Topic 1: The Cold War Flashcards
Berlin Blockade
USSR blocked all roads, railways, and canals leading to West Berlin hoping to force the West to give up West Berlin.
Brinkmanship
Acts that lead two sides to the brink of war, in an effort to try and outdo each other, without actually engaging in conflict.
Communist bloc
Group of states under Communist control in Eastern and Central Europe.
Cuban Missile Crisis
Resulted from USA blockade of access to Cuba by USSR ships. Kennedy had demanded the removal of Russian missiles from Cuba.
Iron Curtain
Term used by Winston Churchill to describe the guarded border between the Soviet-controlled communist satelitte countries of Eastern Europe and the West.
Policy of containment
Included both the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. Intended to contain communism by supporting countries in need of aid.
Proxy wars
Provision of support by USA and USSR to opposing sides in a country but not being directly involved in the conflict.
Satellite states
Term used to describe countries in Eastern Europe controlled by the Soviet Union.
Spheres of influence
Country, or countries, dominated by the presence of one of the superpowers to the exclusion of the other.
Superpower
Independent country powerful enough to influence events on a worldwide scale.
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
COMECON
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
COMINFORM
Communist Information Bureau
GDR
German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
GFR
German Federal Republic (West Germany)
Communism
Believe that advocates for a classless society without private ownership. The means of production was owned by the state. These countries are often one-party states with strong government censorship.
Capitalism
An economic system based on private ownership of industry and agriculture. It is characterised by a free market, motivated by profit.
Democracy
A system of government based on the will of the people. Citizens can take part of decisions made on issues.
Cold War
A state of hostility without actual fighting.
Ideological differences between the superpowers
Capitalism:
1. Right to private property, private enterprise, and profit. Wealth differences, most people well off.
2. Democracy, multiparty governments.
3. Feared communism and totalitarian rule. Which led to forced labour, public trials and purges.
4. USSR army occupied, and did not withdraw from large parts of central Europe.
5. Bolshevik government deserted Russia’s allies by making peace with Germany.
Communism:
1. No private property; state owned. Wealth equally shared; less than USA.
2. Totalitarian, one party state.
3. Capitalism was the ideological enemy.
4. Stalin did not trust the West because they dropped the atomic bomb on Japan without much warning to the USSR.
5. After Bolsheviks sezied power in 1917, the West aided the white army.
6. In 1919 Allies gave away Russian land due to the Paris Peace Conference.
7. Soviets were excluded from the 1938 Munich Conference. Stalin thought the West saw them as the real enemy.
Long-term causes of the Cold War
Period immediately after WW2 in 1945.
Bolshevik Revolution 1917.
Nazi’s invaded USSR in 1941. Grand Alliance formed. US provided weapons and supplies through the lend-lease system. Stalin became suspicious because the USSR was left to fight the Nazi’s alone, meaning more casualties. The US’s first main attack was in July 1944, Normandy Frace. Stalin thought this was to weaken the USSR. The lend-lease system stopped. The West hid the atomic bomb.
The Teheran Conference
Took place in November 1943. It was decided against an Anglo-American invasion of Germany. This left only Soviet troops to clear Eastern Europe and the Balkans of Nazi forces. Post-war affairs in Eastern Europe was a point of mistrust.
Main points:
1. Limited West’s participation in post-war politics.
2. Led Stalin to believe he had free reign in Eastern Europe.
3. Stalin believed the West would accept Soviet control in these areas.
The Yalta Conference
Took place in February 1945. WW2 was drawing to a close. Ideological differences became clear. There were no real agreements reached.
Main points:
1. Germany was divided into 4 zones, occupied by the US, UK, USSR, and France. There was no agreed upon system of government. Berlin, within the Soviet zone, would also be split into 4.
2. Allied Declaration on Liberated Europe, committed the USSR to democracy in its occupied countries and to hold free elections.
Eg. Poland had a provisional Pro-Soviet government.
3. USSR joined the United Nations who aimed to keep peace after the war as well as the war on Japan.
4. Eastern Europe would be a Soviet sphere of influence.
Points NOT agreed on:
1. Scale of German reparations.
2. Moving the Soviet Union’s border into Poland, and Poland’s border into Germany.
The Potsdam Conference
Took place in July through August 1945. It was a continuation of the Yalta Conference. WW2 was over and post-war settlements needed to be agreed upon. Truman had replaced Roosevelt as president of the US and Atlee had replaced Churchill as Prime Minister of the UK. Stalin’s refusal to compromise as well as a misunderstanding of perspectives on both sides led to the Cold War.
Main points:
1. Each of the powers would collect reparations from their zone of occupation. The USSR would receive additional reparations as they had a rural zone.
2. Poland’s western border moved to the Oder and Neisse rivers.
3. Germans in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary returned to Germany.
4. They would exchange industrial equipment from the west for food supplies from the east
Points NOT agreed on:
1. Stalin wanted to cripple Germany, Truman did not want to repeat Versailles. Stalin wanted reparations for the death of 20 million Russians.
2. Truman did not support the previously agreed upon Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe.
