cold war: 1949

Question 1

explain Comecon (January 1949)

Answer 1

-USSR’s reaction to Marshall Plan
-USSR’s equivalent to Marshall Aid
-would avoid need for countries to apply for Marshall Aid
-involved countries working together to share knowledge+resources
-was a union of equal partners but in reality, all decisions made in Moscow
-provided economic assistance to countries of Eastern Europe

Question 2

explain the division of Germany (May 1949)

Answer 2

-Germany is split up
-May 1949: America, Britain, and France untied their zones into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany/FDR)
-October 1949: Stalin set up the German Democratic Republic (East Germany/GDR)

Question 3

explain the formation of NATO (4 April 1949)

Answer 3

-Berlin crisis showed that the West needed a more co-ordinated approach to the threat of communist expansion
-this establishes military cooperation in the event of war
-included Britain, France, Canada, Belgium, and many smaller Western European nations

Question 4

explain the USSR secretly testing an atomic bomb

Answer 4

-USSR secretly test their first A-Bomb (6 years earlier than the USA had expected them to)
-bomb’s radiation was detected-power balance of the Cold War has now dramatically shifted