Unit 2-Development of the cold war 1945-56 Flashcards
What happened in the Japan bombing of 1945?
- In 1945, the US dropped 2 atomic bombs in Japan
- The first was in Hiroshima and it was nicknamed little boy and this was the first time atomic bombs had been used
- it killed over 70,000 people
- 3 days later the second bomb was dropped in Nagasaki nicknames fat man
- 140,000 people killed in total
Why did the US drop bombs in Japan 1945 and what did it do to relations?
- The US wanted to show their nuclear capability to the USSR and threaten them and send a warning,
- It was the start of the arms race
- Some see it as a justified retaliation to when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor
- It damaged relations and increased a sense of distrust amongst the USSR.
How did the USSR consolidate power in Eastern Europe
Hungary-Salami tactics which was the USSR slicing their political government and breaking it down
Bulgaria- Bulgarian monarchy was abolished and communist party was elected
Poland-Stalin used terror and electioneering to gain seats of the Poland party and a provisional government was set up
Romania- Rigged elections to win votes
What was was the long telegram?
-in 1946, George Kennan who was at the US embassy in Moscow was asked to provide a summary of what the USSR was up to and he replied with an 8,000 word response we now call the long telegram.
-He essentially explained that the USSR was heavily armed and feared the outside world and that they were determined to spread communism.
- But that the US was stronger and would be able to contain communism
What was the Novikov telegram?
- A response to the long telegram
-reflected the USSR’s fears to the US’s intentions
What is an iron curtain and what was the speech ?
- Iron curtain was the term used to describe the barrier that divided east and west europe between communism and capitalism
- in March 1946 in Missouri Churchill who was not prime minister at the time but still had incredible influence over Britain, did his Iron Curtain Speech
-Where he stated an iron curtain had descended across the continent
What did the iron curtain speech do to east and west relations?
- It worsened it because the USSR viewed it as a hostile threat and they viewed it as provocative and accused Churchill of being a Warmonger who was someone who wished to provoke war
What is an iron fist?
- Term used by Truman to describe a tougher approach to the USSR
What was the Truman Doctrine?
- The US policy of Containment and was a response to the situation in Greece, where Britain was forced to give up Greece as they could not financially provide support or provide military aid because they were weakened by the war
-1947
-Stated that the US would help any country under attack by armed minorities and was aimed to prevent the spread of communism
What was the Marshal Plan?
- In 1947 George Marshall who was the new US secretary of State, travelled through western europe and was shocked at the economic suffering he was seeing.
- He recognised that economic support was needed desperately and he launched the Marshal plan
- Churchill labelled this as the most unselfish act in history
-it provided 16 countries with over 13 billion dollars - However countries in eastern europe were not allowed to accept it
What did the USSR see the Marshal plan as?
- An attack on communism
- Molotov labelled the plan as dollar imperialism which was the view that criticised the plan and that it was a strategy for the US to gain control of europe through economic dominance and then to use it for the US’s interest
What did USSR do in response to the Marshall Plan?
- Set up cominform in 1947, which was an organisation that was controlled by the USSR that coordinated communist parties and groups throughout europe
- Set up comecon in 1949 which was an organisation to provide economic support to the countries of eastern europe
What did Yugoslavia do that angered the USSR?
- Yugoslavia leader Tito, refused to be subordinate to the USSR
- And as a result he accepted 150 million dollars from the Marshall aid so they would not have to conform to USSR influence
- this then led to the expulsion of Yugoslavia from Cominform in 1948
What happened in the Berlin Blockade?
- In Yalta and Potsdam it was agreed that Germany and its capital would be divided into 4 zones
- The western zone controlled by the US, Britain and France benefited from the Marshall Aid
- However the eastern zone living conditions were low and by 1948 the difference in living standards had become obvious
- The western powers then decided to introduce a new currency called the deutschmark hoping it would provide economic stability, this was the last straw for Stalin because it made capitalism look like the stronger ideology
- As a result he cut off all roads, rail and canal links with west berlin, the aim was to starve west Berlin and force the allies to abandon their sectors
- As a result the US performed a airlift with 2.3 million tons of food and fuel supplies for over 2 million Berliners, they also dropped a candy bomb for propaganda to show US supremacy over the blockade
- 10 months later Stalin finally lifted the blockade
What happened as a result of the blockade?
- The creation of NATO ( North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) in 1949 which was a military alliance of 16 western countries which was set up to defend the west. Their principle was that an attack on one of its members would be an attack on all. This confirmed to the USSR that there would be no return to Isolationism(a policy of keeping out of conflicts in foreign affairs and not getting involved with military alliances). Stalin also viewed NATO as a deliberate provocative action.
- It solidified the division between East and West Germany leading to the FDR in west Germany and GDR in East Germany
