Cold War Flashcards
Cold War was said to be:
a struggle over political diffs carried on by means short of military action/war
Cold War rlly was:
a struggle to see if the political ideas of democracy/communism would rule the world!
during WWII who were uneasy allies?
USA & Soviet Union
Why did distrust grow between USA & Soviet Union?
- Soviet/German nonaggression pact - USA felt betrayed
- Allies delay in attacking Europe (D-Day)(USSR felt betrayed)
Yalta Conference - started by & what did they do?
Feb. 1945
Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
Create a post-war peace!
What did the Yalta Conference do?
- agreed to divide Germany into 4 zones occupied by the French, British, USA, & the Soviet Union
- Stalin promised to give Eastern European countries free elections after the war
San Francisco Conference
Apr. 1945
The United Nations was established! NYC
What is the United Nations?
International peace-keeping organization that replaced the League of Nations
The United Nations make-up?…
- General Assembly
(all countries allowed to be members) - Security Council
(5 permanent members & 6 rotating members)
Security Council - who were there members?
5 permanent: USA, China, Great Britain, France, Soviet Union, & 6 rotating members
(they had the real power) (Veto)
USA & Soviet Union had two diff postwar goals. what was Soviet’s?
Soviet Union was to shield itself from another invasion from the West!
They wanted to use Eastern Europe as that shield/buffer (wall of protection)
Postdam Conf. ended up doing…? - July 1945
- Stalin said he wasn’t going to allow free elections in Eastern Europe!
- He declared communism & democracy couldn’t exist in the same world!!
HOW & WHEN DID THE COLD WAR BEGIN?!
July 1945, because of the Postdam Conf.
By 1948…
The allies had given back their zones to the Germans as promised, EXCEPT FOR THE SOVIET UNION!!
Name of the two German states created…
- Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
- German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
“Iron curtain”
(Winston Churchill) term that came to represent the division between communist Eastern Europe & democratic Western Europe
US foreign policy
“containment” - stopping the spread of communism & spreading democracy!
Truman Doctrine did what?
gave aid ($) & support to any country in the Middle East that resisted & restricted communism (Greece & Turkey)
Marshall Plan was?…
an assistance program to rebuild Western Europe after the war ($12.5 bil)
What was the only requirement in the Marshall plan?
Stay away from communism!!
Who was the Marshall plan named after?
Secretary of State: George Marshall
USA offered the Marshall plan to who & what happened?
to the Soviet Union & Eastern Europe.
SOVIETS REFUSED!
Berlin Airlift in what year?
1948
Berlin Airlift
Soviet Union demanded Berlin! They set up a blockade around West Berlin & they faced starvation!
Who helped West Berlin, and how?
Americans & British airlifted food & supplies to the ppl for the next 11 months
What was the 1st conflict in Cold War?
Soviets gave up & lifted the blockade around West Berlin in 1949
what two rival alliances formed during the Cold War?
- NATO
- Warsaw Pact
What was always being said during the Cold War?
There was always a threat of a nuclear war!
NATO… what is it?
North Atlantic Treaty Organization led by the USA, Canada, & Western Europe
Warsaw Pact…?
led by the Soviet Union & Eastern Europe
H-Bombs
(Hydrogen Bombs) that were thousands of times more powerful than A-Bombs (atomic)
“Brinkmanship”
willingness to go to the brink, or edge of war created huge tension between the 2 superpowers!
What happened for the next 40 years?
An Arms Race (build up of nuclear weapons)
Why did the Space Race happen?
it was a race to see who’d get space first to launch weapons from space!
Space Race
- 1957 - Soviets created 1st ICBM
- 1957 - Soviets launched Sputnik I
- 1957 - Soviets launch dog into space (1st living thing)
- 1958 - USA launches ExploresI
- 1960 - USA launched 1st spy planes (U-2s)
- 1961 - Soviets launched Yuri Gagarin
- 1961- USA launches Allen Sheppard into space
- 1962 - USA - John Glenn
- 1969 - USA - Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin
what does ICBM stand for ..?
(Interncontinental ballistic missile)
Sputnik:
the 1st unmanned satellite in space
1st communication satellite
ExploresI
1st man in space!?
Yuri Gagarin
1st man to orbit the Earth
John Glenn
who were the first men to step on the moon?
Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin
What was the Red Scare/Red Hunt?
1950’s
Fear that the communists had infiltrated spies into the US gov.
What year was the Berlin Wall built? & what did it do?
1961
- hundres of thousands of East Berliners fled to the west (young & talented) to escape communism
- Soviet Union built a wall up over night to keep people in!
- the wall divided East & West Berlin
When do communists take over Cuba
1959
Fidel Castro was greatly conquered by…
USA
Bay of Pigs Invasion.. what is it?
- Pres. John F. Kennedy gave approval to an overthrow of the communist gov.
- CIA trained Cuba & failed miserably
- Cuba turned to Soviet Union for protection
Cuban Missile Crisis
Nikita Khrushchev placed several nuclear missiles in Cuba - all pointed towards USA!
- Kennedy commanded they be removed
- USA set up blockade
- Brink of nuclear war! 13 days!
- Soviet Union backed off
Cuban Missile is…
The closest we ever came to a nuclear war
Kennedy assassinated in ____
Who was his killer?
1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald
End of the Cold War (2 events)
- Fall of the Berlin Wall - 1989
- Fall of the Soviet Union - 1990
Nikita Khrushchev
Soviet Leader
Communist Revolution in China
B4 WWII, the Chinese were in the middle of a bitter Civil War, but put it on hold during WWII to fight off common enemy (Japan)
____ vs. ____ in China’s bitter Civil War
the communists forces vs. democratic forces
Nationalist (democratic) forces were led by:
Jiang Jieshi
Communist forces were led by:
Mao Zedong
who supported Nationalists, and who supported the Communists?
- USA supported Nationalists
- Soviet Union supported the Communists
who won China’s bitter Civil War & Why?
The Communist forces won (1949) bc they were much better trained & had the support of the peasant population (Promises free land)
What happened to the Nationalists after China’s bitter Civil War?
- They were forced to flee China
- they settled on the island of Formosa AKA Taiwan
Who did Communist China take by force?
Tibet in 1950 (brutal takeover)
Dalai Lama
The spiritual & political leader of Tibet was forced into exile
“The Great Leap Forward”
Attempt to modernize China
The state/Mao seized all land from landlords & …
Stated state controlled collective farms called communes
- most peasants were taken of the farms & forced to work in factory production!
Why did “The Great Leap Forward” fail?
There were not enough farmers to produce food!
What were the results of “The Great Leap Forward”
The Famines killed over 30 million people!
The Cultural Revolution’s goal:
to establish a society of peasants & workers in which all were equal
The life of the mind:
The Intellectuals, artists, educated were dangerous
The Cultural Revolution emphasized:
the hands - hard work!
- they closed all schools
Purge the country of the “Four Olds” (4)
- Old thoughts
- Old culture
- Old customs
- Old habits
Red Guards:
former high school & college students who formed military units to enform the revolution
How many ppl died from persecution?
about 5 - 8 million ppl!
How did the Purge of the country get carried away & how did it end?
Chaos ensued & ended/w with the death of Mao Zedong
What happened to Korea after WWII?
It was divided into North & South
How/WHy was Korea divided?
-USA occupied south & introduced democracy
- Soviet Union occupied the north & forced communism on the ppl
- It was divided along the 38th parallel
Korean War
