cold war Flashcards
foreign policy
dictates how a country will act with respedct to other countries politically, socially, economically, and militarily
goal of us foreign policy
to promote our own self interests
to create a more secure, democratic, and propserous world for the benefit of the american people and the international community
what countries are we concerned about
germany and poland because they’re under russian control
how did the relationship between us and russia switch
allies to rivals
ussr
union of soviet socialist republics, made up of 15 nations with russia as the central nation
how is germany split
us takes germany from the west and russia takes the east
bolshevik revoluton
During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of czarist rule. The Bolsheviks would later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
what is the cold war
rivalry between 2 most powerful allies from ww2
when was the cold war
1945-1989
when did the ussr dissolve
1991
what was the centerpiece of us foreign policy during the this time period
russian relations and the cold war
what is A cold war
a rivalry fought out diplomatically, economically, propagandistically
they do not directly engage in military combat
why is the cold war cold and not hot
because of nuclear weapons, didnt want to start a nuclear war
what are the 2 indirect/proxy wars we fight with russia
korea 1950-53
vietnam (french indo china)
roots of the cold war (4)
- ingrained mutual distrust
- national security
- conflicting ideologies
- arms race (nuclear weapons)
socialism states
owns production and distribution of goods
why do we care about the russian economy
they have a closed market so we can’t trade with tehm
who created communism
karl marx
if it’s a perfect world why is communism great
because everyone is created equal and there’s a board of people who equally distribute resources to everyone
world revolution
once you become communist get the other countries communist so all the countries and eventually the whole world is communist
eastern buffer zone
Despite the promises made by Stalin at the Yalta Conference to allow free elections, he had in fact started turning Eastern Europe into a buffer zone. between the USSR and Western Europe. Stalin feared that Eastern Europe could be the doorway for an attack on the USSR by the West
why did stalin feel like he was owed the eastern buffer zone`
because he lost 20 mil lives and infrastructure in ww2 vs us lost 400 thousand lives and had no infrastructure damage
what did truman think of the eastern buffer zone
despite the inequality in ww2 losses, russia joined the allied forces and agreed to the war aims designed by the us and british consequently
atlantic charter 1941
said stuff about uk and us war aims like they were not planning to gain any territory and other stuff like that
yalta conference 1945
the Big Three leaders finalized their plans for defeating Germany and the assigning of Occupation Zones in Germany to be controlled by the victorious powers
❖ The USSR wanted Germany to pay high reparations; Britain and the USA disagreed. ❖ Britain and the USA wanted Germany to recover, whereas the USSR wanted to keep Germany weak
self determination
the process by which a country determines its own statehood and forms its own allegiances and government
iron curtain speech
kinda a propoganda thing where churchill (good reputability so people believed him) came to us to say that russia and communism bad and were threat to peace and security
how did soviet union respond to nato
they created the warsaw pact
warsaw pact
The Warsaw Pact provided for a unified military command and the systematic ability to strengthen the Soviet hold over the other participating countries
george f kennan
George F. Kennan authored the concept of containment, according to which the United States should “contain” Soviet expansionism but should not use, or threaten to use, force to remove the communist regime
worried that soviet union would overthrow some western countries
containment
wanted to contain russia’s power and the spread of communism
how was containment enforced
with nato
truman doctrine
we should give support to people threatened by soviets or communism
marshall plan
proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe
nato
north atlantic treaty organization
created to provide security against the soviet union
what is the order of these three events:
nato, truman doctrine, marshall plan
truman doctrine
marshall plan
nato
where was the targeted region of marshall plan
western europe
what two countries was truman doctrine geared towards
greece and turkey
do we offer the marshall plan to russia
yes and even though they need the money they decline it because of their big fat egos
why does russia not agree with the atlantic charter
because they do want to get more land
what controversial people to we employ to spy on russia
nazis
kgb
like russian cia
berlin airlift
airlifting food and fuel to Berlin from Allied airbases in western Germany. The crisis ended on May 12, 1949, when Soviet forces lifted the blockade on land access to western Berlin.
mao zedong
communist leader of china
what was the berlin airlift in response to
the blockade
what side was us backing in korean war
south korea
what side was ussr backing in korean war
north korea
who did us send to korea
general macarthur, but through nato so not direct involvement
who did russia send to korea
russian troops
macarthur
the guy who was in korea and kinda made a major oopsies
he also put down the bonus march from a wee bit ago
what booboo does macarthur make
so we’re like winning but macathur is like i’m going up further north and truman is like no hold your ground but he goes anyways, all the way up to the yaloo river and then the chinese are like wtf man and we’re pushed right back to the 38th parallel so all of our effeort was wasted
truman loyalty program
signed the executive order to root out communists in da govt
loyalty review board
A board established under President Truman that investigated government employees and dismissed those who were found to be disloyal to the U.S. government
huac
house of unamerican activities committee
investigate alleged disloyalty and rebel activities on the part of private citizens, public employees and organizations suspected of having Communist ties
subversion
the undermining of the power and authority of an established system or institution.
alger hiss and whittaker chambers
Whittaker Chambers, a former US Communist Party member, testified under subpoena before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that Hiss had secretly been a communist while in federal service. Hiss categorically denied the charge and subsequently sued Chambers for libel
hiss was convicted and sent to prison
pumpkin papers
so basically alger hiss had handcopied state department documents with important information on them and then whittaker chambers is like they’re in a pumpkin and they actually were
julius and ethel rosenberg
a married couple that gave russians atomic bomb secrets allegedly. julius most likely did but ethel probably didnt
sentenced to death
american civilians sentenced to death for espionage
what was the effect of the rosenbergs
reinforced the public’s fear of communist infiltration
who brought down the rosenbergs
her brother greenglass
how did conservative politicians use fear of communism to their advantage
painted all social changes as a communist threat
what were some things viewed as communist threats
sexual freedom
homosexuality
civil rights
subversive textbooks
why were the pumplin papers important to nixon
because he was only a california congressman and this kinda propelled him
joseph mccarthy
republican senator from wisconsin who was like i have a list of 205 names of communists in the government and he kinda just ran off that
why is wheeling west virginia significant
its where mccarthy had his speech
who does mccarthy focus on in his wheeling speech
state department, specifically dean acheson he said employed communists knowingly
why was it significant that mccarthy first attacked the state department
because the state department is in charge of foreign policy
what is significant about mccarthy’s list
205 names but he never releases a single one because my guy is a class act phony
mccarthy is a republican, what does his party think of him
they are split
majority think he’s useful to attack the democrats
but some think that he’s driving the country apart
mccarythyism
baseless accusations targeting high ranking government officials and other americans of conspiracy and communism
what was the extent of mccarthy’s power at his peak
controlled personnel policy at the state department aka he could get peeps fired
how did politicians view mccarthy
they were scared of him because they could lose their jobs and reputation and stuff
what did the public think of mccarthy
they approved of his crusade because they thought he was a legit guy
what did eisenhower say about mccarthy
nothing. he was silent on mccarthy’s irresponsible accusations because he’s a moderate bro and appeals to both sides
what was the impact of mccarthy’s finger pointing
a lot of asian specialists were fired which severely impacted our understanding of policies in relation to the vietnam war
1952 presidential election
eisenhower wins by a landslide
what mistake did mccarthy make
went after the army
army mccarthy hearings
mccarthy the idiot accused the army and so they’re at court and everything is televised which makes his downfall much worse
fred fischer
the catalyst in maccarthy’s downfall in power
how did tv impact public’s view of mccarthy
they were able to see his callousness first hand
what happened to mccarthy
he was censured and later died
he tried to continue his anti communist speech but it was to an empty senate
censure
express severe disapproval of (someone or something), especially in a formal statement.
john foster dulles
secretary of state
more assertive us foreign oikicyicy
what did john foster dulles think of containment
he thought it was too passive
peaceful liberation
us should lead by example to attract nations to democracy and capitalism
an example of propoganda
radio free europer
3 key things to peaceful liberation
money, protection, propoganda
radio free europe
radio broadcasting organization created by the United States government in 1950 to provide information and political commentary to the people of communist eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In the absence of unbiased media in the communist countries, Radio Free Europe provided its estimated 35 million listeners with news from around the world and, more important, from their own countries. Because of its largely successful efforts to outwit communist censors and reach its listeners on a daily basis, Radio Free Europe is credited with having contributed significantly to the demise of communist regimes throughout eastern Europe.
did soviet govt like radio free europe
no they constantly tried to jam it
who was in charge of radio free europe
us congress through the cia
u2 spy incident
so we have these intelligence planes and pilots are supposed to commit suicide when they know they’re going to be caught so all the information stays safe
but this one guy doesn’t as the ussr gets all this info and it makes us look extra bad because we were like what horrible people you soviets are shooting down this innocent weather plane and the soviets were like my guy we have evidence and then we were like … anyways
khrushchev
in charge after stalin died
brinkmanship
if us got face to face with the enemy the us should not flinch, tell other nations to back down or feel the force of our military might. we wanna be more aggressive and shake up the status quo in favor of the west. people scared by our nuclear bombs boom boom
what’s significant about developing nations
especially in the latin america and africa there are a lot of developing nations who are deciding what model of government they like and the us is like we gotta go in and convince them democracy is just the heehaw so russia doesn’t get them
domino theory
if us allows a communist nation to turn their neighborr to communism then that country’s neighbor will turn and they’ll all fall like dominos
1960 election
jfk vs nixon
kennedy wins
electoral map shows jfk had the eastern states and nixon had the western
kennedy wins electoral votes
impact of tv on the 1960 election
first televised election and 70 mil people tune in
4 million votes are decided by this debate
nixon sounds better but kennedy looks better on canera
were northern people voting democratic or republican in 1960
democratic
