Cold War Flashcards
New World Powers
- The United States had strong agricultural, financial and industrial industries and became the new World Power
- The USSR emerged as the second world power
Yalta Conference (February 1945) (4)
- The partition of Germany into zones of occupation
- War reparations
- The holding of elections in the liberated countries
- The annexation of the Baltic States and eastern Poland
Potsdam Conference (July-August 1945) (4)
- Division into four zones
- Denazification was carried out
- The Nuremberg Trial began
- Borders with Poland were determined
Pacific Post WWII (3)
- Japan was occupied by the United States
- Democratization was promoted
- Korea was divided in two by the 38th parallel,
under the tutelage of the USA and the USSR
Paris Conference (2)
- 1947
- Peace treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland
San Francisco Conference (2)
- June 1945
- Foundation of the United Nations- Organization for the “maintenance of international peace and security”
United Nations Goals (3)
- Recognition of the right to self-determination of peoples (decolonized process)
- Development and encouragement of rights and freedoms
- Promotion of peaceful cooperation in economic, social, cultural, educational and health matters
Structure of the United Nations (4)
- General Assembly and Security Council
- All member states with equal voting rights
- Five permanent members with veto rights (United States, France, USSR, China and United Kingdom)
- Also: International Court of Justice, Economic and Social Council and the United Nations Educational and Scientific Cultural Organization
Ostpolitik
1970 German policy created by Chancellor Willy Brandt to help normalize relations between capitalist West Germany and communist East Germany
Red Telephone
a direct contact line between them Moscow and Washington D.C. between the leaders of the USA and the USSR
The Spirit of Helsinki
Security and Cooperation conference between NATO members to stabilize international situation in 1975
Conference of Bandung (3)
- 1955 meeting between China, India, Indonesia and 23 other nations
- Agreed to not side as communist or capitalist in the Cold War
- Rejected colonization, supported national liberation movements and worked together in the UN
Three Crisis’ that raised Cold War tensions
2nd Berlin crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War
Western Germany (4)
- Federal German Republic (Unified between US, UK and France)
- Democratic, capitalist
- USA, UK and France poured money into modernizing it
- Greater salaries, more consumer goods and greater personal freedom
Eastern Germany (4)
- German Democratic Republic
- Communist, controlled by USSR
- Soviet Union extracted resources from the East as War Reparations
- 3.5 million people left (20% of the population) to go to Western side before the wall construction
First Berlin Crisis
The 1948-1949 “Berlin Blockade” in which Stalin blocked access to Berlin through USSR territory (no access to Western Berlin via road, rail or canal)
Berlin Airlift
President Truman, and later all the allies, sent Western Berlin supplies such as food and coal via airplane between 1948-1949
In 1949, Stalin lifted the Berlin Blockade and allowed land travel
Second Berlin Crisis (3)
- In November 1958, USSR issued a six month ultimatum to the west
- Western Troops to be removed from West Berlin and Berlin to be a declared a free city
- This later led to construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961
Berlin Wall (3)
- Constructed in 1961 to prevent those from Eastern Side travelling towards the West
- Arose out of tensions from the 2nd Berlin Crisis
- It was constructed during the height of the Cold War
Cold War Defintion
a system of international relations that existed between 1945 and 1991
Western Block (4)
- A democratic political system
- A capitalist economy with a free market
- A liberal ideology
- Most notable led by the United States
Communist Block
- A totalitarian political system
- A planned economy
- A Marxist ideology
- Most notable led by the Soviet Union
Main Aspects of the Cold War (4)
- Arms race
- Ideological propaganda
- Subversion and espionage (secret services)
- Localized wars
Collaboration of the United States and Soviet Union (4)
- Yalta Conference
- Creation of United Nations
- Peace Treaties
- Nuremberg Trials
Eastern Europe (2)
- Communist regimes
- Subordinates to the Soviet Union
Western Europe (2)
- Democratic, capitalist and liberal
- Faced with the danger that the economic crisis will extend communism, North Americans offer financial help
Truman Doctrine (2)
Truman’s 1947 policy of containment that pledged American “support for democracies against authoritarian threats”, directed at Turkey and Greece under threat from the Soviet Union
Containment policy rather than elimination of communism, better just in USSR but not in Mediterranean
Zhdanov Doctrine
1947 Soviet response to the Truman Doctrine that created the Cominform, made to spread communism
Yugoslavia and Albania
both were independent of the Soviet Union, but still communist
Greek Civil War
Broke out in 1946 between Monarchists (financially supported by the United States) and Communists, (financially supported by Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union)
The monarchists won
The end of understanding and trust between the USSR and the USA
the Greek Civil War
The Marshall Plan (2)
A 1948 plan to provide economic aid to Western European suffering economies, as they were a fertile ground for communism
Additionally, the US needed these countries to be wealthy enough to purchase American goods
Comecon / Mutual Economic Assistance Council (3)
1949 Soviet response to the Marshall Plan that made communist governments:
- Renounce the Marshall Plan
- Coordinate economic policies and assistant plans
Spain during this time
Under the leadership of authoritarian dictator Francisco Franco, but still opposed to communism
NATO (2)
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization created in 1949
as a treaty of collective defense among Western Europe and the United States - ORIGINALLY CREATED so Western powers organized together to defend against the Soviet Union (Joseph Stalin)’s expansionist ambitions and military power
Warsaw Pact (2)
- Soviet Union’s 1955 response to NATO treaty
- A collective defense between USSR and its Eastern partners
Communism in China (2)
- in 1948, the CCP was defeated after a long civil war
- Kuomintang nationalist, led by Mao Zedong, created the People’s Republic of China
Korea (6)
- Divided into North and South after WWII
- North Korea invades the South in 1950
- United Nations, through the US intervene
- China intervenes when conflict reaches Chinese border
- Americans forces stabilize 38º parallel
- 1953 armistice is signed
United States Regional Defence Treaties (to block communism)
- SEATO (South Asia Defense Treaty)
- Baghdad Pact
- Bilateral treaties with Taiwan, South Korea and others
USA Anti-Communist Domestic Policy
- Senator McCarthy’s Witch Hunt on his Committee on Anti-American Activities
- Thousands of people, artists and intellectuals, were sent to prison, exile and labor persecution for being communist sympathizers
1953 USSR and US relations (3)
- World powers tried for better relations
- Nikita Khrushchev (USSR) and Eisenhower (USA) were the new leaders
- Facilitated conversations and new approaches
Reasons for better USSR and USA relations in the 1950s
- New leaders (Nikita Khrushchev and Eisenhower)
- USSR was a nuclear power
- Third World Countries remained neutral in the face of communist/capitalist blocks
- Internal conflicts within the communist/capitalist blocks
Suez Canal Crisis (4)
- 1956, when Egyptian president Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal
- MIlitary intervention from France, UK and Israel, as it was commercially profitable
- US and USSR pressured France, UK and Israel to withdraw troops, which they did
- Egypt was granted ownership of the Suez Canal
Internal Conflicts of the Communist Block (4)
- 1956 Polish and Hungarian revolt
- 1958, the Prague Spring
- Both were repressed by the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact
- Yugoslavia, Albania and China broke relations with the USSR because of this suppression
Internal Conflicts of the Western Block (2)
- Issues with French foreign policy
- Instability of Latin America, where the United States intervened
Doctrine of Mass Retaliation
USA commits to total nuclear response in the event of an attack from the USSR
Cuban Missile Crisis (5)
- Occured in 1959 because of a Cuban Communist Revolution, helped by Soviets
- In 1961, USA invaded but lost severely (the Failure of the Bay of Pigs)
- USSR sent military aid, starting the installation of nuclear weapons
- USA was worried about a communist country near them having nuclear weapons
- In 1962, Soviets removed their bombs from Cuba as long as the US never invaded Cuba again, crisis averted!
Vietnam War French Stage (3)
- A war over colonization between Vietnam and France
- Started in 1945, as France was weak after WWII
- France is defeated by the Vietminh (communist and anti-colonial movement of Ho Chi Minh in 1965
Geneva Agreements (3)
- Divided Vietnam by the 17º parallel
- North Vietnam (communist under Ho Chi Minh)
- South Vietnam (capitalist dictator Ngo Dinh Diem)
Vietnam War North American Stage (4)
- Lasted from 1964-1975 with the goal of stopping communist advance in Asia
- USA helped the South Vietnam militarily, who were against North Vietnam Communist Guerilla (Vietcong)
- USA used Napalm/Agent Orange on civil population
- USA defeated, after losing 50,000 men, in 1973 and withdrew
Vietnam post-War (2)
Unified in 1975 and became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
The war spread to Cambodia and Laos
New Distention Factors (3)
- The expenses of nuclear arms
- Pressure of pacifist movements
- Conversations between the Superpowers
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
Created and signed by UK, USSR, and USA in 1968 for prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and tech and for peace
First SALT Agreement
Created in 1972 to reduce atomic arsenal and limit strategic weapons
Second SALT Agreement
Created in 1979 to reduce atomic arsenal and limit strategic weapons
War Diffusion in the 1970s
End of Arab-Israeli Wars with Yom Kippur War 1973 and end of Vietnam war led to a period of relaxation and stabilization of the international situation
Economic Success of the 1970s (2)
- European Economic community with political and economic power
- China had growing in the Third World (breaking the unanimity of the blocks)
1970s Weakness of the United States (4)
- Poor leadership of President Jimmy Carter
- Loss of Vietnam War
- 1973 Oil Crisis (from Arab-Israeli War)
- Increase in External Debt
USSR takes advantages of the the USA in a weakened state (2)
- Deploys intermediate nuclear missiles in Europe
- Increases aid to revolutionary movements, such as Nicaragua and Angola
Sandinista Revolution
In Nicaragua in 1979, when Daniel Ortega defeated the Somoza dictatorship and established a socialist regime
Islamic Revolution in Iran
In 1979, when the Shia clergy (led by Ruhollah Khomeini) expelled the Persian monarchy, which was pro-Western and established an Islamic fundamentalist conservative republic
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to help prom up the failing communist government they had helped install against the anti communist Muslim guerrillas
Effect of Nicaragua, Iran and Afghanistan on USA (5)
- Conservative Reagan Era
- Aimed to regain world leadership
- Opt for toughness and aggression
- Deploying missiles in Europe
- Higher military spending, such as Defense Initiative “Star Wars”
- Military intervention in Latin America and Afghanistan
Economic and Political Crisis in a the USSR
- Caused by War in Afghanistan and Arms race
- Soviet and Eastern European population discontent and rejecting communism
Government of M. Gorbachev (6)
- A radical change
- Reduced military spending
- End of arms race
- Withdrawal from Afghanistan and Eastern Europe
- Political reform (Perestroika)
- Information transparency (Glasnost)
M. Gorbachev’s Political Openness (4)
- Democratized Eastern Europe
- Fall of Berlin Wall (1989)
- Unification of Germany (1990)
- Peace agreements and dissolution of Soviet Union in 1991
End of the Cold War (2)
- Officially over in 1989 with the Malta Summit
- Democratic movement throughout the communist world
