Cold War EKA 1

Days 1-5 of notes

Yalta Conference

first conference to talk about what would happen after ww2, split Germany up into zones and gave Poland to the USSR. Commitment to democratic process after war for europe from 4 major allied powers, USSR will help with Japan

Potsdam Conference

2nd allied conference to talk about what would happen after ww2 where cracks started to show up between allies. US really wanted democracy/self determination, USSR mad

Harry Truman

us president who was around for Potsdam, ended lend lease to USSR, dropped the bombs and was generally mad at the USSR

Atlee

Stalin

USSR leader who was mad at the US, wanted the USSR to develop atomic capabilities to beat the US and spread communism. In command during ww2 and much of cold war

Declaration of Freedom for Liberated Europe

A Yalta conference commitment made by the big 4 allied powers that they would commit to Europe being democratic

Iron curtain

The line between communist and non communist countries in Europe. This idea was introduced by Churchill in a speech, made the USSR mad and accused the west of wanting capitalist world domination

Containment policy

The idea that communism needed to be stopped from spreading, spreading into more countries would cause a domino effect, so the west needed to stop the spread of communism outside of already communist countries

Greece

A country that was in civil war during the cold war and hence seen as a target of communism. They were given aid by the British and the US so it wouldn’t fall to communist rebels

Turkey

A country geographically close to the USSR that the west saw as especially valuable to communists because it had access to trade routes.

Truman doctrine

A speech given by Truman outlined the non confrontationist but containment focused approach of the US in the cold war

Marshall plan (ERP)

A plan proposed by the US secretary of state that would offer economic assistance to European countries to provide an alternative to communism.

Czechoslovakia

A communist coup in this country in 1948 convinced the US govt to approve the Marshall plan in order to combat communism

Mao Zedong

Communist leader of the people’s republic of china

Allied Control Council

The governing body of germany, split into 4 sections for each allied power, managed German recovery and de-nazification

Socialist Unity Party (SED)

Stalin forced the socialist and communist parties in their quarter of germany to merge, hoped it would give communists more political power in the country, made the west mad

Bizonia

1947, the US and Britain consolidated their zones of Germany, USSR mad cuz they thought capitalists were consolidating power for takeover

Deutschmark

The US/Britian’s replacement of old, inflated German currency. made ussr mad

Ostmark

USSR is mad about us/uk replacing currency in their area of Germany, they replaced the currency in their quarter of the country with this new form of currency

Berlin Blockade

Stalin mad about bi/trizonia, blocks of Berlin and forces the west to airlift supplies into their area. West Berlin becomes a symbol of capitalism under threat, fuels anti communist sentiment

Brussels Treaty

Treaty to unite Europe that laid the groundwork for the European union, european countries signed a defensive alliance to discourage soviet threats

Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)

france, US and britain’s ¾ of Germany that united. Democratic with committee oversight to prevent more nazis. Also called west Germany

German Democratic Republic (GDR)

The ussr’s part of germany. Communist with a secret police, also called east Germany

Walter Ulbricht

SED party leader of east Germany

Konrad Adenauer

Democratically elected leader of west Germany

NATO

Sucessor to Brussels treaty- defense pact for european nations saying that if one country is attacked by the USSR everybody else in the treaty will help them

European Defense Community (EDC)

a treaty where the US wanted west Germany to rearm to mess with the soviets and get more firepower on their side, France is a problem and would not ratify

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

A coal/steel coalition in europe that economically strengthened western Europe by economically integrating the coal and steel trade across europe

European Economic Community (EEC)

Created a common market for all european goods, strengthened europe economically

Maoism

a type of communism, land reform and collectivization in the PRC and communes that produced goods and had to compete with each other

Khrushchev

Leader of the USSR after Stalin, he made Mao mad a lot and Soviet China relationship started to fracture

Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance

Stalin and Mao bromance led to Soviets giving China aid and advisors to create 5 year plans for them

Korea

The country that devolved into civil war after post-ww2 because the USSR couldn’t play nice with the other countries that were overseeing it after ww2

Stalin supports north, US supports south, ends up north communist south capitalist

Great leap forward

Mao’s economic plan to industrialize China. Forced collectivization, communes to produce steel. Really really bad, millions die of starvation, giant failure. USSR is dissapointed in China.

Taiwan Strait Crises

China keeps trying to bomb Taiwan, US sends navy to protect it. Happens twice, makes everybody mad at each other

Economic cooperation administration

Coordinated the distribution of marshall plan money with local govts, stimulated fastest economic growth ever in europe

PRC

The china that was eventually granted a seat in the UN security council after both the Republic of China (ROC) and the PRC wanted to be recognized as the ‘real’ china