Origins of the Cold War Flashcards
Why did the Grand Alliance break up?
- old suspicions and hostilities
- Russians and Americans had a history of mistrust going back to the 1917 Russian Revolution, which set the ideologies against each other after the USA sent troops to help defeat the communists
- Stalin proposed “popular front’ in the 1930’s to defeat the nazis and rise of fascia but the west refused, increasing suspicion
- 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact
- old suspicions were only put to one side during the war, so after the war ended, these remerged
When were the main wartime conferences?
Tehran 1943
Yalta February 1945
Potsdam July/August 1945
What were the leaders at each conference?
Tehran= Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
Yalta= Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
Potsdam= Stalin, Attlee, Truman (Churchill voted out of parliament, Roosevelt died)
What were us-soviet tensions between 1917-1945?
1917- us sent troops to Russia to fight against the Russian revolutionaries, nut they soon withdrew the ussr also became communist (conflict of ideology)
1920s - mass starvation in the Soviet Union, us condemned Soviet actions and ideology, Wall Street Crash and millions in the US faced starvation showing the capitalism didn’t work and putting the Soviet Union further against the US
1930s- US representative in the SU had a bad view of communism and eventually became openly hostile to the USSR government
1939-45 - US were refusing to fight against Hitler if they had to be allied with the USSR, USSR signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Stalin’s invasions of Eastern countries - US condemned, USSR murdered 4000 police officers in 1940, USA didn’t show up to Tehran, Stalin bugged Roosevelt’s room at the Soviet embassy,American tested the atomic bomb 1 day before Potsdam and Stalin threatened to not do the conference, Truman and Stalin fell out at Potsdam about the USSR’s actions in the East of Europe
What were Roosevelt and Churchill’s objectives at Yalta?
- collective security founded on the UN
- long term cooperation with the USSR
- right to national self-determination and no spheres of influence
- reconstruction o Germany and reeducation as a democratic state
- world economic reconstruction through the creation of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
What were Stalin’s objectives at Yalta?
- USSR in control of its own destiny
- cooperation with the Anglo-AMericas
- USSRs security guaranteed throughout Soviet Spheres of Influence in Europe
- Germany to remain a weak state for the indefinite future
- economic reconstruction of the USSR, mainly at the expense of Germany
What was agreed at Yalta?
- Germany was to be divided into 4 zones each and these zones were to be administered by an allied power (USA, UK, USSR, France)
- Berlin would be similarly distributed
- United Nations Organisation would be fully formally ratified
- USSR would gain land from Poland, and Poland would gain land from Germany to the North and the West
- Declaration on Liberated Europe was to be created
What was the Decalaration on Liberated Europe committing the allies to?
- ensuring peace i europe
- providing charity
- form temporary ‘broadly representative’ democratic governments
- hold elections when/where needed
What tensions and problems were created by the Declaration on Liberated Europe?
- Britain wanted prewar polish government restored, Stalin wanted a Lublin government (pro-communist puppet government)
- stalins commitment to the declaration was doubtful\- ideological tensions
- West are suspicious of Stalin (especially Churchill)
- stalins desire for security meant that he had no intentions of allowing a democratic Eastern Europe
What was the percentage agreement?
- to allow the [ercentage of predominance Britain and thee USSR would have in Eastern European states
- Romania = USSR: 90%, Britain: 10%
- Greece = USSR: 10%, Britain: 90%
- Hungary = USSR: 50%, Britain: 50%
What happened the day before the Potsdam conference and why was it significant?
The USA successfully tested the atomic bomb in New Mexico (16th July 1945)
It was significant as it marked the beginning of the Cold War Arms Race between the USSR and USA as it made Stalin feel threatened and he thought that the USA were potential rivals for the domination of Europe
What was agreed at Potsdam?
- Germany was to be completely disarmed and demilitarised
- de-Nazification was to be carried out, all former Nazi- party members were to be removed from parliament and the education system was to be urged of Nazi influence
- decentralisation of the political system and local responsibilties developed
- freedom of speech and free press were to be restored as well as religious tolerance
- Germany was to become a single economic unit with common policies on tolerance
- USSR was to receive reparations from its own one and an additional 25% from Western Zones
What were the vies of Truman, Attlee, and Stalin after Potsdam?
Truman = wanted a post war world based on national self determination and open world trading based on international cooperation, didn’t want o US to return to the Great Depression, believed Stalin was not receptive to diplomatic solutions and some force was necessary to ensure soviet compliance
Attlee = Stalin is expansionist, vital that the USA was the primary defender of Western Germany against the Soviet threat, Potsdam offered no long term plan for the future of Germany
Stalin = obsessed with soviet security, had an unspoken agenda for Europe - wanted the Eastern European states to form the USSRs security system, required he states to have comparative political and economic systems to the USSR
What were key events in the timeline of growing tensions in southern and Eastern Europe?
1946 Jan: Yugoslavia becomes a communist state
1946 Feb: Long Telegram (Kennan)
1946 March: iron curtain speech (Churchill)
1946 June: communist led ‘democratic-bloc’ won Polish elections
1946 Oct: Bulgarian communists n 76% of popular vote in rigged communist elections
1946 Nov: Romanian communists won 80% of vote in rigged elections
1947 Feb: soviets remove opposition leaders in Hungary
1947 March: Truman doctrine announced
1947 Sept: cominform created
194 June: communists control Czechoslovakia after non-communists resign
What is salami tactics?
A comment on Stalin taking control of countries bit-by-bit by influencing elections, controlling police
Some argue that it is an explanation in hindsight, and that the communist takeover was ad hoc and opportunistic rather than finely planned
In the Long Telegram, what does Kennan suggest are the problems the US face in dealing with the USSR?
- USSR views the west as hostile and menacing
- USSR had intent to demonise Western countries because of their politics
- Soviets are attempting this to weaken capitalism and encourage revolutions to encourage their communist influence
- the USSR lives in antagonistic ‘capitalist encirclement’ meaning their was no peaceful coexistence
What prompted Kennan to send the Long Telegram?
- saw Roosevelts plan had failings post Yalta
- saw communism as uncompromising in its ideological threat
- he was asked why the Soviets opposed the creation of the World Bank and the IMF
- he believed that the USA needed to adopt a proactive role in Europe
- believed Soviet expansion needed to stop
How did the Long Telegram influence Truman?
- it resonated with his growing suspicion that the USSR was an enemy of Western Democracy and was a threat to US national security
- made Truman develop US security to become as powerful as that of the Soviet Union
- fed the seeds of change
Wha was the Bolshoi speech?
- a speech Stalin gave for the Russian elections
- contained normal communist threats to capitalism, but included one sentence which the American politicians took as a threat
“ world capitalism proceeds through crisis and the catastrophe of war”
What was the purpose of the Iron Curtain Speech?
To warn the West of the impact of Stalins influence on his satellite states, showing how much of a divide he grown between the different ideologies
Wanted to show the depth of the threat of Stalins influence, the USSR, and communism against the post war stability and peace
What happened when Greece was liberated from Nazi occupation?
A civil war had erupted between monarchists a and communists
Britain had been providing aid to the anti communist forces to implement a monarchy
Why did the USA get involved in the Greek Civil War?
In 1947, Britain announced that it could no longer aid Greece against the communists as they no longer had the money, so Britain appealed to the USA to take over giving aid
This led to the announcement of the Truman Doctrine and the eventual development of the Marshall Aid plan
When and where was the speech for the Truman Doctrine made?
What policy was Truman committing the US to?
In Congress, 12th March 1947
To support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures and assisting free people to work out their own destinies by providing economic and financial gain
What were the implications of perusing the Truman Doctrine?
- by giving financial and economic aid to countries it is turning them away from communism and the USSR, by making the USA seem like a benevolent helper
- it may, however, be enforced violently, by forcing communists out
- implies that the US would go to any lengths to prevent the spread of communism
What would the Truman Doctrine do for Soviet-US relations?
Worsen the significantly
Stalin felt threatened and like Truman was committing economic imperialism
What is containment?
The act of limiting or controlling something or someone harmful
(The USA were trying to limit the spread of communism via the Truman Doctrine)
What were Trumans possible motives for introducing the Truman Doctrine?
- made other states economically and militarily dependent on the USA
- diplomacy designed to keep the Soviet Union from aiding the Greek communists and had no relevance to US policy beyond that
- enables the US to become a global power
- designed primarily to protect democracy and freedom, with no aggressive intent towards another state, just as a response to aggressive Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe
- Truman needed to demonise the USSR and communism, needed to declare the USSR as an enemy of the USA
- it formed the basis to develop the US economic power - states would be indebted and therefore economically and militarily dependent on the USA
- doctrine was the first step towards containment
How was Acheson influential to the development of US policy?
- he was assistance secretary of state
- he said the situation in Europe mirrored a wider international problem, which represented a threat to Eastern Europe - said the financial system had come to a complete standstill - changed it to economic aid
What was the special relationship between the USA and the UK?
- Britain represented a politically stable state
- britains reconstruction was only possible with US support, but they didn’t want to become economically dependent on the USA
- mutualistic relationship
What countries benefitted from Marshall Aid?
- Britain benefitted the most, receiving $3.3b in aid
- Yugoslavia and Sweden benefitted the least, receiving $100m
Britain, France, West Germany, Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Denmark, Austria, Italy, and the Netherlands all received various amounts of money
What were the conditions to receiving Marshall aid?
- some of the money had to be spent on importing goods from the USA
- the receiving countries were required to share economic information with the USA
How did the Soviets view the Marshall Plan?
- American economic imperialism
- believed the US influence would spread into Eastern Europe and undermine their influence
- saw it as a way for people to restore some things that the Soviets had previously banned
What was Cominform?
Communist Information Bureau
- consolidation of Stalin’s influence of Eastern Europe
- a response to US economic imperialism
Why was Cominform created?
The unite and coordinate the roles and actions of communist groups throughout Europe in order for the Communist Party to function as a united whole under the direction of Moscow
What was the Zhdanov Doctrine?
Zhdanov divided the world into two camps — imperialist USA vs ‘democratic’ USSR
He argued that the USA wanted to establish an anti soviet empire and make its members economically dependent on it
Where else did both the USA and the USSR interfere politically?
USA
- CIA worked with the Catholic Church, and opposition parties in Italy to ensure the Italian communist party did not win the election in 1948
- money was used for propaganda and letter campaigns were carried out by Italian-Americans in the US, and the USA threatened to withhold Marshall Aid if the communists won
USSR
- the Czechoslovaks had set up a communist containing multi-party government in 1945 after the war, and tried to maintain independence from the USSR
- voted to join the Marshall Plan
- Soviets summoned Czechoslovakian Foreign Secretary Mazaryk to Moscow and within days a communist coup, murdering Mazaryk and starting a communist government in Czechoslovakia
Both had tensions over Germany + Berlin
How did the communists win power in Poland?
- Stalin murdered all of his political opponents
JUNE 1944: Polish Government of National Unity (Lublin government) set up, and included non communist Mikolajczyk
AUGUST 1945: Mikolajczyk is forced to resign
1946: right-wing parties are outlawed
1947: peasant party and communist party are combined
1948: Gomulka (Polish communist leader) declares that Poles should have the right to self determination of their future
1948: Gomulka is removed from government and imprisoned by the USSR
How did the communists win power in Romania?
1944: Pro-Nazi government are removed from power
- communists join with non communists in a government on national unity
1945: USSR encourages the communists to take part in demonstrations to disrupt the government = this is used to justify the Red Army intervening in March 1945
- demanded that the King appointed a communist government and to disarm the Romanian army
1946: communist and socialist parties merged and won 80% of the vote by promising reform (it seemed a better alternative)
- the West showed understanding to Stalins claims that Romania was a vital satellite state
- leaders critical of Stalin were removed and the Soviets gained influence very quickly as there was no strong anti communist force in Romania
How did the communists win power in Czechoslovakia?
1945: post war social revolution (communist/socialist alliance)
DEC 1945: Soviet forces withdrew
MAY 1946: communist party won 38% of the vote in the election with no violence or manipulation (Czechoslovakia was an industrialised country with a large working class so the communists had genuine support - only state in Eastern Europe)
Czechoslovakia formed a bridge between East and West (had free elections and accepted Western aid) until 1947, when the Cold War intensified and there was a growing opposition to communism from non-communists
Gotwald, the communist leader, had hopes of winning 1948 election
JUNE 1948: only pro-Moscow communists were left in government and Stalin was pressuring them to stop accepting USA aid
How did the communists win power in Yugoslavia?
NOV 1945: People’s Front (communist dominated bloc of parties) won 90% of votes with no Soviet intervention
Tito immediately implemented a regime that would use the USSR as a model for Yugoslavia , and he wanted Yugoslavia as the main power in South-East Europe as he wanted to annex Trieste (important port). The West wanted to prevent this as they saw Tito as a USSR agent
There were several assassination attempts against Tito
1948: Tito breaks from the USSR and was expelled from Cominform as he was accused of abandoning Marxism - the USA offers aid from the Marshall plan
How did the communists win power in Hungary?
NOV 1945: free elections (could have been easily influenced by Stalin)
UNTIL 1947: Stalin wants to maintain influence over Hungary, no complete control
1947: free press and debates in parliament still guaranteed (western borders still open, private owned small businesses)
SPRING 1947: Kovaks (leader of anti-communist party) arrested by Soviet troops for conspiring against Soviet occupation
DEC 1947: Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Aid signed with Yugoslavia
1949: Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Aid signed with USSR
- communist leader Ryk excecuted for being anti Soviet
- no opposition to Moscow left
How did the communists win power in Bulgaria?
- Stalin wanted to avoid friction with the West
DEC 1945: communist-dominant government forced to include two members of the opposition - opposition were kept under control with the forced removal of opponents
- manipulated elections
SEPT 1946: Stalin intervened and forced the Bulgarian communists to form a broad based Labour Party to hide the reality of a communist dictatorship
OCT 1946: anti-communist parties won 1/3 of the vote, but the leader was then executed and the party was forcibly merged into the communist movement - USA policy towards the USSR was changing, so Stalin began to view Bulgaria as a ‘front-line state’ in defence of communism
- Bulgarian communists were given permission to liquidate their opponents (radical political + economic reforms, set up a one party state, agriculture collectivised, industry nationalised)
