T7 International Flashcards
1
Q
Truman & The Start of the Cold War (1945–1953)
A
- In 1945, the USA had a monopoly on nuclear weapons.
- By the end of the decade this was to end. While after 1945 there was concern that the USSR was
spreading its rule into Eastern Europe, by 1950 there was the realisation that Communism was a
worldwide issue. - If the USA was to prevent the spread of Communism, it was therefore making a global
commitment. - China fell to the Communists in 1949.
- Between 1950 - 1953, the USA became involved in a full-scale war in Korea.
2
Q
Post-war Superpower Relations
A
- The USA had been an unlikely ally of the USSR during the Second World War.
- Once the common enemy of Nazi Germany was defeated, their differences began to emerge.
- The Soviet leader, Stalin, could argue that his country had suffered grievously during the war:
possibly as many as 27 million dead, with 25 million homeless and 6 million buildings destroyed. - Nazi Germany, with whom it had a treaty of non-aggression, had invaded the USSR without
warning. - Nine of its fifteen republics had been fought over during the war.
- The USSR wanted the security of knowing that it could not be attacked without warning again.
- The best way to ensure this was to control its neighbours, so that they might act as a buffer zone
between the USSR and the rest of Europe. By invading Eastern European countries such as Poland
in the latter stages of the war, it demonstrated that it would maintain a considerable influence on
them in the future. - At a series of meetings with Allied leaders towards the end of the war, Stalin presented this as a
done deal. - At Yalta in February 1945, Roosevelt, visibly ill, seemed to sympathise with Stalin.
- It was agreed, for example, that Germany should be divided and forced to pay war reparations,
half of which would go to the USSR. - The USSR should gain land from Poland and in turn Poland should be compensated with land from
Germany.
3
Q
Truman’s Relationship with Stalin at the Potsdam Conference
A
- In April 1945, Roosevelt died. His successor, Harry S. Truman, seemed more critical of Stalin.
- Unlike Roosevelt, and indeed Churchill, Truman had not had the experience of co-operating with
Stalin to defeat a common enemy. - The USA had not suffered during the War in any way commensurate with the USSR.
- It had endured less than two per cent of the human losses of the USSR.
- Roosevelt had considered this fact in his responses to Soviet demands; Truman did not.
- The next meeting at Potsdam in July, in which Britain also had a new leader, was less amicable
although the Yalta agreements were confirmed. - In an extensive poll, 50 per cent of Americans still felt that wartime co-operation between the
two superpowers should continue. - By this time Stalin was imposing Communist regimes on many of the countries ‘liberated’ from
Nazi influence or occupied by the Soviets. - In Romania, for example, at a meeting with the Soviet deputy foreign minister, the King was given
two hours to introduce a pro-Communist government. - While Truman was clearly worried about this forcing of Communism on Eastern European
countries, he could do little about what had already happened in areas where there were still
Soviet armies of occupation. - However, he was increasingly concerned that Communism should not spread to countries not
currently under Soviet control. - To Truman it seemed that the USSR was seeking not just to protect its borders from any future
invasion, but rather to control the whole of Europe. - In 1946, Winston Churchill, visiting Fulton, Missouri, spoke of an Iron Curtain descending through
the middle of Europe. - This seemed even more pertinent when the Soviets forced Czechoslovakia to adopt Communism
in 1948. - Countries such as Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were now governed by
Communists. - Only Greece, where a civil war was taking place between Communist and non-Communist forces,
held out against Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe. - People said a state of Cold War had developed between the USA and USSR.
4
Q
The Truman Doctrine (1947)
A
- In 1947, Truman had offered the support of the USA to countries struggling against Communism.
In a speech Truman said: - ‘I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support peoples who resist being
enslaved by armed minorities or by outside pressure. I believe that we must help free peoples to
work out their own destiny in their own way’. - The policy was known as the Truman Doctrine or containment because it seemed to imply the
USA would stem the spread of Communism. - The doctrine was first applied in Greece to give aid to the non-Communist forces.
- Greece and Turkey did not become Communist; hence the first intervention appeared successful.
5
Q
Marshall Aid (1948)
A
- In the following year the USA went further, offering a $13 billion package to help European
countries to recover from the effects of the Second World War. - This was Marshall Aid, named after the US Secretary of State General George Marshall.
- A conference of 22 nations was set up to assess the economic needs of the affected countries.
- The USSR did not attend and refused permission for countries under its sphere of influence to do
so. Eventually sixteen Western European nations formed the Organisation of European Economic
Cooperation (OEEC) to spend this money. - The aid was in part intended to help countries to recover their prosperity so that Communism
would lose any appeal. - The aid did help Western European countries to recover economically and fears of Communism
in countries such as Italy and France receded. - In the ensuing years, however, two crises emerged in which direct confrontation between the
USA and USSR seemed likely.
6
Q
The Berlin Airlift (1948–1949)
A
- Germany had been divided into four zones of occupation following the end of the war.
- The capital, Berlin, was also divided although it physically lay within the Soviet zone.
- The Western occupying powers, the USA, Britain and France, relied on Soviet goodwill to travel
through its zone to their sectors in Berlin. - By 1948, it was clear that the three Western sectors were co-operating and recovery was well on
the way through Marshall Aid. - In contrast, the Soviet zone remained poor. Increasingly, it was having Communism imposed upon
it. - In June 1948, the Western zones introduced a new common currency, the Deutschmark.
- When their leaders tried to introduce it into their sectors of Berlin, Stalin ordered all transport
links with the West cut. - He believed he could blockade Berlin into accepting Communist rule and therefore make the
capital part of the future Communist East German state. - In retaliation Britain and the USA organised an airlift of essential supplies to the city under siege.
- By March 1949, 8,000 tons of supplies per day were being delivered despite Soviet threats to the
aircraft, which were of course flying through Communist-controlled airspace. - On 9th May, Stalin called off the blockade and things returned to normal.
- It appeared that in the first great confrontation, the USA had won.
7
Q
NATO (1949)
A
- The Berlin Crisis had confirmed Truman’s commitment to containment in Europe and highlighted
the Soviet threat to Western Europe. - Western European states, even joined together, were no match for the Soviet Union and needed
the formal support of the USA. - In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was signed.
- Although a defensive alliance, its main purpose was to prevent Soviet expansion.
- The countries agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North
America would be considered an attack against them all.
8
Q
The Korean War (1950–1953)
A
- Korea is a country in Asia that shares a border with both the USSR and China.
- Following the Second World War it was divided into North and South with a border at the 38th
parallel (a line of latitude). - While the government of the South supported the USA, that of the North was Communist and
hostile. - In March 1950, North Korea invaded the South. The UN sent forces to stop this invasion; the vast
majority were American under an American Commander, General Douglas MacArthur. - UN forces succeeded in liberating South Korea.
- However, on MacArthur’s urging, they then went on to invade the North, ignoring China’s
warnings of the consequences. - President Truman faced tremendous hostility within the USA when he fired MacArthur for going
beyond his instructions. - To many it seemed he was soft on Communism.
- Some felt UN troops should have finished off North Korea and then invaded China itself to reverse
the Communist threat. - In the meantime, China became involved in the war, sending thousands of troops to help the
North Koreans. - The war effectively became a stalemate for three years.
- The USA alone lost 27,000 troops and one million Korean civilians died. In 1953, a peace of sorts
was agreed in which Korea remained divided into a Communist North and non-Communist South. - It is known now that the Soviets secretly sent air forces to help the North Koreans.
- Had this been known at the time, the consequences could have been profound, with the
confrontation between the USA and the USSR possibly spreading to Europe.
9
Q
Results of The Korean War
A
- The USA had learned that Communism was a global issue and if they were to prevent its spread
then a global commitment was necessary. - In the early 1950s, President Eisenhower spoke of the domino theory.
- While the policy may appear incredibly simplistic, it was nevertheless a deeply held view and was
later used to justify full-scale US involvement in the Vietnam War. - In its second phase, the war had been in effect a Sino–American war.
- Sino–American hostility was greatly increased, and the United States gave increased support to
Taiwan. - Moreover, it helped to sustain McCarthyism and generally worsened the Cold War antagonism.
- However, the three leading powers showed that they were unwilling to risk World War III.
- The sacking of MacArthur signalled that America planned to stick to containment.
10
Q
Eisenhower & The Cold War (1953–1961)
A
- President Eisenhower and his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, appeared to be real ‘Cold
Warriors’. - They had attacked Truman and the Democrats for being ‘soft on Communists’ in the presidential
election campaign of 1952. - America was very much in the grip of McCarthyism and Eisenhower and Dulles talked about a ‘roll
back’ (of Communism) and ‘massive retaliation’ as they planned to base American defence on
nuclear weaponry.
11
Q
Eisenhower and Khrushchev
A
- In 1955, Nikita Khrushchev succeeded Stalin as leader of the Soviet Union.
- His response to Eisenhower was a mixture of conciliation and provocation.
- He tried to stir up the West Europeans to halt German rearmament and to win friends in the
Middle East. - In order to tighten the Soviet bloc militarily, he created the Warsaw Pact.
- On the other hand, Khrushchev returned a naval base to Finland and decreased the Red Army by
half a million men. - He agreed to talks on agriculture and the peaceful use of atomic energy with the USA.
- In May 1955, he signed the Austrian peace treaty, under which the four occupying powers at last
got out of Austria, which became an independent and neutral state. - The Soviet Union had thus surrendered territory for the first time since the Second World War.
- However, Eisenhower was not convinced by these policies, believing that this was simply a new
style of leadership rather than a change in their basic aim of expansion. - This seemed to be confirmed by events in Hungary.
12
Q
The Warsaw Pact (1955)
A
- Stalin saw NATO as an ‘aggressive alliance’ aimed against the Soviet Union.
- Within six years, in 1955, the Soviet Union had set up its own rival organisation known as the
Warsaw Pact. - It was a military alliance of eight nations headed by the Soviet Union and was designed to counter
the threat of NATO. Members were to support each other if attacked. - A joint command structure was set up under the Soviet Supreme Commander.
13
Q
The Hungary Uprising (1956)
A
- In 1956, Khrushchev began a policy of relaxing the controls Stalin had imposed on Eastern Europe.
- However, when moderate Communists in Hungary, led by Imre Nagy, threatened to leave the
Warsaw Pact, Khrushchev sent in tanks to quell the rebellion. - Nagy was removed and shot, and a more acceptable leader, Janos Kadar, took over.
- In spite of appeals by the rebels, the US government did not intervene.
- A more moderate government in Hungary might have helped the USA ‘contain’ the Soviet Union,
but the risks of intervention were thought to be too high. - Moreover, the USA was preoccupied with the Suez crisis.
14
Q
Berlin
A
- Khrushchev faced problems over Germany.
- First, the West refused to recognise the legitimacy of the East German state.
- Secondly, America, Britain and France used West Berlin for espionage and sabotage.
- Khrushchev tried to force the West to recognise East Germany, by threatening to give East
Germany control of the West’s access routes to West Berlin. - Then he gave the West an ultimatum that they must do something about West Berlin within six
months, or face dire consequences (November 1958). - However, when it became clear that the West would stand firm, Khrushchev backed down in
March 1959. - Khrushchev and Eisenhower had their first ever summit meeting in September 1959.
- Although the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed, they made no progress on Berlin. Khrushchev
hoped for a Berlin agreement at the Paris summit in May 1960. - However, this summit failed as, just before the meeting, the Soviet Union shot down a U-2
American spy-plane and captured the pilot, Gary Powers. Eisenhower was forced to admit the
plane’s intent and Khrushchev refused to attend the summit.
15
Q
The Suez Crisis (1956)
A
- In July 1956, the Egyptian leader, Gamal Nasser, took control of the Suez Canal, the important
trade waterway that gave a quicker route from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. - Britain and France were particularly angered and with Israel’s help, invaded the Canal Zone.
- They were not supported by the USA who forced them to withdraw by the use of financial
sanctions. - Eisenhower wanted to keep in with the Arab nations, believing the Western world needed their
oil and friendship against the Communist bloc. - In addition, Eisenhower was furious that Britain, France and Israel had acted without keeping him
informed.
16
Q
Results of The Suez Crisis (1956)
A
- The crisis illustrated that Britain and France were no longer world powers and were heavily
dependent on the USA. - Moreover, it increased American involvement in the Middle East.
- In January 1957, Eisenhower asked Congress for military and economic aid for any Middle East
country that was threatened by aggression or subversion. - This became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine and was an extension of containment to the
Middle East. - However, Egypt and Syria turned increasingly to the USSR, as the Anglo–French actions had
reminded them of the Western ‘colonial’ mentality. - Both the USA and the USSR gave and/or sold increasing amounts of armaments to their allies in
this area.
17
Q
Communist China (1949–1960)
A
- The USA was involved in the Chinese Civil War in the years 1945–1949.
- The USA gave aid to Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalists in their struggle against Mao
and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). - However, by 1949 the USA had abandoned Chiang, who fled with thousands of followers to the
island of Taiwan. - America was unhappy with Mao’s success in late 1949, fearing that other Asian countries might
follow China’s lead. - The United States refused to formally recognise the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and, instead,
the USA maintained diplomatic relations with the Republic of China government in Taiwan,
recognising it as the sole legitimate government of China. - After the Civil War, the USA seemed to lose interest in China.
- However, the Korean War changed the US attitude.
- Truman sent the US Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Straits and relations with China remained cool
during the presidency of Eisenhower. - The USA hated Communism and was convinced that Beijing was Moscow’s puppet.
- Dulles, the US Secretary of State under Eisenhower, insisted that Chinese Communism was more
threatening than Soviet Communism. - China had more people and greater cultural influence and prestige in Asia.
- There were major Chinese minorities in most nations in Asia and other Asian nations were
relatively weak. - Mao hated capitalism, felt that America was imperialistic and resented American aid to Chiang
during and after the Civil War. - The USA interpreted the Korean War as a sign that Chinese-sponsored Communism was
expansionist and threatened US security. - It convinced America that China was determined to aid revolutions throughout the world.
- China interpreted the Korean War as a sign that the USA was aggressive, wanted to get a foothold
on the Asian mainland and was likely to attack China itself. - Relations continued to deteriorate after the Korean War.
- The USA put a trade embargo on China and kept it out of the United Nations, as well as
establishing military bases in Taiwan. - Mao was infuriated by the US–Taiwan Defence Treaty, which was signed in 1954.
- In the following year, Communist China shelled the Chinese Nationalist islands of Quemoy and
Matsu, which were very close to the Chinese mainland. - Eisenhower hinted in public that he was considering the use of atomic weapons to protect Taiwan.
- Mao, furious and humiliated, backed down.
- There was a similar crisis in 1958 over the same two islands. Once again, the USA threatened
military action and Mao backed down.
18
Q
The Cold War Arms Race
A
- In the years following the Second World War the USA became involved in an arms race,
particularly with the Soviet Union, to develop ever more powerful weapons, which worsened
relations between the two superpowers during the Cold War.
19
Q
Atomic Weapons
A
- Stalin had been shocked in 1945 by the news that the USA had tested its first atomic bomb.
- The Soviet atomic research programme was transformed over the next few years, partly due to
the use of Soviet spies in the USA who were able to find out American atomic secrets. - In 1949, the USSR exploded its first nuclear weapon. The USA had therefore lost its monopoly on
atomic weapons. - President Truman said the USA would seek to develop a hydrogen bomb, with as much as a
thousand times the power of an atomic bomb. - When this weapon was finally tested in Bikini Atoll in March 1954, both sides were entering into
an arms race and developing weapons of mass destruction that could, if used, have led to the end
of the world. - Eisenhower inherited the hydrogen bomb from Truman.
- Within a year (1953) the Soviets had caught up. Each superpower wanted more and better atomic
weaponry than the other. - The first American surface-to-surface ballistic missiles were tested in 1947.
- When the USSR’s long-range Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) was operational a few
weeks before the American ICBM, America was humiliated. - In 1954, America’s first nuclear-propelled submarine was operational and, in 1960, America
tested a missile fired from a submerged submarine to hit any target on the globe. - At this point, the Soviet navy was years behind the American navy.
20
Q
Military Spending
A
- The prospect of other countries developing nuclear weapons meant the USA could be attacked.
- As a result, the military–industrial complex was to develop, with defence spending between $40
to $50 billion per year in the 1950s and 90 per cent of foreign aid to US allies going on military
spending. - Billions of dollars were spent on maintaining a military presence throughout Western Europe and
South-east Asia, equipping the armed forces, and weapons research and development. - Defence establishments were built in otherwise poor areas such as the Southern states; often
they were to be found in the areas represented by politicians on the appropriate committees in
Congress. - Desert areas in Arizona and New Mexico became centres for weapons testing.
- Many firmsfollowed the military to their new bases, being awarded lucrative contracts to provide
weapons, research and equipment. - Some historians have argued that this post-war boom in military spending helped to smooth out
the former economic inequalities within the USA. - California, in particular, benefited from military contracts. One of the knock-on effects was the
development of an industry in high technology that was to see it become the centre of the
computer industry; the first IBM computer was introduced in 1953.
