who was to blame for the cold war Flashcards
What happened at the Yalta conference?
February 1945
- Germany was not yet defeated, so, although there were tensions about Poland, the big three
- Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill - managed to agree to split Germany into four zones of occupation, and to allow free elections in Eastern European countries.
- Russia was invited to join the United Nations, and Russia promised to join the war against Japan when Germany was defeated.
What happened at the Potsdam conference?
July 1945
- germany had been defeated and Roosevelt had died and Churchill had lost the 1945 election so there were more disagreements
Truman was much more untrusting of stalin than Roosevelt had been
truman did not tell stalin that he had the atomic bomb but stalin secretly knew because he had spies
It was decided that Germany would be occupied by the Americans, British, French and Soviets. It would also be demilitarised and disarmed. German industry capable of being used for military purposes was to be dismantled and the defeated country’s educational and judicial systems to be purged of Nazi influence.
What influence did the “Long Telegram” have on President Truman’s approach to the USSR?
In the Long Telegram, George Kennan, who was an American diplomat based in Moscow, provided Truman with an invaluable insight into Soviet attitudes after WWII and recommended a policy of containment of the Soviet Union’s expansion, which became a mainstay of U.S. foreign policy throughout the Cold War.
What influence did the “Iron Curtain” speech have on President Truman’s approach to the USSR?
A month after the “Long Telegram”, Truman listened to former Prime Minister Winston Churchill deliver a powerful speech for American intervention in European affairs.
Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech highlighted not only the extent of Russian control in Eastern Europe, but the threat to the rest of Europe if action against the Soviet’s wasn’t taken.
basically in the iron curtain speech churchill said that the world was divided into two
Why did the future of Germany cause tension between the USA and the USSR?
Stalin wanted to dismember Germany completely and to prevent them from having their own economy and industry
They also wanted access to Germany’s industrial area, the Ruhr.
Both of these were rejected by the USA.
The Allies wanted a strong Germany, to allow them to rebuild their economy and industry, so as to not repeat the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles.
It was however agreed that Germany was to be denazified and that war crime trials were to be held.
How did Stalin take control of Eastern Europe?
During the war, Communists from the occupied countries of Eastern Europe escaped to Moscow and set up Communist governments in exile there
As the Red Army drove the Nazis back, it occupied large areas of Eastern Europe and Churchill in the so-called percentages agreement - agreed that Eastern Europe could be a Soviet “sphere of influence”.
In the countries that the Red Army “liberated”, communist-dominated governments took power. The Communists made sure that they controlled the army, set up a secret police force, and began to arrest their opponents.
Non-Communists were gradually beaten, murdered, executed and terrified out of power.
By 1949, all the governments of Eastern Europe, except Yugoslavia, were hard line Stalinist regimes.
Why did Stalin want to build an empire in Eastern Europe?
To create a buffer zone between the U.S.S.R. and Western Europe, Napoleon attacked them from Paris and Hitler from Berlin and the Americans would have attacked from Western Europe, so the fight would have been in Poland or Romania instead of the USSR.
How did mutual suspicion cause a breakdown in relations between the superpowers 1944-1950?
Tensions between the Western and Eastern Allies were always present.
Stalin’s obsessive secrecy prevented him from sharing his battle plans with either Britain or the USA, while Churchill would not share his knowledge of the Enigma codes with the USSR.
British and American pilots who flew supplies into the USSR complained that the Soviets did not seem to trust them
How did the creation of the Eastern bloc cause a breakdown in relations between the superpowers 1944-1950?
Soviet Union, using the influence it had gained through the war, established and enforced communist rule and created an alliance of countries on its eastern borders that stood as a buffer between the Western world and itself
this became known as the eastern bloc
USA was unhappy with the Eastern Bloc as they believed it was Stalin’s first step to taking over Europe entirely, turning them all communist.
What were the main features of Truman’s containment policy?
By 1947, Greece was one of the few countries in Eastern Europe that hadn’t turned communist.
The Communist rebels in Greece were prevented from taking over by the British Army.
When the British told Truman they could no longer afford to keep their soldiers in Greece, Truman stepped in to take over
There were also fears that the communist parties in France and Italy, both backed by Moscow, would come to power
The economic hardships and the poor harvest in 1946-7 made the possibility of a communist takeover more likely because a country is more likely to want communism if they are poor
in response, Truman introduced a policy of containment which consisted of two elements: the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid.
What was the Truman Doctrine?
Truman persuaded Congress to provide $400 million in economic and military aid for Greece.
He described the world as divided between the free and the oppressors and provided an open-ended commitment to defend free countries threatened by aggressive neighbours throughout the world.
What was the Marshall Plan?
This was announced at Harvard by Secretary of State George Marshall in June 1947
The aims of the plan were to stabilize the economies of Europe and prevent the growth of communism in European democracies.
Sixteen countries accepted Marshall Aid and it would also be applied to Western Germany. It lasted four years and provided $13.3 billion for European recovery. Stalin refused to allow Soviet bloc states (eastern europe) to participate.
What was Stalin’s reaction to the Marshall Plan?
Stalin regarded the Marshall Plan as a serious threat to Soviet interests.
He knew that the programme would require the receiving country to be democratic. This would undermine Stalin’s control over Eastern Europe
Stalin saw this as an act of ideological warfare, through the creation of a US-dominated capitalist alliance directed against the USSR. In retaliation, Stalin forbid any Soviet bloc states to join and establish Cominform to maintain control of communist countries under Moscow.
What were the post-war arrangements for Germany?
The country was to be temporarily divided into four zones, the permanent fate to be decided at a future peace conference
The city of Berlin, which was located in the middle of the Soviet zone, would also be divided into four zones
The USSR was allowed to take reparations from Germany.
Germany was to be denazified, demilitarised and democratised
The USSR was allowed to take reparations from Germany. Germany was to be denazified, demilitarised and democratised
why did stalin view the actions of the western powers with suspicion?
In 1945 the USA refused to give the USSR a loan to cover the cost of occupying the eastern zone in Germany.
It was clear that while the western powers wanted Germany to recover, Stalin was using German resources to rebuild the USSR.
In January 1947, Britain and the USA created a single economic unit out of their zones, called Bizonia.
France joined a year later. Stalin felt threatened.
In March 1947, Britain, France and the USA secretly agreed to unite their three zones politically as well.
Stalin knew about the decision through Soviet spies in British Intelligence and the Foreign Office.
The USA decided to make Marshall Aid available to the western zones. The Soviets reacted by inspecting all trains into West Berlin. In June 1948, the western powers created a new currency for use in all four zones. Stalin refused to allow it to be introduced in their zone.
