origins of the cold war -> developing tensions up to 1948 - The Greek Civil War and the Truman Doctrine

Question 1

what was Roosevelt’s view to the Soviets and how did it change?

Answer 1

he was initially cooperative on a case-by-case basis but shifted to a policy of containment

Question 2

when did Roosevelt shift to containment and what did it entail?

Answer 2

• adopted containment in March 1947 to June 1950
• included avoiding war and boosting allies
• passive containment: giving millions of dollars to allied forces (military aid and boosting economies for the policy of containment)
• switched to active containment in July 1950 - June 1953 (Korean War)

Question 3

what events in 1946 signalled a shift in US foreign policy?

Answer 3

• George Kennan’s Long Telegram in February 1946
• Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech at Fulton, Missouri in March 1946
• the idea of co-operating with the USSR was going out and the idea of containing communism was coming in

Question 4

what key points signalled the breakdown in relations?

Answer 4

• 1945: the seeds of the Cold War were sewn at Yalta and Potsdam
• 1946-47: signified an almost complete breakdown in relations between Western powers and the USSR
  -> the wartime spirit of cooperation gave way to a climate of mutual suspicion and recriminations
• shoots were set up in 1947 and blossomed into the Cold War in 1949

Question 5

what were the consequences of the coming of the Cold War?

Answer 5

• stifled political life in Europe
• denied Europeans the chance to forge their own destinies
• led to the freezing-up of Europe into two distinct blocs

Question 6

what did Stalin begin in the satellite states between 1946 and 1947?

Answer 6

Stalin began the process of imposing bureaucratic regimes that were a carbon-copy of the one he had created for the USSR.
- included the secret police, censorship, show trials, and Five Year Plans that privileged the development of heavy industry

Question 7

where was subordination to America reflected in during the radical impulses in Western Europe between 1944-47?

Answer 7

• the effective end of de-nazificationin western Germany and de-fascistization in Italy
• European countries rushed to join the Marshall Plan
• the emergence on the right of (American sponsored) Christian Democratic parties
• the laying of the foundations of a socially conservative state - the FGR in West Germany
• moves towards the creation of a Western military alliance

Question 8

what were US concerns?

Answer 8

• belief that Stalin was wilfully ignoring agreements at Yalta and Potsdam
• during 1946-47, American policymakers became convinced that USSR was acting in ways that contravened the spirit of the DoLE at Yalta
• there was very little the Western policymakers could do about this state of affairs

Question 9

what areas did the US feel compelled to address?

Answer 9

• the question of what to do with Germany
• the state of the economy in Europe, which led many to find radical alternatives to capitalism
• the outbreak in March 1946 of Greek Civil War

Question 10

how did Germany become a contentious issue?

Answer 10

• Stalin wanted a united but economically weak and demilitarised Germany that could be dominated by the wartime allies cooperating
• The UK and USA ended the Soviet’s taking of reparations from their zones (July 1946)
• by forming Bizonia (January 1947) they also signalled that they were willing to split Germany and encourage economic recovery in their zones

Question 11

what happened at the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers in the spring of 1947?

Answer 11

• the Soviets tried to destroy Bizonia by demanding a new central German government be established
• successfully opposed by Ernest Bevin (British foreign secretary) - he argued that political unity should follow economic unity
• the soviets refused so this was a ‘successful failure’ for the USA and UK

Question 12

what was the trigger for the turning point in US foreign policy in spring 1947?

Answer 12

the Greek Civil War was the catalyst that triggered a fundamental reorientation of US foreign policy

Question 13

what happened in the Greek Civil War?

Answer 13

• Stalin had agreed that Greece should remain within the Western sphere of influence after the war in the percentages agreement
• when Greece was liberated from Nazi occupation, a civil war had erupted between monarchists (led by Konstantinos Tsaldaris, backed by British) and the Greek communists (led by Markos Vafiadis)
• the British had been providing aid to the monarchists. A ‘white terror’ had been carried out by Tsaldaris in which 1200 leftists were killed and a further 40,000 were arrested
• the ‘white terror’ had led the Greek Communist Party (the KKE) to wage a campaign of guerilla warfare

Question 14

who did the Greek communists get help from in spring 1947?

Answer 14

• Stalin was not aiding the KKE but Tito certainly was (communist leader of Yugoslavia) -> led to them begin expelled from Cominform
• Truman did not see the distinction between them

Question 15

why was February 1947 a turning point in the Greek Civil War?

Answer 15

the British announced they could no longer provide the necessary funds, and appealed to the USA to assume financial burden. This triggered Truman to adopt the Truman Doctrine in March 1947

Question 16

what were the reasons for Truman’s adoption of the two-pronged strategy of containment in terms of the Soviet Union?

Answer 16

• to prevent further the further expansion of the USSR’s influence
• to prevent the further advance of the left in Western and Southern Europe
• to apply pressure, in order to modify Soviet behaviour
• to attempt to woo states away from the Soviet bloc

Question 17

what were the reasons for Truman’s adoption of the two-pronged strategy of containment in terms of the US?

Answer 17

• to create a ‘united front’ of capitalisms under American political leadership
• to ensure the continued growth of the US economy, and the hegemony of US business over its rivals
• to keep Britain in the game and reduce France’s demand for reparations in Germany

Question 18

why might the motives of the Truman Doctrine not be this forward and problematic?

Answer 18

• it was simply a blunt piece of diplomacy designed to keep the Soviet Union from aiding the Greek communist movement and had no relevance to the US policy beyond the Greek Civil War
• designed primarily to protect democracy and freedom and there was no aggressive intent towards any other state -> response to Soviet aggressive, political and ideological expansionism in Eastern Europe

Question 19

what did American policymakers realise about the eastern Mediterranean that necessitated the Truman Doctrine?

Answer 19

• they recognised the instability in the eastern Mediterranean
• feared that if Greece was lost to communism, Turkey would not last long
• also, if Turkey yielded to the demands of the Soviet Union, Greece would be endangered
• felt that Soviet success in both countries would strengthen the Soviet Union’s ability to cut off allied supply lines in the event of a war

Question 20

what did Truman proclaim to congress on March 12th 1947?

Answer 20

• on March 12th 1947, amid the Greek Civil War (1946-49), Truman insisted that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid they needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with consequences throughout the region

Question 21

when did Truman shift foreign policy from passive to active containment?

Answer 21

• in 1950, in the wake of the Soviets having acquired the atomic bomb and the Chinese revolution
• Truman signed the top-secret policy plan NSC-68 which shifted foreign policy from passive to active containment
• differed from George Kennan’s initial notion of containment, containing much harsher anti-Communist rhetoric
• paved the way for the re-militarisation of international relations