Origins of the Cold War to 1945 Flashcards
What is the basis of Communism?
Marxism
What were the middle class called in the USSR?
Bourgeoisie
What were the workers called in the USSR?
Proletariat workers
What was believed about the middle class in the USSR?
The middle class who owned industry would be overthrown by the proletariat workers in revolution
What was believed would happen after the revolution in the USSR?
There would be a dictatorship of the proletariat before all class boundaries disappeared and it would be perfect equal society
Capitalism is where production of goods…
… was based on making a profit and people would earn what they deserved based on hard work
What did Capitalism work well with?
Parliamentary democracy where there was freedom speech and civil liberties
What were the main Communists called in 1910 USSR?
The Bolsheviks
When did the Bolsheviks seize power and what happened as a result?
October 1917 under Lenin, and they left the war they had been fighting with Britain and the USA
Who was President of America during WW1?
Woodrow Wilson
What did Woodrow Wilson want to create, and what was it opposed to?
A free democratic world with trade and cooperation between nations, which was completely opposed to Lenin’s view of the world
Who had many US officials been working with?
The old Russian leader (the Tsar)
What did US policy follow after the Bolshevik revolution and the fleeing of the US officials?
The ‘Riga Axioms’ which was determined to stop the spread of Communism
Who did US, French and British troops fight alongside in the Russian Civil War?
Tsarist ‘White’ forces
Who won the Russian Civil War?
The Communists (Bolsheviks)
What did the fact that the West fought along side the White Army during the civil war do?
Created lasting distrust of the West in the USSR
What did Soviet foreign policy become predominantly concerned with?
Ensuring Russian security and not spreading ‘world revolution’
When did the Great Depression hit America?
The 1930s
What happened as a result of the Great Depression?
Many disillusioned workers and businessmen like Henry Ford saw the great industrialization of Russia as an opportunity and links were made
When did President Roosevelt recognize the existence the USSR for the first time?
1933
What did Stalin do in terms of foreign assistance?
He accepted it initially but when he began his ‘Purges’ of dangerous influences many were forced to leave. Americans who had sympathized with the USSR in the 1930s left horrified
When did Stalin realize that he needed to take a more active role with the West?
When Hitler came to power who threatened to annihilate Communism
What did Stalin do in order to try and take a more active role in the West?
He 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
When did Britain and France appease Hitler’s demands for part of Czechoslovakia?
In the 1938 Munich Agreement
What did Stalin fear as a result of the 1938 Munich Agreement?
That Britain and France were setting the Nazis up to destroy Communism
When did Stalin sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact?
August 1939
Why did Stalin sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact?
To buy himself time to get ready to fight Hitler
What was the result of Stalin signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact?
It shocked the world and allowed Hitler to invade Poland and start WWII
What did the USSR do when Hitler invaded Poland?
They took the half they had lost in the 1920 (a secret agreement between Stalin and Hitler) and expanded their territory by 1941 by taking the Baltic states and parts of Finland
How was the USSR brought into the Second World War ?
By the Nazi invasion of June 1941
How was the USA brought into the Second World War ?
By the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbour December 1941
What did the three attacked powers (Britain, USA and the USSR) become known as?
The ‘Grand Alliance’
Who were the ‘Grand Alliance’ against?
The Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan
What were the USSR’s specific aims for the war in terms of land and security?
The complete defeat of Germany and an area of direct Soviet control in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Soviet occupied Germany, as well as a ‘intermediate zone’ of neither capitalist or Communist countries such as Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia
What did the US want in terms of trade after the war?
World free trade
Where specifically did the US want security after the war, and why?
In the seas to protect against possible future attacks like Pearl Harbour
What did the US want created as a result of the war?
The United Nations
What did Britain want after the war in terms of land and allies?
It want to keep its empire and be on friendly terms with both the US and USSR
What did Britain want to do after the war in terms of economy and land?
It wanted to prevent the advance of Communism in the Suez Canal and Middle East as an advancement here would damage Britain’s economy
What happened at the Tehran Conference?
Plans were drawn up that allowed the USSR to invade eastern and southern eastern Europe and create a sphere of influence there, whilst Britain and the USA would invade from the west
What was Stalin suspicious about concerning the Normandy landings?
Stalin was suspicious that the delay until 1944 was an attempt to weaken the USSR, who had been fighting for longer
When was the Warsaw Uprising?
1944
What did the USSR do during the Warsaw Uprising?
Nothing- the USSR allowed the Nazis to destroy the Warsaw Uprising so that they could take over the whole of Poland. The West was disgusted by this
Name 3 states that very quickly became Communist under Soviet occupation.
Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia
What did Stalin do in Hungary and Czechoslovakia?
He made sure that there was cooperation with democratic groups to keep the Allies onside
Whom did Stalin have difficulty controlling?
The Yugoslavian leader Tito
What happened to Italy and France?
They were liberated by Western powers and set up their own governments- who made links with the USSR
What was agreed upon at the Yalta Conference?
The temporary borders of Poland, the need for reparations, the need for democratic elections across Europe- this was put into the ‘Declaration on Liberated Europe’
When did Roosevelt die and who replaced him?
April 1945 and Truman
What was different about Truman compared with Roosevelt?
Truman was much more hostile towards Communism
Who was Churchill replaced by?
Clement Atlee
Give 3 points about the relationships at Potsdam
- Bad tempered
- The US was becoming increasingly suspicious of the Communist spread in eastern Europe and accused Stalin of not sticking to the democratic agreements made at Yalta
- Truman tried to threaten Stalin with a ‘new weapon’ but this only made him less likely to give into demands
Give points about the Potsdam agreement
- Germany and Berlin were divided into 4 zones
- Whole country issues for Germany would be decided by 4 High Commissioners from each power
- The Soviets could get 25% of the reparations from other zones as well as the reparations from its own zone
- Polish Borders not agreed upon but it was accepted that the Soviets were in control there and there was little anyone else could do
What was the USSR’s response to the dropping of the atomic bomb?
The USSR was determined to make an atomic bomb of its own and Stalin was more distrustful of the West
