The Iron Curtain And The Evolution Of East And West Rivalry

Question 1

What happened at the end of WW2

Answer 1

• ussr controlled most of Eastern Europe
• red army occupied the land they had taken from the Nazi - Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia
• communism was popular in Eastern Europe
• the soviets made it very difficult for non communists to gain power in these countries by rigging election and arresting and executing opponents

Question 2

Western response to the Soviet expansion

Answer 2

• the long telegram
• churchills iron curtain speech

Question 3

Long telegram

Answer 3

• Kennan in 1946 believed that the soviets wanted to spread the USSRs influence as wide as possible
• the USSR saw the USA as its enemy

Question 4

Churchills iron curtains speech

Answer 4

Winston Churchill made a speech about the situation in Europe on 1946.
- the ussr was attempting to spread its influence across the rest of Europe and increase its power
- an invisible line had split Europe in 2 between the east and the west, he called this the iron curtain

Question 5

The Truman doctrine

Answer 5

The American policy towards communism after ww2.
Truman said:
- communism was a serious threat to the USA and the rest of the world
- the USA would support any country that was under the threat of communism
- the focus must be on containing communism and keeping it within the countries that have already been established

Question 6

Purpose of the Truman doctrine

Answer 6

To make it clear to the USSR that it’s expansion into Europe has to end. It was also a response to the situation in Greece and turkey where it seemed that communism was about to take hold

Question 7

The Marshall plan

Answer 7

• European recovery program that put into practice

Question 8

Aims of the Marshall plan

Answer 8

1- aid economic recovery in Europe in order to stop people from turning to communism
2- to support the containment of communism within Eastern Europe
3- to create a market for American goods in order to build up the American economy

Question 9

the plan of the marshall plan

Answer 9

-$13.15 billion was divided among the countries that were willing to accept the aid
-aid was offered to all of the countries in eastern europe, east and west
-aid was supplied in the form of money or resources, however all resources had to be bought from american supplies.

Question 10

the result of the marshall plan

Answer 10

• marhsall aid was vital for the recovery of western europe. it allowed economies to be rebuilt and the standard of living to rise
• the american economy also benefited
• it demonstrated that the usa was committed to the involvement in europe for the long term
• communism became less popular in western europe
• the division of east and west became even more firmly established, as stalin forbade counties behind the iron curtain from accepting the aid.

Question 11

stalins reaction to the american policies on communism

Answer 11

cominform and comecon

Question 12

stalins reaction to the truman doctrine

Answer 12

cominform
-stalin saw the truman doctrine as a threat to communism
-he created the cominform to ensure unity in eastern europe
-all cominform member countries would meet regularly in moscow to ensure that they were all following the same policies

Question 13

stalins response to the marshall plan

Answer 13

comecon
-stalin saw the marshall plan as an example of ‘dollar imperialism’ by the usa. he thought that the usa gained power over countries that had accepted their aid and was fearful that they were using this power for world domination
- he made it clear that eastern european countries should not accept any aid from the usa
- countries who signed up to comecon were agreeing to work together and share resources in what was officially a union of equal partners
- in reality all decisions were made in moscow

Question 14

yugoslavia

Answer 14

yugoslavia was a problem for stalin:
- unlike any other communist countries in eastern europe, yugoslavia did not owe its freedom from the nazis to the red army.
this made tito, their leader, have no loyalty to stalin.
- tito was unwilling to follow all of stalins instructions as he saw yugoslavia as an independent country.
- in 1948, tito accepted marshall aid,which is what stalin has forbidden, making yugoslavia the only communist country to accept this aid from the usa

Question 15

berlin blockade and airlift causes

Answer 15

• the division of berlin had been agreed at Yalta and the Potsdam conference
• the western allied were keen for germany to be rebuilt and unified, but stalin opposed this as he saw germany as a potential threat.
• in march 1948, the western allies agreed to unify their sectors of germany and introduce new currency. stalin did the same in the east
• the ussr’s ultimate aim was for the withdrawal of all western officials from berlin

Question 16

the blockade

Answer 16

from april 1948, a ‘mini-blockade’ began.
-this concluded blocking military supply routes, traffic restrictions and closing bridges.
-tensions increases after a british and a soviet plane collided on the 5th of april and violence broke out
-june 1948, stalin launched a full blockade. transport links were blocked into west berlin- no food, fuels or medical supplies could reach people

Question 17

western response to the blockade

Answer 17

• truman and atlee were both determined to not give in
• the wests response was a counter blockade which stops trains from travelling out of west berlin however this was a limiting impact.
• june 1948, british and american planes began delivering supplies to west berlin.
• 15th april 1949, nearly 12000 tonnes of coal were delivered and tensions remained high and war became a possibility
  -12th may, stalin ended the blockade.

Question 18

consequences of the blockade and airlift

Answer 18

• pushed the sides to the brink of war and east west relations were the worst they had ever been.
• 23rd may 1949, west germany became an FDR
• october 1949, GDR was created as a soviet style communist state.
• april 1949, britain, usa and 10 other countries who are non communist formed NATO. the USA was committed to supporting and protecting western europe. a soviet rival, warsaw pact was created 6 years later