Part 1: Seeds of conflict 1941-8

Question 1

What were three key IDEOLOGICAL reasons for the breakdown of the Grand alliance?

Answer 1

Capitalist support of the whites in the Russian rev. 1917
Disagreement over fate of Europe- particularly Poland and Germany
Ingrained hate of the other ideology

Question 2

What were three key WAR reasons for the breakdown of the grand alliance?

Answer 2

Loss of Russian soldiers in delay over the second front
Russian liberation of eastern Europe- western mistrust
Loss of common enemy
Nuclear monopoly of the USA- only atomic bomb

Question 3

What were the key LEADERSHIP reasons for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance?

Answer 3

Tension between Stalin and Truman (death of Roosevelt pre-Potsdam)
No pacifying member of the alliance
Stalin’s aggression, paranoia and untrustworthiness

Question 4

What was the key post war AIM that aided the breakdown of the grand alliance?

Answer 4

Both the US and the USSR wanted to ultimately spread their ideology worldwide

Question 5

What countries were in the grand alliance?

Answer 5

Russia, the USA and UK

Question 6

What key countries did the USSR overtake in the ‘liberation’ of eastern Europe?

Answer 6

Romania, Bulgaria, (Yugoslavia), Greece, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland

Question 7

When was Churchill’s iron curtain speech? Who was it a speech to?

Answer 7

5th March 1946 speech made to American citizens

Question 8

What was the general pattern of soviet takeover in Eastern Europe?

Answer 8

(Circumstances differed slightly in each country, but generally; )pressure applied by red army to allow communist politicians into key roles, communists manipulated elections, merges of parties became communist takeover of parties.

Question 9

When was the Truman doctrine declared?

Answer 9

March 1947

Question 10

What was the Truman doctrine?

Answer 10

Truman declared US must ‘support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed authorities’ (fight forced communism)

Question 11

When was the Marshall plan introduced?

Answer 11

1947

Question 12

How much money did Marshall aid provide Europe with?

Answer 12

$17 billion

Question 13

What did the Marshall plan try to do?

Answer 13

Help struggling European countries

Integrate their economies with the USA’s

Question 14

What did the Marshall plan demand?

Answer 14

Countries must agree to free trade with the US and reveal their economic spending to the US (so soviet controlled countries did not receive it)

Question 15

How did the USSR view the Marshall plan?

Answer 15

As imperialistic and as an attack on communism

Question 16

What was Britain’s view of the Marshall plan?

Answer 16

Was not keen on supranational organisations (multinational), instead wanted to assert ts authority, but agreed to the Marshall plan despite this

Question 17

When did the Czech crisis occur?

Answer 17

1948

Question 18

What was the situation in Czechoslovakia at the beginning of the year of the Czech crisis?

Answer 18

Beginning of 1948: only democratic country in eastern Europe, elections due in May and communists expected to do badly

Question 19

What was the Czech crisis?

Answer 19

coup d’etat prior to election; police and gov. taken over by communists and purged of non-communists. President Benes forced to resign replaced by communist Gottwald. Illegal and undemocratic

Question 20

How were the USSR connected to the Czech crisis?

Answer 20

Although no direct help from the USSR to the communists in Czechoslovakia, US saw it as proof of soviet expansion ad it was of psychological significance

Question 21

When did Britain pull out of the fighting in Greece?

Answer 21

1947

Question 22

What were three ECONOMIC reasons for the breakdown of the Grand alliance?

Answer 22

WW2 left Europe economically devastated and in desperate need of reconstruction
Big businesses and military industrial sector in USA sought to benefit from a war with the economic benefits
Disagreement over German reparations

Question 23

How many soldiers were situated in Eastern Europe during the breakdown of the Grand alliance?

Answer 23

Red Army had over 11 million troops in occupied Eastern Europe, in a position to enforce its will upon large parts of the continent

Question 24

Why did the defeat of Germany cause an increase in tensions between the USSR and USA?

Answer 24

Loss of a common enemy
Defeat of Nazi Germany also caused a power vacuum in Europe; large areas without any meaningful government or administration- arguably both USA and USSR sought to fill this vacuum

Question 25

What were three key reasons for the outbreak of the Cold War (separate to breakdown of the Grand Alliance)?

Answer 25

The Marshall plan was seen by USSR as capitalist interference/attempt to dominate Europe
Communist regimes established through purges, rigged elections and Red Army manipulation
Truman’s policies unnecessarily provocative, as was Churchill’s iron curtain speech

Question 26

What and when was the Teheran conference?

Answer 26

1943: The first meeting of the ‘big three’ (Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin) during WW2. They discussed how to pursue the war against Germany, Italy and Japan

Question 27

What were the strains in the Grand Alliance over Poland?

Answer 27

Poland had been the route of three invasions into Russia in the 20th Century
Russia not prepared to see an anti-USSR government in Poland
Britain and USA wanted free elections for Poland and reinstatement of Polish gov. in exile in London

Question 28

What were the strains in the Grand Alliance over the USA’s possession of the first atomic bomb?

Answer 28

USA appeared to be asserting its military dominance
Use of bomb in Japan (Nagasaki and Hiroshima) without USSR awareness caused suspicion in USSR that USA would use it to threaten them/USA motives
USSR felt that they had been tricked into ‘falling behind’ the USA with lack of knowledge of bomb’s development

Question 29

When and where was the Yalta summit?

Answer 29

In the Soviet Union, February 1945- prior to the end of WW2 (but victory for grand alliance seemed inevitable)

Question 30

What was agreed at the Yalta summit?

Answer 30

establishment of United Nations, division of Germany and Berlin into zones of occupation, PRINCIPLE of free elections in Europe, USSR agreed to join war against Japan (in return for some of its islands)

Question 31

What were the issues at the Yalta summit?

Answer 31

Poland/future of Poland

Question 32

When was the Potsdam summit?

Answer 32

July 1945

Question 33

What occurred at Potsdam?

Answer 33

USA and UK annoyed with soviet actions in E. Europe
USA agreed to move western Polish border to older-western Neisse line, 5 million Germans expelled from Poland into Germany
Throughout E. Europe communist groups were being positioned in important gov. roles
Stalin informed of USA atomic bomb on day of its use

Question 34

When was the first atomic bomb dropped on Japan?

Answer 34

Hiroshima: 4 days from the end of the Potsdam conference
Nagasaki: 9th August
As a result- USSR involvement unnecessary and Stalin denied a part in the occupation of Japan