Create physical revision materials on: Soviet Expansion Iron Curtain Flashcards
How did USSR gain control over Eastern Europe?
Red army occupied eastern europe eg Poland Bulgaria and Hungary
Difficult for non com to gain power after horrors of Nazis - communism was popular
Soviets worked strategically so pro USSR communists rose in power in governments this including arresting and execution and rigging elections
Why did the USSR take control over Eastern Europe countries ?
To create a buffer zone of east European communism state’s to protect Germany from invading Russia for the 3rd time
As USSR suffered the most during the war 10m killed by Germans
Stalin was determined this would never happen again
What were the USSR fears about us imperialism ?
USA were wealthiest
Soviet government concerned USA business leaders were planning to spread power and build up world empire by increasing profits and selling us goods
Wanted to stop us businesses from dominating
What was the Truman Doctrine?
Stopped the spread of Communism-
containment
March 1947 there was a speech to Congress to
create a us policy towards communism after
ww2 as com was a serious threat to USA
US policy focused on containing com and
keeping it within already established countries
What did the Truman Doctrine result in ?
What did the Truman Doctrine result in ?
It secured turkey us ally and saved Greece by returning monarch government as these countries were vulnerable to communism as only Eastern Europe states not controlled by com government
Stalin was to gain influence in Greece and turkey because of its import ant oil reserves and wanted Mediterranean for soviet ship- which would make USSR very powerful
What was the Iron Curtain?
Imaginary line separating East and West Europe during the Cold War
What countries were occupied
by the Soviet Union
Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia
Churchill’s delivers his Iron Curtain speech
Churchill’s delivers his Iron Curtain speech
March 5, 1946
Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”
Stalin’s response
Stalin saw the speech as a deliberate and unfair attempt to paint the Soviet Union as aggressive and untrustworthy
The long telegram
February 1946
An 8,000-word telegram to the Department of State detailing views on the Soviet Union, and US policy toward the communist state.
It’s analysis provided one of the most influential explanations for
