Unit 13 The Iron Curtain Descends Flashcards
Introduction
2nd World war ends 8th May 1945 , known in Germany as ‘die Stunned Null’ (zero hour)
Food rationing in Britain ended as late a summer 1954.
The optimism that accompanied the peace of the 1920’s, was notably absent from the immediate postwar years
Urbanisation and suburbanisation, Judd argues that the enthusiasm for modernity in the interwar years had been drained away by the war for at least 20 years
13 Introduction
Curchil ‘..an iron curtain has descended across the Continent’ - 5th March 1946 speech at US Fulton college
US and Soviet forces meet at The Elbe April 1945 - propaganda shows a positive message, though forces represent two different ideologies
The ‘glue’ that held the West together after 1945 was an anti-communist one, rather than a solely liberal democratic one
13 Introduction 2
Thee schools of thought re The Cold War -
1) Orthodox/Classical school - USSR was responsible for the Cold War (Stalin’s eternal scheming)
2) Revisionist School (up until 1989) - Argued that the Cold War was caused by the hostility of capitalism
3) Post-revisionist school since 1970’s - Interpretations of the two other schools were too simplistic it was a lot to do with action and reaction (Mazower is. post-revisionist)
13.1 Defeating the Nazis
A common purpose held the Grand Alliance together between 1941 and 1945 - the need to defeat Nazi Germany
Three meetings between the allies - Tehran (43), Moscow 44 the percentages paper) and (Potsdam) (45),Yalta (45) - all to Stalin’s convenience and bugged - Beria and Molotov
Tehran conference agrees establishment of UN (1st in SFO) and percentages agreement written on paper on Moscow by Churchill ticked by Stalin and Crimea declaration means Stalin keeps the territory he had acquired under the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in1939
13.1 Defeating the Nazis
Roosevelt has died on 12th April 1945 and is replaced by Truman (former haberdashery salesman) who lets Stalin know they have the atomic bomb
Atlee replaces Churchill, Bevan replaces Eden, Bevan dislikes Molotov
The aims of occupation in Germany were to be de-nazification, decartelisation (breaking of economic power of a small number of companies), demilitarisation, decentralisation and democratisation
13.2 Europe divides
1947 a critical turning point ‘Mazower’ a possible start date of ‘The Cold War’ or was it before…e.g. at Yalta
Stalin ‘ ‘whoever occupies. territory also imposes his own social system’ there never really was a ‘friendly democratic treaty-bound states scenario as revisionists thought there was a chance of
Orthodox school - Stalin planned a Soviet core and satellite system all along, revisionists say there were ‘different national roads to socialism’
13.2 Europe divides 2
Kennan’s long telegram 1946 - Stalin paranoid nationalism prone (traditional sense of Russian insecurity) and is a marxist - this telegram is instrumental in developing the US policy of containment
Truman doctrine 12 March 1947 pledges support to free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures
13.2 Europe divides 3
Trouble with Tito, Stalin expels Tito/Yugoslavia from Cominform (the block’s Communist International organisation for coordinating parties’ actions) as Tito wanted to determine his country’s own foreign policy
13.2 Europe divides 4
Czechoslovakia - 1946 elections 1/3 for communists
Communist doctor 1948 election to oust Benes and only non-communist minister in government Masaryk assassinated
13.2 Europe divides 5
Bitter winter 1946-47, food and fuel shortages, European economies in dire straits initiates the Marshall Plan as assistance and a counter to possible communist risings - revisionists say this plan was antagonistic towards Stalin’s hegemony and pro US world domination
Communist parties in Europe try to assert themselves but are marginalised, Christian Democracy began to rise.
DDR uprising of 1953 against quotas and Ulbricht - surpressed with Soviet support
Communism was not eliminated in western Europe, but any opposition to it certainly was in Eastern Europe - execution or imprisonment (Historian Conquest 1999)
13.2 Europe divides 6
Italian communist foiled by US financial aid (first CIA covert operation with bags of cash) to anti-communist parties and Hollywood stars sending message to public - Christian Democrats get an absolute majority
Allies put an end to reparations payments from the western zones in 1948, tensions increase, 1 January US/British zone becomes Bizone, French/GB/US London accords 1948 - the groundwork for Germany’s division is laid
24th June 1948 the Berlin blockade, creates the Berlin Airlift 26th June 1948 - 12 May 1949 over 2 million tons of supplies derived by air
13.3 Germany Divides
1948 The Marshall Plan (aid) (WWII version of the Dawes and Young initiatives post WWI)
23 May 1949 constitution for Federal republic of Germany, 7 October USSR responds with DDR
Adenauer (Chancellor 1949-63) was absolutely opposed to anything other than reunification within the western alliance
Walter Ulbricht Communist First Secretary DDR convinces Khrushchev on the merits of a permanent barrier and on 12-13 August 1961 the construction of the 1555 km barrier, the Berlin Wall, begins
13.4 Europeans Unite
Marshal Plan (MP) April 1948 - German economy central to European recovery economically and security and stability wise
MP is instrumental in creating NATO in 1949 (primarily Bevan’s idea)
MP spawns the development of an economic community, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) comes into operation in 1952
This would lead to the Treaty of Rome (EEC) in 1957
13.4 Europeans Unite 2
French then propose and economic union between France, Germany Benelux countries and Italy
MP sparkes Americanisation in Western Europe not just Hollywood films and Coca-Cola but economic such as US management styles in business and multinational corporations
A transnational community of shared values and aspirations was forged
13.4 Europeans Unite 3
October 1950, French propose a European Defence Community allowing Germany to rearm within a European army but this fails to get French parliamentary approval in 1954
1955 West German Army, the Bundeswehr is born an in response the USSR announces the formulation of the Warsaw Pact
Arms race for weapons and nuclear bombs - MAD Mutually assured destruction resulting in the first nuclear test ban treaty in 1963 and creation of the hotline
