The Cold War (1947-1991)

Duration of the Cold War

1947-1991

What was the cold war?

A period of geopolitical tensions between the USA and USSR, and their respective allies.

Ideology of the USA

Capitalistic

Orthodox historians

Blames the USSR for the cold war, emphasizing soviet expansionism and agression

Revisionist Historians

Blame the USA, highlighting American economic imperialism and anti-communist crusades.

Post-revisionist Historians

Emphasizes mutual responsability.

Orthodox historan example

Arthur Schlesinger

Revisionist historian example

William Appleman Williams

Post-revisionist historian example

John Lewis Gaddis

The Berlin Blockade dates

24th June 1948 to 12th May 1949

Why was the berlin blockade implemented?

The deutschemark was introduced, which violated the 1945 potsdam conference

The Berlin Airlift

supplies dropped in West Berlin on 26th June 1948

Korean War dates

1950-53

Korean war

A proxy war between USSR and China, and the USA

Why was NATO formed

In response to the Berlin Blockade to stop soviet expansion

The Warsaw Pact

Communist european countries aligned together after west germany joins Nato in 1955

John F. Kennedy

The USA president during the cuban missile crisis

Washington-Moscow Hotline

Established quick lines of communications between superpower leaders after the cuban missile crisis

The Bay of Pigs Invasion

Failed in 1961 and prompted Nikita Khruschev to implement nuclear warheads in Cuba

Cuban Missile Crisis dates

16th to 28th October 1962

Treaty after the Cuban missile crisis

The partial nuclear test ban treaty of 1963, where nuclear weapons can only be tested underground

The Marshal Plan

A US 1948 programme that assisted western european countries economically, stopping the spread of communism.

The Truman Doctrine

USA supports countries to remain free of communism in 1947

The Tehran Conference

1943, discussed a second front and borders after the war + UN formation

The Yalta Conference

1945, how USSR would enter war with Japan and boundaries of poland

Fulton speech

1946, Churchill states ‘an iron curtain has fallen across europe’

Who wrote the long telegram

George Kennan

What was the long telegram

A 1946 document warning the USA of soviet expansionist ideals

China in 1949

Communist Mao defeats the GMD

Cominform

An organisation of communist european countries, who were expected to trade together.

Comecon

A council to coordinate economic policies within cominform countires.

USA’s Containment policy

Stop the spread of communism

The domino effect

the idea that if one country ‘fell’ to communism, more would follow.

Nikita Khrushchev

USSR leader 1953-64

Peaceful coexistence

Khrushchev’s idea that communisim and capitalism could coexist.

Berlin wall

built in 1961, after Kennedy said he would never give up west berlin.

Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance

Signed in 1950 between China and USSR, benefited China a lot more.

Relationship between China and the USSR in the early years

Very good from 1950-53, but with stalin’s death things began to fragment.

Ideological reasons for the sino-soviet split

A rivalry developed between Krushchev and Mao

The Great Leap Forward

A 1958 economic programme to modernise china

Impact of the Great Leap Forward

was an economic disaster due to lack of regulation and oversight. Tension between China and USSR rose as the USSR critisized the plan.

The Sino-Soviet border conflict

1969 dispute over islands in Ussuri River, came near all-out war.

Détente

the easing of hostilities

Ping-pong diplomacy

an effort to improve democratic relations with China, resulting in a US table tennis team being invited to play in china

PRC joins NATO

1971 as a show of goodwill by the USA

Richard Nixon in Beijing

1972, accepts the one china policy and removes troops from Taiwan

Détante time period

1963-79

First premier of the détente

Leonid Brezhnev

The nuclear non-proliferation treaty

1968 and banned exchange of nuclear knowledge to non-nuclear countries

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks

Limited nuclear arms in 1972

The Grand Alliance

World War II coalition of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union

Collapse of détente

in 1979 with the soviet invasion of afghanistan

What did Ronald Reagan call the soviet union

The Evil Empire

Era of Stagnation

1964-85, in which the soviet union had little growth

Strategic arms limitation Talks II

Signed in 1979 to limit delivery systems.

The second arms race

SALT II is abandoned after USSR invades afghanistan

Collapse of the USSR

1991

Solidarity

A ship workers’ union that wanted more autonomy from soviet-aligned government

leader of solidarity

Lech Wałęsa

Brezhnev Doctrine

any threat to communist needed to be addressed with force

Leader of USSR not immediately after Brezhnev

Mikhail Gorbachev

Monday Demonstrations

A series of weekly demonstrations agains east german goverment in 1989

What communist country opened its borders and when

Hungary in 1989

When did the Berlin Wall fall

November 1989

The Velvet Revolution

A peaceful transition of power in Czechoslovakia that ended communist rule in late 1989

The Prague Spring

A 1968 period of anti-communist reform that was crushed by the soviets

Virgin Lands Scheme

a 1954 plan by Khruschev to increase agricultural production. Failed dramatically.

Orthodox historians say about Brezhnev

He stifled innovation and reduced productivity.

Rev. historians on Brezhnev

He was not all bad and was remembered positively by Soviet people

Affect on soviet-afghan war on economy

Was a massive drain on resources

Gorbachev’s idea of openness

glasnost

Gorbachev’s idea of restructuring

perestroika

OPEC crisis impact on USSR

led to an energy crisis

‘Sinatra Doctrine’

Gorbachev would withdraw from satelite state conflicts to save resources

Ronald Reagan

US president elected in 1980, was very anti-communist

Reagan Doctrine

‘roll back’ approach, harsher than ‘containment

Strategic Defense inititive

1983 ‘starwars’ to defend USA from nukes

Intermediate range nucelar forces treaty

1985, an attempt to revive treaties of détente, but broke down due to reagans refusal to give up starwars

New Union treaty referendum results

six countries left USSR

Harry Truman

President of the USA 1945-1953

Truman’s approach to Stalin

Far more aggressive and distrustful than Roosevelt

The Truman Doctrine marked the beginning of…

The american policy of containment

What Inspired The Truman Doctrine

George Kennan’s 1946 Long Telegram

Dollar Imperialism

The usa using their money after the war to prevent countries from turning communist

McCarthyism

Senator Joseph McCarthy’s views of Communists

McCarthyism Tenants

Held ‘witch hunts’ for communists, made american politict very aggressive in anti-communist rhetoric

Joseph Stalin

leader of soviet union ~1925-1953

Stalin was crucial for

the breakdown of the grand alliance and the cold war start.

Great Purge

1936-1938, stalin eliminated the vast majority of ‘rivals’

The Secret Speech

A destalinisation speech by Khrushchev on feb 25, 1956

Khrushchev on satellite states

while he was anti-stalin, he would not allow reform as he did not want to risk loosing control

Fidel Castro

Cuban leader 1959-2008

social impact of CW on Germany

West Germany = higher standard of living. East Germany = full employment + more equal

Economic struggles of Cuba

did not do well.

Collapse of Détente

Jimmy Carter withdraws SALT II from senate