread communism and led to the Soviet desire to protect itself
Why did Stalin ensure that every government in Eastern Europe was pro communist?
-he wanted to create a buffer zone between east and the west. The USSR had suffered two invasions in the last thirty years - if Eastern Europe was under his control, this would make any invasion less likely
How did the USA interpret this move by Stalin?
Believed it was part of Stalin’s aim to spread communism throughout the world - in particular they thought countries in Western Europe were under threat
What was the Iron Curtain speech?
In March 1946 Churchill visited the USA where he made a speech in which he declared that Europe was being divided by Soviet policy. In the West were free and democratic states, but in in the East countries were living under the domination of communism and the USSR - an ‘iron curtain’ separated the two
How did the Iron Curtain speech affect American Soviet relations?
It increased tension and mistrust and led the USSR to step up its campaign of anti-Western propaganda. Intensified hostility.
What were satellite states?
Countries that were freed from Nazi rule by the Red Army. These included: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania
How did Stalin set up pro-Communist governments?
He held rigged elections to ensure communists won
- politicians from other parties were beaten, intimidated, or even murdered
- after the war, 6 million troops remained to stamp out opposition
How did Stalin ensure these states relied on the USSR?
He set up Cominform in 1947 - an alliance of Communist countries, which restricted their contact with the West - done in response to the Marshall Plan
Later he set up Comecon to coordinate trade between these countries
How did Stalin ensure these states relied on the USSR?
He set up Cominform in 1947 - an alliance of Communist countries, which restricted their contact with the West - done in response to the Marshall Plan
Later he set up Comecon to coordinate trade between these countries
Why did events in Greece change US policy?
Truman was informed in 1947 that GB could no longer afford to keep troops in Greece and Turkey. If GB withdrew, these countries could well come under the influence of Stalin. Truman therefore paid for the troops to be kept there and gave financial backing to the two countries. This was the beginning of the US policy of containment.
What was the Truman Doctrine?
- speech that indicated a change of policy from isolationism to containment
- March 1947
- made it clear that the USA was prepared to assist any country under the threat of communism
- said choosing democracy over communism was like choosing good over evil
- The USA would send troops and money to stop communism spreading.
What was Marshall Aid?
Truman believed poverty and hardship were the breeding grounds for communism - he therefore provided billions of dollars for the wrecked economies of Europe
Between 1948 and 1952 the USA gave $12.7 bn to West Europe
-wanted these economies to recover so that they could provide a market for US produced goods
What was the Soviet response to the Truman doctrine?
Stalin thought it showed that the USA was trying to extend its influence in Europe. He argued that the MP was a way of using economic strength to divide Europe in two - he called it dollar imperialism
What impact did the Truman doctrine have on international relations after 1947?
- the USA was now in direct opposition to the USSR
- Stalin’s suspicions of the West were reinforced
- Europe was now divided into two economic and political camps
What did Stalin set up to rival the MP, and when?
Comecon, 1949
What did Comecon allow?
Aimed to support economic development in member states / trade and industrial planning across Eastern European countries. Trade with the West was discouraged
What was cominform and when was it set up?
set up in 1947 in response to the Truman Doctrine. Political organisation, included the USSR, Czeckoslovakia, Hungary, Romani, and Poland
-it directed and controlled the governments of satellites states and made sure they took orders from Moscow
How did the USA’s actions help to cause this crisis(berlin blockade)?
- West Germany + West Berlin were benefitting from Marshall Aid
- GB and USA had combined their parts of west Germany to form Bizonia, then Trizonia
- they introduced the Deutschmark across Trizonia
How did Stalin interpret these actions?
The USSR believed that this was part of the USA’s plan to rebuild Germany into a strong nation once more and to leave the Soviet zones in poverty. Now two Germany’s had been created - the East and the West
Why did Stalin decide to impose a blockade on Berlin in June 1948?
- blockaded road and rail links from West Germany into West Berlin
- hoped to test the strength of the USA and to force them into surrendering West Berlin where two million people lived free from Soviet rule
Why did US and GB decide to fly in supplies to West Berlin?
they could not break the blockade with force as this would be seen as an act of war
- nonstop flights (275,000) ensured that 1000 tons of food and other necessities came to West Berlin each day
- Operation Vittles
Why did Stalin not shoot down the planes?
would be seen as an act of war
-US had also stationed b29 bombers in GB, capable of dropping the atom bomb on the Soviets
What were the consequences of the blockade?
- Stalin gave in and ended the Blockade in May 1949 - he was humiliated
- The USA, GB and FR combined their zones to form West Germany
- Stalin set up East Germany in 1949. West Germany refused to recognise it until 1970’s
- NATO was set up in 1949 to ensure that any future attack by Stalin would be met with force. West Germany joined in 1955
- Stalin set up the Warsaw Pact in 1955 - a similar alliance of Eastern European countries
When were nukes developed by both sides:
1945 USA atomic bomb
- 1949 USSR atomic bomb
- 1952 USA hydrogen bomb
- 1953 USSR hydrogen bomb
- 1957 USA + USSR ICBM
What were the effects of the arms race on both sides?
- each side became more powerful
- USA and USSR spent huge sums of money on developing conventional and nuclear weapons and armies
- led to a change in thinking about war - acted as a deterrent to war
Which president took over from Truman in 1953?
Eisenhower - fiercely anti-communist but open to talks
When Stalin died in 1953 who took over leadership of the USSR?
Krushchev in 1956 - followed a policy of de-Stalinisation
