How Did US Foreign Policy Increase Tension In The 50s + Background Info 1940s - 1950s

Question 1

When was Truman in power in the USA?

Answer 1

1945-1953

Question 2

When was Eisenhower in power in the USA?

Answer 2

1953 - 1961

Question 3

When was Kennedy in power in the USA?

Answer 3

1961-1963

Question 4

When was Stalin in power in the USSR?

Answer 4

1922-1953

Question 5

When was Khrushchev in power?

Answer 5

1953 - 1964

Question 6

Why did the USA take the action of containment?

Answer 6

Communism had already spread to much of Eastern Europe and by 1949 it’s had started to spread to Asia (china and North Korea)

Question 7

What is containment?

Answer 7

Actively stopping spread of communism

Question 8

Why would the policy of containment increase tension between USA and USSR?

Answer 8

Because Truman was public ally declaring his intent to actively stop the spread of communism and to limit the influence of Stalin and the USSR

Question 9

What are the 4 actions the USA were taking?

Answer 9

1) containment
2) alliances
3) developing technology
4) missile gap

Question 10

What treaty had the west formed in 1949?

Answer 10

NATO

Question 11

What did NATO promise to do?

Answer 11

To promise to protect each other against aggressive actions from other countries (namely communist)

Question 12

Who had formed the treaty’s SEATO and CENTO in the 1950s?

Answer 12

SEATO - South East Asia

CENTO - Middle East

Question 13

Who did the Alliance groups SEATO and CENTO support?

Answer 13

They supported the west

Question 14

In response to NATO, SEATO and CENTO, what treaty did the communists form and when?

Answer 14

In 1955 the Warsaw Pact (treaty between the USSR and communist countries in Eastern Europe)

Question 15

What would happen if there was a war with all the alliances (NATO,SEATO,CENTO and Warsaw Pact)?

Answer 15

The war would be a lot bigger

Question 16

Why would NATO, SEATO and CENTO (alliances west) increase tension?

Answer 16

Because the USSR would feel threatened that’s why they made the Warsaw Pact

Question 17

In the 1950s why were both sides (West and East/USSR and USA) developing weapons?

Answer 17

To show their superpower

Question 18

What did developing new weapons and technology turn into?

Answer 18

An arms race

Question 19

What was the arms race and why was both sides doing it?

Answer 19

The arms race was where each side had enough weapons to destroy the world 5 times over - they were taking this action to deter others from attacking them and their allies

Question 20

Why would developing new technology and the arms race increase tension?

Answer 20

It would increase tension because the USSR and the USA were constantly trying to out do each other

Question 21

What was MAD?

Answer 21

Mutual assured destruction - it was a strategy/policy that developed which meant if one side attacks the other then the retaliation would be so great it would lead to the destruction of both superpowers

Question 22

What is stalemate?

Answer 22

By the late 1950s the USSR had built nuclear weapons to match the USA. This meant a new stage of the Cold War emerged which was stale mate

Question 23

What was the missile gap?

Answer 23

This was a myth that the USSR had more weapons than the USA.

Question 24

When does Eisenhower know that the missile gap is a myth and what does he want to do?

Answer 24

Eisenhower knows it’s a myth in the 60s so wants to keep tracking the USSR into thinking they are ahead.

Question 25

In 1961 Kennedy became president. What did he realise about the missile gap?

Answer 25

That it was all a myth that had been fabricated by Eisenhower.