Cold War | Pt.1 (Soviet expansion and rising tensions) Flashcards
How long did the cold war last?
1945-75
What was agreed&disagreed at Yalta and when was it?
Feb 1945, the war hadn’t been won yet.
USSR would join the war against Japan in return for territory in Sakhalin and Manchuria.
Eastern european counties would hold free elections
Germany and Berlin split into 4
Polands frontier (USSR compensates by not supporting Greek commies)
What was agreed and disagreed at Potsdam and when was it?
July-Aug 1945, war had been won.
Nazis would be tried as POWs.
Nazi party would be banned.
The Oder Neisse line would form part of a future border between Germany and Poland.
There was distrust among allies and Stalin wanted harsher reparations.
Stalin set up a communist government in Poland
USA&Brits deny Stalin a naval base in the mediterranean.
How many russians were killed in WW2
20 million
What did Stalin do to try and protect Russia
Create a buffer zone of friendly states to make sure they weren’t invaded again.
What did the secret police do?
Dealt with political threats by killing, purging and torturing.
Terrified people out of power.
Crushed Soviet opposition.
What made it easy to take over the EE countries?
Many were weak, poor and destroyed after the war because of nazi control this made countries vulnerable to Soviet takeover.
What did the red army do?
Took over the EE countries from Nazis.
Ensured all commy governments were set up.
Non-communist politicians arrested and banned (this happened in Bulgaria and Romania)
What happened to Marshall Tito from Yugoslavia?
He didn’t like the idea of being under Stalins rule so he was expelled from Cominform. He remained communist though.
What was the sinews of peace speech and when did it happen?
1946, Churchill was no longer prime minister so he was more obliged to express his opinions. He said that an iron curtain had descended across Europe that separated the democratic west and communist east. Truman was in the audience. He also implied that soviet expansion needed to be stopped.
Truman Doctrine
1947
Events in Greece convinces Truman that communism would continue to spread. The USA scraps isolationism and promises to smilitarily and economically support countries at risk of falling into communism.
Marshall Plan
1947
George Marshal visited Europe and came up with a recovery programme. It’s main aims were to stop communism (Truman believed poverty caused this) and help Europe recover (for future trade also). $17 billion dollars went to 16 western European countries but Stalin forbade cominform countries for applying for it.
What happened in Greece?
Looked like they were next to fall into communism
Royalists vs. Communists
The monarchy after the war was restored with Britains help but they came under attack again by communist forces and the US intervened by providing arms and money.
Cominform
An alliance of communist countries, it’s aim was to spread communism and tighten Stalins hold on his buffer zone.
When did trizonia form?
1948
