Cold War Origins and Key Concepts

Flashcards covering key terms, historical conferences, political doctrines, historiographical perspectives, and events leading to the division of Europe in the early Cold War.

Cold War

It was a period of hostility between the USA and USSR fought through arms races, alliances, and proxy wars instead of direct confrontation, shaping world politics after the second world war.

United Nations

An international peacekeeping organisation set up to replace the failed League of Nations, largely created through the efforts of American president Roosevelt. The veto allowed superpowers to block each other, avoiding direct confrontation that could further escalate.

Collective Security

The principle that an attack on one is an attack on all, meaning if one nation is attacked, all should act together. It was a core part of the UN.

Stalin

He wanted to establish security for the USSR by creating a buffer of friendly states in eastern Europe. His expansion and disregard for previously agreed elections caused a split with the west.

Churchill

He wanted a free Poland and to keep the British Empire; he gave the iron curtain speech.

Franklin Roosevelt

He was an idealist who wanted to create the UN. His deals at Yalta were seen as too soft, and the radical change in attitude after Truman took over alarmed the USSR.

Yalta Conference

The conference agreed on four zones of control in Germany, reparations, a Polish coalition government, free elections in eastern Europe, and Soviet entry into the war against Japan. It became seen as a broken agreement because the Soviets later ignored the promise of free elections.

London Poles

The Polish government in exile in London that worked with the western allies. Although Yalta stipulated they must be included in the new coalition government, they were ignored and some were imprisoned in Moscow.

Lublin Poles

Polish communists backed by the USSR who set up a rival government. Their establishment showed Soviet disregard for its promises and their resolve to control eastern Europe.

Potsdam Conference

Held in Germany after the end of the war, it confirmed what had been decided at Yalta. Strain between the allies became obvious as Truman acted aggressively after learning of the successful testing of the bomb.

Harry Truman

The US president after Roosevelt who was much harsher towards the Soviets and served as a driving force in the start of the Cold War.

Reparations

Payments or goods taken from a defeated country to make up for damages incurred in war. The Soviets pursued heavy reparations, claiming $60\%$ of East Germany's industry, while the West chose to rebuild Germany.

traditional (orthodox) historical interpretation

The standard western view during the early Cold War that the Soviets were to blame due to their expansionism, communist ideology, and disregard for Yalta and Potsdam, while the US acted defensively.

revisionist interpretation

The view that the US was largely to blame because of capitalism's need for markets and its refusal to respect Soviet security.

post-revisionist

It provides a more balanced explanation arguing that both sides were to blame because they failed to see through each other's true intentions.

realpolitik

It views the Cold War as a continuation of imperialist tendencies rather than ideology, where both superpowers used ideology as a cover for their own self-interests.

Long Telegram

An $8000$-word telegram sent from Moscow in 1946 by George Kennan explaining Soviet policy and expansion as an existential threat, forming the basis for containment.

George Kennan

A US diplomat in Moscow who wrote the Long Telegram and advised against direct military confrontation; his ideas shaped US policy and formed the basis for containment.

Iron Curtain

A descriptive term for the line running from Stettin to Trieste that divided Soviet-controlled east from the west, making the post-war divide public.

containment

The US policy of stopping communism from spreading further without attacking what was already communist, which guided US actions such as assisting Greece and Turkey.

salami tactics

The process of removing political opponents slice by slice until communists held all power, allowing communist governments to take control without needing an invasion.

Percentages Agreement

A deal where Churchill and Stalin split influence in southern Europe by percentages. It showed a divide between Churchill and Roosevelt; Britain gaining influence in Greece was significant because the US later had to fund them.

Truman Doctrine

A promise made in 1947 to give money and military aid to countries resisting communism, starting with $400\text{ million}$ for Greece and Turkey, which committed the US to containment.

Marshall Plan (European Recovery Plan)

US grants and loans offered to all of Europe to rebuild (approximately $13.2\text{ billion}$), reviving western Europe and weakening communist parties. The USSR refused the aid and set up COMECON.

Bizonia

The combined American and British occupation zones formed in 1947 (later joined by France). Stalin saw it as the start of a permanent western German state.

London Conference

A meeting where Britain, France, and the USA planned to unify their zones into a West German government; the Soviets walked out, ending four-power cooperation and leading to the blockade.

Deutschmark

The new West German currency introduced in June 1948; it was the direct trigger of the Berlin Blockade because the Soviets feared losing economic control.

Berlin Blockade

The Soviet closure of road, rail, and water routes to West Berlin from 24 June 1948 to 12 May 1949 in reaction to the Deutschmark. It was the first serious Cold War crisis and led to NATO and a divided Germany.

Berlin Airlift

Western flights starting 1 July 1948 that supplied West Berlin by transporting $2.4\text{ million}$ tons across over $278\,000$ flights. It defeated the blockade without war and became a propaganda win as Stalin was forced to concede.

NATO

A defence alliance of $12$ countries formed in April 1949 that kept the US in Europe and hardened the divide between the two blocs.

Warsaw Pact

A Soviet-led alliance of eastern European states that formalised the two opposing armed camps in Europe.

FRG

Federal Republic of Germany; its establishment threatened the Soviets, causing them to create their own state.

DRG

A Soviet-style socialist state created as the Soviet response to the FRG, causing Germany to be divided.