Context Flashcards
Summary of the Second World War
Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939-Allies until 1941
Hitler defeated most of Europe except Britain, and Hitler attacked the Ussr in June 1941.
Japan attacked the USA at Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941. The USA declared war on the Japan.
Japan, Italy, and Germany are all on the same side.
The USA, Britain, and the USSR are on the same side.
Germany surrendered in May 1945; Japan surrendered in August after the US dropped nuclear bombs on two Japanese cities. Bombing of Hiroshima
What was the division after the war?
Europe is divided into two
One side was the Soviet Union and the other was the rest of Europe.
How was Berlin divided in 1945?
Germany was divided into four zones: British, American, French, and Soviet
Berlin was deep inside the Soviet zone but was also divided into the same zones of occupation.
Berlin is surrounded by the soviet union and was surrounded by soviet control. However, inside the city, there were different zones despite being a part of the soviet union.
They could get inside by planes, through air canals.
What was the division of Germany in 1949?
By the end of 1949, Europe was divided into two blocks
Those countries under the control of the Soviet union
Those that had close relations which the USA green. Many of these would form the military alliance NATO in 1949.
Germany remained divided but now into what would be the two countries. West and East Germany.
The city of Berlin also remained divided, now into two zones West and East Berlin, separated by the Berlin Wall in 1961. The wall fell in 1989.
Cold War Summary
It began between 1945 and 1949; ended with the collapse of the Ussr in 1991
Some would say we are in a new cold war between the USA, Russia, and China
A struggle for global influence and power between the two superpowers that emerged at the end of the Second World War, The USA and the USSR.
Western Europe (including the UK and Bermuda), Canada, Australia, Japan, and others joined the USA and became known as the West.
Eastern Europe, China a few other communist countries joined the USSR and became known as the East Block countries
Others tried to remain neutral (the Third World) or joined one side or the other depending on what was offered.
It was an ideological battle between Capitalist, liberal democracies, single-party states-propaganda on both sides.
Constant tension that WW3 would break out any day-one side would launch a nuclear attack on the other and the other would respond: Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)- a huge build-up of military-based and nuclear weapons
