Cold War Flashcards
What was the U2? May 1960
U2 spy planes were an effective way of gathering intelligence.
When Gary powers took his mission he was shot down by new antiaircraft weapons.
The Americans claimed it was a weather plane straying into soviet territory. It was clear that this was a lie as the Soviet’s produced clear evidence that it wasn’t a weather plane.
They found cameras and a suicide pill. This all happened days before the Paris peace summit.
What happened at the Prague spring 1968?
What was Dubcek’s reforms?
When did the soviets invade?
The leader was Dubcek.
He aimed to remove state control, give freedom of speech, end press censorship, and opened the border to non-communist countries
He called this ‘socialism with a new face’
Warsaw pact members were not happy with this and on August 1968 soviet forces entered and seized control of Prague
A new hard line government was installed by Moscow
What was the Brezhnev doctrine? 1968
3 months after the Prague spring it was the rule that stated if any Warsaw pact member behaved like czechoslovakia, the red army would invade
What were the effects of the U2 crisis on the Paris peace summit?
President Eisenhower accepted that U2 was a spy plane but refused to apologise and refused to say it wouldn’t happen again. Khrushchev,angry at the lack of apology, refused to continue with the Paris peace summit and stormed out after 1 day.
Impacts of the Great depression: Businesses and banks
Between 1929 and 1933, industrial production in the USA fell dramatically. Some businesses were forced to cut production, reduce working hours or even shut down completely. Many banks ran out of money and were forced out of business. Around 9,000 banks closed between 1930 and 1933. This meant that many Americans lost their savings.
Impacts of the Great depression: Unemployment
The number of products sold halved between 1929 and 1933. Falling consumer demand meant that businesses could make less profit.
Many workers lost their jobs as businesses couldn’t afford to pay them.
By July 1932 around 23 per cent of the working population were unemployed. In some parts of America, this percentage was much higher.
With no income and difficulty finding work, many people were evicted from their homes and became homeless.
As America had no social
welfare
schemes, many people became reliant on charity.
Breadlines and soup kitchens became necessary for survival.
Impacts of the Great depression: Farmers
Farmers continued to suffer during the Great Depression as they had during the 1920s. Farmers who couldn’t afford to pay their debts or mortgages continued to be evicted and lost their land. Farmers often couldn’t afford to pay farmworkers, so they lost their jobs. Severe drought and soil erosion in the
Dust Bowl area made effective farming impossible.
Reasons why people migrated to America
America initially had an open-door immigration policy. This meant that immigration was positively encouraged as it enabled the nation to develop and prosper.
Between 1836 and 1914, around 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States. The idea of the American dream filled many immigrants with hope that they could enjoy a better life. There were several other
pull factors that attracted immigrants to America:
there were lots of job opportunities in America’s growing industries
land was cheap to buy and very
fertile
people could practise any religion freely
How was life for new immigrants?
Living conditions were difficult, with many immigrant communities developing into slums. This was because they were
discriminated when seeking housing or simply couldn’t afford decent housing.
Many immigrant groups found themselves living in ghettoes.
This isolation led to further ignorance of their cultures and traditions among other Americans. This then led, in part, to the continuation of prejudiced and racist views in society.
Many had little option other than to work in low-status and low-skilled jobs for low wages. Some businesses took advantage of their need and recruited immigrants into positions involving both long hours and low pay.
Segregation
There were many Americans who believed in
white supremacy and refused to see African Americans as equals. Black Americans in the southern states suffered more discrimination than those in the north due to what were known as the Jim Crow laws.
These laws enforced
segregation, which meant that white people and black people had to live separately. This meant:
African Americans could not use the same facilities as white Americans
despite being citizens, African Americans were segregated in the US military
the justice system protected the rights of white Americans and maintained segregation
sharecroppers in the South were economically exploited and kept in poverty
