Europe and the cold war 1945-91 Flashcards
Explain the term ‘cold war’
The term cold war had been used before 1945 to describe periods of extreme tension between states stopping just short of war. In 1893 the German socialist, Eduard Bernstein described the arms race between Germany and it’s neighbors as a kind of ‘cold war’ where ‘there is no shooting but.. bleeding’
What were the characteristics of the Cold War?
In 1945 when the USA and USSR would be both unconquerable and in a permanent state of cold war with each other.
How did the USSR and the USA differ ideologically?
The cold war was as historian John Mason pointed out ‘a fundamental clash of ideologies and interests ‘Essentially the USSR followed Lenin’s and Marx’s teaching that conflict between communism and capitalism was unavoidable while the USA and it’s allies for much of the time saw the USSR in the words of president Reagan in 1983 as an ‘evil empire’ intent on the destruction of democracy and civil rights.
How can the years 1945-89 be summarised?
From October 1956 as from November 1958 it is important to grasp that the years 1945-89 formed a cold war era in which years of intense hostility alternated with periods of detendre but even then the arms race and ideological competition between the two sides continued.
How does the Us historian John Gaddis account for the longevity of the conflict between the USSR and the USA?
The US historian John Gaddis argues that the cold war lasted for so long because of the nuclear balance. Soviet military, particularly nuclear strength disguised the essential economic weakness of the USSR which eventually caused it’s collapse.
