The Cold War

Question 1

What were the ideological difference between the USA and USSR

Answer 1

USA - Capitalist
USSR - Communist

Question 2

What happened in WWII to cause tension ?

Answer 2

Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939)
Entry into war - Nazi-Soviet Pact broken, Pearl harbour

Question 3

When was the Yalta conference ?

Answer 3

February 1945

Question 4

When was the Potsdam Conference ?

Answer 4

July 1945

Question 5

What happened at the Yalta conference ?

Answer 5

Germany split into 4 zones, Stalin agreed to hold free elections in eastern Europe (didn’t actually happen)

Question 6

Who was at the Yalta conference ?

Answer 6

Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin (The grand alliance - put aside long term distrust to work together)

Question 7

Why was there tension at the Potsdam conference ?

Answer 7

New leaders - Truman, Attlee, Stalin
Stalin had started to set up communist governments in eastern Europe
Atomic bomb - Stalin knew about it because of spies in the Manhattan project

Question 8

When / where were the atomic bombs dropped ??

Answer 8

6th and 9th August 1945 - Hiroshima, Nagasaki

Question 9

How did the atomic bomb cause tension?

Answer 9

Led to arms race
distrust - USA had atomic bomb, didn’t tell USSR (they had spies anyway)

Question 10

How did the atomic bomb decrease tension?

Answer 10

both sides less willing to go to war, risks were higher, more people would be killed

Question 11

How many Japanese civilians were killed by the atomic bombs ?

Answer 11

120,000

Question 12

What was the long telegram?

Answer 12

George Kennan (USA’s ambassador working in Moscow) sent a telegram to the USA government detailing hostile attitudes to the USA in Moscow

Question 13

What did George Kennan believe about the soviets?

Answer 13

That they would back down if faced with tough resistance, which played a key role in USA foreign policy

Question 14

When was the iron curtain speech?

Answer 14

March 1946

Question 15

What was the iron curtain speech?

Answer 15

Churchill made a speech criticising the Soviet Union as a threat to world peace, arguing they were trying to spread their influence and gain power across Eastern Europe

Question 16

How did Stalin react to the iron curtain speech?

Answer 16

Saw it as a reflection of the USA’s views, so strengthened the USSR’s forces and increased anti-western propaganda

Question 17

What was the soviet bloc?

Answer 17

Stalin was reluctant to give up control of the satellite states acquired after WWII, as he saw it as a buffer zone between the soviet union and germany

Question 18

How did the USSR install communist governments?

Answer 18

rigging, execution, arrests

Question 18

How did Truman view soviet expansion in Europe?

Answer 18

he saw it as evidence that the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism worldwide

Question 19

What was the Truman doctrine?

Answer 19

A speech made by Truman in march 1947 outlining the threat posed by communism

Question 20

Why was the Truman doctrine in 1947?

Answer 20

because Turkey and Greece were both in danger of turning communist

Question 21

What was Marshall Aid?

Answer 21

USA pledged $13.15 billion for countries in West and East Europe to aid economic recovery, make capitalism more appealing and promote unity in Europe

Question 22

What was cominform?

Answer 22

September 1947 - political association which gave Stalin the power to control the governments of his satellite states

Question 23

What was comecon?

Answer 23

Jan 1949 - Council for Mutual Economic Assistance with the aim to provide economic aid. It was an alternative to the Marshall Plan and encouraged trade between its members

Question 24

What happened with Yugoslavia?

Answer 24

communist led by a dictator called Tito. He was not loyal to Stalin or Moscow. In 1948 Tito he accepted Marshall aid and Stalin expelled the country from Cominform

Question 25

When was the Berlin blockade?

Answer 25

June 1948

Question 26

What was the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 26

Stalin shut off land routes across East Germany into West Berlin - there was no communication and food was running out

Question 27

How did the west respond to the blockade?

Answer 27

the berlin airlift - they flew food, coal and other necessities into West Berlin
At its height, a plane arrived in Berlin every 3 minutes

Question 28

When / why did the blockade end?

Answer 28

Stalin looked unwise and aggressive - surrendered and ended the blockade on 12th May 1949.

Question 29

What were the consequences of the Berlin airlift?

Answer 29

The Federal Republic of Germany / FDR created in west germany
German Democratic Republic / GDR created in response by USSR in October 1949

Question 30

when was NATO established?

Answer 30

1949

Question 31

What is domino theory

Answer 31

if communism spread into one country, it would then spread to nearby countries, which would fall like dominoes - this made containment even more important to the USA.