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Cold War 1944-90 > Origins of Cold War 1945-49 > Flashcards

Origins of Cold War 1945-49 Flashcards

1
Q

When were the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences?

A

1945

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2
Q

What was the Yalta conference designed to do?

A 
To allow senior figures in the Grand Alliance to co-ordinate military strategy
Big 3 (Stalin, Roosevelt & Churchill) published the DECLARATION ON LIBERATED EUROPE
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3
Q

What did the DECLARATION ON LIBERATED EUROPE outline?

A

Plans for post-war Europe

  • Set up interim governments in the liberated territories
  • Representative governments formed on behalf of ‘all democratic elements’ within the liberated country
  • USSR should have a ‘SOI’ in Eastern Europe
  • UN established in order to ensure world peace
  • Division of Germany, Berlin and Austria into zones of occupation
  • Free elections in Eastern Europe
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4
Q

Why was the DECLARATION significant?

A

Suggested unity between the members of the Grand Alliance

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5
Q

What differences were glossed over in the DECLARATION at Yalta?

A

-Commitment to set up governments that represented ‘all democratic elements’ = different interpretations in East and West
:WEST=represented a commitment to set up parliamentary democracy similar to that of UK/US
:EAST=represented working on behalf of workers and peasants, a government in which the Communist Party played a leading role

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6
Q

What issues were unable to be resolved at Yalta?

A

Borders of Germany and Poland

Extent to which defeated powers should pay reparations

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7
Q

Negotiations at Potsdam were:

A

difficult

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8
Q

Potsdam = problems in reconciling Britain and the USA’s commitment to democracy with the USSR’s demand for a

A

‘sphere of influence’

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9
Q

Potsdam was significant because, in spite of the growing tensions and severe cooling of relations, it demonstrated that the big three were

A

willing to work together

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10
Q

What did The Moscow Council of December 1945 agree?

A

that each major power should have a ‘sphere of influence’

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11
Q

USSR’s SOI =

A

EASTERN EUROPE

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12
Q

USA’s SOI =

A

SOUTH AMERICAN PACIFIC, PARTS OF EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA

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13
Q

BRITAIN’s SOI =

A

MEDITERRANEAN, MIDDLE EAST

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14
Q

Why was The Moscow Council of December 1945 significant?

A

last time on which the Grand Alliance worked effectively

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15
Q

Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech?

A

1946

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16
Q

What was the Iron Curtain speech?

A

figurative line that divided communist east from capitalist west in europe

In order to meet soviet expansion, churchill called for an alliance between Britain and America
Influenced Truman’s iron fist approach
Stalin accused Churchill of being a warmonger

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17
Q

Kennan’s Long Telegram?

A

1946
Argued that the USSR was building up its military power in order to spread communism across Europe
USA should pursue a policy of CONTAINMENT
Highly influenced Truman’s foreign policy

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18
Q

What did Churchill fear that Stalin would do?

A

Feared that Stalin planned to stir up revolutions across Europe and win power through revolution rather than a traditional military campaign

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19
Q

Truman doctrine

A

March 1947

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20
Q

What did the Truman doctrine state?

A
  • The world had become bipolar
  • USA would fight for freedom wherever it was threatened
  • USA would commit economic and military resources to help governments that were threatened by communism
  • Communism should be contained
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21
Q

Marshall plan?

A

June 1947

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22
Q

Marshall plan’s intentions:

A

-to revive capitalism in Western Europe and in doing so prevent Western Europe from coming under the influence of communism

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23
Q

Marshall plan stated:

A
  • $13 billion to be used to rebuild Europe following WWII
  • To qualify for the money, nations must commit themselves to free trade
  • The USSR was unable to offer a similar aid package; therefore it exposed the weakness of the USSR economy
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24
Q

Why were the Truman doctrine and the Marshall plan significant?

A
  • demonstrated that the USA’s priority was to rebuild Western Europe and not to co-operate with the USSR
  • USSR believed that the Marshall plan was an attempt to divide Europe into ‘two camps’ = dollar imperialism
  • USSR pressurised countries in Eastern Europe to reject Marshall aid by offering them the molotov plan of July 1947 instead
  • USSR responded with COMINFORM
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25
Q

COMINFORM =

A

1947

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26
Q

COMINFORM was an organisation controlled by USSR to coordinate

A

Communist parties throughout Europe - used virulently anti-USA propaganda

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27
Q

Trizonia created in

A

1948

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28
Q

Czechoslovakian crisis occurred :

A

1948

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29
Q

Czechoslovakian crisis: Czech communists had taken over with little bloodshed and without direct help from Soviet Union. To west it was evidence of:

A

Aggressive and expansionist policy

30
Q

Deutsche Mark was issued in western zones in:

A

1948

31
Q

German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and federal republic of Germany (west Germany) created in

A

1949

32
Q

Mao establishes People’s Republic of China (communists take over china) in

A

1949

33
Q

Soviet Union tests first atomic bomb in

A

1949

34
Q

Comecon established in

A

1949

35
Q

Comecon was an organisation controlled by the USSR to coordinate economies of the communist countries. It was largely a reaction to Marshall aid. Economic aid = limited but the organisation was able to ensure that a

A

Stalinist state owned economy was imposed on the countries of Eastern Europe

36
Q

NATO was established in

A

1949

37
Q

NATO stands for:

A

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

38
Q

NATO = a military alliance of US, Canada and most of Western Europe designed to

A

Defend west during Cold War

39
Q

Berlin Blockade occurred:

A

1948-49

40
Q

Berlin airlift occurred in

A

1948

41
Q

Berlin airlift was significant for 3 reasons:

A
  • Demonstrated the commitment of the US to fighting communism in Western Europe
  • Humiliated Stalin - forcing him to back down and the blockade
  • Showed that Stalin was unwilling to engage the US in military conflict
42
Q

The failure of the Berlin Blockade also forced Stalin to recognise that

A

he could not prevent the division of Germany

43
Q

US atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in

A

1945

44
Q

The pressure on the US government to adopt a more hard-line approach had been building since the end of 1945, 3 factors emphasised this:

A

1-‘long telegram’
2-iron curtain speech
3-actions of USSR

45
Q

Evidence of what the West saw as Soviet expansion was:

A

Events in Greece 1947

46
Q

(Greek civil war) Greece was an area of British influence and Stalin kept to this agreement, as a result he did

A

nothing to directly help the Greek communists, although the communist governments of Yugoslavia and Albania did send aid - West became convinced that this was another sign of Soviet expansion

47
Q

The Truman Doctrine stated that the USA would:

A

aid any country or government under attack by armed minorities.

48
Q

The Truman Doctrine was aimed at:

A

preventing the spread of communism

49
Q

The Truman Doctrine was used to:

A

send aid and military advisers to Greece to help the monarchist government against the communists

50
Q

American aid and military advisers were sent to support the royalist government in Greece, and the communist insurrection there was defeated. To Stalin this was evidence of

A

American Imperialism

51
Q

Marshall plan committed large sums of American financial assistance to

A

Europe

52
Q

The motives behind Marshall aid were:

A

-To prevent the danger of economic recession in the US,
Without financial assistance, Europe would not be able to act as a market for American goods
-Political consideration, poverty = ideal breeding ground for communism

53
Q

Conditions of the marshall aid - providing economic records and opening up their economy to American capitalist interests - were such that it was impossible for

A

communist states to do so without a fundamental change to their system

54
Q

Soviet Union view Marshall aid as nothing more than an attack on communism. Molotov condemned it as foreign interfernece in the states of Europe and labelled the plan

A

dollar imperilaism

55
Q

Under soviet pressure the countries of eastern europe declined

A

marshall aid

56
Q

USSR effectively declared war on the marshall plan by tightening up their hold over Eastern Europe through the setting up of

A

Cominform 1947

Comecon 1949

57
Q

Comecon:

A

An organisation controlled by the USSR to coordinate the economies of communist countries - economic aid limited

58
Q

Comecon ensured that a stalinist state-owned economy was imposed on the countries of

A

Eastern Europe

59
Q

Czechoslovakian crisis 1948, failure to receive marshall aid was blamed on communists in the coalition government. Before election - communists staged a coup d’etat:

A
  • Police force taken over by the communists and purged of non-communist personnel
  • Non-communist party representatives were removed from government
  • Jan Masaryk suffered defenestration (thrown out of window)
  • President Benes forced to resign
  • Communist Gottwald = president
60
Q

The Czechoslovakian crisis was of psychological significance for the west. in addition to increasing the fear of communist expansion, it played on

A

feelings of guilt - particular;y in Britain

61
Q

Causes of the Berlin Blockade:

A
  • seeds of dispute had been laid by the arrangements for the city agreed at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences
  • western zones (UK, US, France) benefited from marshall aid, eastern zone had been plundered for its resources by USSR
  • Eastern zones, living conditions remained low and were slow to recover
  • Clear difference in living standards; west Berlin = prosperous capitalism
  • Council of Foreign Ministers, which had been attempting to agree to a system of administration for Berlin, broke up without agreement (Dec 1947)
  • Feb 1948, US,UK,France began talks on the administration of Western Germany - decision to establish a separate West German state in June
  • Western powers = Deutsche Mark
62
Q

Deutsche Mark, was hoped to provide economic stability and aid recovery. It was a symbol of the

A

growing prosperity of the Western sectors compared with the East - last straw for Stalin

63
Q

24 June 1948 - Stalin took action and severed

A

all road, rail and canal links with West Berlin

64
Q

NATO = an enlargement of the Brussels Treaty of 1949, which had been signed by UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, to establish

A

military cooperation in the event of war

65
Q

NATO = significant because:

A

it involved US in a military alliance in peacetime

made clear to the USSR that there would be no return to isolationism

66
Q

Guiding principle of NATO =

A

attack on one of its members = attack on all

67
Q

NATO was a defensive organisation to protect the West and its

A

interests

68
Q

Stalin viewed NATO as a deliberate provocative action, but he was able to enhance the capability of the USSR by

A

breaking the American nuclear monopoly

69
Q

USSR exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949 - earlier than the

A

west had expected

70
Q

Despite the increase in USSR power (a-bomb) the Berlin crisis, the formation of NATO had

A

taken the initiative in Cold War relations away from the USSR

71
Q

Significant result of the Berlin crisis =

A

end to any hope of an agreement between East and West over Germany

72
Q

Permanent division of Germany in 1949:

A

Federal Republic of Germany (West)

German Democratic Republic (East)

Cold War 1944-90 (4 decks)

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