cold war Flashcards
grand alliance
UK, USA, USSR.
yalta confererence
- US and UK wanted collective security made by the UN, no spheres of influence, and germany to be reconstructed as a democratic country. roosevelt wanted stalins help to defeat Japan.
stalin wanted to expand the USSR’s spheres of influence into eastern europe
germnay and berlin would be divided into four parts, UN would be set up, USSR would gain land from poland, stalin agreed to democratic elections in europe. the precentage agreement
the precentage agreement
division of countries into spheres of influence. agreement between stalin and churchill in 1944, roosevelt was briefed and made no objections
potsdam conference
- allies sceptical of soviet involevemnt in the middle east, stalin was anxious of soviet security due to US atomic bomb
kennan’s long telegram
- introduced containment and the domino effect. increased US involvement in foriegn affairs, and the introduction of th marshall plan
iron curtain speech
churchill 1946. condemned soviet policies and promoted a special relationship between US and UK. stalin claimed that this was an anti-soviet attack, they were ‘demonizing’ him
truman docterine
1947 containment and aiding countries that could be offers of communism
cominform
1947 consolidation of european communist states after the split into spheres of influence. introduced collectivization = similar economic and foreign policies
the marshall plan
- financial aid to prevent countries from becoming communist. some of teh money must be spent on US export and share of financial info with US
comecon
- mutual economic assistance as they traded together
nato
- formed after china became communist and teh berlin blockade. all members pledged to defend attacked member
the warsaw pact
- equivalent to nato
berlin blockade
ussr blocked all enterances to berlin as opposition to bizonia and their new currency. allies used airlifts to deliver food and coal
revisionist perspective collapse of grand alliance
us is the reason due to us foreign policies,
orthodox perspective collapse of grand alliance
ussr was at fault due to them being inevitably expansionists, us had to defend themselves
chinese civil war
sino-soviet treaty of 1950 (mao made a speech saying that china will align itself with the ussr), china became communist, civil war in 1949
mccarthyism
republican sentator, anti-communistic crusade within the US, cliamed that many state department officials were members of the communist party, causing the red scare
korean war
1950-53. Korea was divided into two during the Potsdam conference; North = China and South = USA. The USSR had removed their troops from North Korea, but there were still 7500 troops in the American zones. The Soviet Union agreed to help China in 1950.
The USA feared that another communist victory would unsettle Europe - the domino theory and requested involvement from the UN. The UN ordered a ceasefire, and the USSR was unable to veto the decision due to them boycotting the UN after they failed to recognize Mao’s government.
sino-soviet relations
1950-53: the Korean War; Soviet encouraged China to sed troops, material assistance. China had to pay for it.
1953-56: Honeymoon period; relaxation of tension, attempts by the USSR to make treaties mor equal and supple further technology and loans
Great Leap Forward: launched in 1958. Idea: rapid development of China’s agricultural and Industrial sector but was VERY unsuccessful.
USSR: the GLF as ‘faulty in design and erroneous in practice’
Mao wanted revenge against Moscow – decided to back any communist country that dissented from Moscow
1956-64: Khrushchev era; He believed that Stalin was bad – destalinization, the secret speech. Mao saw Khrushchev’s peaceful coexistence with the West as heresy
sino-us relations
Containment – 1949-1971
US tries to disrupt, destabilize and weaken China’s communist government
US encouraged allies to refrain from entering diplomatic relations with China
Rapprochement – 1971-1979
Kissinger secretly visits China in 1971, Nixon visits in 1972. They signed the Shanghai Communique, acknowledging that Taiwan is a part of China.
Sino-US unofficial relations begin to develop with trade, education and cultural exchanges.
us motivating factors for detente
growing impact of the Vietnam war (on the US and its global position and economy), growing awareness of nuclear dangers, and some evidence suggesting that the USSR might be on the same level as the US on nuclear weaponry.
Nixon had won the 1968 elections, he believed that continuing the Vietnam war will have a negative impact on the US’s economic and militarily superiority over the Soviet Union.
ussr motivating factors for detente
Soviet economy was showing signs of stagnation, fear that the risk of nuclear war had increased, and the USSR being worried due to the Sino-Soviet split potentially resulting in an alliance between the US and China.
salt 1
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, arms control, not reduction. Agreed upon a 5-year freeze on some weapons. Also included the Basic Principles Agreement, which committed both sides to work together to prevent conflict and build peaceful coexistence.
helsinki conference and accords
first – recognized the borders of Europe as secure from assault. Second – collaboration with each other in terms of economy, science and culture. Third – human rights.
decline of detente revisionist
The USSR believed that the US still believed that they could do as they want, especially in foreign involvement – US support of Israel attacks despite UN ordered ceasefire.
The USSR believed that the US was supporting anti-communist governments in the ‘Third World’
The US was not benefiting financially from détente as compared with the beginning of détente.
decline of detente orthodox
Many in the US believed that the USSR benefited more from the arms agreements
The USSR were continuing to support left-wing revolutionary groups in Africa
The USSR did not follow the third basket of the Helsinki agreement.
The USSR occupied Afghanistan - the US saw it as a threat to world peace.
second cold war
soviet occupation of afghanistan in 1979, reagan elected in 1980, “soviet nuclear superiority”, 1980 olympics, evil empire
end of cold war gorbachev
Introduced two key reforms
Perestroika: aimed to restructure the economy
Glasnost: the principle that every area of the regime should be open to public scrutiny.
Reduced economy spending, wanted to abandon the arms race
end of cold war reagan
Positive perspectives
He moderated and abandoned personal convictions about the nature of communism
Reagan victory school
His actions in the early 1980s in ending détente and stepping up tensions in the Cold War through increased arms spendings were key for ending the Cold War
geneva conference
- agreed to avoid nuclear war and militarily superiority
reysjavik conference
- Gorbachev: Proposed total elimination of nuclear missiles. Accepted NATO’s zero-zero option. Acknowledged the importance of human rights.
Reagan: proposed total elimination in 10 years (would result on a major USSR economic drain)
Both: agreed that strategic nuclear weapons should be cut by 50%. Medium range missiles removed from Europe.
washington conference
- Both: signed the INF treaty – all land-based and shorter-range missiles would be removed from Europe.
Gorbachev: announced that the USSR would withdraw from Afghanistan without insisting on a certain form of government.
end of cold war soviet economy
Reforms were not met with support from within the Soviet Union, as there was not a system in place to cope with a market economy, and a fall in the world’s oil prices resulted in a major economic decline in 1991 (1990 = -5%, 1991 = -15%).
Glasnost allowed for openness and discussion, thus allowing for criticism on the old Soviet system and the new reforms - this led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war
end of cold war people power
The actions of nationalist leaders also aided in the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Discontent was due to:
Continued deterioration of living standards
Growing disillusionment with the Communist Party (repressive and corrupt)
Implication of Glasnost and Perestroika
Gorbachev stated in an address to the UN Geneal Assembly in 1988 that all peoples should have the right to choose their own government and that universal human rights should exact in both capitalist and socialist blocs.
historiography
orthodox (ussr at fault), revisionist (us at fault), post-revisionist (both)
orthodox
argue that the Soviet regime initiated the Cold War by seeking to expand and exert control over Europe and Asia. They attribute this to Russia’s inherent expansionism, the doctrine of Marxist-Leninism which preached international revolution and world communism, as well as Stalin’s anti-Western paranoia.
Orthodox historians argue that Stalin broke the agreements forged at Yalta and Potsdam, in order to expand Soviet communism into eastern Europe and throughout the world. The Soviet leader’s duplicitous actions led to the collapse of the Grand Alliance and the beginnings of the Cold War
revisionism
US policy after World War II was neither passive nor benign. It was driven more by economic considerations and national self-interest than the principles of democracy and self-determination
they wanted a European continent populated with capitalist nations open to trade and American exports. Policies such as lend-lease, post-war loans and the Marshall Plan all worked toward this objective
