Origins of the Cold War Flashcards
Define Capitalism
encouragement of competition to make profit
Define Communism
enforced equality & shared wealth regardless
What are the key differences between communism & capitalism?
1) democracy - capitalism supports vs communism doesn’t
2) religion - ditto
3) wealth; capitalism earn what you get vs communism shared wealth
What Marxist theory did Lenin support which worried the West?
the inevitable conflict of capitalism & communism until ‘one or the other must conquer’
Name 4 pre-wartime events which create distrust between the USSR & West & why
anti US sentiment
1) Russian revolution - US policy follows anti communist Riga Axioms
2) America initially refuses to formally recognize USSR
anti USSR sentiment
3) Russian civil war - communism attacked at birth
4) The Purges - reveals USSR as police state
What event saw the USSR & US briefly forge ties?
Great depression - workers went over to work in USSR & Roosevelt formally recognises the USSR
Who were the Riga Axioms
US officials who fled to Riga during the revolution - they were anti-communist & strongly influenced US policy
Who were the 2 sides in the Russian civil war
Reds - Bolsheviks
vs
Whites - Tsarists supported by France, UK & USA
What are the 3 main groupings of War time disagreements
1) Soviet expansionism
2) US policy
3) conferences
Why did the ‘Eastern European liberations’ upset the West & why couldn’t they do anything (2)
They were wary of the spread of communist influence - saw it as expansionism
1) But there was little they could do as the Red Army was already in place in Eastern Europe
2) And in the Italian liberation; the US & UK had prevented USSR involvement - giving the USSR an excuse to exclude them from Eastern Europe
What was the Comintern?
A Soviet organisation which
encouraged communist groups in other countries
Why were the USSR upset at US strategy
The US kept delaying the second front (d-day) which they saw as a deliberate attempt to weaken them
Name the 5 war time conferences chronologically
Atlantic charter Casablanca Tehran Percentages meeting Yalta
Atlantic Charter;
What happened?
Impact?
Set out post war world principles
Stalin not present, agreement looked like US & Britain v totalitarianism (USSR)
Casablanca;
What happened?
Impact?
Agrees the need for unconditional German surrender & delay D-day
No Stalin; thinks they’re stalling to damage Russia
Tehra;
What happened?
Impact?
discuss the fate of Germany, the future organisation of the UN & post war Europe (Stalin’s sphere of influence acknowledged),
All three met, US & UK don’t oppose USSR claim to EE (leads to future problems)
Percentages agreement;
What happened?
Impact?
Stalin & Churchill propose dividing South-Eastern Europe
Never happens bc Churchill knows it will upset the USA
Yalta;
What was discussed?
Accept Western Polish border & reimbursement of German land.
Discuss ‘declaration on Liberated Europe’ - the need for reparations and democratic elections across Europe
Agree to establish UN
Berlin placed under Four-power control
which was put into the , But it was vague and easily for Stalin to manipulate.
Yalta;
What was the impact?
No plan viable actually made. This vagueness meant it could be re-interpreted & manipulated
Annoyed the American people; seen as acceptance of communism & too much of a compromise
Potsdam;
what was discussed (basic headlines)?
Germany
Polish borders
Reparations
Council of ministers
Potsdam - what was discussed about Germany
It was to be De-Nazified, Democratised, Demilitarised and Decentralised (4 D’s)
It was to be placed under 4 power control
Reparations would be taken from each zone - the Western zones would then give the USSR 25% of this
Why did the USSR demand a larger portion of reparations & new border?
20 million Russians had died in WW2 & he wanted security (buffer zone) to ensure that the USSR couldn’t be attacked again
Potsdam - what was discussed about Polish Borders & why did they reach this conclusion
They were put at the Oder Neisse line - which was further than the USA wanted but they could do little as the Red Army was already present in Eastern Europe
What was the council of ministers?
A group from various countries set up to negotiate peace treaties with former Nazi allies
why was Truman so harsh (nickname?)
Truman had little experience with foreign policy and wanted to avoid being seen as soft on communism (as Roosevelt was) so took an aggressive foreign policy stance.
The UK was also bankrupted by this point so couldn’t help defend Europe from communism meaning Truman had to take charge.
Felt a hard line approach was need with dictators post the failure of German appeasement in WW2
Nicknamed the missouri mule driver
What were the consequences of Potsdam
Reparations; economic divide & rivalry between the two economic systems with the USSR wanted to recover from war damages but the US wanting to keep market domination
Polish Border; the validity was questioned & led to a later refugee crisis due to the expulsion of ethic Germans from new Polish land
Future of Germany; borders, what would happen post occupying powers & economic & military
- US delayeconomic plan; USSR see this as US trying to force a capitalist economy and remove industry
Distrust; threatened USSR with atomic bomb & cut lend lease to try & force co-operation
Ideological divide; democracy vs. communism
define Potsdam in one word
protocol - a diplomatic statement rather than an official peace treaty
Why were nuclear weapons a problem after 1945
The Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
This made the USSR feel vulnerable (129,000 - 226,000 dead, also threatened at Potsdam) and caused Stalin to feel he needed to build up military and dominate Eastern Europe as protection - less likely to concede in future
Describe Stalin’s personality & why it was like this
Stalin was paranoid
This was caused by the old ideological conflict - capitalism vs communism (Russian civil war) & being excluded from early war time treaties; Casablanca & Atlantic charter
Describe the results of Stalin’s personality on negotiations & in the Cold War
(examples 2)
He was convinced their were anti-Soviet conspiracies which made him feel vulernable obsessive about securing Soviet security and so was unwilling to compromise over things like Eastern Europe
Refused to concede on Oder-Neisse line, Eastern European liberations
Describe Roosevelts personality & why it was like this
Very compromising and open minded as he understand Soviet fears & need to appease them
Describe Trumans personality & why it was like this
Truman was very hard line and aggressive on foreign policy.
this was because he was inexperienced in foreign policy & so assert his authority & also that he was scared of being seen as soft on communism like Roosevelt
Describe the results of Truman’s personality on negotiations & in the Cold War
(examples 2)
It meant he refused to acknowledge legitimate Soviet safety concerns & refused to concede
Examples; restricted Lend lease to force Soviet co-operation, Yalta - ‘missouri mule driver’
Describe Churchill’s ‘personality’
determined to retain Empires
describe the result of Churchill’s personality
conflicted with the US who were anti-colonialist and wanted to stop the USSR spreading their influence
describe the Attlee’s personality & why it was like that
hostile to USSR because of old labour v Moscow communist tesnsions
What are the aims of the US
economy; one large world wide open market - want access to Eastern European markets
security; vulnerable post pearl harbour - want access to raw materials from East Europe & prevent threats
What are the aims of the UK
Retain empire
Democratic Poland - reason they entered the war
Economy; bankrupt - stay on friendly terms with USSR & US
What are the aims of the US
Security; 20 million dead (13% of population) & scorch policy damaged land / property
- to never be attacked again;; buffer land
Summarise the four reasons for the origin of the cold war
1) long term ideological problems
2) war time disagreements
3) post war disagreements
4) personalities
