Important individuals in the history of Superpower Relations 1941-1991 Flashcards
Franklin Roosevelt
President of the USA until he died in April 1945. He had a good relationship with Stalin and the USSR.
Josef Stalin
Leader of the USSR until his death in 1953. had a warm relationship with Roosevelt but became cold towards the USSR when Roosevelt died.
Harry Truman
President of the USA after Roosevelt. He was naturally suspicious of the USSR ad Communism, he had a cold relationship with Stalin. He issued the ‘Truman Doctrine’ in 1947 that committed the USA to containing communism around the world.
George Kennan
He wrote a telegram for the USA in 1946, accusing the USSR of being invaders of other countries.
Nikolai Novikov
He wrote a telegram for the USSR in 1946, accusing the USA of being a country trying to dominate the world with its influence.
George Marshall
He organised a plan in 1947/48, called the ‘Marshall Plan’ to send economic aid to European countries to help them rebuild and be put off of becoming communist.
Konrad Adenauer
Chancellor of West Germany
Dwight Eisenhower
President of the USA in the 1950’s. He thought building up loads of nuclear weapons was the best way to prevent an actual war happening with the USSR because it would make it pointless to use them
Nikita Khrushchev
Leader of the USSR after 1956. He wanted peaceful coexistence with the USA, but not at the expense of the USSR looking weaker than the USA
Rakosi
The USSR supported leader of Hungary in 1956, who was hated by the people of Hungary
Nagy
The more laid-back leader of Hungary that the USSR replaced Rakosi with in 1956
Kadar
The leader of Hungary that replaced Nagy when the USSR decided Nagy had changed things too much in Hungary
Fidel Castro
Leader of Cuba after 1959, declared himself a communist in 1961. He asked the USSR to install nuclear missiles there in 1962
John F. Kennedy
President of the USA between 1961-1963, during the Cuban Missile Crisis (in 1962). He wanted to be seen as a Cold warrior, someone who stood up to Communism. He decided to blockade Cuba instead of bomb missile sites that were discovered
Ota Sik
A Czech Communist economist who said that Czechoslovakia needed more freedom with money than the USSR granted it
Alexander Dubcek
A leader of Czechoslovakia, who in 1968 tried to change Communism in the country to being more about “socialism with a human face”
Leonid Brezhnev
Leader of the USSR in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. He issued a doctrine after the Prague Spring that said there was only way of being a Communist and that was the USSR’s way
Richard Nixon
President of the USA during detente. He worked to try and reduce tension with the USSR
Hafzullah Amin
Leader of Afghanistan who was overthrown by the USSR following their invasion in 1979
Babrak Kamal
The USSR-backed leader of Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war
Osama Bin Laden
Leader of the Afghan freedom fighters who fought against the USSR’s “Red” Army
Jimmy Carter
President of the USA between 1977 and 1981. He issued the “Carter Doctrine” after 1979 that said the USA needed to once again contain the spread of Communism
Ronald Reagan
Aggressive minded President who was elected in 1981. He said he was going to “win” the Cold War for the USA
Mikhail Gorbachev
Leader of the USSR after 1985. He introduced capitalist changes to the USSR and also began to give people more freedom
