Usa Superpower Relations Flashcards
What agreements were made in tehran
Agreed about spheres of influence after the war
Western allies agreed to launch attack on Germany from the West (D-Day)
Signs of tensions in tehran
Stalin thought the western allies had deliberately delayed D Day
Agreements in yalta
Mostly agreements to do with what happens after the war
Russia to help US defeat Japan
Work for ‘democracy’ in Europe. Set up UN
Signs of tension in yalta
Disagreed about definition of democracy
Agreements in potsdam
Mostly agreements to do with Germany Ban Nazi party and prosecute war criminals
Reduce size of Germany
Divide Germany and Berlin into 4 zones (USSR, Britain, France, USA
Signs of tension in potsdam
Different leaders – Attlee and Truman (Truman did not tell Stalin about A Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Who wanted to make a buffer zone
Stalin
What was the buffer zone
Forced countries in eastern europe to become communist
Who gave the iron curtains speech
Churchill
What was the iron curtain speech
Introduced communism to people in the uk at which further led more fears of the threat of communism
What were the ussr reactions to nuclear bomb
When saw bomb used in japan in 1945 they were concerned that they made their own
Who made cominform
Stalin
When was cominform made
1947
What was cominform
Its job was to keep the activities
of the communist parties in Europe in line with the Soviet Union.
What was comecon
to control the economies of Eastern Europe countries under Soviet influence.
What was the truman doctrine
Promised that the usa would help any country threatened by communism
What was the marshall plan
Marshall Plan was $17bn to help war damaged European countries to recover (also to stop them turning to communism) Marshall Aid was offered to all the countries of Europe but Stalin ordered E Europe to refuse it as he didn’t want to make communism look weak
When was cominform set up
1947
When was comecon made
1949
When was NATO made
1947
What did ussr wanted to do to germany
To keep them weak and took lots of industrial equipment and raw materials from germany
What did usa and britain wanted to germany
To become more stronger to prevent communsim spreading
What was bizonia
1947 britain and us created this by joining their zones
What were the key features of berlin blockade
STALIN WAS DETERMINED TO FORCE THE WEST ALLIES TO LEAVE BERLIN. He set up a military blockade around West Berlin in June 1948. He hoped to force the allies out
Airlift - This included flying in 2.3m tonnes of supplies a day
In May 1949, Stalin called off the blockade. Stalin had no choice since the only other way to get the Allies out of Berlin would have been by force. That would have led to war
What were the key features of the nuclear arms race that developed in the years 1945-53?
The Arms Race was a race between the superpowers to build bigger and more destructive weapons.
The USA first used a nuclear bomb in japan in 1945, by 1949 the USSR had caught up. By 1953 both countries had the more powerful hydrogen bomb (H Bomb) and large numbers of weapons were developed throughout the 1950s and 1960s
What were the key features of Soviet control in Eastern Europe?
People living in Eastern Europe were unhappy for many reasons:
- Communism had been forced upon them.
- In all communist states, there were no other political parties allowed.
- There was no freedom of speech and the state controlled the media
- The standard of life was generally low
Why did people expect improvements after Stalin died?
In the USA there was a new President, Eisenhower – more friendly. Stalin died in 1953 - new Soviet leader Khrushchev seemed to be more moderate.
He spoke about peaceful co-existence with the West
In 1955 Khrushchev withdrew Soviet troops from Austria.
In 1956 Khrushchev surprised many by attacking Stalin and beginning a programme of de-Stalinisation.
However, still wanted to keep a firm grip on Europe - set up the Warsaw Pact in 1955
Why did protests start in Budapest
Hungarians wanted to get rid of RAKOSI, the ‘mini-Stalin’ Prime Minister. At first Khrushchev seemed to accept the need for change and ordered the replacement of Rakosi for IMRE NAGY, a more moderate communist.
But Nagy introduced reforms:
- He set up a NEW GOVERNMENT WHICH INCLUDED NON-COMMUNISTS. 2. Called FREE ELECTIONS.
- Announced HUNGARY’S WITHDRAWAL FROM THE WARSAW PACT
Why and how did the Soviet’s crush the Hungarian uprising
Khrushchev could not afford to let Hungary break free as other countries in Eastern Europe would follow so he ordered an invasion.
There was bitter street fighting; Thousands of Hungarians and Soviet troops were killed in the fighting and Nagy was arrested and executed
How did the West react to the uprising and the Soviet invasion?
The Hungarians called on the West for help. Western leaders spoke out against the Soviets, but did nothing:
- It was afraid that military action would lead to war.
- GB, Fr and USA were focussed on the Suez Crisis
Why did Khrushchev want the Western Allies out of Berlin?
Many thousands of people had escaped from East to West, since the end of the Blockade in May 1949. 2.7m refugees left Eastern Europe between 1949 and 1961!
Most refugees were well educated; engineers, teachers, doctors, lecturers. The Communist countries needed these people to modernise its industry & agriculture.
All this was a propaganda disaster for communism: it proved people preferred to live in a capitalist system rather than a communist one.
November 1958 – Khrushchev announced that the whole of Berlin belonged to East Germany and he gave the USA a 6 month ultimatum to withdraw troops
How did Eisenhower and Kennedy deal respond the Soviets’ demand?
The US were never going to give in to Soviet pressure but they also didn’t want to start a war so they met at 4 different summit meetings to discuss a solution
What were 4 summit meetings
Geneva may 1959
Camp david summit sept 1959
Paris summit may 1960
Vienna comferance june 1961
What were the geneva summit meeting
nothing agreed, but laid the ground work for future discussions
What happned in camp david summit
after frank discussions, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw his 6 month ultimatum, and they agreed to another meeting:
Paris summit
What was paris summit
a disaster. Just before, an American U2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet air space. The pilot Gary Powers was put on trial in Moscow. Khrushchev was able to use the incident to embarrass the USA and stormed out of the meeting when Eisenhower refused to apologise
What was the vienna comferance
Kennedy had replaced Eisenhower. Khrushchev tried to put pressure on the new president by renewing the call on US troops to leave Berlin
What was the impact of the Berlin wall?
It stopped East Germans escaping to the West, and therefore ended the refugee crisis.
Khrushchev looked strong but did not have to fight a war.
The wall became a powerful symbol of communist strength as well as a physical
symbol of the Cold War division of Europe
How did kennedy respond to the berlin wall
There was not much he could do about it. He said ‘a wall is a hell of a lot better
than a war.’
He went to Berlin in 1963 and made a speech to hundreds of thousands of West
Berliners, to demonstrate his sympathy for their difficulties.
He ordered three increases in the US defence budget in the next two years. He
realised that he could not afford to lose out again.
Why did the Bay of Pigs invasion fail?
In April 1961 the CIA tried to overthrow Castro by staging an invasion of
Cuba. 1,400 Cuban exiles were landed at the Bay of Pigs with CIA support.
It was a disaster and they were all either killed or captured. It was a huge
embarrassment for Kennedy and the USA
How had tension between the superpowers grown because of the nuclear arms race?
For Khrushchev, the arms race was a way to show the benefits of Soviet Communism: He put the first satellite, Sputnik, into space in 1957 and the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961.
He began to build more and more weapons, contributing to the military arms race: In 1957 the Soviets tested the first ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile). By 1963, USA had 550 ICBMs to USSR’s 100
Why did Khrushchev build Missile Bases on Cuba?
The Soviet Union saw Castro as an important ally Cuba was so close to the US
The Soviet Union was losing the Arms Race: Khrushchev needed to restore the
nuclear balance:
The USA had missiles in Turkey targeting every city in the south of the USSR
How and why did Kennedy respond to the problem? (Cuban missile crises)
When a U2 spy plane took pictures of the Cuban Missiles bases, Kennedy and his advisors discussed a number of options:
- To launch a nuclear strike on the missile sites in Cuba.
- To launch a full-scale invasion of Cuba.
- To impose a naval blockade – stop ships carrying military goods getting to Cuba
What were the immediate consequences of the Cuban Missiles Crisis
Directly after the crisis, the telephone hot-line was established in 1963. This direct teleprinter between the White House and the Kremlin would make it easier for the two leaders communicate effectively in future crisis situations.
Thus idea of peaceful co-existence was reinforced.
The Superpowers signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, August 1963. This
banned all nuclear tests except underground ones for an indefinite period.
Kennedy made a speech in June 1963 which marked the beginning of détente – a relaxation of tension between the superpowers:
He suggested that the US and USSR should focus on their ‘common interests’.
The US also agreed to sell the USSR grain
What were the long-term consequences of the Cuban Missiles Crisis?
The Soviets were determined to catch up with the US in the arms race, and increased their production of long-range missiles.
The Soviet Union were also determined not to suffer such humiliation as Cuba again. In 1964 Khrushchev was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev, a tougher leader.
The Crisis led France to leave NATO. In 1966, President De Gaulle, who was horrified by the possibility of being dragged into a nuclear war, took France out of NATO, and France began producing her own nuclear weapons.
After the Cuban Missiles Crisis, the superpowers began to speak less about nuclear deterrence and more about the idea of mutually assured destruction – MAD: both sides now had so many weapons that if a nuclear war did start, it would result in mutually assured destruction. The USA and the USSR would be destroyed by each other if war broke out
What was there opposition to Soviet control in Czechoslovakia?
Communism had been forced upon them.
No other political parties were permitted.
The Communist Party censored the media
Living standards were poor.
What was Alexander Dubcek’s idea of ‘socialism with a human face’?
Dubcek replaced the unpopular Antonin Novotny in January 1968. He wanted to make communism more popular by introducing reforms known as the ‘Prague Spring’
Press censorship was abolished
Opposition groups were allowed and criticism of government was permitted
More power was given to regional government
More power given to the Czech Parliament
Changes were made to make the economy more ‘market-based’ with some
competition introduced.
What was the brezhnev doctrinr
Brezhnev said that if a communist country started to go back towards capitalism, other communist countries were justified in taking action to stop it, so as to protect the security of the Eastern Bloc.
International reaction to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia America & the West
America was heavily involved in Vietnam and could not make further military commitments. Besides Czechoslovakia was in the Soviet sphere of influence.
The US publicly condemned Soviet aggression, but gave no military help to the Czech people. Other western leaders took a similar stance
