Origins of the Cold War to 1945

Question 1

What is Marxism?

Answer 1

The basis of communism and believed that the bourgeoise who owned industry would be overthrown by the proletariat in revolution. There would be a dictatorship of the proletariat before all class boundaries disappeared and it would create a perfect equal society

Question 2

What is capitalism?

Answer 2

It is where the production of goods was based on making a profit. People would earn what they deserve based on hard work. It worked well with parliamentary democracy where there was freedom of speech and civil liberties

Question 3

When did the Bolsheviks seize power?

Answer 3

October 1917 under Lenin and left the war they had been fighting with Britain and America

Question 4

Why was Wilson’s post WW1 goal incompatible with communism?

Answer 4

He wanted to create a free democratic world with trade and cooperation between nations which opposed Lenin’s view of the world

Question 5

What were the Riga Axioms?

Answer 5

Many US officials who had been working under the Tsar were horrified at the brutal treatment of the old order by the Bolsheviks and fled to Riga in Latvia. US policy followed the ‘Riga Axioms’ which was determined to stop the spread of Communism

Question 6

How did US actions in the Russian civil war create lasting distrust?

Answer 6

US, French and British troops fought with the ‘white’ forces in the civil war, which was won by the ‘reds’. This created lasting distrust of the West

Question 7

What happened in 1920 to do with Poland?

Answer 7

Poland defeated the Russians in a short border war in 1920 and Soviet foreign policy was determined to get these lands back

Question 8

What was Soviet foreign policy before 1945?

Answer 8

It became predominantly concerned with ensuring Russian security and not spreading ‘world revolution’. However, Comintern encouraged Communist groups in other countries and they supported subversive activities

Question 9

What happened when the Great Depression hit America?

Answer 9

Many disillusioned workers and businessmen like Henry Ford saw the great industrialisation of Russia as an opportunity and links were made

Question 10

When did Roosevelt recognise the existence of the USSR?

Answer 10

1933

Question 11

What happened as a result of Stalin’s purges?

Answer 11

Stalin accepted foreign assistance initially but when he began his purges many were forced to leave. This left Americans who had sympathised with the USSR horrified

Question 12

When did Stalin dissolve comintern?

Answer 12

1943

Question 13

How did Stalin take a more active role in the west prior to Hitler coming to power?

Answer 13

Hitler threatened to annihilate Communism and as such Stalin joined the league of nations in 1934, signed agreements with France and Czechoslovakia in 1935 and intervened to try and prevent fascism in the Spanish Civil War in 1936

Question 14

What happened in 1938?

Answer 14

At the Munich agreement Britain and France appeased Hitler’s demands for part of Czechoslovakia and Stalin feared that they were setting the Nazis up to destroy communism

Question 15

What was the Nazi-Soviet pact?

Answer 15

It was signed in August 1939 and shocked the worked and allowed Hitler to invade Poland and start WWII

Question 16

What happened when Hitler invaded Poland?

Answer 16

The USSR took the half they lost in 1920 (a secret agreement between him and Hitler) and he expanded his territory by 1941 by taking the Baltic states and parts of Finland

Question 17

How was the USSR brought into the second world war?

Answer 17

The Nazi invasion in June 1941

Question 18

How was the USA brought into the second world war?

Answer 18

The attack by Japan on Pearl Harbour in December 1941

Question 19

What was the Grand Alliance?

Answer 19

The US, Britain and the USSR

Question 20

What were USSR war aims?

Answer 20

Complete defeat of Germany and an area of direct Soviet control in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Soviet occupied Germany, as well as an intermediate zone of neither capitalist or communist countries such as Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia

Question 21

What were US war aims?

Answer 21

The US wanted world free trade and a United Nations as well as security in the seas against attacks like Pearl Harbour

Question 22

What were British war Ain?

Answer 22

It wanted to retain its empire and be on friendly terms with Bothe the USA and USSR, but wanted to prevent the advance of communism to damage its economic interests in the Suez Canal and Middle East

Question 23

What was the Atlantic Charter?

Answer 23

It took place in 1943 and committed Britain and America to the complete defeat of Germany and the setting up of a democratic world order. Stalin and the USSR were not present

Question 24

What was the Tehran Conference?

Answer 24

It drew up plans that allowed the USSR to invade Eastern and south Eastern Europe alone and create a sphere of influence there, whereas Britain and the US would invade from the West

Question 25

Why was Stalin suspicious of the Western front?

Answer 25

He was suspicious that the delay of the Normandy landings until 1944 was an attempt at weakening the Soviet Union, which had been fighting longer

Question 26

What happened in the Warsaw uprising in 1944?

Answer 26

Stalin allowed the Nazis to defeat the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 in order to take over the whole of Poland, which was greeted with disgust in the West

Question 27

What happened in Eastern Europe?

Answer 27

Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia became Communist very quickly under Soviet occupation, but Stalin made sure that in Hungary and Czechoslovakia there was cooperation with democratic groups to keep the allies onside. Stalin had difficulty controlling Yugoslavian leader Tito

Question 28

What happened in Italy and France?

Answer 28

They were liberated by Western Powers and set up their own governments who made links with the USSR

Question 29

What happened at the Yalta Conference?

Answer 29

An agreement was made over Polish borders, the need for reparations and democratic elections across Europe which was put into the Declaration on Liberated Europe, but it was vague and easy for Stalin to manipulate

Question 30

What happened in April 1945?

Answer 30

Truman replaced Roosevelt and was more hostile to Communism, and Churchill was replaced by Atlee in the election

Question 31

What happened at the Potsdam Agreement?

Answer 31

It was bad tempered with the US becoming increasingly suspicious of the Communist spread in Eastern Europe, accusing Stalin of not sticking to the the democratic element of the Yalta Agreement

Question 32

What was agreed at Potsdam?

Answer 32

It was not a treaty but a protocol and divided Germany into four occupied zones, with whole country issues decided by four High Commissioners from each power. It also agreed that reparations should be taken and the Soviets could get 25% from the other occupied zones as they had been most damaged. They also set up a Council of Ministers to deal with treaties for other defeated powers like Italy

Question 33

What was not agreed at Postsam?

Answer 33

Polish borders were not agreed, but it was accepted that the Soviets were in control and there was little they could do. They also did not agree on how much control the ACC would have on the whole of Germany

Question 34

How did Truman attempt to threaten Stalin?

Answer 34

He attempted to threaten Stalin with a ‘new weapon’, however this only served to make him less likely to give into demands. Also, Stalin had prior knowledge of the Manhattan project due to espionage

Question 35

How did the A bomb add to distrust of the West?

Answer 35

When the A bomb was dropped on Japan, the USSR was determined to make one of its own and added to Stalin’s distrust of the West