Unit 6 Lesson 1 The beginning of the cold war Flashcards
What was the cold war?
This intense rivalry became known as the Cold War. It lasted for nearly 50 years. The Cold War pitted the West (the United States and its allies) against the East (the Soviet Union and its allies). The Cold War did not involve an actual armed conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, the rivalry between the two countries led to conflict around the globe.
How did the US and Britain feel about the Soviet Union?
The United States and Britain distrusted the Soviet Union. They disliked the communist rejection of religion and private property. They were angered by Soviet efforts to overthrow noncommunist governments. In fact, Soviet leaders boasted that communism would soon destroy free enterprise systems around the world.
How did the
soviet Union feel about the US?
The Soviets, in turn, distrusted the Western powers. They feared that the United States, now the world’s most powerful nation, would use its military power to attack the Soviet Union. They feared that the United States would try to rebuild Germany in order to challenge the Soviet Union.
Soviet troops occuping much of Eastern Europe was a result of what?
Before World War II ended, Soviet armies drove German forces out of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and back into Germany.
What did Stalin promise?
Stalin promised to hold free elections “as soon as possible” in these Eastern European nations. He soon broke that promise. “A freely elected government in any of the Eastern European countries would be anti-Soviet,” he said, “and that we cannot allow.”
By 1948, Communists controlled the government of every Eastern European country. Except for Yugoslavia, these countries became satellite nations of the Soviet Union. What is a satellite nation?
A satellite nation is one that is dominated politically and economically by a more powerful nation. In each satellite nation, the Soviets backed harsh dictators. Citizens who protested were imprisoned or killed.
As early as 1946, the British statesman Winston Churchill had warned against Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe. Naming two cities that were located in the north and south of Europe, he said: “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” What was the iron curtain?
The iron curtain cut off Soviet-run Eastern Europe from the democratic governments of the West.
What was the poilcy of containment?
President Harry S. Truman was determined to keep Soviet influence contained within existing boundaries. Thus, his Cold War policy was known as containment.
What was the truman doctrine?
In March 1947, President Truman asked Congress for $400 million in military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey. Eventually, with American aid, both countries held off communist threats.
This program to encourage nations to resist communist expansion became known as the Truman Doctrine.
What was the Marshall Plan made?
The war had left Europe’s homes, roads, and factories in ruins. When Secretary of State George Marshall toured Europe, he saw millions of homeless, hungry refugees. Marshall feared that these conditions might encourage communist revolutions. So he proposed the Marshall plan.
What was the Marshall plan?
So in June 1947, he proposed an ambitious plan to help Europe rebuild. The President and Congress accepted the Marshall Plan.
Between 1948 and 1952, the Marshall Plan provided more than $12 billion in aid to Western European countries. By helping these nations rebuild their economies, the Marshall Plan reduced the threat of communist revolutions in Western Europe.
What was Germany like in 1948? How did the US Britsh and French feel about it?
After the war, the Allies had divided Germany into four zones. American, British, French, and Soviet troops each occupied a zone. Berlin, too, was divided among the four Allies, even though it lay inside the Soviet zone. By 1948, the United States, Britain, and France wanted to reunite their zones in Berlin and the rest of Germany.
Why did Stalin oppose the plan to reunite Germeny?
Stalin opposed that plan. A reunited Germany, he felt, would again be a threat to the Soviet Union.
What did Stalin do to show his opposition of a reuited Germeny?
To show his determination to prevent a united West Germany, Stalin closed all roads, railway lines, and river routes connecting West Berlin with West Germany. The blockade cut off West Berlin from American, British, and French aid.
How did President truman feel about Stalins ations in Germeny?
President Truman would not let West Berlin fall into Soviet hands. At the same time, he did not want to order American troops to open a path to West Berlin through the Soviet-occupied zone. That move could trigger war.
