Foreign Relations

Question 1

Operation Barbarossa

Answer 1

22nd June 1941
>German invasion of the USSR
>Invasion delayed by the Nazi’s by 3 weeks due to their invasion of Yugoslavia.
>German forces split into 3 - heading towards Leningrad, Ukraine and Moscow

Question 2

Stalin’s immediate reaction to Operation Barbarossa

Answer 2

> Had taken no direct action to prepare for invasion
Stalin hid following the attack, Molotov (foreign minister) made radio broadcasts
Stalin speaks 3rd July, calls on people to join”Great Patriotic War”
The Soviet army had inexperienced commanders following thr 1937 purges
Stalin was indecisive and often made late calls

Question 3

Advance by the Red Army into East Centrak Europe

Answer 3

1944-45

Question 4

Yalta and Potsdam

Answer 4

1945

Question 5

US Marshall Plan and ‘Truman Doctrine’

Answer 5

1947

Question 6

Communist coupin Czechoslovakia

Answer 6

1948

Question 7

Start of the Berlin Blockade

Answer 7

1948

Question 8

End of the Berlin Blockade

Answer 8

1949

Question 9

Death of Stalin

Answer 9

1953

Question 10

The USSR as a superpower

Answer 10

> Military-industrial war machine - 7.5 million well-eqipped soldiers.
Increased territory - by the end of the war, the USSR controlled the Blatic States and eastern Poland
Satellite states - between 1945 and 1948, the Soviet Union consolidated its dominance over East Germany and the states of East Central Europe
Atomic power - the USSR had developed an atomic bomb by August 1949
UN permanent member - the USSR was 1 of 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council

Question 11

Fomation of a Soviet Bloc

Answer 11

> A provisional government was set up in Lublin in 1945, dominated by pro-Moscow comunists.
Eastern Germany became a Soviet zone of occupation in 1945; Moscow trained communists took political control in 1946
‘Salami tactics’ enabled pro-Soviet governments to control Hungary (1947) and Czechoslovakia (1948)
The Baltic Statesnwere occupied by the USSR in 1940 under the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact
Eastern Poland was annexed by the USSR in 1939 under the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact

Question 12

Breakdown of East-West relations

1946

Answer 12

> USA and Britain were concered by Soviet expansionism and the USSR’s demand for its right to have a ‘buffer zone’ against future aggression
Exacerbated by ‘The Long Telegram’ - a report from Moscow by the American diplomat George Kennan in 1946, urging the USA to contain the spread of communism in Europe
Winston Churchill gave a speech in March 1946 warning of an ‘iron curtain’ dividing Europe, advising strength was needed to deal with the USSR

Question 13

Breakdown of East-West relations

1947-48

Answer 13

> By 1947, Western Europe was plagued by economic decline and political instability, with stropng communist parties in Italy and France
The announcement of the Truman Doctrine in March1947 committed the USA to a policy of containment
June 1947, the Marshall Plan - providing US aid for European economic recovery - recieved a hostile Soviet response, as Stalin believed it would extend US influence

Question 14

Breakdown of East-West relations

1948-49

Answer 14

> After the war, the USSR and the West had disagreed over the control of Berlin (which was located in the Soviet zone of Germany)
In the Berlin Blockade of 1948-49, Stalin cut off all road and rail links between Berlin and the Western zones of Germany. This hardened the division of Germany.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was formed in 1949. The establishment of this Atlantic allaince for the defence of Europe was seen by the USSR as a hostile act.
The first successful test of the Soviet atomic bomb in August 1949, and victory for the communist party in the Chinese Civil War in 1950, also increased Cold War tensions