Cold War Flashcards
Which two vastly different economic and political systems were at the heart of the Cold War? Why did this concern the West?
- Under Communism, the government controlled most of the property and businesses. It restricted individual freedom, including where people lived, worked, and travelled.
- In Western Democracies, private individuals and companies owned most of the property and businesses. People had to right to live, work, and travel where they chose.
- As Soviet Influence spread throughout Eastern Europe, people in the West grew increasingly concerned about the Soviets intentions and alarmed that their way of life may be threatened.
Who was Igor Gouzenko and his importance?
Igor Gouzenko was a Soviet cipher clerk stationed at the Soviet Union’s Ottawa embassy during the Second World War. Just weeks after the end of the war, Gouzenko defected to the Canadian government with proof that his country had been spying on its wartime allies: Canada, Britain and the United States.
Why did Igor come to Canada and what did he do here?
- In this atmosphere of fear and suspicion, there was a growing concern that communists were around every corner. This came to a head with Igor Gouzenko.
- In 1943, Gouzenko came to Canada to work as a cipher clerk in the Soviet Embassy.
- In 1945, he decided to defect rather than return to Moscow.
- Gouzenko gathered over 100 documents detailing the secrets of a Soviet Spy ring that had infiltrated the highest levels of intelligence, including the Canadian Department of Defence.
- Gouzenko planned to use this information as a bargaining chip as he sought asylum in Canada.
Who was Fred Rose?
- Even a Canadian MP - Fred Rose, the first and only communist ever elected to Parliament - was on the Soviet payroll.
What was Canada’s thought process in allowing Igor into Canada?
- PM King was reluctant to accept his request because the leaders of Canada, Britain, France, the US, China and the Soviet Union were meeting to negotiate a post-war peace.
- He thought the spy talk would hurt the peace talks. But British intelligence officers persuaded him to change his mind and Canada offered him asylum.
What was the aftermath of Gouzenko’s spy revelations?
- 19 Canadians were arrested and charged with treason. Of those eleven were found guilty (including Rose) and sentenced to prison.
- The RCMP created a counter-espionage branch (secret action taken by a country to prevent another country from discovering its military, industrial, or political secrets) to monitor activities in the Soviet Embassy.
Why did the government amend the Citizenship Act?
- To allow authorities to revoke the citizenship of naturalized Canadians convicted of “disaffection or disloyalty” - in other words, anyone suspected of being a communist sympathizer.
- The government wanted to rid the civil service and the military of anyone it thought was a potential security threat.
Who did the government mostly target?
- Most of the people the government targeted were suspected of being communists.
- They were either transferred to less sensitive positions or fired.
- Government officials who spoke of compromise and cooperation with the Soviets were automatically accused of being a communist.
Explain fear of communism in the USA and what was it referred to?
- The United States took their paranoia to a higher level.
- US Senator Joseph McCarthy led a congressional committee charged with investigating “un-American activities”
- The committee targeted actors, writers, journalists, and labour leaders.
- Many were called before the committee to answer questions about their politics refused to answer questions or to implicate their friends and colleagues.
- They were branded as communists.
- Many were barred from practicing their professions.
- This was referred to as being Blackballed.
What was the most threatening activity created by communist paranoia?
- Some of the most threatening activity created by communist paranoia took place in a Montreal Laboratory.
- Between 1957 and 1964, the US CIA funded secret brainwashing and mind-control experiments.
- They wanted to find out to what extent the human brain could be programmed.
- Dr. Ewen Cameron conducted the experiments at McGill University.
- He used his unsuspecting patients as guinea pigs, injecting them with mind-altering drugs, jolting them with electrical shocks, and inducing them into extended periods of sleep.
- Authorities in both Canada and the US kept the experiments secret until the 1970s.
Why was the policy MAD created?
Mutually assured destruction
- On September 23, 1949, the Soviet Union announced that it had exploded its first atomic bomb two months earlier.
- The western world was now very concerned.
- In November 1952, the US tested the hydrogen bomb, which was 1000 times more powerful than the bombs dropped on Japan.
- In 1954, the Soviets tested their own.
- Both sides would continue to stockpile nuclear arms and it was argued that this was a deterrent.
- Both sides reasoned that if one side used an atomic bomb, the other would respond by using its own.
- This policy came to be known as MAD - Mutually assured destruction.
Why was NATO created?
- In response to the growing threat of Communism spreading.
- Western allies decided the old policies of “Isolationism” where they only preferred to get involved with conflicts that directly concerned them, would no longer work.
- The members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pledged to defend one another in the event of an attack by an enemy nation.
- Under the NATO agreement, each member had to contribute troops and equipment to NATO defence forces.
- Canada agreed to station troops at NATO bases in Europe - the first time Canadian troops were posted over seas in peace time.
How did NATO strengthen Canada?
- NATO strengthened Canada’s emerging role as a middle power. Through the alliance, Canada had the opportunity to exert its influence in world affairs.
- Its long-standing relationship with both Britain and the United States place it in an ideal position to act as a mediator in any disagreements over defence policies
Why was it important for Canada and America to protect north Canada?
Canada and the United States were concerned about a possible Soviet attack. Any soviet invasion would likely come from the north, across the Arctic. Therefore, defending Canada’s vast northern territory was a top priority for both countries.
What did the USA do to protect Canada from Soviet Union?
- In 1954, Canada and the U.S. agreed to build three radar lines across the arctic to provide early radar warning of an impending Soviet Attack.
Both countries financed the construction of the lines, but only the U.S. ran them. - Canada had to give up its sovereignty around the radar lines.
- Only the U.S. could decide who entered the facilities. Canadian
reporters had their stories censored by the U.S. military to ensure the “right” message got out. - The radar stations also disrupted the Inuit, who had supply lines cut off, others were relocated to accommodate the influx of American personnel.
- Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the radar lines, their usefulness was short lived.
- In 1957 the Soviets launched the first Sputnik satellite. The rocket that launched Sputnik could also launch nuclear warheads.
- In response, theU.S. replaced their long range bombers with Intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs.
- The soviets then built their own.
- The radar stations in Northern Canada could not detect these missiles.
- Therefore, only a few years after being built, the radar lines were regarded as obsolete.
What did the Cold War mean?
After World War II, the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its satellite states began a decades-long struggle for supremacy known as the Cold War. Soldiers of the Soviet Union and the United States did not do battle directly during the Cold War.
Explain the creation of NORAD?
- The United States wanted a unified air defence system for North America.
- In 1956, the U.S. persuaded Canada to form the North American Air Defense Agreement (NORAD) (The name was changed to North American Aerospace Defense Command in 1981.)
- Under the agreement, each country maintained its own independent air force.
- In the event of an attack, however, both air forces would be under joint control, with an American commander and a Canadian second-in-command.
- The agreement was formally signed in 1958.
How did NORAD help Canada?
- NORAD had wide-ranging implications for Canada’s military autonomy.
For the first time, Canada was squarely under the American defence umbrella. - The country was now committed to participating in US conflicts even if it did not want to get involved.
Canada also had to rely on the American defence industry for its military hardware. - All of Canada’s existing defence equipment was eventually replaced with American produced technology.
When did the Cold War start and end?
March 12, 1947 – December 3, 1989
Why did the Cold War start?
The Americans and the British worried that Soviet domination in eastern Europe might be permanent. The Cold War was solidified by 1947–48, when U.S. aid had brought certain Western countries under American influence and the Soviets had established openly communist regimes.
Explain the Korean War.
- During WWII, Japanese forces occupied Korea. After the war, the Allies divided the Korean peninsula at the 38th parallel.
- The Soviet Union supported a communist regime in North Korea.
- The American supported a democratic republic in South Korea. For a couple of years the two sides maintained an uneasy truce, but on 25 June 1950, North Korea launched a massive invasion of South Korea.
- The United States immediately asked the United Nations to condemn North Korea’s aggression.
- The Soviet ambassador to the UN would of vetoed any condemnation, but the Soviets were boycotting the UN because of its refusal to recognize the communist government in China.
- With the absence the resolution condemning North Korea passed. The UN security council demanded that North Korea withdraw its troops. When it failed to comply, the UN authorized an international military force to drive out the invaders.
What happened when the Korean War was put in a stalemate?
- For months, the battle lines shifted back and forth.
- With the two sides locked in a stalemate, US commander Douglas MacArthur, urged an all-out war, including the use of Nuclear weapons.
American President, Harry Truman, refused to take such drastic measures and the stalemate continued. - Peace talks began in 1951, but fighting would continue sporadically for two more years.
- Finally, in July of 1953 a ceasefire was delared.
The war ended where it began with the North and South divided at the 38th parallel.
Suez Crisis Summary
The Suez Crisis of 1956, in which the Egyptian Government seized control of the Suez Canal from the British and French owned company that managed it, had important consequences for U.S. relations with both Middle Eastern countries and European allies.
Explain the Suez Crisis
- Following WWII, in 1948 the Western Allies had partitioned the Arab state of Palestine to create a Jewish homeland for Holocaust survivors.
- As a result, the Middle East had become a hotbed of political tension between Arabs and Israelis.
- By 1956, a crisis in the region threatened to lead to a major confrontation between the two sides.
- At the time, Britain and France controlled the Suez Canal in Egypt. The canal was a vital trade route that joined the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
- It was also the key supply route for the Middle East’s oil.
- The Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, wanted to free his country from the remnants of colonial rule and to destroy the newly created state of Israel.
- To do both, he needed money.
- One way to raise it was to nationalize the Suez Canal (The Egyptian governemnt would run the canal)
- In response, Britain and France threatened to attack Egypt.
- They lobbied the United States and Canada for help, but both countries refused.
- Then Britain and France negotiated a secret agreement with Israel.
- Israel would invade Egypt.
Then Britain and France would issue an ultimatum demanding that Israeli and Egyptian forces leave the region. Israel would agree. Egypt would not. - Then Britain and France would launch an intense bombing campaign around the Canal Zone.
- Nasser’s government would fall and the British and French would regain control of the Suez Canal.
- The plan went into action on 29 October 1956, when Israel attacked Egypt.
- The Soviet Union threatened to launch a nuclear attack on London and Paris if Britain and France did not withdraw.
- The U.S. and Canada demanded that Britain and France withdraw. The world appeared to be teetering on the brink of a third world war.
Canada’s role in the Suez Crisis
- International tensions ran high as the UN desperately looked for a solution.
- At the time, a future Canadian prime minister, Lester B. Pearson, was secretary of State for External Affairs.
- After persistent and endless rounds of lobbying, Pearson persuaded the UN General Assembly to organize the worlds first international peacekeeping mission.
- The UN ordered all foreign troops out of Egypt. Then it sent in the first UN peacekeeping force to keep the warring sides apart and maintain peace in the region while the sides negotiated a solution.
- Lester B. Pearson would receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the Suez Crisis.
How was Quebec before everything changed?
- For Generations, political and religious leaders in Quebec had protected French culture by embracing French Canadian traditions.
- Quebecois society favoured rural life over urban, religion over the state, and isolationism over engagement with the wider world.
- Maurice Duplessis , the Premier of Quebec from 1944 until his death in 1959, kept a tight rein on these traditions.
- Economically, American and English Canadian interests owned and operated most Quebec industries and maintained English as the language of the work place.
What happened in Quebec after the election where duplessis died?
- After his death, the party Duplessis had led, the Union Nationale, lost the election in 1960 to the Quebec Liberal Party.
- The Liberals campaign slogan was “Things have to Change” Under the leadership of Jean Lesage, the liberals promised to end the corruption and patronage that had characterized the Duplessis government.
- Their victory marked the start of a stunning transformation in Quebec society on all fronts, political, social, cultural and industrial.
- They called it La Revolution tranquille (The Quiet Revolution).
What did Lesage change in Quebec?
- Under Lesage, the government established a stronger French presence in the province’s economy.
- It bought privately owned electric power companies to form HydroQuebec.
- At HydroQuebec, French was the language of businesses and Francophones were managers. This new corporation became a symbol of pride for the new Quebec.
- The government also took control of the provinces social services, restricting the role played by the Catholic Church.
- To improve health care, the province built new hospitals and introduced a provincial insurance plan.
- The province also took control of the education system from the Catholic and Protestant churches and formed the ministry of Education.
- The Quebec government also opted out of several Federal and Provincial cost sharing programs (29 in total) such as the Canadian Pension Plan in order to assert its provincial rights.
What did these changes in Quebec affect the population?
- All these changes while welcomed were costly and provincial taxes rose. In 1960, Quebec had the lowest tax rate in Canada, by 1966, it had the highest.
- Some believed the changes had gone to far, while others believed they had not gone far enough. They wanted complete independence for Quebec.
What happened at the Worlds Fair?
- Montreal hosted the Worlds Fair in 1967, called Expo ‘67.
- World Leaders visited including France President Charles de Gaulle.
- Everywhere de Gaulle went huge crowds gathered to hear him speak.
- During one speech from the steps of Montreal City Hall he declared. “Vive Montreal, Vive le Quebec! Vive le Quebec libre!” (Long Live Montreal! Long Live Quebec! Long live a free Quebec).
- This was a battle cry for the Quebec separatists. The Canadian government saw this as France sticking its nose in Canada’s domestic affairs. <– saying that Quebec should become free showed that it wasn’t and this angered the people
- PM Pearson refused to meet with du Gaulle and he cancelled a planned trip to Ottawa and returned to France.
What was the FLQ? Summary
The Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) was a militant Quebec independence movement that used terrorism to try and achieve an independent and socialist Quebec. FLQ members — or felquistes — were responsible for more than 200 bombings and dozens of robberies between 1963 and 1970 that left six people dead.
Explain the lead up to FLQ and the October Crisis (like why did it form?) (what did the FLQ percieve Quebec as)
- During the Quiet Revolution, some Quebecois began to embrace the idea of Quebec separating from Canada, but most wanted to work within the political system to achieve this goal.
- Others however were impatient and wanted quicker results.
- The Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) viewed francophone Quebecois as victims of the powerful anglophone elite that controlled business and industry in the province.
- The FLQ’s goal was complete independence for Quebec.
What did the FLQ want and do?
- In its place, they wanted to create a Frenchspeaking workers society. They would resort to violence to achieve their goals.
- They used bombings, robberies and kidnappings to try and disrupt society so much that people would rebel and overthrow the government.
- Between 1963 and 1970, members of the FLQ planned and carried out more than 200 violent acts, in which 5 people died and others were injured.
- In 1969, the FLQ stepped up its campaign detonating a bomb in the Montreal Stock Exchange and another in the home of Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau.