Week 8

Question 1

What were Stalin’s goals?

Answer 1

Stalin’s goals were security for himself, his regime, his country and his ideology (in that order). He sought to make sure that no internal changes could ever endanger his personal rule, and that no external threats would ever place his country at risk again.

Question 2

What demands did the USSR make from the Allies towards the end of WW2?

Answer 2

The USSR made territorial demands over areas it had taken from the Nazis during the war, eg. Portions of Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany + Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)- Yalta agreement. Stalin insisted on a “sphere of influence” or a presence of “friendly nations” along the USSR post-war border. Roosevelt and Churchill agreed- with the provision that the USSR would allow free elections to be held in satellite states. Soviet Borders were moved several hundred miles to the west and the USSR kept the Red army in these Areas to ensure Stalin controlled these new Soviet States. The Red Iceberg was building…

Question 3

What was the outcome of the red army occupying the satellite States?

Answer 3

No free elections took place. Some falsified elections took place… Communism won. “Puppet regimes” were installed by Stalin in these Satellite States. Stalin was feared but Communism still enjoyed widespread respect in Europe by the citizens.

Question 4

What was the U.S. and Western allies response to Soviet control of Satellite states?

Answer 4

The U.S. and western allies sought ways to prevent further expansion of communist influence on the European continent. In 1947, U.S. leaders introduced the Marshall plan- a diplomatic initiative that provided aid to friendly nations to help them rebuild their war-damaged infrastructures and economies.Events of the following year prompted American leaders to adopt a more militaristic stance towards the Soviets.

Question 5

What prompted American leaders to adopt a more militaristic stance towards the Soviets through the creation of NATO?

Answer 5

In February 1948, a coup sponsored by the Soviet Union overthrew the democratic government of Czechoslovakia and brought that nation firmly into the communist camp. Within a few days, U.S. leaders agreed to join discussions aiming at forming a joint security agreement with their European allies. The process gained new urgency in June of that year, when the USSR cut off ground access to Berlin, forcing the U.S., Britain and France to airlift supplies to their sectors of the German City.

Question 6

Compare USA and the USSR at the end of WW2?

Answer 6

• The USSR had a significantly larger amount of casualties than the USA ( 27 million vs. just under 300,000)
• The USA was geographically distant from fighting -and able to choose when,what and in what circumstances to fight, whilst the Soviet Union was forced to resist on terrain and in circumstances chosen by enemy
• The USA emerged from a thriving economy due to post-war spending whilst the USSR ended WW2 as a shattered state but with knowledge that Britain/America could not have defeated Hitler without Stalin’s help