Flashpoints In Europe And The Impact On International Relations Flashcards
What happened in March 1948?
Hoping to economically strengthen the western zones of Germany, USA, Britain and France United Germany into a single economic unit - trizonia
What happened in June 1948?
Allies introduce a new currency - the Deutschmark, into the region
Why was Stalin worried about the introduction of the Deutschmark?
Stalin wasn’t consulted and saw it as 1st stage in reconstruction of a USSR threatening Germany
Recovery would be obvious to east Berliners and would come to resent the lower living standards in the communist zone
What and when was the Berlin blockade? What was Stalin’s aim?
24th June 1948
Ignoring all that had been agreed at Potsdam, Stalin ordered the closure of all road, rail and canal links to West Berlin
Stalin hoped he could force the west to abandon Berlin - only supplies for six weeks
What was West Germany’s reaction to the Berlin blockade?
The Berlin airlift - Truman decided because Stalin would be unlikely to shoot planes down, because it would be seen as an act of war
When did the blockade end?
12th May 1949
Name two organisations formed as a result of the Berlin blockade
NATO - April 1949
Warsaw Pact - May 1955
When was east and west Germany created?
May and October 1949
What was nato?
North Atlantic treaty organisation, April 1949
Based on principle that an attack on one member is an attack on all
When did west Germany join NATO and what reaction did this cause?
1955, caused creation of Warsaw Pact
When did Stalin die and who was his successor?
March 1953, Khrushchev
What and when was khruschev’s secret speech?
1956
Criticised Stalin, belief that communism and capitalism could live together (peaceful coexistence), USSR wouldn’t abandon communism
Give evidence of Khrushchev causing better relations with the west
Met with leaders of the west in Geneva - first such meeting in over a decade
Secret speech - denounced Stalin policies and encouraged peaceful coexistence
Give evidence of Khrushchev being a different style of communist leader
Visited Yugoslavia and apologised for how Stalin treated the country
Policy of destabilisation to end Stalin’s influence over the ussr
Ordered the breaking up of cominform
how did people react when khruschev seemingly did nothing?
riots in poland and czechoslovakia in July 1956
what year was the hungarian uprising?
1956
what were the main causes of the hungarian uprising?
poverty - hungary was poor and most o food and goods produced went to soviet union
oppression - stalinist gov included censorship, vicious secret police and control of education
help from yugoslavia - hungarian leader matyas rakosi asked for permission to arrest 400 troublemakers, yugoslavia persuaded khrushchev to replace rakosi instead
promises from the west - hungarians though UN or new pres Dwight D Eisenhower would help
catholic church - communists banned catholicism, put cardina jozsef minszenty, the leader of the catholic church, in prison
nationalism - the hungarians were very patriotic, and hated soviet control
what happened on 23rd october in the hungarian uprising?
hungarian students followed the polish example and took to the streets demanding reforms
what happened on 24th october in the hungarian uprising?
as unrest grew, imre nagy, a moderate communist, was appointed as leader
what happened on 1st november in the hungarian uprising?
nagy announced that hungary would hold free multiparty elections and would withdraw from the warsaw pact
what happened on 4th november in the hungarian uprising?
more than 6000 soviet tanks crossed the border to put down the revolt. please were made for the west and UN to intervene
why wouldn’t the USSR and khrushchev allow hungary to leave the e bloc?
opening of a gap in an iron curtain leaving USSR exposed to attack
the collapse of the iron curtain - if one country was allowed to break free then all the others might follow suit
how did the west react to the hungarian revolt?
USA and UN wouldn’t help hungary as they were already communist - containment applied to countries threatened by communism. if they went to hungary to fight it would be direct
e bloc realised it would be difficult to win changes from USSR. they were stuck in communism
when was the hydrogen bomb developed by the USA and USSR?
1950s
who led the space race during the 1950s?
USSR
sputnik - 1st satellite in space
gagarin - 1st man to orbit earth (russian)
who won the space race?
USA -US astronauts landed on the moon in 1969
why did the USSR want to end the movement of east berliners to west berlin and seal them off?
economic motive - a lot of people that left were highly skilled - gov couldn’t afford to lose them
ideological motive - 1000s of germans fleeing communist rule for a better life under capitalism undermined communism generally
political motive - w berlin was a centre for western espionage - west could get more info
when did the last death for trying to escape to the west happen?
june 1989
how did khrushchev originally hope to pressure the west into leaving berlin?
1958 he attempted to force the west to withdraw by threatening to give east germany control of access points in the city, however he failed
what and when was the paris summit?
1960
khrushchev as hoping to persuade the west to leave, but the meeting collapsed when khrushchev revealed that the USSR had shot down a U2 spy plane flying over its territory
the events of the meeting increased tensions even further and a new wave of people fled through west berlin, causing labour shortages in the east of the city
when and what was the vienna meeting?
june 1961
new pres john f kennedy
khrushchev demanded that the west hand over west berlin to the soviets
kennedy refused, and the next month increased US spending on weapons by $6.4 billion
when did khrushchev order the erection of the berlin wall?
13th august 1961
how did the US react to the berlin wall?
public usa protested about it - JFK ich bin ein berliner speech, w berlin june 1963
privately the wall helped the USA as it stopped the city being an ongoing source of tension between east and west
what was the short term effect of the berlin wall?
100s of people died trying to cross the wall, people moving from east to wet germany greatly increased
what was the long term effect of the berlin wall?
the west used the berlin wall as a powerful propaganda vehicle - became a symbol for the ideological, social and economic divisions that existed between east and west
as hundreds of people died trying to get across, the view of it being something holding people back increased
who was khrushchev replaced by as soviet leader?
brezhnev
who was novotny replaced by?
dubček
what were the czech reforms?
freedom of speech and of the press less centralised economic control development of foreign trade removal of restrictions on travel abroad reduction in the powers of the secret police
what was the reaction to the czech reforms
czech people approved
brezhnev feared that the reforms would be copied by other eastern european countries and would ultimately result in the destruction of the iron curtain
the communist leaders of poland and e germany had similar fears. in july them along with hungary, bulgaria and the ussr wrote to czech to express their concern. dubček answered that he was committed to socialism and guaranteed that czechoslovakia would remain in the warsaw pact
despite these promises, on 20th august 1968, 400,000 mostly russian troops entered czechoslovakia. dubček urged the populationto limit opposition to passive resistance
dubček was summoned to moscow. on his return to prague he announced to the people that the prague spring had ended. he resigned a few months later and was replaced by the more hardline gustav husak
when and what was the brezhnev doctrine?
late 1968
brezhnev justified the actions that he took in czechoslovakia. he argued that it was the duty of communist countries to act together to prevent another communist state from being capitalist. it was a declaration that the ussr intended always to control the communist countries behind the iron curtain.
how did the prague spring impact cold war relations?
usa wouldnt send help because they had their own problems with war in vietnam and as with hungary, accepted there was no point in intervening in events behind the iron curtain
didn’t want to damage the recent improvement in relations between east and west - became known as detente
give examples of communist weakness
reation to hungarian reforms - romanian leader ceauseseu called the invasion a ‘day of shame’ and ‘a grave error’
building of berlin wall
albania leaving the warsaw pact 1968
