Height of the Cold War Flashcards
when did west Germany begin to be remilitarised
1950
why did the USA feel west Germany needed to be remilitarised
- after the Korean war he believed it would be best for Germany to defend itself
what did Stalin do as a result of west Germany remilitarising
he sent a letter to USA proposing that Germany unite and they hold free elections as he would scared Germany would turn out like Poland however the west declined the offer.
what was imposed in west Germany in 1955
compulsory military service
what approach did east germany use from 1949 and whats was its aim
a stalanistic approach- they wanted to heavily industrialise east germany
did the stalinistic approach work and what did it lead to
no- it just led to sparsity’s in east Germany, farmers left there land to move to west Germany as a result, by 1953 there were workers strikes due to un fairness and it resulted in the Ussr coming to crush the uprising
what occured from 1949- 1952
the brain drain
what was the brain drain
it was a period of time when the young educated people of germany (approxamitly 675k) crossed the border and moved to west berlin
what 2 things happened as a result of the brain drain
- east berlin lacked educated people and were deprived
- the first beginnings of the berlin wall, east berlin put barbed wire along the border to attempt to stop people from crossing to west berlin.
who replaced Stalin when he died in 1953
Nikita Khrushchev
what policy’s did Khrushchev use
desalinisation- he wanted to relax censorship and undo a lot of what Stalin did
when was the berlin wall built
1961
why was it built
despite the barbed wire, it was still very easy to leave Germany, they needed to officially end the brain drain so they decided to built a physical wall to stop people from leaving
what did the berlin wall symbolise
it was a physical representative of the cold war, embodied what Churchill said in his iron curtain speech
how did the USA use the berlin wall
they used it as propaganda convincing people against communism, they said that they had flaws but at least they didn’t need a wall to keep people in.
what occurred in Poznan in 1956
a polish uprising
what happened in this polish uprising
uprisings for better pay led to request of reform, a former political prisoner joined and promised socialism in Poland eventually Ussr had to threaten force and it ended with Poland remaining in the Warsaw pact but the Ussr’s grip being loosened on Poland
what happend in 1956
the hungarian uprising
what happened in the Hungarian uprising
- Hungary were inspired by Poland and demonstrations took place to withdraw soviet tanks.
- a man named Nagy became leader of Hungary and he told Stalin to remove soviet tanks and he would gain control of Hungary.
- Stalin obliged but instead Nagy announced Hungary were leaving the Warsaw pact
- Ussr feared that Hungary would leave communism so Stalin sent in tanks and had Nagy executed.
what did the Hungarian uprising show
that the Ussr was prepared to use extreme force to maintain there buffer zone
what happened in Prague Spring 1968
Czechoslovakia attempted to stray away from communism but still remain in the Warsaw pact, eventually they strayed to far and the Ussr invaded to enforce communism
what was the Brezhnev doctrine and why was it introduced
it was introduced after the negative reactions from other members of the Warsaw pact after the uprisings in Hungary and Czechoslovakia
- the doctrine stated that the Ussr could intervene in the affairs of eastern socialist country’s if communism was threatened.
what was the arms race
it was a period of time when both USA and USSR were developing nuclear weapons to attempt to get the upper hand however it just made it clear that if the two were to use nuclear weapons it would led to MAD (mutually assure destruction)
what was the space race
the period of time where both the USA and USSR battled to be the first to have someone land on the moon, the USA achieved this first, space was one of the only place where the Ussr and USA cooperated together
what happened in the cuban missile crisis
in 1959 communism was instated in cubs, what heavily upset the USA as they had bene using Cuba for resources. it led to the Cuban missile crisis when the 2 powers were faced with the opportunity to use nuclear weapons on each other, however they eventually saw reason and disarmed.
what was détente
it was a period of time between 1962- 1979 which saw cooperation between USA and Ussr, they signed many pact and deals to try stop the cold war.
what was signed in 1968
SALT
what was SALT
it was an arms limitation treaty between USA, Britain Ussr and France which limited there weapons.
what were the Helsinki accords
they were signed in 1975 to resolve some of the issues still unresolved from ww2. it agreed to post war European borders.
what is Ostpolitik
this was when willy Brandt chancellor of west Germany decided to attempt to fix the relationship between east and west Germany. Ostpolitik is the name of several treaty’s which were signed between the 2.
what was the carter doctrine
this came around after a coup is the middle east, after fears of loosing communism in Kabul/ Afghanistan the Ussr sent in soldiers to occupy the country.
- the USA were incredibly annoyed and cut all the deals previously made between Ussr and USA.
- USA feared what the Ussr could do with the oil gained from the middle east so made the carter doctrine,, this was similar to Truman doctrine in the way that they would give aid and money to any middle eastern country’s which were threatened with communism
when did the soviet union invade Afghanistan
1979
what did the USA do as a result of the soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- they stopped exports to the Ussr, withdrew from arms discussions and left the 1980 Moscow Olympics.
