the 1940s Flashcards
When was the Yalta conference and who was there?
4-11th February 1945
Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill
What was agreed at Yalta?
At Yalta it was agreed that:
-Germany would be divided into four zones (British, French, USSR and USA)
-Berlin would also be divided
-The United Nations Organisation would be ratified
-The USSR would gain land from Poland and Poland would be expanded to the north and west.
-A declaration on Liberated Europe would be created.
The Yalta conference signified great optimism as there seemed to be agreement between East and West. However, each leader wanted different things and relations started to detoriate.
what was the 1944 Percentages agreement?
Churchill and Stalin met in Moscow. The basis of the agreement was to establish the percentage of predominance Britain and the USSR would each have in Eastern European states. For example, in Hungary it was 50% each.
When was the Potsdam conference and who attended?
17th July-1st August 1945
Truman Attlee and Stalin
What was agreed at Potsdam?
It was agreed that:
-Germany was to be completely disarmed and demilitarised
-de-Nazification was to be carried out
-decentralisation of the political system was to be undertaken and local responsibility developed
-freedom of speech and a free press were to be restored
-Germany was to become a single economic unit with common policies on industry and finance
-the USSR was to receive reparations from its own zone and an additional 25% from western zones.
The Potsdam conference did nothing to reinforce the notion of international cooperation aimed at reconstructing a long term future for post war.
What happened in Poland after the Yalta and Potsdam conferences?
Despite the fact that a Polish government existed in exile in London the pro Stalin Lublin Government was established and became Stalins means of political control. The agreements at Yalta had partly facilitated this process but Stalin simply failed to conform to the full range of the Yalta agreements as far as Poland was concerned. By agreeing to free elections at Yalta, Stalin was able to preserve the role of the Lublin Government. The provisional government of National Unity was formed in June 1945 and it contained both ends of the political spectrum. He used tactics to appear to allow multi party elections but with a clear intent to ensure that the result he wanted would eventually emerge. In January 1947, these two parties (Peasant Party and Communist party) merged and the communist became the dominant group. Gomulka did not agree with Soviet Policies and in 1948 was replaced with Boleslaw Bierut where Poland was now under Soviet influence.
What happened with Soviet influence over Yugoslavia in 1948?
Initially Yugoslavia, led by Tito were committed Stalinists. By 1948, soviet influence over Yugoslavia was reducing due to conflict between Stalin and Tito as Stalin wanted to impose Soviet control over Southern and Eastern European states, through social and economic policies. These had to confirm to Soviet policies and clearly be seen to be in line with Soviet interests. In June 1948 Yugoslavia was expelled from was expelled from Cominform. Its leaders were accused of abandoning Leninist Marxism and thereby no longer conforming to an acceptable political position. Yugoslavia was able to survive due to economic aid from the USA.
What was Cominform, when was it established and why?
Created as a response to economic imperialism and the reconstruction of Germany through the Marshall plan. He believed that the USA was engineering an anti-Soviet, US led global alliance. Communist representatives from across Europe were summoned to a meeting in Poland in preparation for the creation of the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) created in 1947. Purpose of Cominform was to unite and coordinate the role and actions of communist groups throughout Europe in order that the Communist Party functioned as a united whole under the direction of Moscow.
What was said in Kennans Long telegram 1946?
Many historians regard his long telegram as being fundamental in the shaping of US policy towards the Soviet Union and ultimately determining the USAs role as a global power. Kennan had long favoured the USA adopting a hard line approach against the USSR and the belief that communism was an uncompromising in its ideological threat to the free world. He also believed that Stalin wanted to replace, in the minds of the Soviet people, the fear of Germany and Japan with the fear of the USA and Britian which would legitimise the Stalinist regime. Kennan believed that there was a certainty in collapse between East-West relations. Kennan emphasised that the USSR viewed the West as hostile and menacing. Significantly he urged the USA to be prepared to threaten the use of force, ensure unity amongst its allies and develop a proactive approach especially in Europe.
What was stated in Kennans X article 1946?
Kennan added to his initial thoughts by producing the X article in which he called for a systematic and focused containment of Soviet expansionist tendencies. Kennan’s analysis, founded on the idea that Soviet Foreign Policy was aggressive and ideologically driven resonated with Trumans growing certainty that the USSR was a threat to the USAs security.
By early 1946, the USAs security had become as powerful a force in the emerging post war international relations. The impact of the Long Telegram was to feed the seeds for change and changed the USAs approach to a proactive hard line approach.
When was Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech and what was said?
Churchill delivered in 1946 a direct attack on Soviet policies which convinced Stalin that Britain were going to undertake an anti-Soviet ideological assault. 10 days after Churchills speech, Stalin delivered a response
What happened with the Greek Civil War of 1947?
When Greece was liberated from Nazi occupation, a civil war erupted between Greek monarchists and Greek communists. Britain had been supporting and sending aid to the anti-communist forces however, after the war they announced aid was no longer available and appealed to the USA to carry on giving aid. The Truman Doctrine stopped the Soviet Union from aiding the Greek communists.
What was the Truman Doctrine on containment 1947?
The motives for Trumans decision to introduce his doctrine included:
-It was a piece of diplomacy that stopped the Soviet Union from aiding the Greek communist movement.
-It was designed to protect democracy, freedom and there was no aggressive intent. It was a response to Soviet aggressive political, strategic and ideological expansionism in Eastern Europe.
-Truman needed to demonise the USSR and present them as an enemy of the USA in order to justify his aims of protecting the USAs vital national interests.
-Truman had to provoke the USSR. His doctrine was designed to make the USSR feel threatened by the power of the USA. Truman wanted a cold war to start as it would justify the USAs role as defender of freedom and would enable the USA to function as a world power.
-The doctrine formed a important element of the USAs aim of developing its global economic power. By creating the USSR as an enemy, the USA would make other countries not only politically dependent on them but also economically- helps form close political ties and trade relations.
-The doctrine was the first step in the creation of containment as the basis of US post war foreign policy. The next step came through the Marshall plan which was introduced in 1947 and was designed to reinforce the doctrine.
Why did the idea of the Marshall plan come about in 1947?
In July 1945 Assistant Secretary of State, Dean Acheson warned that the situation in Europe mirrored a wider international problem, which represented a threat to the stability of international democracy based on capitalism. This was reinforced by Under Secretary of State William Clayton in May 1947. He argued that without substantial economic aid from the USA, Europe would experience social, economic and political disintegration which would damage the USA economically (due to a loss of market for American goods and consequent unemployment in the USA). This exaggerated the economic importance of Europe to the USA and illustrated the USAs rising concern about its relationship with Europe.
What was the Marshall plan 1947 and what were its conditions?
On the 5th June 1947, George Marshall unveiled his plan, officially known as the European Recovery Programme (ERP). A condition of receiving the aid was that it had to be spent on goods from the USA (benefits the USAs economy) and a stable European bloc would be created in order to reinforce Trumans idea of containment.
