The development of the cold war

Question 1

What happened in China?

Answer 1

• At the end of WW2, the communists in China and the nationalists fought for control of the country
• In 1949,the communists won the civil war
• The people’s republic of china was created - led by Mao Zedong

Question 2

Why did China turning communist please ussr?

Answer 2

• They saw it as a victory for world communism
• They saw people choosing communism
• They believed communism would spread to asia
• It gave them a large and potentially powerful friend in a new part of the world - shifting balance of power in their favour

Question 3

What did USSR sign with China?

Answer 3

-They signed a Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance with China

Question 4

Why did China turning communist worry USA?

Answer 4

• They saw it as part of the communist struggle to conquer the world
• They saw communism being imposed by force
• Fear of communist expansion reached fever pitch
• They believed communism would now spread into all SE Asia (domino effect)

Question 5

What happened to korea at the end of ww2?

Answer 5

• At the end of the Second World War, North Korea had been taken over by the USSR and they had set it up as a Communist state.
• In South Korea the Americans had also set up a government, this was supposed to be a democracy but relied mainly on military backing.
• Syngman Rhee (South Korean President) and Kim Il Sung (North Korean President) both claimed the right to be president of the whole of Korea.
• North Korea invaded the South in June 1950.

Question 6

What happened as North korea invaded?

Answer 6

• The North Korean forces pushed the South Koreans into a small corner in the South which was known as the Pusan Pocket.
• Truman asked the United Nations to help and the permanent members of the Security Council agreed (normally the USSR would have vetoed this but they were boycotting the meetings as a protest due to the fact China had not been allowed to join).

Question 7

Events of korean war

Answer 7

• The UN forces (mainly Americans) drove the Communists back up near to the borders of the Yalu River.
• China became worried and they drove back the UN forces.
• The commander, General MacArthur called for the use of the atomic bomb. He was later sacked by Truman.
• The UN troops began to push back the Communists again.
• In June 1952 most of the fighting was taking place around the 38th parallel.
• In 1953, a truce was signed at Panmunjom, which was located on the 38th parallel.

Question 8

How did the korean war make the cold war worse?

Answer 8

• First thime there was actual fighting between the 2 sides
• Indicated that Truman was prepared to stick to the truman doctrine
• Usa contemplated using atomic bomb and USSR & China discussed going to war against USA
• Moved out of europe for first time

Question 9

Nikita Krushchev

Answer 9

• In 1953, Stalin died and Nikita Khrushchev became the Soviet leader.
• He said to prevent the most destructive war in history, there needed to be “peaceful co-existence” between the superpowers.
• He said Stalin was a terrible tyrant and he wanted to “de-Stalinise” Eastern Europe.

Question 10

Was there a thaw in the cold war?

YES

Answer 10

• USSR helped end the korean war when they withdrew support for North Korea
• In 1955, a summit conference in Geneva- USSR agreed to Austrian State treaty and pulled troops out
• Destalinization and coexistence
• Khrushchev visited Britain and in 1959 visited USA
• Khrushchev closed down cominform and built better relationship with Yugoslavia

Question 11

Was there a thaw in the cold war?

NO

Answer 11

• The USSR set up warsaw pact and had a treaty with China
• In 1956 Khrushchev set in army to stp Hungary from trying to break away from soviet control
• Arms race conitued
• Cold war moved to space - space race

Question 12

Why was warsaw pact formed?

Answer 12

As a response to NATO and West German rearmament

Question 13

What was the Warsaw Pact?

Answer 13

• Formed in 1949
• It was an Eastern European version of NATO made up of most of the communist states in that area and was dominated by the USSR.

Question 14

Countries in Warsaw pact

Answer 14

The countries that made up the Warsaw Pact were: The USSR, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.

Question 15

How did NATO and The Warsaw Pact make the cold war worse?

Answer 15

• Divided the world into 2 hostile, armed camps
• Having allies might encourage more aggression and confrontation
• Increased risk of a small conflict becoming a much bigger one
• USSR felt surrounded, ans with US missiles placed in Europe, increasingly vulnerable
• Led to the building up of the arms race as both sides began to build more and more powerful nuclear weapons

Question 16

Why did the Hungarians want to break away from soviet control?

Answer 16

• The Hungarian leader was Matyas Rakosi, a hard-line communist fully under the control of Moscow.
• Rakosi’s secret police (the AVH) created a climate of fear, arresting anyone who spoke out or opposed communist rule. Consequently, Hungarians had no freedom of speech and even something as simple as listening to Western music could lead to arrest.
• Thousands of Soviet troops and officials were stationed in Hungary, and they were a drain on Hungarian resources, leading to poverty.
• The Russian language was being forced on the Hungarian people. Hungarian street signs were being replaced with Russian ones, and Russian was imposed as the language in schools.

Question 17

What happened in June 1956?

Answer 17

In June 1956 the Hungarian people began to protest against Rakosi’s regime, and Moscow replaced him with Erno Gero. Gero was no more popular and, following huge demonstrations, the Soviets agreed to the formation of a new government under the leadership of the more liberal Imre Nagy

Question 18

What did Nagy’s reforms include?

Answer 18

Nagy’s reforms included:

• Free elections to choose a democratic government.
• An impartial legal system to ensure fair trials.
• The total withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.
• Farmers to be allowed private ownership of their land (instead of it being state owned).
• Hungary to leave the Warsaw Pact and declare neutrality in the Cold War.

Question 19

How did USSR respond?

Answer 19

Thousands of Soviet tanks and soldiers entered Hungary to crush the protests. Nagy was arrested and executed. He was replaced by Janos Kadar who eradicated the remaining resistance.

Question 20

Why did Khrushchev refuse to allow the reforms?

Answer 20

• Khrushchev refused to accept the idea of Hungary leaving the Warsaw Pact as it would leave a gap in the USSR’s buffer zone with Western Europe.
• Soviet security was Khrushchev’s priority, and he decided to crackdown on the new Hungarian government.
• Other satellite states may tr to do the same

Question 21

How did West respond? Why?

Answer 21

• Although they expressed sympathy for the Hungarian people, there was no attempt at intervention by the US or Western Europe.
• This was because of problems in Suez canal, Egypt
• It was clear that the West was not prepared to attempt roll back of communism within the Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe.

Question 22

U2 incident

Answer 22

• Just thirteen days before Paris summit, on 1 May 1960, an American U2 spy plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down over the USSR.
• The USA claimed that the U2 was a weather monitoring plane that had lost its way.
• However, the film that the Soviets retrieved from the plane clearly indicated that Powers had been on a spying mission.
• When President Eisenhower arrived in Paris for the summit meeting, Khrushchev demanded he apologise for the mission, and when Eisenhower refused Khrushchev walked out.

Question 23

How did events in Hungary affect the cold war?

Answer 23

• Showed that Khrushchev was only prepared to go so far with his new approach
• Hungary (and any other satellite state) would not be allowed to leave the warsaw pact
• Khruschev strengthened his position USSR
• Other satellite states would not dare challenge Soviet control after this
• Led to increased tension with the West but they didn’t take any action

Question 24

space race

Answer 24

USA began a programme in 1955 to send a man-made satellite into space.

• However on October 1957 the Soviets shocked the Americans by sending the first man-made satellite called Sputnik, later they rubbed salt into the wound by sending Sputnik II with a dog named Laika.
• The USA responded by pouring money into space research, in 1958 th the Americans launched Explorer I satellite.
• The USA seemed to be edging ahead but on the 12 April 1961 the Soviets shocked everyone by sending the first human in space, Major Yuri Gagarin
• USA responded immediately by starting the space programme to put a man on the moon.
• In July 1969 Apollo 11 landed Neil Armstrong on the moon.

Question 25

Arms race

Answer 25

1952 USA Hydrogen Bomb
1953 USSR Hydrogen Bomb
1957 USSR test Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBMs)
1958 USA Test ICBMs
1959 USA launches submarine loaded with nuclear weapons
1966 USSR builds Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) to protect Moscow

Question 26

Mutually Assured Destruction

Answer 26

• Both sides knew that any attack upon the other would be suicide. In theory this would restrain one side from attacking the other.
• Many historians argue that it was due to this that the nuclear arms race actually prevented war.

Question 27

How did the arms race/space race make the cold war worse?

Answer 27

• Increased fear & mistrust between the two sides
• Encouraged confrontation & aggression
• Increased the danger of conflict, leading to nuclear war

Question 28

How did U2 incident affect the cold war?

Answer 28

• Seen as a propaganda victory for USSR
• Ended thaw and peaceful coexistence - mistrust and tension increased
• Paris summit collapsed & question of berlin remained unresolved
• Criticism of usa for causing this
• Khrushchev and ussr grew in confidance
• US forces were put on alert as some reaction from USSR was expected