KEY TOPIC 1 Flashcards
What year was the Teheran Conference?
1943
What year was the Yalta Conference?
1945
What year was the Potsdam Conference?
1945
What 4 reasons started the Cold War?
- Teheran Conference
- Yalta Conference
- Potsdam Conference
- Tensions in the Grand Alliance
Why were there tensions in the Grand Alliance?
- Churchill wanted Germany to be rebuilt
- Roosevelt wanted a capitalist democracy
- Stalin wanted a communist democracy
- USSR didn’t do what it said in Poland (promised multiple parties but only had communist parties)
- Stalin wanted for G to pay reparations
- USA had advantage w/ atomic bomb
What were the USA and USSR beliefs on communism?
USA: Communism enslaved people to the state.
USSR: Communism is based on fairness
What were the USA and USSR beliefs on capitalism?
USA: Capitalism is based on freedom and democracy
USSR: Capitalism exploited the workers to make the rich richer
What were the USA’s 3 ideologies?
- everyone should be free to make money for themselves
- individuals are better at deciding what to make/sell than the state
- trade between countries makes everyone richer
What were the USSR’s 3 ideologies?
- capitalism only makes some people rich be exploiting everyone else
- individuals are not as strong as everyone working together for the same aim
- the state should take control of the economy to benefit everyone
When was the Long Telegram?
1946
What was the Long Telegram?
A secret report from the US ambassador Kennan in Moscow to President Truman
What did the Long Telegram say?
- the USSR saw capitalism as a threat to communism so must be destroyed
- the USSR was building its military power
- peace between a communist USSR and a capitalist USA was impossible
When was Novikov’s Telegram?
1946
What was Novikov’s Telegram?
A report from Novikov’s, Soviet ambassador to the USA to Stalin
What did Novikov’s Telegram say?
- the USA wanted world domination and was building up its military strength.
- the USSR was the only country left after the war that could stand up the the USA.
- the USA was preparing its people for war with the USSR.
What are the 4 key events in the arms race?
- 1945 USA drops two atomic bombs on Japanese cities
- 1949 USSR tests its first atomic bomb
- 1952 USA develops H-bomb
- 1953 USSR develops H-bomb
What happened with free / ‘free’ elections?
- free elections agreed in Yalta and Potsdam by USSR for sphere of influence countries
- USSR thought people would vote communist however most didn’t
- USSR fixed elections so Communist Party won
- once in power, opposition parties shut down, each country became a single-party state
When was Cominform? What did it stand for?
1947
Communist Information Bureau
What did Cominform do?
Organised communist parties in Europe, arranged their leadership, so that they did as Moscow told them to do
What are the 2 key points about Cominform?
- got rid of opposition of USSR’s control in satellite states.
- encouraged communist parties in Western parties to block Marshal Plan assistance.
When was Comecon? What did it stand for?
1949
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
Why was Comecon set up?
It was USSR’s alternative to the Marshall Plan
What were the 2 key points for Comecon? Give some examples of Comecon countries
- it built up trade links between Comecon countries
- it prevented Comecon countries signing up for the Marshall Plan.
- USSR
- Bulgaria
- Czechoslovakia
- Hungary
- Poland
- Romania
- Albania
- GDR from 1950
What was the consequence of Cominform and Comecon?
- Western Europe was now one camp, linked to USA through Marshall Plan and the US policy of containment of communism.
- Eastern Europe was now one camp, tied to USSR as satellite states and USSR believed socialist revolution would spread worldwide.
What were Truman’s concerns?
- Europe was devestates after war
- Communism was attractive (due to lack of hope, jobs and money)
- Concern of many countries going communist (many were liberated from Nazis by Soviets, some had it forced upon them, some too poor to combat it)
What year was the Truman Doctrine?
1947
What was the Truman Doctrine?
A speech made by Truman to set out why the USA should get involved
What were the main parts of the Truman Doctrine?
- Countries faced a choice between either capitalism or communism.
- Communism was bad as people couldn’t be free.
- The USA must try to contain the spread of communism.
- The USA should provide money and troops to help free govs the combat communist takeover.
What year was the Marshall Plan?
1947
What were the main parts of the Marshall Plan?
- $13 Billion USA to help revuild Europe.
- Communism appealed to most people with nothing to lose, Marshall Plan gave people a stake in capitalist system.
- Countries must trade with USA to get this money.
- 16 Western European coutries took the money.
- The USSR criticised it as an attack.
What were the opinions about Bizonia?
US and UK: it made sense to join as it’s easier to administer.
USSR: Stalin not consulted. Thought it went against Potsdam agreements. Suspected USA aimed to permanently divide rich west from poor east
Germany: what did USA want and what did it lead to?
Wanted reunification: united capitalist Germany that USA could trade with and prevent spread of communism.
Lead to Bizonia
Germany: what did USSR want and what did it lead to?
Wanted division: for Germany to be weak, communist and divided, never strong enough to attack USSR again.
Lead to Berlin Blockade.
What happened in the Berlin Blockade?
- USSR 1.5million troops in its zone, Western countries sent most troops home.
- Eastern Germany grew nearly all the food that West ate
- Berlin was deep in USSR-controlled zone, was divided into zones.
- USSR blocked all supplies to show its power in stopping a divided Germany working.
What was the Berlin Airlift?
- Western powers didn’t want to pull out - weak, would undermine USA’s image.
- Responded to Blockade with airlift
What did the Blockade / Airlift present the USA and USSR as?
Airlift showed USA as peaceful and generous.
Blockade showed USSR as aggressive and threatening.
When were FRG and GDR formed? What were they?
FRG - Sep 1949 - West Germany formed with US support.
GDR - Oct 1949 - East Germany formed as Soviet state.
When was NATO formed and why?
1949
Western European countries plus USA to counter Soviet military threat.
When was the Warsaw Pact formed and why?
1955
USSR to counter military threat from NATO
What was the impact of Soviet rule?
1) Hungary suffered
2) Food and industrial products shipped to Russia
3) Opposition was ruthlessly wiped out
4) Communist rule became unpopular
5) Matyas Rakosi was brutal
Who took over when Stalin died?
Khrushchev
Who did Khrushchev appoint and why?
Imre Nagy as he was more liberal
What 4 reforms did Nagy want?
1) leave Warsaw Pact
2) No more communist gov
3) Free elections, democracy
4) UN protection from USSR
When did Khrushchev send troops so Hungary, how many, and what were the consequences?
Nov 1956
200,000 troops
- thousands killed
- Imre Nagy tried and executed
How did the USA support Hungary’s uprising?
Money, medical aids and words.
Accepted 80,000 refugees from Hungary.
Why couldn’t the USA send troops to Hungary during the uprising?
Too high of a risk of nuclear war.
