Paper 1- Cold war & Vietnam Flashcards
Why were the west so scared of communism?
- The wealthiest people would lose a lot of money and their business and their power
- fear of dictatorship- lack of individual rights and being controlled
- communism is the opposite of the “American Dream”
Who were America paying money to to stop communism?
- Germany
* Greece
At the Yalta conference what was agreed?
- Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan once Germany surrendered
- Germany would be divided into four zones: American, French, British and Soviet
- the capital of Germany would also be divided
- The Big Three agreed to hunt down and punish war criminals responsible for the genocide
- they agreed to join the new United Nations Organisation
- the countries of Eastern Europe were allowed to have free elections
What were there disagreements on at the Yalta Conference?
•Stalin wanted to move the border of the USSR to poland, Churchill did not approve but knew he could not do much to stop it
Who were the Big Three?
USA, UK and Russia
What was the Yalta conference for?
To decide the future of Europe
When was the Yalta Conference?
Feb 1945
When was the Potsdam conference?
July 1945
What was agreed at the Potsdam conference?
•agreed to hunt down Nazi war criminals
What was disagreed on at the Potsdam conference?
- Stalin wanted to destroy Germany to protect the USSR from future threats
- Truman did not want to repeat the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles
- disagreed about reparations- 20million russians had died in the war and the Soviet Union had been devastated
- disagreed over policies- Truman was unhappy
How many Russians died in WW2?
20 million
Who was Winston Churchill? Which conference did he attend?
The British PM and he attended Yalta
Who was Franklin D Roosevelt? Which conference did he attend?
He was the USA president, he attended Yalta
Who was Joseph Stalin? Which conference did he attend?
The USSR Leader (Russia) and he attended both Yalta and Potsdam
Who was Clement Attlee? Which conference did he attend?
The British PM, he attended Potsdam
Who was Harry Truman? Which conference did he attend?
The US president, he attended Potsdam
What did the Hungarian Communist Rakosi describe Stalins control over Europe as?
“Slicing salami” meaning that he did it step by step.
Why were the usa prepared to help and support people and countries who wanted to become democracies with capitalist economies?
Because they saw it as simply the defence of people’s freedom against a system they did not want.
Describe what it was like living in a communist USSR?
- people could only vote for members of the communist party
- peoples lives were closely controlled- newspapers censored, non-communists put in prison
- the rights of individuals were seen as less improve than the good of society
- the standard of living was much lower than in the USA
- unemployment low
- there were no extremes of wealth and poverty
Why were the USA and USSR motivated to work together?
Because they both had Hitler as a common enemy
How did the allied leaders get on at Yalta?
They got on well together
How did the change in leaders between the yalta and potsdam conferences effect the relationship between leaders?
Harry Truman (the new US president) was much more anti-communist than Roosevelt and very suspicious of Stalin’s intentions.
Stalin did not trust Truman and Attlee and they did not trust him.
When did Germany surrender?
Germany surrendered on 8 may 1945
What did Truman inform Stalin about and what were the consequences of this?
Truman informed Stalin about a new weapon he was going to use against japan.
In 1945 this began a new arms race between the USA and the USSR.
What was the Truman Doctrine?
The name given to a speech and set of ideas made by US president Harry Truman in 1947, It was made after the US President heard how the USSR were going to support a communist revolution in Greece.
What was a said in the Truman Doctrine speech?
“it must be the policy of the United States to support free people’s who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities”
What was the Marshall Plan?
After seeing the example of Greece, Truman realised that communism was spreading to countries where there was poverty and destruction after the war. His plan was to invest $17 Billion into the “rubble heap of Europe”
How much money was the Marshall Aid?
$17BILLION
When was the Berlin Crisis?
1948/49
What were the other names for the Berlin Crisis?
Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift
In the first three days of the Berlin Airlift how many landings were made?
500 landings in the first three days
How long did the Berlin Airlift last?
10months
How many trips were made during the Berlin crisis?
100,000 trips
Why did Russia blockade Western Berlin?
Because Russia wanted to control Western Berlin so they tried to starve Britain, France and America out of Berlin
Where did Russia blockade?
Western Berlin
Who were the Western countries?
UK, USA and France
How did the Western countries react to the Berlin Blockade?
They flew in supplies to the East of Germany (communist area) including food, clothing and oil to stop the people from starving to death.
What was the first testing point of the Cold War? Who won?
The first testing point was the Berlin Blockade.
The western countries won because Stalin backed down
What was the airlift often referred to as?
LeMay’s feed and coal company
On average how many tonnes of supplies were being taken to the western Berlin during the blockade per day?
5000 tons of supplies a day
What was the population of the three western sectors Berlin?
2,500,000 people
How much did the operation to feed and supply Berlin cost?
Millions of dollars
What did the Berlin Airlift hasten the creation of?
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) a Western European military alliance of countries protecting each other
What was the “Iron Curtain”?
In a speech in march 1946 Winston Churchill claimed that an “iron curtain” had descended across Europe separating the democratic nations from the communists.
Were elections held in each eastern Europe and what was the outcome of this?
They were held in every East European country but there is evidence to suggest that they were rigged to allow the USSR-backed communist countries to take control. By May 1948 all Eastern European states had communist governments.
What did Stalin create to keep a tight grip on his neighbours?
Cominform (1947) and Comecon (1949) were trading alliances of communist countries. They became known as the satellite states because their governments and economies depended heavily on the USSR.
What was the policy of containment?
The aim to stop the spread of communism without pushing it back
What were the two aims of the Marshall aid?
- to stop the spread of communism
* to help the economies of europe to recover which would eventually provide a market for American exports
What was the Warsaw Pact and when was it set up?
A communist version of NATO, set up in 1955
What was the cause of the Berlin Blockade?
In 1948 the French, American and the British zones merged to become one zone. West Germany began to recover and prosper where as East Germany was in poverty and hunger.
To Stalin it seemed as if the Allies were building up West Germany to attack him.
Why was Stalin so easily able to cut ofd West Berlins physical links with the west?
Because Berlin was deep into the Soviet-controlled zone.
What did many people fear the Berlin blockade would do?
Provoke war
In the late 1950s how many warheads did America and the USSR have?
America- 5000 warheads
USSR- 0 warheads
By the 1960s how many warheads did America and the USSR have?
America- about 32,000
USSR- almost 10,000
What does MAD stand for and what does it mean?
Mutually
Assured
Destruction
It meant that there were so many weapons the everyone would die if there was a war due to the huge amounts of technology and weapons/missiles.