The Cold War Flashcards
What were the ideological difference between the USA and USSR
USA - Capitalist
USSR - Communist
What happened in WWII to cause tension ?
Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939)
Entry into war - Nazi-Soviet Pact broken, Pearl harbour
When was the Yalta conference ?
February 1945
When was the Potsdam Conference ?
July 1945
What happened at the Yalta conference ?
Germany split into 4 zones, Stalin agreed to hold free elections in eastern Europe (didn’t actually happen)
Who was at the Yalta conference ?
Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin (The grand alliance - put aside long term distrust to work together)
Why was there tension at the Potsdam conference ?
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
When / where were the atomic bombs dropped ??
6th and 9th August 1945 - Hiroshima, Nagasaki
How did the atomic bomb cause tension?
Led to arms race
distrust - USA had atomic bomb, didn’t tell USSR (they had spies anyway)
How did the atomic bomb decrease tension?
both sides less willing to go to war, risks were higher, more people would be killed
How many Japanese civilians were killed by the atomic bombs ?
120,000
What was the long telegram?
George Kennan (USA’s ambassador working in Moscow) sent a telegram to the USA government detailing hostile attitudes to the USA in Moscow
What did George Kennan believe about the soviets?
That they would back down if faced with tough resistance, which played a key role in USA foreign policy
When was the iron curtain speech?
March 1946
What was the iron curtain speech?
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
How did Stalin react to the iron curtain speech?
Saw it as a reflection of the USA’s views, so strengthened the USSR’s forces and increased anti-western propaganda
What was the soviet bloc?
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
How did the USSR install communist governments?
rigging, execution, arrests
How did Truman view soviet expansion in Europe?
he saw it as evidence that the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism worldwide
What was the Truman doctrine?
A speech made by Truman in march 1947 outlining the threat posed by communism
Why was the Truman doctrine in 1947?
because Turkey and Greece were both in danger of turning communist
What was Marshall Aid?
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
What was cominform?
September 1947 - political association which gave Stalin the power to control the governments of his satellite states
What was comecon?
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
What happened with Yugoslavia?
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
When was the Berlin blockade?
June 1948
What was the Berlin Blockade?
Stalin shut off land routes across East Germany into West Berlin - there was no communication and food was running out
How did the west respond to the blockade?
the berlin airlift - they flew food, coal and other necessities into West Berlin
At its height, a plane arrived in Berlin every 3 minutes
When / why did the blockade end?
Stalin looked unwise and aggressive - surrendered and ended the blockade on 12th May 1949.
What were the consequences of the Berlin airlift?
The Federal Republic of Germany / FDR created in west germany
German Democratic Republic / GDR created in response by USSR in October 1949
when was NATO established?
1949
What is domino theory
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.
