The Origins of the Cold War 1917-45 Flashcards
A) The Russian Revolution and Allied Intervention
Why was there immediate hostility between the new soviet Russia and the West in 1917?
The first world war brought these great states more closely in contact with each other. When the USA entered the war against Germany, they were briefly allies, but this changed dramatically once the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917 and made peace with Germany.
A) The Russian Revolution and Allied Intervention
What ideological differences were there between President Wilson and Lenin?
Wilson in his 14 points of April 1918 presented an ambitious global program for self determination, free-trade and collective security through a league of nations, while Lenin preached world domination and communism.
B) The USSR and the West 1924-45
Account for the relations between the soviet union and the west in the 1920s
In 1920 the US withdrew into isolation and in the 1930s the USSR under Stalin increasingly concentrated on building up it’s military and industrial strength. This did not stop Moscow from attempting to undermine capitalism and the British and French colonial empires through the Comitern. In the late 1920s relations between Britain and the USSR were so poor that they have been described as the first Anglo-Soviet cold war. yet there was no bipolar line-up.
B) The USSR and the West 1924-45
How did Hitler create context for the cold war?
It was Hitler who created context for the cold war when he invaded Russia in June 1941 and then just after the Japanese attack on pearl harbor in December; declared war on the USA, the subsequent defeat and occupation of Germany by the USSR and the Western Allies in 1945 at last brought the two superpowers, the USSR nad the USA face to face
What did Hitler predict in 1945
A few days before he comitted suicide in April 1945 hitler predicted that; with the defeat of the reich(Germany) and pending the emergence of the Asiatic, the African and perhaps the South American nationalisms there will remain in the world only two great superpowers there will remain in the world only two great superpowers capable of confronting each other - the USA and the USSR. The laws of history and geography will compel these two powers to a trial of strength either military or in the fields or economics and ideology.
