Cold War events

Politically define capitalism

Politically define capitalism

There should be a democracy and people should be able to choose their own leaders

Politically define communism

There should only be one party and leader as there is no need to have more than one

Economically define capitalism

A free economy, people can earn how ever much they want and what they earn is based on their own hard work, anyone can start their own business and employ whoever they want.

Economically define communism

A controlled economy that is controlled by the government and its profits are shared

Positives of capitalism

Average standard of living is higher, democracy

Negatives of capitalism

Creates inequality as opportunities are not evenly spread

Positives of communism

Less inequality, more equal opportunities

Negatives of communism

Lower standard of living and no democracy

Who fought in the Russian revolution

The reds/Bolsheviks vs the whites

How did the Russian revolution impact the Cold War

It gave Russia communism so it had a conflicting ideology with the US which arose tensions

What was operation Barbarossa

The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union

What did operation Barbarossa lead to

It meant that the UK had to get over their fear of communism in order to help support the USSR because if the USSR was taken over then the UK would be next

What aid did Churchill send to the Soviet Union

4 million tonnes of supplies through the arctic convoys

3 million pairs of boots

2250 tanks

1800 fighter aircrafts

Why did pearl harbour alter the war

It brought the USA into a fight against Japan and therefore against Germany

What were some examples of the USSR and USA getting along before the war

Henry ford set up a factory there and the USA officially recognised the USSR

Examples of Stalin being a very ruthless leader

Examples of Stalins ruthlessness include him killing Trotsky the leader of the red army in 1940, he had all three of the leaders of the Bolshevik evolution tortured and executed and he had 81/103 of his main generals killed.

Where does the USA’s impression of the USSR come from

Two diplomats names William Bulliet and George Kennan (Kennan wrote a letter to Roosevelt saying he should be harsher with the USSR)

Why did Stalin sign the Nazi soviet pact

Protection from the west, protection from Germany and to buy time to sort out his troops

Why was the 1917 revolution impactful to the start of the Cold War

It meant that the USSR and the USA conflicting ideologies

Why was the Russian civil war impactful to the start of the Cold War

It was a proxy war so this meant that Stalin knew the west did not want him there

Why was Stalins aggressiveness impactful to the start of the Cold War

It gave the US and UK more reason to take action against him

Why was the Nazi soviet pact impactful to the start of the Cold War

It meant that when WW2 started the west was essentially in conflict with the USSR

What was the opening of the second front known as

Dday

What happened at the Tehran conference

Lead to the allies opening a second front, the USSR front was moved westward and Poland and Bessarabia joined the USSR

What happened at the Yalta conference

Agreements of Germany, Berlin, free elections in Berlin, the UN and the USSR joining the fight against Japan

What was the question of Poland

London poles (the original Polish government between WW2 backed by the west) vs Lublin poles (the government that took over after the USSR invasion of Poland) 

Tehran tensions

Stalin was spying on Roosevelt, Eastern Europe, second front

Tehran agreements

Poland would be part of the USSR, how to divide up Europe and the second front would be opened at some point

Yalta tensions

Churchill wanted it hosted in the west Stalin refused

Yalta agreements

Poland could have elections, war against Japan and German occupation zones

Potsdam agreements

Soviets to fight Japan, reparations, Germany zones, Truman told Stalin about the bomb

Potsdam tensions

The manhatten project and the fact that Stalin already knew from espionage

Why was Trumans appointment bad for the Cold War

He was more anticommunist

What did the USSR do to Czechoslovakia

The treaty of friendship

What was the treaty of friendship

It allowed edvard Benes to become president of Czechoslovakia so communists now ruled the country even though in 1935 they only got 10% of the vote

What did the treaty of friendship cause

It meant that Benes could now get rid of all other political parties and he could now start killing ethnic Germans

What did the USSR do to Poland

Made their leaders the London poles go into exile from 1939

How did the USSR treat Yugoslavia

They were already lead by the communist leader Joseph tito so the red army just passed through there and then left it

The fins and the USSR

In 1944 the fins joined the 1940 treaty of Moscow which gave the ussr some of their teritory

Bulgaria and the USSR

Bulgaria was an axis power and it chose not to fight the ussr it just accepted defeat

What happened to the countries that were liberated by Western Europe

They had democracies and free elections and controll over who was in their government

Romania and the USSR

In 1944 there was a coup against the facist iron hard regime they had but in 1945 Stalin forced the king to choose a communist leader to be in charge

What did Stalin outline in his electoral speech

He discussed allied victory in ww2, the red army and he outlined how he thought capitalism made war inevitable

What did George Kennan say in his telegram

He was overall negative about the Soviet Union by describing them as evil and that he disapproved of communism but he did highlight them as being a threat

What was Churchills speech also known as

Sinews of peace

What was contained in the sinews of peace speech

He claimed the ussr were spreading and adopting satilite states which was true due to the Lublin poles he compared the moment to being similar to when Germany invaded Poland in 1939

What was contained in the novikov telegram

The telegram said that the USA had emerged from ww2 economically strong and ideologically weak and this set the scene for the cold war

What did the Truman doctrine outline

It asked the American people to try and help the victims of communism and it made it clear that communism was the enemy and the the USA had got it right by being capitalist

What was Kennans x article

It was a follow up from Kennans telegram done by George Kennan and it proposed the idea of the Americans encouraging soviet containment

What is in nsc 1968

Top secret document proposed to harry truman propose containment

What was Zhdanovs two camps speech

It proposed zhandovism which was a process of all soviet cultrural contributors have to align with soviet values

What is salami tactics

The tactics the USSR used to take over governments

1st stage of salami tactics

Form. Coalition with government

2nd stage of salami tactics

Marginalisation of the non communists in the coalition

3rd stage of salami tactics

Election where the communists win

What was the Marshall plan

The Marshall plan is a huge economic aid package put together by the USA which was offered to

countries in Europe and this money was given to them to help them restore their economies

Economic reasons for the Marshall plan

it would give the USA people to trade with, they need to revive the world economies

Political reasons for the Marshall plan

they did it to make capitalism look better, they are going against the communist Italian party which had two million members, it aided them in the containment of communism, they need to revive the economy so they can prove that free markets are successful, if they left the economy in a bad state people would require change and these are the conditions that communism thrives under

Strategic reasons for the Marshall plan

they are going against the communist Italian party which had two million members and Italy was democratically elected communism which makes it even more severe, it aided them in containment of the USSR

Czech response to Marshall aid

Meeting between tito and Stalin where Stalin told tito he could not take Marshall aid which he ended up taking

What was cominform

the political side of the Soviet Union talking more control of Eastern Europe and they ensure ideological conformity throughout the soviet sphere of influence

What was comincon

Soviet version of Marshall aid but they had to remain in the soviet sphere of influence

How did the USSR and USA disagree on Berlin

The sectors agreed on participating via denazification and demilitarisation but the sectors began to disagree when England and the USA began to combine their zones to form Bizonia in order to aid the economic recovery of the area

How did the Marshall plan and currency reform increase tensions

The west received the Marshall plan which was 1.4 billion and the east were banned by Stalin from receiving this so it was an example of the west outshining the east and making Stalin look bad so this made Stalin view them badly which increased tensions.

Stalin’s actions in east Berlin

At the Potsdam conference it was decided that Berlin should have free elections. This occurred in the east and the CDU took power in 1946. However in the east the KPD communist party lost the election but Stalin forced them to merge with the SDP party who won the election.

What currency was introduced in the west

Deutschmark

How much did the us donate by 1952

13 billion

Czech crisis

Whe the USSR invaded Czechia’s so it was no longer a satellite state it was part of the USSR

What phrase did Molotov use to condemn the Marshall aid plan

Dollar imperialism

Why was Germany and Berlin specifically a place of conflict

It was a border between the east and the west and because Berlin was split between them it was clear to see the cultural differences between the sides

How did the two sides agree and disagree with the way Berlin should be treated

The sectors agreed on participating via denazification and demilitarisation but the sectors began to disagree when England and the USA began to combine their zones to form Bizonia in order to aid the economic recovery of the area.

Example of elections in east Berlin being unfair

At the Potsdam conference it was decided that Berlin should have free elections. This occurred in the east and the CDU took power in 1946. However in the east the KPD communist party lost the election but Stalin forced them to merge with the SDP party who won the election. This increased tensions as Stalin was disobeying what he promised to the western allies and it also made east Berlin look like a satellite  state which would have made the west angered and concerned.

Background to the Berlin blockade

-In 1948 France, UK and the USA had a conference in London to discuss making bizonia.

The USSR protested this and they refused a unified Germany as well.

There was multiple clashes between the Soviet Union and western powers in 1948 like the soviets delaying US trains going to Berlin and a soviet plane collided with a British plane by accident.

Trizonia was created which merged with the French territory on the 17th June. The Deutschmark was created by the trizonion state.

Soviet reaction to the Deutschmark

Said it was against the Potsdam agreement

Suspended transport to Berlin as a consequence

Made their own eastern German currency

What was the East German currency called

Ostmark

Why was the USSR formed

-To protect America while their attention is on the USSR

-To stop the spread of communism and the Soviet Union

-To spread peace and prevent a ww3

Consequences of the Berlin airlift

Economic divide- two different countries with one side getting Marshall aid and the other getting Comecon

Political divide- two different governments with opposing ideologies with one backed by NATO and the other backed by the Warsaw pact

Military divide- stopped British and US military trains, ended the military alliance and 31st of Marc us military trains replaced with trains to stop them being stopped

What lead to the formation of NATO

Czech crisis, Berlin blockade, treaty of Brussels

When was the treaty of Brussels what was it and why is it significant

1948, treaty between some Western European sides uk, France, Netherlands, it was significant because it made them realise they need the USA involved in Europe

How did the arms race change overtime

Destruction- they had become more destructive overtime with the USA testing a hydrogen bomb which is more significant than an atomic bomb and then later a lithium bomb

Relations between leaders- they were no longer allied and when they started dropping more bombs the alliance between them worsened

Delivery- in the early 1950s they were developing medium and long range missiles in order to attack people without harming themselves

Policies- 1953 Dwight Eisenhower called for national nuclear checks regularly to ensure they were being safe

Timeline of the arms race

1946- sac created to help them develop the weapons

1949- USSR had a bomb

1950- Truman approved a hydrogen bomb being tested

1953- ussr had their own hydrogen bomb

1955- USA stated preparing defences if they were hit by a nuclear bomb

Why was the Warsaw pact formed in 1955

It was when east and west Germany were separate so they could include east Germany

Who did the Warsaw pact involve

Russia, Albania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and the eastern bloc

What was the hallstein doctrine do

Stated that the east Germans wanted reunification in their constitution

How many soldiers did west Germany have by 1961

350,000

What was Stalins note

Stalin sent a note to the three major allies asking if they could reunify east and west Germany but this was ignored

What did the aufbau des sozialismus say

Armament of the GDR, purges of party members, work norms raised, focus on heavy industry and stopped privatisation of agriculture

What was the soviet general strike calling for

Going back to normal, better living standard, resignation of government and free and secret elections

Brinkmanship meaning

Pushing it to see when people will react

Massive retaliation meaning

Retaliating too far and going overboard on purpose

What is malenkovs new course

Malenkov believed that as capitalism was going to destroy itself there was no reason to embark on a war between capitalism and communism so therefore they could divert their finances away from being aimed towards war to being aimed towards helping their own country.

How is malenkovs new course important when he was beaten in the election campaign

Krushchev took this idea to then adapt it and use it

When did krushchev take power and what was his key ideology

Summer 1957 and he believe the west would destroy itself so he wanted peaceful coexistence

What is destalanisation

the attempt by krushchev to move away from Stalins policies and to give more financial aid to agriculture than the military. This move was evidenced by the 1956 approach to Hungarians liberal ideas.

When was the treaty of Austria signed and what did it mean

1955 before Austria was like Germany now it was neutral and took no side

When did Russia withdraw from Finland and what did this mean

Early 1956 it was now neutral but the ussr still forced an electoral candidate to step down in 1961

Dulles and Eisenhower ideology

Anicommunist, pro religion and using brinkmanship and massive retaliation

Massive retaliation meaning

pushing hard when people retaliate harder in order to scare others off from attacking them

Roll back meaning

when they wanted to push back the ussr so hard that they would become anticommunist