Week 13- The Cold War, Decolonization, and Living with the Bomb Flashcards
What is the arguably one event that shaped the 1945-1990 world more than any other?
The Cold War.
What are some examples of how the Cold War effected every aspect of life?
1) Parents bought their kids dog tags to indemnify them after a nuclear blast
2) French farmers refused to plant certain trees that would yield after the Soviets gained control of France
3) The U.S. gave financial aid to colleges to gain a technological advantage.
Why is the Cold War termed “cold”?
Because the Americans and Soviets almost never engaged in face-to-face military conflict.
What conflict occurred in place of face-to-face military conflict?
1) Threats
2) Propoganda
3) Economic Pressure
4) Proxy Wars
5) Brink of Crisis Events
What are countries in the First World?
Nations that allied with the United States
What are countries in the Second World?
Nations that allied with the USSR.
What are countries in the Third World?
Nations that allied with neither the US or USSR.
Why does Dr. Favelo believe wars begin?
Because someone or some nations thinks that they can get away with something.
What is Dr. Favelo’s opinion about the necessity of the Cold War?
He believed the Cold War was inevitable.
Why was the Cold War inevitable?
1) The U.S. and USSR’s ideologies were fundamentally incompatible and both nations sought expansion of their ideologies.
2) Both the U.S. and USSR helped create a bi-polar world.
3) The War Provided only a False sense of Unity.
4) Nuclear Weapons created too high of stakes.
What was the weakness of the United Nations?
That it was a forum for big nations to dominate smaller ones.
What events resulted in the rapid souring of U.S.-USSR relations?
1) Soviets created Communist liberated areas in Poland and Romania and killed pro-Western Poles.
2) No way to reconcile the USSR’s demand for pro-Soviet states and US’s demand for free American-style states in Eastern Europe.
3) The Russians had a mobilized offensive army with armor and mechanized infantry and the U.S. no longer had a military presence in Europe.
4) Soviets were alarmed at the U.S.’s atomic bomb that allowed the US to destroy the Soviets with impunity. US Refused to share it.
5) Soviet influence in communist and socialist parties across Western Europe and the globe. It was perceived as a worldwide communist movement
6) USSR pressure on Turkey and Iran to let them build military bases and ports were viewed as attempts at conquest and prompted Western security concerns.
7) The Civil War in Greece led by Communists was viewed as a Moscow-directed takeover.
8) Inflammatory statements by Soviets and Americans.
How did the Soviets define democracy?
They thought that communism, as a brotherhood of workers, was a form of democracy.
What is the alliance of nations formed to address possible Soviet aggression in Europe?
NATO.
Who was one of the U.S. diplomats who recognized worldwide communism was not monolithic?
George Keenan.
What was George F. Kennan’s assessment of Soviet motives?
That it was idealogical in nature. Therefore, the Soviets wouldn’t stop until they conquered the world and disrupted American society.
Who’s assessment of the Soviet Union did Kennan’s assessment harmonize with?
Winston Churchill.
What was Churchill’s classic expression of anti-Soviet sentiment?
The Iron Curtain Speech.
How did the U.S. seek to address the growing Soviet Threat?
1) Embraced a Containment Policy that would prevent Soviet expansion on a global level.
2) The Truman Doctrine announced that America would provide military assistance to any nation on the globe that opposed communist aggression.
3) The Marshall Plan in 1947 attempt to create economic stability in all European states to resist communism.
4) The US Created Capitalist Outposts on the Border of the Soviet Union.
5) The United States reversed course and formally intervened in European politics by creating institutions such as the UN, World Bank, Bretton Woods Agreements, and NATO.
Where did the U.S. Create Capitalist Outposts during the Cold War?
1) West Berlin
2) West Germany
3) Japan
How did the Soviets respond to US policy?
1) Created their own economic bailout to counter the Marshall Plan
2) Soviets revised the Third International Cominform.
How was Germany divided?
Four sectors of control and Berlin, which was in the Soviet Sector, divided into four sectors.
What occurred in Germany in 1948 of significance regarding the sectors of control?
The British, French, and Americans merged their zones into one state called West Germany.
How did the USSR attempt to weaken the state of West Germany and the Western part of Berlin?
By stopping all traffic through the access corridor to Western Berlin and From Western Berlin.
How did the Allies respond to the Soviet blockade of Berlin?
By launching the Berlin airlift, supplying the whole city by airplane. 1,000 flights a day and an average of one every 90 seconds.
What happened after the success of the Berlin Airlift?
The Soviets ended the blockade but created a Pro-Soviet government to create East Germany.
What was the second greatest change of WWII?
The countries that had ruled the world for centuries now had very little influence in the face of superpowers.
How did Britain view themselves and the U.S.?
Britain was the wise Greece and America the powerful Rome. Britain tried to steer American foreign policy.
What is the moral difference between NATO and the Warsaw Pact?
1) NATO is voluntary and Warsaw was Mandatory.
Who led the pro-Western government in China?
Chiang Kai-Shek.
Who overthrew Chiang Kai-Shek’s government in China?
Mao Zedong.
What political affiliation was Mao Zedong?
Communist.
Where did Chiang and his followers flee after being defeated by Mao?
Taiwan.
What was Chinese communism called?
Maoism
Did Communist China and the USSR cooperate?
No, in fact they would be on the verge of shooting at one another.
How was Korea accidentally split at the end of WWII?
Soviet soldiers were pushing south and American soldiers were pushing north and met before the end of the war in the pacific.
What sparked a conflict in Korea?
North Korea’s invasion of South Korea.
Who was the pro-Soviet leader of North Korea?
Kim Il-Sung.
