KT4 - The Cold War Flashcards
When were the supply lines in Berlin blocked off?
June 1948
When was cominform introduced?
October 1947
When was NATO formed?
April 1949
How did Marshall Aid contribute to the build-up of the cold war?
- It could be seen as a way for America to increase its influence by tieing European economies to the U.S. Capitalist system
What was the Soviet Sphere of Influence?
- 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
When was Comecon created?
January 1949
When was the Marshall Plan introduced?
April 3rd 1948
What was Comecon
- Soviet Council of Mutual Economic Assistance
- It aimed to administer the ‘Molotov Financial Plan’ to keep eastern Bloc countries on their side
What was the Molotov Financial Plan?
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
How frequent were the deliveries in the Berlin Airlift?
Planes took of / landed once every 3 minutes
What was the Marshall Plan?
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
How much money was spent in Marshall Aid?
$17,000,000,000 (billion) was spent on helping European countries rebuild their economies
Why did Marshall Aid anger Stalin?
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
How did the formation of ‘Trizonia’ contributte to the build of the cold war?
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
What was isolationism?
A policy whereby America did not involve itself in foreign, European matters
What as cominform?
- Communist information bureauq
- Introduced in Eastern European countries to spread communist ideals and tighten Soviet Control
What disagreements at Yalta lead to more tensions between the USSR and the West?
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.
What were the agreements at Yalta?
- 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
What was being transported in the Berlin Airlift?
- Clothes
- Oil
- Building Materials
- Food
How did a specific disagreement at Potsdam heighten war tensions?
- 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
When did the USA test their atomic bomb?
July 1945
What were the disagreements at Potsdam?
- 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
When did the USSR attain the atomic bomb?
September 1949
What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade?
- 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