Extra: Cold War SFD

Question 1

What was the detailed reason as to why the Truman Doctrine was created?

Answer 1

After the Second World War, much of Europe was devastated and citizens in countries such as Italy, France, Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom were suffering great hardships. In these conditions communism was highly appealing because communists believe that the wealth of the richest people should be shared out among the poor

Question 2

What did the Truman Doctrine change about America’s policies?

Answer 2

This marked a reversal of the USA’s traditional policy of ‘isolationism’ by which America had stayed out of international affairs.

Question 3

What countries and how many welcomed the Marshall plan?

Answer 3

16, including Britain and France

Question 4

How was Yugoslavia taken over?

Answer 4

Marshall Tito took over the country in 1945 and in 1948 relationships worsened so Tito split from the USSR and took aid under the Marshall Plan.

Question 5

How was Albania taken over?

Answer 5

In 1945 while the war was going on because they had the least opposition

Question 6

How were the Baltic states taken over - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania?

Answer 6

There was no pretence of them being separate from the USSR because they were treated as part of the USSR.

Question 7

How was East Germany taken over?

Answer 7

In 1949 after supposedly ‘free elections’ it was announced that it was a separate country from the other 3 zones. It became the communist German Democratic Republic. In June 1953 demonstrations broke out against communist policies. 1000s were arrested and 100s were wounded.

Question 8

How was Bulgaria taken over?

Answer 8

Late 1944 while the war was still going on a coalition of left-wing parties took over Bulgaria. In NOvember 1945 they held ‘free elections’ and the communists won by intimidation.

Question 9

How was Hungary taken over?

Answer 9

There were GENUINELY free elections in 1945 and the communists did not win enough seats to come to power. Then in 1947 there were supposedly ‘free elections’ that were won by intimidation.

Question 10

What was the reaction to Marshall Aid in France?

Answer 10

2 million worker sympathetic to the communists went on strike in the winter of 1947 because they wanted the government to reject Marshall aid.

Question 11

Use an example to describe how violent the enforcement of cominform was;

Answer 11

In Hungary 5% of the population was imprisoned by 1953

Question 12

Who made up Comecon?

Answer 12

USSR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania (1949)
Albania and Eastern Germany joined in 1950

Question 13

What did the Allies do in 1948 in Western Germany because of the current situation?

Answer 13

Britain, France and the USA agreed to set up a German assembly to create a German constitution. They introduced a new currency called the Deutschmark which became the official currency of trizonia.
- Stalin believed they were the first steps towards creating a permanently divided Germany

Question 14

What did the USA send during the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 14

70 large cargo planes, between 600 and 700 tonnes of food everyday. This had to increased to 1000 tonnes within the first couple of weeks.

Question 15

What did Britain supply during the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 15

Similar to America. At its height; 170,000 tonnes of supplies during 1949

Question 16

What aircraft did the USA and the USSR make by 1955 as part of the arms race?

Answer 16

USA: B52 stratofortress

Soviet Union: TU20 Bear

Question 17

What lead to riots in Budapest on the 23rd of October 1956?

Answer 17

Bad harvests, fuel and bread shortages

Question 18

What did America do after the Hungary invasion?

Answer 18

$20 million of food and medical aid

80,000 Hungarian refugees were allowed to move to the USA

Question 19

How did Kennedy prepare for war after Berlin Crisis (meetings)?

Answer 19

Committed the US government to an additional $3.2 billion of defence spending.
An extra $207 million spent building nuclear fallout shelters

Question 20

How many times more weapons did the USA have over the USSR during the Berlin Crisis?

Answer 20

Almost 20 times more

Question 21

What did Kennedy famously say to the people of West Berlin when he toured there in 1963?

Answer 21

“All free men, wherever they live, are citizens of Berlin and therefore as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich bin ein Berliner.”

Question 22

What did USA schools do to prepare for a nuclear attack?

Answer 22

They did ‘duck and cover’ rehearsals

Question 23

What was the USA’s particular area of concern in the arms race?

Answer 23

The rate at which the USSR were building nuclear weapons and size of these weapons - the Tsar Bomba detonated in 1961 weighed 8 tonnes, 100 times more powerful than those the Americans dropped on Japan and created a fireball 8km in diameter.

Question 24

What concerned Americans in 1957 during the arms race?

Answer 24

Americans thought that the rockets used to put Sputnik 1 - the worlds first man-made satellite in the air could be used to launch nuclear missiles at America, however the USSR was not wealthy enough to mass produce missiles.

Question 25

According to the US department of trade how much Cuban trade did they run in 1956?

Answer 25

90% of phone and electric supply
50% of railways
40% of all sugar production
And they owned and supplied all the oil refineries

Question 26

How were the USA going to make the Cuban invasion look like a Cuban revolt?

Answer 26

They had been training Cuban exiles in guerrilla fighting and they could disguise old US planes to look like Cuban ones.

Question 27

How many troops invaded at the Bay of Pigs?

Answer 27

The Cuban-exile army of about 1,400 invaded on the 17th of April and was soon facing sir attacks and 20,000 of Castro’s troops.

Question 28

What happened when Kennedy told the American people the USSR was going to build nuclear missiles on their doorstep (on the 22nd of October 1962)?

Answer 28

They panicked and started building nuclear shelters in preparation for nuclear war. Also, a nuclear submarine was prepared by the US navy and 156 ICBMs were primed for launch.

Question 29

What did Kennedy say in his speech of June 1963, following the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Answer 29

He signaled his commitment to working with the USSR and said that both superpowers need to focus on their “common interests”

Question 30

What is détente?

Answer 30

A relaxing of tension in the relationship between the USA and the USSR

Question 31

By 1965, who was in the lead in the arms race?

Answer 31

The USSR and the USA were on an equal footing in terms of nuclear capability.

Question 32

Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, what did France do?

Answer 32

President Charles de Gaulle ended their military alliance with America and began to develop their own nuclear missiles

Question 33

Which Eastern European communists formed new alliances following the invasion of Czechoslovakia?

Answer 33

Following 1968, Yugoslavian and Romanian communists formed alliances with China

Question 34

Which two treaties were signed at the end of the 1960s which show good detente relationships?

Answer 34

1967 Outer Space Treaty and 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

Question 35

What agreement was part of SALT 2 and what did it say?

Answer 35

1974, Vladivostok Agreement: both sides agreed to reduce their stocks of nuclear warheads to 2250

Question 36

Give examples of countries who were at the Helsinki agreements + how many in total?

Answer 36

35 in total. All of Europe except Andorra and Albania. USSR, USA, Canada

Question 37

Who was ruling Afghanistan following the Kabul Revolution (April 1978)?

Answer 37

Mohammed Taraki (new communist president).
After the civil war in the spring of 1979, Taraki was forced to accept Hafizullah Amin as head of army.
Oct 1979 Taraki was assassinated and Amin claimed presidency

Question 38

How long did the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan last and how many died?

Answer 38

10 years, 1.5 million people died including 15,000 Russian soldiers

Question 39

For what organisation did the CIA provide weapons and funds for?

Answer 39

Mujahideen

Question 40

What measures indicated Carter’s hard-line approach to superpower relations?

Answer 40

5% increased defence spending

Ordered US military to come up with plans for surviving and winning nuclear war

Question 41

How many countries boycotted the Moscow Olympic Games and what was Carter’s alternative?

Answer 41

Around 60 countries including China, Malawi, West Germany and Zaire.
Alternative = Olympic Boycott Games in Philadelphia

Question 42

How did American press ridicule the official Olympic Games?

Answer 42

They nicknamed the mascot, Misha Bear, Gulag Bear

Question 43

Who boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games and what was the alternative?

Answer 43

USSR + 14 communist countries.

Friendship Games = alternative

Question 44

Where did Reagan give his “Evil Empire” speech?

Answer 44

National Association of Evangelicals (Reagan was a committed Christian)

Question 45

In what way had America won the space race?

Answer 45

1) They won the race to the moon in 1969

2) By the early 1980s they developed the space shuttle

Question 46

What did Gorbachev say about Reagan after their first meeting? 1985

Answer 46

“Reagan is not just a class enemy; he is extremely primitive. He looks like a caveman and is mentally retarded.”

Question 47

Give an example which shows how everyday life in Russia was dominated by shortages

Answer 47

It was not uncommon to queue for up to five hours for a packet of sausages in Moscow

Question 48

Who did Gorbachev sack in order to establish a working relationship with Reagan?

Answer 48

Andrei Gromyko (long-serving Soviet foreign minister) in favour of Eduard Shevardnadze

Question 49

What phrases did Reagan start using when he changed his mind about the “Evil Empire”?

Answer 49

“mutual compromise” 1984 = “a year of opportunity for peace”

Question 50

What nuclear missiles did the INF treaty eliminate?

Answer 50

All nuclear missiles with a range of 500-5500 kilometres

Question 51

What did START 1 agree to do?

Answer 51

To reduce holdings of nuclear weapons by about a third

Question 52

What countries left the Warsaw Pact first and when did it end?

Answer 52

Poland, Hungary, East Germany. Military co-operation ceased in early 1990 and the Pact was dissolved in July 1991

Question 53

What was Gorbachev’s final attempt to save the Soviet Union?

Answer 53

He tried to introduce a constitution designed to give the Soviet republics like Latvia and Ukraine greater independence but they wanted full independence so the constitution was never accepted.

Question 54

How did the Soviet Union break down?

Answer 54

The Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) declared themselves independent in 1990, leading to copy-cat demands within the Soviet Union