KT4 - The Cold War

Question 1

When were the supply lines in Berlin blocked off?

Answer 1

June 1948

Question 2

When was cominform introduced?

Answer 2

October 1947

Question 3

When was NATO formed?

Answer 3

April 1949

Question 4

How did Marshall Aid contribute to the build-up of the cold war?

Answer 4

• It could be seen as a way for America to increase its influence by tieing European economies to the U.S. Capitalist system

Question 5

What was the Soviet Sphere of Influence?

Answer 5

• Soviet ‘buffer zone’ whereby eastern European countries were victims of Communist Takeover
• The West perceived these actions to be preparations for a communist takeover and war

Question 6

When was Comecon created?

Answer 6

January 1949

Question 7

When was the Marshall Plan introduced?

Answer 7

April 3rd 1948

Question 8

What was Comecon

Answer 8

• Soviet Council of Mutual Economic Assistance
• It aimed to administer the ‘Molotov Financial Plan’ to keep eastern Bloc countries on their side

Question 9

What was the Molotov Financial Plan?

Answer 9

The Molotov Plan was the system created by the Soviet Union in 1947 in order to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned with the Soviet Union

Question 10

How frequent were the deliveries in the Berlin Airlift?

Answer 10

Planes took of / landed once every 3 minutes

Question 11

What was the Marshall Plan?

Answer 11

An American initiative to provide money for European countries who were In a poor economic state and were thought to be susceptible to communist takeover

Question 12

How much money was spent in Marshall Aid?

Answer 12

$17,000,000,000 (billion) was spent on helping European countries rebuild their economies

Question 13

Why did Marshall Aid anger Stalin?

Answer 13

It angered Stalin as it demonstrated how capitalism made much more money than communism. Stalin was worried that Eastern Bloc countries would see this and want to become capitalist themselves

Question 14

How did the formation of ‘Trizonia’ contributte to the build of the cold war?

Answer 14

When Britain, the USA and France joined forces, Stalin believed this went against the agreement at Potsdam whereby all countries had to agree on major changes made to the future of Germany

Question 15

What was isolationism?

Answer 15

A policy whereby America did not involve itself in foreign, European matters

Question 16

What as cominform?

Answer 16

• Communist information bureauq
• Introduced in Eastern European countries to spread communist ideals and tighten Soviet Control

Question 17

What disagreements at Yalta lead to more tensions between the USSR and the West?

Answer 17

Poland

→ Stalin wanted the border of the USSR to move westward into Poland. Stalin argued that Poland could move its border into German territory in return
→ Churchill did not approve of Stalin’s plans for Poland, but he also knew that there was not very much he could do about it because Stalin’s Red Army was in total control of Poland and eastern Germany
→ Roosevelt was also unhappy about Stalin’s plan, but Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to accept it, as long as the USSR agreed not to interfere in Greece where the British were attempting to prevent the communists from taking over. Stalin accepted this.

Question 18

What were the agreements at Yalta?

Answer 18

• The big three agreed to divide Germany and Berlin into four occupation zones run by Britain, France and the USA and the USSR. Germany would also be de-nazified and criminals would be brought to trial
• Stalin agreed to join the way against Japan after Germany’s defeat
• They all agreed to join the new United Nations Organisation to keep world peace after WW2
• Free elections could be held in occupied countries after WW2.
• Eastern Europe was allowed to be a soviet sphere of influence

Question 19

What was being transported in the Berlin Airlift?

Answer 19

• Clothes
• Oil
• Building Materials
• Food

Question 20

How did a specific disagreement at Potsdam heighten war tensions?

Answer 20

• Stalin wanted to set up ‘pro-communist’ political parties in Slavic countries but Truman was unhappy with Soviet intentions so adopted the ‘Get Tough’ approach to the USSR

Question 21

When did the USA test their atomic bomb?

Answer 21

July 1945

Question 22

What were the disagreements at Potsdam?

Answer 22

• 20,000,000 (million) Russians had died in the war and the Soviet Union had been devasted. So stalin wanted large compensation but Truman was determined not the make the same mistake as the Treaty of Versailles
• Stalin wanted to cripple Germany to protect the USSR but Truman did not was a repeat of the Treaty of Versailles

Question 23

When did the USSR attain the atomic bomb?

Answer 23

September 1949

Question 24

What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 24

• In 1949, NATO was formed of 12 nations; Stalin did not react but instead formed the Warsaw Pact as a Soviet Defensive alliance
• In May 1949, The western zones in Germany merged to form a single political union - West Germany - which was pro-American and democratic
• Stalin reacted to the creation of West Germany by creating East Germany out of the Soviet zone. Germany and Berlin were now the flashpoints fir the Cold War in Europe
• The crisis in Berlin revealed that the 2 superpowers would not declare war on each other but instead, both sides supported other states that opposed the other side