Cold war- 1946-1955 Flashcards
When was Churchill’s ‘Sinews of Peace / Iron Curtain’ speech?
March 1946
What was the immediate aftermath of Germany after WW2?
It was divided into 4 sectors
Who was PM of Britain after WW2?
Clement Attlee (1946-51)
When was the Czech crisis?
Marshall aid offered in summer of 1947
Czech crisis in Feb. 1948
What was the idea of containment?
That keeping the weak would cause its system to collapse internally
When was the Truman Doctrine?
March 1948
What were the causes of the Truman doctrine?
- Britain was facing bankruptcy as a result of supporting the nationalists in the Greek civil war
- 40,000 British troops would be pulled out of Greece
- The Soviets had been pressuring Turkey to give them access to Straits and therefore access to the Mediterranean
What did the Truman doctrine promise?
$300 million for Greece
$100 million for Turkey
What was the Marshall plan (in a short summary)
A plan for the economic rebuild of Europe
What were some reasons for the Marshall plan?
Growing communist influence:-
- France- Communists had gained 28% of the votes in 1946
- Italy- Communists had gained 31% of the votes in 1948
- Communists had won 2 seats in Britain in the 1945 general election
What did the Marshall plan do?
- US invested $13 billion in Marshall Aid
- Allowed the allied zones of Germany to reindustrialise more and improve economically
What did the Soviets call the Marshall plan?
dollar imperialism
What was Mccarthysim?
Named after senator Joseph Maccarthy, it was a fear of communism in the US that caused many to be fired from jobs due to being suspected communists- it evoked more fear of the communist threat within the US
When was the CIA set up?
September 1947
How did the CIA influence the Italian elections?
They secretly funded the Christian party agains the communist one
When was the Sino soviet treaty and who was it signed by? What did it do?
January 1950
It was between the USSR and China, it promised mutual assistance as well as no alliances with Japan
For how many years was Japan under US occupation?
8 years
What was the significance of the Korean war?
- It showed disregard for the 38th parallel agreed by the UN
- It was believed to have been helped by Stalin (it was)
- US politicians were fearful of a potential ‘domino theory’
- Being a year after the soviets tested their atomic bomb, it showed a willingness of the USSR to be more agressive in wars of proxy
What was domino theory?
Although not really popular in the 40s and 50s, it refers to the idea that the fall of one state to communism could then encourage the fall of another state
When did Stalin die?
1953
When was the KGB formed?
1954
Why did the Berlin blockade happen?
- 23 June 1948- The allies introduced the Deutschmark to the West zones in Germany and Western Berlin
- In protest, the soviets blocked all rail links to Berlin
What was the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe referred to as?
Salami tactics
How many flights were in the Berlin airlift?
277,804
(277,000+)
How much grain did Stalin give to Czechoslovakia?
600,000 tons
What famed speech did Stalin give at the end of WW2 that points to the cold war being of more ideological causes?
February 1946
‘Election’ Bolshoi speech
* He blames WW2 on present day ‘monopolistic capitalism’
* He says that another World War is ‘inevitable’ with the current capitalism
When did the US first produce a hydrogen bomb?
1952
When did the USSR produce a hydrogen bomb?
1953 (one year after the US)
Who was the key Soviet spy that gave the USSR plans for the atomic bomb and when were they exposed for this?
Klaus Fuchs
→1950
When was NATO formed?
4th April 1949
When was cominform created and where was it based?
October 1947- Cominform was initially located in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, but after the Tito–Stalin split expelled Yugoslavia from the group in June 1948, the seat was moved to Bucharest, Romania.
When was the Treaty of Dunkirk signed? What was it a precursor for?
March 1947, precursor for the Brussels treaty and later NATO
How often were planes landing in Berlin during the Berlin airlift?
Every 90 seconds
Who which Czech leader mysteriously died by falling off a balcony?
Jan Masaryk
How many days did it take the communists to takeover Czechoslovakia?
5 days
Which country in the Eastern Bloc escaped Stalinist communism?
Yugoslavia (expelled from Cominform in 1948) under Tito. Yugoslav communists were more faithful to Tito than Stalin and so Yugoslavia was able to remain on good terms with both the West and the Soviet Union
When did Truman give his speech in reaction to the Czech Crisis?
March 1948
When did Truman ‘tell’ Stalin about the atomic bomb?
Potsdam 1945
Who wanted to use nuclear weapons in the Korean war and who fired them?
General Douglas MacArthur
- Truman fired him
When did West Germany join NATO?
1955
What caused the East Berlin uprising?
Economic- Collectivisation, new production quotas that were unreachable
Social- Huge immigration from East to West
Political- Death of Stalin and change of US President to Eisenhower
When was the Berlin uprising?
June 17th 1953
Who became PM of the GDR after the Berlin uprising?
Ulbricht
How many tanks were there at the Berlin uprising and how many people died?
600 tanks and 40 died
When did West Germany join NATO
1955
What pact was made in reaction to the formation of NATO and when was it?
Warsaw Pact 1955
Who was President of the FRG?
Konrad Adenauer
