The Cold War 1945-1949 Flashcards
(1945)
what happened at Yalta conference?
roosevelt, churchill, and stalin met to plan post war world
free elections in poland
idea to divide ger/aus into 3 zones as well as their capitals
russia to fight against japan
created UN
(1945)
what happened at Potsdam conference?
truman, atlee, stalin
decided on 4 zones of occupation
ger to pay reparations by each zone
truman told stalin about atomic bomb
(1945)
how did roosevelt and truman differ when it came to stalin
roosevelt believed he could negotiate with stalin
truman realised he couldn’t and didn’t trust stalin at all
(1945)
why did USA explode two atomic bombs in japan (hiroshima, and nagasaki) ?
end war quickly
show soviets they really had the bomb
why did truman tell stalin about the atomic bomb?
to scare them and show power
thought it would take at least 20 years for ussr to make an atomic bomb, but only took 4 because russia had spies at the manhattan project
(1946)
what was the iron curtain speech?
churchill’s speech
iron curtain was a term he used to refer the division of west and east europe where the soviets had created a buffer zone
1946
what was kennan’s long telegram
it was a telegram made when they asked the american embassy in russia to explain soviet behaviour
he told what the soviets were really up to and their goals
1946
why was the long telegram important?
it proposed what became the basic american policy: containment
opened people’s eyes and realised what really was happening on soviet territory
their ideas of stalin were diff before
without it there wouldn’t be the truman doctrine
1946
what was the policy of containment?
main strategy of the cold war
if usa could keep soviets from expanding, the economical and political weaknesses of the communists would cause the system to fall apart by itself
this way a war would be prevented
1946
greek civil war
explain
royalists vs communists
royalists supported by british
british couldn’t afford to support them anymore
looked for USA for help –> truman doctrine
1946
iran crisis
explain
during WWII usa put troops in south, and ussr put troops in north
in order to secure a supply line from persian gulf, and prevent hitler from taking oil
after the war, instead of leaving as promised, soviets decided to stay
they were able to convince him to leave
1946
turkish straits crisis
explain
russia wanted access and 2 military bases
it was another attempt to influence the area
russia tried to create a communist party in turkey and have them rebel against Attaturk (failed)
1947
truman doctrine
explain
usa to give financial+military aid to help fight communism
first made for greece and turkey but was expanded to anyone trying to fight communism
1947
marshall plan
explain
financial aid to re build europe after WWII
followed the idea that countries would only turn to communism if they were weak, if they were financially well soviets wouldn’t be able to take over
1947
who was included in the marshall plan?
everyone except:
spain: they didn’t want to give money to a fascist dictator (Franco)
finland and switzerland didn’t need it
hungary and poland accepted it but then stalin make them refuse it
1947
what was bizonia?
american and british zones in germany decided to join together, france also joined 2 years later, allowing germans to have their own government
it would be better economically and easier to have only one government, as stalin was trying to weaken their economy
now officially Federal Republic Of Germany, mostly known as West Germany
it was completely separated from east zone
stalin didn’t like it because it became bigger & stronger than his zone
1948
london conference
discussed federal republic of germany
created Deutsch Mark (made stalin afraid of a strong currency)
1948
berlin crisis - causes
bizonia
ussr wanted to destroy germany while us and uk wanted to help it
new currency - destabilised east german economy
1948
events of berlin crisis
berlin blockade
berlin airlift
1948
berlin bockade
explain
stalin closed any links for 11 months
at first people who were inspected could enter/leave but after a month he fully blocked it
(the blockade was a failure, ended in 1949 because stalin realised it wasn’t working)
1948
stalin’s 3 ideas with the berlin blockade
1- cut east berlin’s electricity/water so they would voluntarily join west (was able to do that bc the 2 zones of berlin were inside the soviet side of germany so he controlled the area around it)
2- hoped usa and britain to leave berlin
3- hoped for a war
1948
berlin airlift
explain
allies used cargo planes to supply berliners with food medicine and coal
lasted 11 months
1948
why didn’t stalin stop the berlin airlift
because if he shot the planes he would be seen as an agressor and didn’t want that
1948
what is the significance of the failure of the berlin blockade
changes russian policy from focusing on europe to focusing on asia
1949
NATO
explain
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
military protected organisation to fight communism
initially included 12 countries
members agreed to come to aid of any member who was attacked
soviets reponded to nato by creating a military alliance in eastern europe called the warsaw pact
