early cold war Flashcards
ideological differences between the east and west
the communist east had a focus on state owned society with everyone equal and controlled by gov, stalin was sketchy and wanted a sphere of influence for his ideals, lower state of living but all is shared
in the west they prospered off the all can thrive american dream where mass profit was propgandad for any hard working man,good standard of living but a stark class gap
where and when was the terhan conference
in turkey in 1943, first meeting of the allies
what was agreed at the tehran conference
that the USA and the UK would invade nazi ruled france in 1944 and the ussr would join in upon the defeat of nazis to end the war with japan
early reasons for lack of trust between the west and east pre end of WW2
at the midst of ww1 the ussr had ditched the allies for their own civil war and risked defeat,
the usa had backed the whites in the russian civil war
in ww2 hitler and stalin had agreed peace despite their HUGE differences which was cowardly from both and worse hitler then lied
stalin was slippery and a dictator showng he wasnt truly for the prospects of communism
when and where was the yalta conference
it was in early 1945 betweeen the big three leaders in yalta, crimea
agreements in yalta
germany AND berlin were to be divided into four states each for france, USA, USSR and UK
all nazi run countries owuld be freed and given the opportunity to have democratic free descisions on who comes to power
solviet would still enter war against japan
the UN would be set up to prevent another war
all nazi leaders will be internationally trialled
disagreements in yalta
stalin wanted poland to have a much further western boarder as he wants a ‘good’ polish gov that he could essentially take control of, wst wanted free electrions for all those areas
on germany
ussr had been very affected by nazis and saw them as a threat whilst the west recognised the effects of the treaty of v leading to mass anger and hitler and wanted to help rather than cripple
when and where was the potsdam conference
mid 1945 in potsdam just outside of berlin, big three now with truman and attlee
wanted to settle nad put forward ideas and agreemnets from yalta
tensions at potsdam that hadnt been at yalta
harry truman the new president publicly disliked communism in a country fearful of the red scare, he was v anti stalin
the nuclear bomb was reveal between truman and stalin and though stalins spies had told him he was able to act shocked at the lack of secrecy, it was also scary the us had such a power of destruction on them. also meant ussr wasn’t needed to fight japan
despite agreements of free elctions it seemed stalin wanted to have a sphere of heavy infleunce and use the eastern countries as buffer zones for the ussr, he was already trying to take over germany
disagreements at potsdam
they were angry over how many reparations ussr could take from crippled germany, the ussr wanted to completely halt germnay from ever being a power again whilst the west didnt want to repeat the mistakes made in the treaty of versailles.
it wasnt clear stalin would allow free elections
agrements in potsdam
germnay did at least have to pay some reparations, most to go to the USSR
nazis completely banned and trialled
four way split of germany and berlin
poland moves west
death toll of the atomic bomb
140K killed in hiroshima and three days later 75k dead in nagasaki
reasons for the atomic bomb
officially it was to shock and destroy japan enough to force them into a surrender, which they did
it is speculated it was also a testimony of the level of destruction that the USA was capable of and war was now capable of, a message to stalin of fear
there had been a huge trust issue as the usa did not tell stalin of their power and the bomb until it was dropped and the ussr had espionage as two on the manhatten project had been relaying info to them
some eastern countries examples that fell to communsim
- it began humbly with a few democtratically joined govs, then theyd take hold of the media and rig elections to get the majority and show support, banishing and arresting any opposition
- poland they had a coallition gov in 45 and by 47 had rigged electrions and scared off the oposition against the wests rules
- in hungary, romania and bulgaria there were a coallition gov that ramped up to a full communsit takeover through rigged votes and arrests
-cech was the last taken over
whats the long telegram and significance
- 1946, american embassy wroker Kennan wrote an 8000 word telegram to the usa saying he was scared of the ussrs power as they were very armed and hateful of the non communsit west and so they could not co exist. This was ok as the usa was stronger
- The ussr from early on was a threatening pwoer and theres high distrut between the two
novikov telegram and significance
- novikov the us ambassidor for the ussr wrote in reponnse to the ussr that the usa was a very scary power set on world domination and so the ussr needed to secure a buffer zone
- the two telegrams set the ideologicies of the early cold
when and what was the significance of the iron curtain speech
- march 1946
- churchill who is not pm then condems and fears the power of the ussr and warns how they spent six years fighting nazi facism only to lose half of europe to a dictatorship- this would alight fears of a post war audience who had a reminissent memory of the nearly ended ww2
britaians greece issue in 1947
- they could not fully fund capitalist/western supportive goverments in greece
- the greek communist party was growing and many neighbouring countries were also communists
what is the truman doctrine
1947, truman gave a speech to the congress discussing the threat of communism and promising aid to any country under immediate threat of communism
this was developed into a 400m aid as the truman doctrine
what was the marshall aid and significance
1948, truman sent george marshall to europe to see how they could help stop the spread of communism. he reccommended a 12BILLION aid to repeair wounded eastern countries post war so they are stronger to the threat of communism
it was essentially a form of propaganda to show eastern countries how wealthy and thriving the west was without propaganda
solviet response to the marshall plan
- they felt the usa were using their wealth as propaganda to gain influence in europe and hence block them
- forbade the eastern bloc countries from partaking in any form of mashall aid or truman aid
what is cominform and effect
- way for the ussr to tighten its control of countries in the eastern bloc
- building of a communism dependant trade group and a working industry between countries
- published a newspaper and held regular conferences
- not very working as yugoslavia quickly left
- helped them spread communist ideals in response to the usas containmment scheme
what is comecom and effects
- 49, to administer its own aid for countries in the eastern bloc so they dont stray to marshall aid or capitalism
- was not too successful as the I
USSR dominated trade and economy wise but it did maintain the communist ideologies such as state ownership and equality in pay
berlin blockade background
- germany/berlin was split as agreed in the yalta conference as being split into four but russia got about half as they represented the communsit ideologies
- berlin was in russia half, allies could acess their half of berlin through river air and road through three specfici corridors
Why did Stalin enact the berlin blockade
– wanted to cripple germnay beyond repair
- he needed it to stay poor and unthreatening and was unimpressed by how the west were trying to rebuild it- as they were wary of the german uprising via nazis post treaty of versailles
what were the west doing in berlin to upset stalin
- west were trying to rebuild it- as they were wary of the german uprising via nazis post treaty of versailles so they didnt want a repeat
- they were using marshall plan money
- they were using us imports to show the prosperity of their capitalist regime
- britain and the us made BIZONIA which made them stronger
- introduced new currency to strengthen german economy
when was the berlin blockade
june 1948
what was the effect of berlin blockade on the west of germany
- berlins only accesible by air
- berlin only had enough food for 36 days
- lacking food and medicine
how long did the berlin airlift last and how did the allies approach it
eleven months
allies sent in a plane a minute
if they forced their way by land they wouldve strated a war so they were peacful
aftermath of the berlin blockade
- remains a source of tension
- france then joins to become west germany
- source of propaganda for the west on how they would not back down against the rise of communism
- Nato formed so stalin made warsaw pact
- USSR exploded an atomic bomb so the USA no longer had the nuclear monopoly
nato and warsaw pact point
theyre military support, if one is invaded they have to back eachother
- formed in 49 and solviets responded in 55
