Conflict and Tension between East and West - The Iron Curtain

Question 1

what alarmed the West about Europe after 1945?

Answer 1

• By 1949, all of Eastern Europe was under soviet influence
  -> East Germany was controlled by the USSR until 1949 when a communist government was set up
  -> in Poland, no free elections had been held. A polish communist government had established support from the USSR
  -> Hungary had held elections in 1945 and the communists had received 17% of the vote. In 1948 communist rule was established
  -> in Czechoslovakia, a non-communist government had been elected in 1946. But in 1948, communists seized power following the mysterious death of a minister, Jan Masaryk

Question 2

what was the ‘Long Telegram’?

Answer 2

• On 22nd February 1946, George Kennan, the second in command at the US embassy and a respected expert on the USSR, sent a detailed and lengthy report, known as the ‘Long Telegram’.
• He outlined his fears about soviet ambitions as he believed any kind of attempted cooperation between East and West was doomed to fail

Question 3

what was the Iron Curtain Speech?

Answer 3

In 1946, Churchill’s speech stated that Europe was divided by an invisible line: “the iron curtain” between the communist East and West
- his aim and intention in giving this speech to an American audience were to have a greater impact. In the USA, there was a greater anti-communist feeling.

Question 4

why was the Iron Curtain speech significant?

Answer 4

• It was significant that it was Churchill because although he was no longer Prime Minister, he was influential in politics

Question 5

what was Stalin’s response to the Iron Curtain Speech?

Answer 5

• Stalin saw the speech as a deliberate and unfair attempt to paint the Soviet Union as aggressive and untrust worthy. - - He believed that Churchill was working with the USA to affect how the world saw the Soviet Union

Question 6

what was the problem with Greece?

Answer 6

• communists wanted Greece to become a Soviet Republic, and the monarchists wanted the return of the King of Greece
• British supported the monarchists and the King was restored
• in 1946, a civil war broke out and the British withdraw on 24th February 1947 as they did not have the resources

Question 7

what was the issue with Turkey?

Answer 7

• Stalin was trying to gain influence in Turkey as he wanted access to the Mediterranean for the Soviet Trade ships

Question 8

what were the key decisions Harry Truman made for the USA?

Answer 8

• dropping the atomic bomb
• Truman Doctrine
• USA should become involved in Korean Conflict

Question 8

what was the Truman Doctrine?

Answer 8

• In 1947, Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.

Question 9

who did the Truman Doctrine help?

Answer 9

• Truman asked Congress for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Turkey and Greece
• this secured Turkey as an ally and a monarchist government was restored in Greece

Question 10

what was the ‘policy of containment’?

Answer 10

• the West wanted to ‘contain’ communism in Eastern Europe and prevent its spread to Western Europe

Question 11

what was Cominform?

Answer 11

• Stalin responded to Truman’s speech by creating the Communist Information Bureau or Cominform in 1947
• the organisation consisted of USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, France and Italy (Yugoslavia was eventually expelled)
• the Cominform’s activities consisted mainly of publishing propaganda to encourage international communist solidarity

Question 12

what was Comecon?

Answer 12

• Stalin made it clear that countries in Eastern Europe should not accept Marshall Aid. Instead, a soviet equivalent was created in 1949: Comecon
• The aim of it was to provide support and bring economic stability to Eastern European countries. It would avoid the need for these countries to accept Marshall aid
• Unlike Marshall aid, Comecon did not involve one wealthy country supporting poorer ones - countries would work together to share knowledge and resources. - officially a union, in reality decisions made in Moscow

Question 13

what was the marshall plan?

Answer 13

• In 1947, George Marshall launched the Marshall Plan
• The Marshall Plan aimed to provide economic support for the countries of Europe as they were rebuilt after the war years, in order to prevent the countries becoming communist states

Question 14

what did the Americans hope to achieve with the Marshall Plan?

Answer 14

• the creation of a market for American goods to help the US economy
• to aid the economic recovery of Europe, making communism less attractive
• to promote unity in Europe, which would halt the spread of communism

Question 15

was the Marshall Plan a success?

Answer 15

• By 1953, the USA provided $17 billion to help Europe rebuild its economy and raise standards of living
• it allowed countries that had been devastated by war to rebuild much more quickly than would have been possible without it
• the American economy also benefited from having prosperous countries to trade with and the Marshall Plan showed that the USA was willing to commit to involvement in Europe in the long term
• The Marshall Plan also aimed to bring about some unity but only to those countries that accepted aid. The plan also brought unity to those countries that turned aid and so further entrenched the dividing line of the Iron Curtain

Question 16

what are 3 ways Stalin responded to Marshall Aid?

Answer 16

• denounced it as Dollar Imperialism
• In September 1947, Stalin set up Cominform
• In January 1949, he also established Comecon to administer its own plan

Question 17

what did the Grand Alliance agree on with Germany?

Answer 17

• It had been agreed at Yalta + Potsdam that Germany should be divided into 4 zones, each controlled by one of the Allies.

Question 18

How did Germany work from 1945-1948?

Answer 18

• the allies initially worked together running their own sector but uniting as an allied control council to make important decisions
• as Stalin tightened his grip on East Germany, it became nearly impossible to influence how it was run
• the West wanted to rebuild Germany but Stalin wanted Germany to pay for what it had done
• In March 1948, the Western Allies decided to unite their sectors of Germany and they would introduce a new currency in West Germany and West Berlin

Question 19

what was the ‘mini blockade’?

Answer 19

• In April 1948, the Soviets used their control of the area surrounding West Berlin to block the transport of military supplies
• this introduced traffic restrictions and searched vehicles

Question 20

what was the ‘berlin blockade’?

Answer 20

• In June 1948, the full blockade was launched and all transport links into the city were blocked
• 2.5 million people living in Western sector forced to live off reserves of food and fuel

Question 21

what was the response to the Blockade?

Answer 21

• the USA and the UK responded to the blockade by carrying out an airlift. The people in West Berlin only had six weeks of food and fuel
• the pilots used three air corridors that had been agreed at Yalta in 1945 to transport the required 4000 tonnes to the 2 million people of West Berlin
• the planes initially carried 600 tonnes but over the next few months it increased to 8000 tonnes per day

Question 22

was the Berlin airlift a success?

Answer 22

• the airlift was regarded as a success because despite the 79 pilots who died in accidents, Stalin’s plan to force the USA to leave Berlin failed
• On May 12th 1949 Stalin lifted the blockade

Question 23

what were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 23

• ends hostility between USA and Germany
• dashed all hopes of uniting Berlin
• In 1949 - the Westen Zones came together as West Germany - known as the Federal Republic of Germany
• USSR responded - East Germany was changed to the German Democratic Republic

Question 24

what was NATO?

Answer 24

• In April 1949, 12 countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
• The treaty promised that the countries’ military forces would coordinate joint military action
• For the countries of Western Europe this guaranteed that the USA would support them if their security was threatened and that the Americans would remain involved in European affairs long term

Question 25

how did the USSR react to NATO?

Answer 25

• for the USSR, NATO represented an aggressive alliance and was a threat to Soviet security.
• six years later, the USSR formed the rival Warsaw Pact with the communist countries of Eastern Europe.