Origins of the Cold War Flashcards
Lenin
Lenin was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the head of the Bolshevik party which overthrew the Czars. He served as head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1924. He added on to Marx’s words by creating Marxism-Leninism, which communism used in the world was based off of.
Stalin
Stalin was a dictator of the USSR (1929-1953) and leader of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union. He used terror as a tactic to gain total control. Stalin caused chaos by seizing land from the peasants and arresting anyone who was an anti-revolutionist. Stalin was able to turn the Soviet Union from a peasant country to an industrialized country with a strong military.
14 Points
A list drawn up by President Woodrow Wilson on January 1918, which presented a global program for self-determination, creation of democratic states, free trade, and collective security through the League of Nations. The ideologies behind the fourteen points clashed with the ideas of Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik party. Lenin preached revolution and communism, which strictly collides with the US idea of democracy and “world peace”. The idea of ‘self-determination’ played a large role in the liberation of Eastern Europe and the Grand Alliance, with US democratic hopes as well to contain the influence of fascism and communism.
Russian Civil War
The Bolshevik party led by Lenin had seized power in major cities in 1917, but had to faced the ‘Whites’, who were assisted by Britain, France, the US and Japan, the Allied Powers. The ‘Whites’ were those who opposed communism in any sort, with clashing ideologies as socialism, capitalism, ect. The Allied powers hoped to end Bolshevism, preventing it from spreading into Germany. The Allies feared that all of Germany would break into revolution that the Allies would not be able to contain. The invention was unsuccessful and in 1919 French and US troops withdrew, British troops were withdrawn in 1920, Japan remained until the end of the Civil war in 1922. This intervention increased tensions between the Western Powers and the USSR, suspected enemy.
Polish Russian War
Poland wished to take advantage of the chaos happening in revolutionary Russia and seize as much territory as they could. So, they invaded Ukraine in 1920 and, with help from France, defeated the Red Army and received considerable amounts of Ukraine and Byelorussia. This isolated Russia from western and central Europe, so a major aim of the USSR’s foreign policy became to recover these territories.
League of Nations
Idea presented in 1918.
International Organization established after WW1 to resolve conflicts between nations to prevent war. It’s goals were to establish self-determination of subject peoples, create democratic states, and to free trade and collective security.
This intensified hostility between the US and the USSR, because Wilson preached about this global programme while Lenin preached about world revolution and communism.
Non-aggression and Nazi-Soviet Pact
Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and Soviet foreign minister Viacheslav Molotov (I’m sure it’s fine to just use Nazi Germany and the USSR but I put the specifics for those who want it)
Signed in secrecy on 24 August, 1939
Signed in Moscow
The pact prevented Nazi Germany and the USSR from conflict with each other. Germany was allowed to do whatever it wanted diplomatically with the parts of Europe that had not belonged to the Russian Empire. Germany would be allowed to invade Poland as long as the parts of Poland that had once been apart of the USSR were reabsorbed into the Russian Empire.
Foreign Ministers Meeting
Who- The foreign ministers from the US, USSR, and Britain.
What- They established the European Advisory Commission to finalize plans for the post-war Allied occupation of Germany in an effort to reconcile the conflicting ambitions of their states. They also issued the “Declaration on General Security” , which proposed the creation of a world organization to maintain global peace and security. The US Secretary of State, Cordell hull, insisted that the Chinese President also sign the declaration because he was the head of a large and potentially powerful allied country.
When- October 1943
Where- Moscow, the Soviet Union’s capital
Why- This was important because the “Declaration on General Security” was the first real attempt towards the creation of Roosevelt’s United Nations.
Tehran Conference
Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin
28 November 1943 - 1 December 1943
Tehran,Iran
The three leaders of the Grand Alliance met to discuss post-war Europe, the future organization of the UN, and the fate of Germany. Stalin makes it clear that he would claim territories the USSR had annexed in Poland and the Baltic in 1939-1940. Stalin faced no opposition from Churchill and Roosevelt.During the conference the key decision was made to land British, Commonwealth, and United States’ troops in France rather than the Balkans. (This known as Operation Overlord).
Operation Overlord ensured that the USSR would liberate both eastern and south-eastern Europe and put Stalin in the position to turn the whole region into a Soviet sphere of interest and could further spread Communism.
Churchill - Stalin meeting
Churchill flew to Moscow in October 1944 to propose a division of south-eastern Europe into spheres of interest, to effort to protect british interests in the eastern Mediterranean. This formed an agreement that gave USSR 90% and 75% predominance in Romania and Bulgaria, and gave Britain 90% in Greece. Yugoslavia and Hungary were divided equally between Britain and Soviet zones of interest. Churchill then dropped the agreement after realization that Roosevelt would not approve of the agreement.
ACC
Who - Allied Control Commissions
Where - each Allied occupied territory (Bulgaria, Italy, FInland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria)
What - Aided the territories in setting up their own governments
When - First one was established in Italy by Britain in 1943.
Importance - The allies were hoping that by assisting in making the territory’s governments, they could sway them away from Communism and to democracy. These territories were supervised by the ACC.
Polish Home Army
Who - The POLISH nationalist resistance group
What - Same as who
When - Their leadership was destroyed on Oct. 2, 1944 when they were defeated @ Warsaw known as the Warsaw uprising.
Where - Poland
Importance - They fought against the Germans. This partisan group was one of the only ones to remain loyal to its government in London, and was therefore not easily influenced by Stalin and his policy. THey then became an obstacle he had to overcome and did.
Tito
Who - Joseph Broz; a very successful partisan leader in German - occupied Europe
What - Communist that idolized Stalin and looked to him for how to run Yugoslavia.
When - 1944-1945 (COntroversy with Stalin)
Where - Yugoslavia
Importance - HIs partisan army from him, not from their government in London. Stalin wanted to control South Eastern Europe, and for this, he needed a military and political alliance with Yugoslavia along with other countries. Tito was not an easy ally because he was independent and followed his own rules. Coming close to the the Yalta Conference, stalin also needed to stay on the US and Britain’s good side, but Tito began establishing communist committees in Yugoslavia and Albania giving Stalin a little trouble. He basically just didn’t do what Stalin wanted.
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was in 1945. It was a meeting between Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. In this meeting, plans were created to finish war in Europe, and eastern Asia, and lay foundations for the coming of peace. The conference agreed to put Germany under Four-Power control, each power was allotted their own zone, including a section of Berlin (Britain, France, US and USSR), Poland would retain gains from September 1939, and that democratically elected governments should be set up in liberated europe. This led to the end of World War 2.
Declaration of Liberated Europe
The Declaration of Liberated Europe was proposed during the Yalta Conference in 1945. It stated that the US, USSR, and Britain would carry out emergency measures to assist the liberated states and encourage democratic governments. Stalin during the Cold War would set up communist or USSR friendly governments in Eastern European nations to protect the USSR from a western European attack, which raised tensions as the US and Britain felt betrayed.
