Unit 8: Cold War and Decolonization Flashcards
This deck is designed to assist you in understanding the historical processes that occured during the Cold war and its effects, particularly decolonization.
What happened after Germany was defeated?
The United States and Soviet Union wanted to set up their influence in Europe to allow their world view to dominate; a substantial portion of Western Europe was in the American camp, but Germany and Eastern Europe were another case
How did the Allies decide to split up Germany?
The Allies had conferences in 1945 to discuss the matter of how to split up Germany and Eastern Europe; it was decided that temporary “spheres of influence” of France, Britain, America, and the Soviet Union would be set up in the regions
What was the earliest issue between the USSR and the U.S.?
Determined to protect its borders and ideology, the Soviet Union demanded that its neighboring states, places like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, be under its influence as well; issue was that the U.S. wanted those nations to have free elections; the Soviet Union refused and set up puppet states in these countries
What happened in Germany in 1948?
American, French, and British regions in Germany became democratic West Germany; the Soviet Union’s territory became East Germany
What was the Berlin Blockade?
Not the Berlin Wall; since the Soviets wanted the entirety of Berlin under its control, they set up this wall to block it from the West
What was the Berlin Airlift?
The West’s retaliation by flying in foods and fuel to the “trapped” East
What happened in 1961 Germany?
In 1961, the Soviets built a wall between the two halves, preventing East Berliners access to the West until the wall fell in 1989
What was the Soviet bloc?
The part of Europe part of the Soviet Union
What was the Western bloc?
Countries (particularly European) under American influence
What was the Truman Doctrine of 1947?
Where the United States explicitly stated that they would offer aid to countries threatened by communist takeovers to contain the USSR; this method is known as containment
What was NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization)?
A military alliance of mutual defense for the Western bloc
What was the Warsaw Pact?
A military alliance of mutual defense for the Eastern bloc; Soviet version of NATO
What was the Iron Curtain?
The term Churchill used to refer to the line between the East and West
How were India, Ghana, and Indonesia related?
These countries refused to take sides in the Cold War in a practice known nonalignment, where they sometimes accepted investment from both sides
What was the Bandung Conference?
- 1955
- was a meeting of former African and Asian colonies in Indonesia to discuss the Non-Aligned Movement
What was the Non-Aligned Movement?
This was done so that former colonies would lessen their dependence on world superpowers
What was the force behind political strength in the 20th century?
Ever improving weapons technology was the force behind political strength in the 20th century.
Weapons development continued even after the collapse of the Soviet Union. What happened in regards to this?
There were treaties made for it, but some countries chose not to partake in these treaties.
What is the only country to have dismantled its nuclear weapons program?
South Africa
Who was Sun Yat-sen?
Led the Chinese Revolution of 1911 that overthrew the Manchu dynasty; China actually became more Westernized to gain power and rid the country of its spheres of influence
What were the Three Principles of the People?
It was hoped that nationalism would unite the people against foreign interests and give them a Chinese identity. State capitalism, or industrialization financed by the government, was useful in order to improve economic productivity and efficiency while not necessarily redistributing wealth, something Sun did not agree with. Although he advocated for a democratic system, Sun Yat-sen established a political party, the Kuomintang (or KMT), which was dedicated to his own goals.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, two forces wreaked havoc on Chiang’s plans. Chiang, by the way, was the successor of Yat-sen. What were these two forces?
- The Japanese Empire wanted to take over Manchuria and China
- The communists, allied with the Soviet Union, were building strength in northern China and were rivals of the KMT party
What happened to China’s political state during WWII?
During World War II, the United States pumped money into the KMT’s efforts; however, the Soviets were busy dealing with the Germans so they weren’t able to be as active in their support; after the war, the KMT and communist party continued the Chinese Civil War for the next four years
Who was Mao Zedong?
Led the communists in 1949; railled many peasants and pushed the KMT party southward until they fled to Taiwan, where they established the Republic of China
What was the People’s Republic of China?
Mainland China after the KMT party fled
What happened with the situation regarding the “two Chinas”?
The two Chinas claimed to be the real China, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) became an economic powerhouse; however, it lost its credibility when the UN recognized mainland China as China in 1973; their relationship have grown closer over the years but they are still separate countries
What happened after the success of the Communist Revolution in China in 1949?
Mao Zedong brought agriculture and industry under the state/people using policies similar to Stalin’s Five-Year Plan; these actually ended up increasing China’s productivity (especially the steel industry)
What was the Great Leap Forward?
Huge communes were created in an attempt to trult achieve Marxism; but, the local governments in charge of these communes lied about their production because they could not mean the high agricultural quotas the central government demanded; this led to the death of almost 30 million Chinese people and made it so that agriculture and indsutry could no longer produce fruitful results; there was another reason that helped this…
Why did the Soviet Union, the only foreign supporter of China, withdraw its support?
Because they wanted the world to be communist udner THEIR control, not with the leadership of an individual not Soviet
What happened when Mao stepped back to focus on building the Chinese military?
(which was really important if China could no longer have the Soviets backing them up); in the meantime, reforms were made and elements of capitalism was introduced within the economy; China even tested its first atomic bomb in 1964
But, Mao was upset that the country was straying from its communist path. So, what did he do?
So he re-focused his attention onto the government and established the Cultural Revolution
What was the Cultural Revolution?
A domestic policy that was formed to get rid of any rise of an elite class in China; part of this plan was closing down universities for four years, so skilled individuals that made up the creative, middle class had to work on collective farms; when they re-opened, they focused on communist teachings; political dissidents (people against rule) were imprisoned/killed
What was Mao’s Little Red Book?
A collection of Zaodeng’s teachings on communism
How did the Cultural Revolution go, as far as fulfilling its goal that is?
The whole plan failed miserably in advancing china economically or socially; by the early 1970s, China realized it needed to return to its Western influences, so under the new leadership of Deng Xiaoping changed the education policies
Confucianism and class structure dominated China. Explain how this changed in the 20th century.
BUT NOTICE!; This all changed with the Cultural Revolution tore this down by getting rid of China’s class-based system and not paying mind to Confucian ideas because they did not want something that could go against the authority of the state
How did the communists solve China’s increasing population issue?
The communists took a practical approach to the overpopulation problem via the use of contraception and abortion; by the late 1980s, the Chinese government instituted a one-child-per-family policy.
What’s probably the only relatively good thing to come of China’s whole communist situation in the 20th century?
The equality demanded in a classless society resulted in considerable advances for women.
What happened more recently regarding China’s economy?
China’s strict communist economy has become more lax and have elements of capitalism; under the leadership of Xiaoping, limited business and property ownership stimulated hard work and innovation and the Chinese government partook in joint ventures with foreign companies; the reforms have been widely successful
What was the Tiananmen Square massacre?
Where protestors gathered in Tiananmen Sqaure to advocate for democracy and troops were commanded by the government to open fire; hundreds were killed
How was Kore split after WWII?
Korea was split similar to Germany; it was originally part of the Japanese Empire, but after Japan lost the war, it was supposed to gain independence, but it wasn’t stable enough; so, the Soviets ruled north of the 38th parallel with the United States below it
What happened in 1948 Korea?
Two separate governments were formed, with communism in North Korea and democracy in South Korea; both superpowers withdrew their rule in the year after; but, in 1950, North Korea attacked the South in an attempt to unite Korea under communism; the United Nations reacted by sending American and British troops to South Korea’s aid
Who was General MacArthur?
Led the UN troops and helped the army advance all the way to the Chinese border until China joined on behalf of the North back onto the 38th Parallel; a truce was made in 1953
