Cold War Unit 1 Flashcards
What role did ideology play in the cold war?
Communism
- Single party
- All property owned by state
- Classless
- Rights of workers valued over the individual
Capitalism
- Some people have more power
- Free elections with a choice of parties
- Individual freedoms valued
- Private ownership, competitive workplace
The Views of the Leaders (Ideology)
Stalin
- Communist sacrifices during the war means we have the right to spread communism
- We should create a buffer zone (satellite states) to protect us from invasion
- The West wants to destroy communism, we should fight to protect it
Roosevelt and Churchill
- USA should lead the way in supressing communism
- Europe should have the same freedoms america does
- Churchill was traditionalist and was distrusting of Stalin and communism
- Roosevelt believed strongly in democracy
Tehran Conference (1943)
Purpose : The Grand Alliance plan a way of winning the war
Agreements
- USA and GB launch a second Western Front, to divert troops away from USSR
- Stalin would declare war on Japan once Germany had been defeated
- General informal agreement that Germany should stay weak after the war and Poland should get her land back
USSR would also keep the Polish land taken - Basic ideas for the UN begin
Tension
- Stalin went in believing a second front was being delayed to make him weak
- He was reassured - Churchill wanted the second front in the Balkans (SE Europe)
- USA disliked GB’s colonialism
- Saw GB as more of a threat than
USSR
Yalta Conference (Winter 1945)
Purpose : To discuss post war Europe (Germany was almost defeated)
Agreements
- Germany to be split into 4 zones, with reparations of $20bn to be paid by Germany
- 1/2 of this would go to russia - UN set up, all welcome
- Stalin decided E.Europe would hold free elections
Disagreements
- Debate over the government of Poland in the future, communist or capitalist
- USSR wanted 16 soviet states to have their own seat in the UN
- Declined - only USSR, Belarus and Ukraine allowed
Potsdam Conference (Summer 1945)
Purpose : To discuss post war Europe
Background
- Change in personnel
- Roosevelt dead, Truman in
- Churchill lost election, Attlee in (as a new PM, he just wants to go home and get the talks over quickly)
- Both new people were not as experienced at negotiation, and were more likely to let Stalin have his way
- A bomb beginning tests
- Truman stalled Potsdam until he had
this as a diplomatic edge - UN
- UK, US, France and China are permanent members, with the power to veto decisions
Agreements
- Germany 100% getting split, but economy will be run as a whole
- We’ll split Berlin too
Each country would take reparations from her zone
- USSR allowed 1/4 of industrial equipment because they had the poorest region
Disagreements
- Truman didnt like the USSR’s control of ex-Nazi states
- Poland government still not agreed on, Truman wanted a more capitalist government
The Impact of the Atom Bomb on the Cold War
Before the Bomb
- Issues the Big 3 cannot agree on
- Stalin wanted E.Europe as a defensive
measure
- Truman saw this as communist aggression
Disagreement —-> Peacetime hostility
The Bomb
- Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- 120,000 civilians killed - Some say the bomb wasn’t needed
- It was used for a better position at
Potsdam and for the US to have
power over the Soviets
- It was used for a better position at
- Countries felt more safe with the Americans than with the Soviets
After the Bomb
- Stalin set about getting satellites
- Opposite to what US intended, they
thought the bomb would allow them
to talk to USSR about E.Europe
freedoms easier - Monopoly on nukes didn’t last
- USSR : 1949
- UK, France, China : 1964
Result
- Huge increase in tension, both sides could wipe each other out many times over
- This actually made everyone less willing to go to war
- An arms race began
How did relations deteriorate? - The Long Telegram
Moscow —> Washington
From : US ambassador George Kennan
Contents
- USSR wants to remove Americas power and international influence to ensure their own safety
- If given strong resistance, they will back down
- Problems can be solved without military power
Government Reaction
- Worried about the removal of capitalism
- Foreign policy becomes tighter
Led to:
- Containment
- Marshall Plan
- Truman Doctrine
How did relations deteriorate? - The Novikov Telegram
Washington —> Moscow
From : Soviet ambassador Nikolai Novikov
Contents
- The US wants to destroy USSR and communism
- To do this, they are building a large weapons cache for war with the USSR
- Their end goal is world domination
- The Americans dont want to work with USSR anymore after Roosevelt died
Government Response
- Worried about the US dominating the world by force
- More protection in E.Europe is required
- Led to satellite states creation
The Satellite States and how they were created (dates are important)
The Baltic States 1941 (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia)
- Taken from the Nazis
Czechoslovakia
- The only eastern democracy inter war
- After Nazi rule, an uprising took place to restore democracy - 1948
- Put down by Soviet backed communist fighters- 1948
Yugoslavia and Albania
- Never directly occupied by the Red Army
- Had a bit more independence
Poland
- Warsaw Uprising 1944
- Anti Nazi
- 1944
- Soviets waited until it was over to ensure a smooth takeover with no rebels
- Capitalist politicians forced to flee
Hungary
- Electorate intimidated 1947
- One Party State 1949
Bulgaria and Romania
- ‘Free’ elections post war 1944/5
The Truman Doctrine - 1947
- Described the two sides as good and evil
- Every country had to make a choice
- He placed the US as the hero and swore to defend countries from the spread of communism (isolationism)
- These ideas became known as the Truman Doctrine
Led to :
- The Marshall Plan
- Cominform
The Marshall Plan
Economic aid to resist communism
- Countries post war were broke, and adopting communism would make the state have all the businesses, land etc = more money to recover
- USA stopped this by giving them money themselves
- More money if you were more industrialised pre war (UK got the most money)
- $13bn sent
- Massive impact to Europe, even into the 1950’s
- Aid could have been given to the satellites, but they would have to conduct a finances review, which stalin would not allow
Led to:
- Comecon
Cominform
- Communist Information Bureau
- A political opposite to the Truman Plan
- 9 members (USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia and France and Italy)
- HQ in Belgrade due to strong Yugoslav support
- Gave Stalin a new way of controlling the satellites
- In 1st meeting, they reject the Marshall Plan
- Propaganda against USA mandatory for members
- Contact with West forbidden
Led to:
- The uniting of the Western zones
Comecon
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
- Response to Marshall Plan
- USSR + the satellites
- Trade was only permitted between member states
- Bulgaria’s trade with the USSR went up from 10% to 90%
- Each state had a 5 year plan, focused on industrialisation and nationalisation of agriculture and businesses
Led to :
- Uniting of the Western zones
- NATO (partially)
The Uniting of the Western Zones
- Germany in 4 parts, so was Berlin
- Checkpoints needed to cross zones
- Roads created from Western side to Berlin (through USSR land)
Bizonia 1947
- USA and UK land joined
- Both agreed on supporting Germany’s economy, rather than taking her resources to rebuild the Soviet Union
- UK poor = economic help from USA
Trizonia - 1948
- France get involved
- Zones can be developed better and as one
- Single currency created for Trizonia
- A result of the Soviets storming out of meetings about Germany’s future
Consequences
- Single currency means that Trizonia can develop its economy separate from Stalin
- Stalin thinks the West is ganging up on him
- The start of the Berlin Crisis
Led to :
- The Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade
Stalin shuts off the two land corridors from Trizonia
- No supplies can get through, and food will soon run out
- Idea was to win a propaganda victory, showing a divided Germany will not work
- The West might give up their land in Germany
- A direct challenge to Truman, who said in the Doctrine that he would fight communism
- The West had a new idea - to airlift the supplies
- If they get shot down, Stalin is the aggressor, and he probably doesnt want that
Led to :
- The Berlin Airlift (Operation Vittles)
- NATO (partially)
- The Federal Republic of Germany
