NATO, Warsaw Pact, and start of arms race Flashcards
Why set up NATO?
Prevent Soviet expansion to West Europe.
Russia still had 250 divisions in Eastern Europe compared to West’s 12.
Threats from USSR: Berlin blockade; January 1949 Comecon formed; September 1949 atomic bomb tested; October 1949 China fully communist.
What treaties did Britain and France sign?
Britain had signed the Treaty of Dunkirk with France, 1947, and the Brussels Defence Treaty in March 1948 with Benelux states with a HQ near Paris needed to include Canada and US, so NATO next step.
What were features of NATO?
- Attack on one is attack on all, defence forces of all countries under NATO joint command.
- 12 countries first joined. Italy eventually joined NATO.
- Greece and Turkey added in 1952 and West Germany in 1955.
What organisations did NATO inspire?
Korean War shaped formation of SHAPE, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, and SEATO in 1954 and CENTO in 1959.
What were issues for NATO?
French temporarily withdraw 1966, de Gaulle refuses French troops and nuclear weapons under nuclear control. US self interest, supplied supreme commander, and controlled nuclear weapons, provided 75% of troops. US politicians claimed that NATO all give and no take. Conventional forces outnumbered by Warsaw Pact.
What were NATO strengths?
1979 decision to place 500 Pershing and Cruise missiles in Europe by 1983 due to growth of Soviet weapons, economically crippled USSR. Based on self interest making countries loyal, and smaller so easy to coordinate.
What were features of Warsaw Pact?
Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance set by Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet PM, and seven other leaders of Warsaw Pact countries on 14 May 1955. Ensured military, economic, and cultural cooperation. Yugoslavia not a member, expelled from Cominform in 1948 for rejecting USSR’s supremacy.
Why was the Warsaw Pact set up?
Set due to West Germany joining NATO, rising threat of confrontation and fears that NATO inspired countries in Middle East to form military blocs and plan attacks on the Soviet Union. Warsaw Pact increased sovereignty of countries relative to during Stalin’s era.
When were first atom bombs tested?
First atom bombs used by the US on 6 and 9 August 1945 against Hiroshima. Showed asserted action. USSR exploded atom bomb in August 1949, much earlier than CIA had predicted, showing rising threat of Soviet arms build up and espionage.
What were arms race developments 1952-3?
US made a successful test in 1952 followed by USSR in 1953. In January 1953 Eisenhower made a national-security review to increase American reliance on its arsenal. There was concern over delivering bombers which could fly higher and faster, alongside unmanned missiles which could deliver cargo over a greater range.
What was the USSR advantage in the arms race?
The USSR was only slightly behind the US but had a much smaller economy. Nuclear weapons allowed cheap superpower defence.
What inspired the Hallstein Doctrine?
September 1955 – Adenaeur visits Moscow to gain back prisoners of war, but Khrushchev insisted independence of the GDR and Adenauer issued the Hallstein Doctrine which meant any country outside the USSR who recognised the GDR was committing an unfriendly act.
