Q4: Who was to blame for the Cold War? - Incomplete Flashcards
Why did the USA-USSR Alliance begin to break down in 1954?
Conflicting ideologies/political views (communist vs capitalist)
When was the Yalta conference?
February 1945
What 6 things were agreed at the Yalta conference?
- Stalin would join the war against Japan after Germany’s surrender
- Countries freed from Germany could have free elections
- People responsible for the Holocaust would be punished
- Germany would be split into 4 zones (American, French, British, and Soviet)
- The Big Three would join the United Nations
-Eastern Europe would be a Soviet Sphere of Influence
What was disagreed about during the Yalta conference and why?
What would happen to Poland. Stalin wanted the USSR’s border to move into it. Neither Churchill or Roosevelt approved of this but there wasn’t much they could do because Stalin’s army was in control of Poland and Eastern Germany. It was accepted on the condition that the USSR didn’t interfere with Greece
When was the Potsdam conference?
July 1945
When did Germany surrender?
May 1945
What had changed in between the Yalta conference and the Potsdam conference?
- Stalin was occupying most of Eastern Europe
- Roosevelt was replaced by Harry Truman
- America had successfully tested an atomic bomb
Who replaced Churchill halfway through the Potsdam conference?
Clement Attlee
What were the main conflicts of the Yalta conference?
- Stalin wanted to cripple Germany to protect the USSR
- Stalin also wanted reparations from Germany to compensate for the 20 million soviet soldiers killed
- Truman didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles
- Truman was unhappy with the USSR’s plan to turn Eastern Europe into a Soviet sphere of influence
What was the Iron Curtain?
The border between the West and Soviet controlled countries
What was the Cominform?
The organisation created to spread and organise communism in Eastern Europe
What were some of the methods used by communist parties to take control of Eastern Europe?
Salami Tactics
Pressure
Deceit
What was the Truman Doctrine?
Truman’s speech that was aimed to shift America’s foreign policies towards internationalism. It waged a war on poverty as communism was a popular ideology in the lower and working classes
What was the Marshall plan?
A plan to aid the “revival of the working economy” in Western Europe by sending $17 billion.
(Greek civil war)
