The Origins Of The Cold War

Question 1

Why did the United States - Soviet Union alliance begin to break down in 1945?

Answer 1

• Removal of the common enemy – The threat from Germany was gone, and therefore there was no need for Allied cooperation that had been extensive during the war
• Ideological differences – The United States followed a democratic, capitalist approach whereas the Soviet Union had a communist ideology. This made it difficult to build up trust between the two.
• History of distrust – Stalin saw that the West frequently tried to limit Soviet interests and believed that the West had seen Hitler and the Nazis as a buffer against the spread of communism in the 1930’s. Stalin had also not been invited to the Munich Conference.
• The Soviet Union in world affairs – By early 1945 it was obvious the Soviet “sphere of influence” was growing. Stalin was included in the conferences at Yalta and Potsdam in 1935. He made no secret of his desire to see communism spread to other countries which worried the United States.

Question 2

What were the ideological differences between Capitalism (USA) and Communism (Soviet Union)?

Answer 2

Question 3

Why was the Yalta Conference held?

Answer 3

In February 1945 it was obvious that Germany was going to lose the war, the leaders of the key Allies, USA (Roosevelt), Britain (Churchill) and Soviet Union (Stalin) met to discuss the future shape of Europe. The first conference was held at Yalta.

Question 4

What were the leaders’ priorities for the leaders at Yalta?

Answer 4

• Churchill - To maintain Britain’s global empire and prestige. Withstand pressure from the USA and the USSR to end Britain’s colonial empire
• Roosevelt - To ensure world peace after the war finished, so that the USA could rebuild its connections with the global economy. Roosevelt believed that world peace and global free trade would ensure an event like the Great Depression wouldn’t happen again. He believed that a United Nations organisation would be an effective peacekeeping force
• Stalin - To guarantee Soviet security against western imperialist aggression. Russia had been invaded three times from the west between 1914 and 1941. Stalin wanted a buffer zone of communist countries in eastern Europe to give Russia that security.

Question 5

What was agreed in the Yalta Conference with regard to Germany?

Answer 5

• Surrender would be unconditional
• Germany and its capital would be temporarily divided into four zones
• War criminals would be punished
• Germany would have to pay reparations

Question 6

What was agreed in the Yalta Conference with regard to countries formally occupied by Germany?

Answer 6

• Following liberation countries would hold free elections for people decide how they were governed

Question 7

What was agreed in the Yalta Conference with regard to the future of Poland?

Answer 7

• A provisional government would form comprising of pro-Soviet Poles
• Stalin wanted to take some Polish territory and let Poland take German territory. Roosevelt and Churchill reluctantly agreed to this if the Soviet Union did not interfere in Greece where there was a Civil War between Communists and Royalists
• Free elections would be held

Question 8

What was agreed in the Yalta Conference with regard to the war in Japan

Answer 8

• Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan. In return he would receive land in Manchuria and territory lost to Japan in the 1904-5 Russo-Japanese war

Question 9

What was agreed in the Yalta Conference with regard to how lasting peace would be maintained

Answer 9

• An organisation known as the United Nations would be set up

Question 10

What changed between the Yalta Conference In February 1945 and the Potsdam Conference in July 1945?

Answer 10

• United States – President Roosevelt died in April 1945 and was replaced by Harry Truman. Truman was strongly anti-communist but inexperienced in international affairs. On the eve of the Potsdam conference Truman informed Stalin that the USA had successfully tested an atomic bomb
• Britain – Churchill’s Conservative Party was defeated in a general election and Churchill was replaced by the Labour Party leader, Clement Attle
• Soviet Union – The Soviets had liberated Eastern Europe and had three million troops in the region who were in no rush to leave. They were installing sympathetic governments and failing to hold “free” elections

Question 11

What were the agreements at the Potsdam Conference?

Answer 11

• The Four D’s:
  o Denazification Through trials of top Nazi’s at Nuremberg and the Nazi party banned
  o Demilitarise – Through disbanding soldiers, destruction of fortifications and arms factories
  o Decentralisation – Through the reduction of power of a centralised Government through the formation of new federal states
  o Democratisation – Through Germany being reconstructed on a peaceful and democratic basis
• The decision to split Germany and Berlin into four zones was confirmed
• The Polish German border would be at the Oder-Neisse Line formed by two rivers

Question 12

What were the disagreements at the Potsdam Conference with relation to reparations

Answer 12

20 million Russians had died in WW2 and the Soviet Union had been devastated. Stalin wanted compensation from Germany. Truman was determined not to repeat the mistakes at the end of WW1 and resisted. It was agreed that each Country would take reparations from their own zone and the Soviet Union could take 10% from Western Zones

Question 13

What were the disagreements at the Potsdam Conference with relation to crippling Germany

Answer 13

Stalin wanted to cripple Germany completely to protect the Soviet Union from future threats. Truman didn’t want to repeat the same mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles

Question 14

What were the disagreements at the Potsdam Conference with relation to Eastern Europe

Answer 14

No agreement was reached on the future Government in Poland and “free” elections. Truman was very unhappy with the expansion of Soviet controlled countries in Eastern Europe

Question 15

What were the disagreements at the Potsdam Conference with relation to Japan

Answer 15

The Soviet Union wished to intervene in the war against Japan, but this was refused by Truman

Question 16

What were some of the ways in which the Soviet Union gained control of Eastern Europe?

Answer 16

• At the end of WW2 the Soviet Union Red Army remained in much of Eastern Europe after liberation exerting control and intimidation
• As agreed at the Yalta Conference, “elections” were held in Eastern European countries. By 1948 all these countries had communist governments, achieved through rigged elections and intimidation. Examples included:
  o Romania - In the 1945 elections, a communist-led coalition (made up of more than one political party) government was elected. The Communists gradually removed their coalition partners and abolished the Romanian monarchy.
  o Bulgaria - In 1946 the Bulgarian monarchy was abolished and later that year a communist government was elected and gradually eradicated its opponents
• In October 1947, Stalin set up the Communist Information Bureau or COMINFORM, to coordinate the work of the communist party in Eastern Europe. COMINFORM regularly brought the leaders of each communist party to Moscow to be briefed by Stalin and ministers
• The Secret Police imprisoned anyone who opposed communist rule
• Western reporters were banned from entering Eastern Europe

Question 17

What happened in Czechoslovakia?

Answer 17

• In 1938 Prime Minister Benes is “stabbed in the back” by Britain and France at the Munich Conference, he doesn’t forget this
• At the end of WW2 he approaches Stalin to say he favours Communism post war if Stalin can move 2 million Germans out of Czechoslovakia, Stalin agreed and this was included in the Potsdam conference
• In the 196 elections the Communist Party gain 38% of the vote and with the Social Democrats form a Pro Soviet Union government with Benes as President and Gottwald as Prime Minister
• A dispute arises over Marshall Aid, Benes wants to accept but Stalin won’t allow him
• A coup occurs led by Gottwald and Benes is forced to resign. The only remaining non-communist minister Jan Masaryk is found dead in suspicious circumstances
• In the 1948 election there is only one type of candidate, Communist who win the election and the West looks on in horror

Question 18

What was Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” Speech

Answer 18

• In 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech in Fulton, USA
• He said that “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent”
• He also claimed that the Soviet Union was intent on “indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines”
• The impact of his speech was to bolster American and Western European countries opposition to communism and the Soviet Union. To the Soviet Union it was “virtually a declaration of war”

Question 19

What happened in Greece in 1947?

Answer 19

• When the German’s retreated from Greece in 1944, they weft two rival groups, the monarchists and communists fighting to rule the country
• The communists wanted Greece to be part of the Soviet Republic, the monarchists wanted the return of the King of Greece
• Churchill sent British Troops to Greece supposedly to restore order to support free elections. In fact the British troops were supporting the monarchists and the King returned to power
• The Soviet Union protested to the United Nations that British troops were a threat to peace in Greece but the UN took no action so the communists tried to take control of Greece by force
• A Civil War quickly developed but Britain couldn’t afford the cost of the war and announced it was going to pull out its troops
• Truman stepped in and paid for British and other troops to fight the Communists which they did successfully

Question 20

What was the Truman Doctrine?

Answer 20

• American intervention in Greece marked a new era in the world politics for the USA and a move away from isolationist foreign policy
• The “Truman Doctrine” was seen as a reaction to Churchill’s Fulton speech
• The Truman Doctrine aimed to contain Communism but not push it back – this was called CONTAINMENT
• The USA was prepared to send money, equipment, and advice to any country which in America’s view was threatened by a Communist takeover

Question 21

What was the Marshall Plan and Marshall Aid?

Answer 21

• Truman believed that Communism succeeded when people faced poverty and hardship
• He sent his Secretary of State, George Marshall to assess the economic state of Europe:
  o He found a ruined economy with countries owing $11.5billion to the USA
  o There were extreme shortages of goods, most countries were still rationing bread
  o There was a shortage of coal in the winter of 1947
  o Churchill had described Europe as a “rubble heap, a breading ground for hate”
• Marshall proposed the USA would give Europe $17billion over five years to help it recover
• The USA was concerned that without this support weak European countries might fall to Communism
• The USA also needed a strong European economy to trade with to support its economy
• The USA decided to offer this money to all European countries so not to promote a divide. The Eastern Bloc and Soviet Union were invited to take part
• Initially the USA Congress refused to vote for Truman and Marshall’s plan and aid, however when the Communists took over Czechoslovakia it was quickly voted through
• The Soviet Union responded to the Marshall Aid with great suspicion, Stalin thought the USA was re-financing Europe to enable it to fight the Soviets. In response he set up COMECON,
  o COMECON was the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
  o It was a response to the Marshall Aid to try to strengthen the Soviet block
  o It did work, Eastern Europe recovered slowly but nowhere near as fast as the West

Question 22

What were the tensions over Germany that led to Berlin blockade?

Answer 22

• Following the conferences in Yalta and Potsdam it was agreed to divide Germany into four zones of occupation by the allies. Berlin was deep inside the Soviet Zone and was also divided into four zones
• The war had left Germany devastated and the Allies had different ideas about how to rebuild Germany
• The USA and Britain wanted to help Germany recover quickly. The Soviet Union wanted a weak Germany
• Stalin was using German resources to rebuild the Soviet Union

Question 23

What was the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 23

• Stalin felt he needed to show Western leaders that he could fight back if they encroached on the Soviet “Sphere of Influence”
• In June 1948 he blocked all supply lines into Berlin including road, rail and canals stopping the Western Allies reaching their zones in Berlin
• If the Western Allies tried to force their way through the blockades this would be seen as an act of war
• Stalin expected Truman to announce a humiliating withdrawal from Berlin which would give the Soviet Union full control of Berlin and a propaganda victory

Question 24

What were the short- and long-term causes of the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 24

Question 25

What options did the West have to deal with the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 25

Question 26

What was the Berlin Airlift?

Answer 26

• The Berlin airlift lasted 11 months and involved almost 300,000 flights
• Cargo included coal, food, medicines and petrol
• Planes were landing in West Berlin at a rate of one every two minutes
• Although the Soviets didn’t fire on incoming aircraft, they jammed radios and shone lights at aircraft to temporarily blind pilots
• Stalin lifted the blockade on Berlin in May 1949, having failed to achieve his goal

Question 27

What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 27

• In April 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was set up. It was a military alliance of Western European countries and the USA to provide collective defence against an external attack. If one NATO member was attacked, it would be considered an attack against them all
• In May 1949 it was announced that the Federal German Republic had been formed by merging the zones of the Western allies
• In October 1949 Stalin retaliated by turning the Soviet zone into the German Democratic Republic creating a divided Germany and Berlin
• In May 1955 the Warsaw Pact was formed with eight Communist countries unifying their armed forces under a central command. This was a direct response to the West Germany rearming and joining NATO

Question 28

In what way were the beliefs of the USA to blame for the start of the Cold War

Answer 28

o It saw the threat of Communism as a direct challenge to its own interests abroad
o The actions taken by Truman looked to protect the rights of citizens of other countries to access democracy
o However, it can also be argued that the true purpose of Marshall Aid was to provide a market for American goods and to ensure the preservation of a capitalist, free market system

Question 29

In what way were the actions of the USA to blame for the start of the Cold War

Answer 29

o The Marshall Plan promised aid to countries willing to stand up to the Communist threat and therefore increased anti-communist feeling
o The creation of Bizonia and then Trizonia and the introduction of a new currency into Western Zones was a clear breach of the Potsdam Conference agreement and an attempt to impose a capitalist system
o Truman was very aggressive in his dealings with the Soviet Union and felt that a powerful, nuclear power should be able to dictate the terms of the Potsdam Conference
o NATO was set up as a military alliance to defend members against possible Communist attach

Question 30

In what way were the beliefs of the Soviet Union to blame for the start of the Cold War

Answer 30

o The idea of Communism was that it should be spread. It is intended to impose its own system of government throughout the world
o Stalin had a mistrust of the West which led to concerns for Soviet security driven by historical fears about invasion from the West for example, the events of the Russian Civil War, the belief that Britain and France encouraged Nazi Germany to expand eastwards in the 1930’s as a buffer against communism

Question 31

In what way were the actions of the Soviet Union to blame for the start of the Cold War

Answer 31

o The creation of COMECON ensured each Eastern European country followed the Soviet model of economic policy
o The establishment of COMINFORM was a clear sign that Stalin intended to undermine capitalist society
o Stalin did not abide by the agreements made at the Yalta Conference. He installed a communist government in Poland and went on to install Soviet systems throughout Eastern Europe
o Stalin’s actions over Berlin in 1948 were drastic and destroyed any remaining trust between the two sides