Core Topic 4 Flashcards
When was the Yalta Conference and how did Stalin have the upper hand?(3)
February 1945.
Roosevelt was incredibly ill at the Yalta conference, and could barely walk. Just one year before in 1944 he was diagnosed with atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease.
Also Yalta was deep in Soviet territory in Ukraine and so Stalin had stuck with his red army by his side.
What did the big three agree on at the Yalta Conference?(5)
Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan within 90 days after Germany’s surrender and in turn receive a lease at Port Arthur (now Lüshunkou), part of the operation of the Manchurian railroads, the Kurile Islands and South Sakhalin.
They agreed on splitting up Germany into four separate zones, with France although not being at the conference to have a zone. These four nations would also all join the new UN organisation as permanent members.
The Soviets pledged to allow free elections in all territories liberated from the Nazis. The Big Three agreed on hunting down and punishing the war criminals as well as denazifying and demilitarising Germany completely.
All reparations of the war were to be payed by Germany, but in the form of forced labour - which was to be used to repair the damage that Germany had done.
The USSR was now to been seen as a ‘Soviet Sphere of Influence’.
What did the big three disagree on at the Yalta Conference?(3)
Stalin wanted the border of the USSR to move west into Poland, in turn Stalin said that Poland could shift West as well into Germany.
Churchill did not approve of the plan and neither did Roosevelt but Churchill knew that because Stalin was in control of both Poland and Eastern Germany he persuaded Roosevelt to accept the plan.
When was the Tehran conference and what was discussed?(2)
November-December 1943. Stalin agreed in principle that the Soviet Union would declare war against Japan following an Allied victory over Germany. In exchange Roosevelt conceded to Stalin’s demands for the Kurile Islands and the southern half of Sakhalin, and access to the ice-free ports of Dairen (Dalian) and Port Arthur (Lüshun Port) located in northern China.
When was the Potsdam Conference and what had changed since Yalta?(4)
July 1945.
Stalin’s armies had liberated and set up communist government In most of Eastern Europe. April 1945 Roosevelt died and was replaced by Harry Truman, who was a very different man to Roosevelt.
America on July 16th had also successfully tested an atomic bomb, which Truman informed Stalin about.
Furthermore, in July half way through the conference, there was a British election that brought a new prime minister - Clement Attlee. In absence of Churchill for half the conference, the focus was on Stalin vs Truman.
What were the disagreements at Potsdam?(3)
Stalin wanted to gain a foothold in Japan; but Truman rejected. Stalin also wanted access to Germany’s industrial heartland in the Ruhr - also rejected by Truman.
They disagreed over the future of Germany; Stalin wanted to dismember Germany and prevent it developing its own industry in a similar way that Clemenceau did.
They couldn’t agree over the future governments of the Eastern-Bloc especially the Soviet Controlled government at Lublin in Poland that was continuing to run the country.
What changes were made to Poland’s borders?
Poland’s eastern border, became the Curzon line and its western border the Oder-Neisse line. This change also lost Poland 73,000 square kilometres of land.
When was Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech and what was the aftermath?(2)
In the presence of Truman in USA, Churchill staled that a “From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended.” on 5th March 1946.
This influenced Truman’s attitude toward the USSR.
What was Comecon?(3)
Stands for Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and was set up 25th January 1949 to co-ordinate the industries and trade of the Eastern European countries. The idea was that members of Comecon traded amongst one another rather than with the west.
Comecon blatantly favoured the USSR over the other states, in 1964 Comecon set up a bank for socialist countries.
What was Cominform?(3)
Stands for Communist Information Bureau and was set up on the 5th October 1947 to co-ordinate various communist governments in Eastern Europe.
The office was originally based in Belgrade in Yugoslavia but moved to Bucharest in Romania in 1948 because Yugoslavia were not fully obeying the USSR.
Cominform ran out meetings and sent instructions to communist governments about what the Soviet Union wanted them to do.
How did the USSR have control of Eastern-Europe?(3)
After the war, in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria communist parties imprisoned, attacked or executed leaders of other parties after winning the respective election.
In Albania and Poland, Communism became the outright power after landslide victories and expulsion of opposition leaders. Yugoslavia and East Germany were also under Cominform control.
Meanwhile in France and Italy, there were strong communist parties that belonged to Cominform. Stalin via Cominform had an eagle eye on all the countries just mentioned.
What happened in Greece 1947 with Communism?(3)
After the Nazis retreat in 1944 in Greece, the two major parties were the monarchists and the communists.
Churchill sent British troops to Greece in 1945 to ‘help restore order and supervise free elections’, when in reality they were supporting the monarchists.
In 1946 the USSR protested to the UN that the British troops were a threat to peace in Greece, but the UN took no action hence the communists tried to take control of Greece by force.
Britain could not handle the cost and on 24th February 1947 withdrew their troops.
However, Truman stepped in and so paid by America - British troops remained in Greece, and by 1950 the Monarchists were in control.
Who was George Kennan and what was his influence on the U.S - Soviet tensions?(3)
1944-46 deputy head of mission at US embassy in Moscow.
Sent a long telegram on February 22nd 1946 stating how soon there would be bad feuds between the U.S and Russia.
Link between Kennan’s telegram and Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech.
What was the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan?(3)
The Truman Doctrine from 1947 onwards stated that United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.
The Marshall Plan was also created in 1947 by George Marshall who was Foreign Minister 1947-9. The Marshall Plan stated that it would give financial aid and support to post-war recovering economies in Europe. It gained ratification in 1948.
What happened in Czechoslovakia 1948 and how did it influence American Congress?(2)
Congress originally did not grant the $17 billion for the Marshall plan to go forward.
However after a communist government took over Czechoslovakia in March 1948, after the pro-American minister Jan Masaryk had supposedly been pushed off a building to his death, they immediately accepted the Marshall Plan and made the money available over four years.
