Modern History: Unit 2 AOS 1

Financial Cost of Defeating Germany: USA

Financial Cost of Defeating Germany: USA

13 million men mobilised/No loss of industry/No homes destroyed/$341 billion dollars spent/407,000 military deaths/12,000 civilian deaths

Financial Cost of Defeating Germany: USSR

34 million men mobilised/25% of all industry destroyed/25 million homes destroyed/$192 billion dollars spent/10 million military deaths/17 million civilian deaths

Motives: Joseph Stalin

Create communist sphere of influence to create friendly relations/de-moralise Germany

Motives: Winston Churchill

Wanted Europe to be entirely democratic & eliminate communism

Motives: Franklin Roosevelt

"De-nazify" Germany & for affected states to undergo self determination/gain assistance against Japan, more specifically from USSR

Stalin's toast at Yalta Conference

"May it be strong and stable; may we be frank as possible" (Feb 11th about the Grand Alliance)

Disagreements at Yalta

Poland (The Polish Committee of National Salvation (communists) vs the exiled government lead Poland) & Soviet influence in eastern Europe (communist states vs have the right to self determination)

Changes after Yalta

Soviet forces occupied Eastern Europe & installed a Communist government in Poland/President Roosevelt was replaced by President Truman

Stalin to a fellow communist in 1945

"Whoever occupies a territory also imposes on his own beliefs and social system."

Truman Quote

"We have to get tough with the Russians"

Agreements at Potsdam

Democracy in Germany, Germany to pay reparations, Nazi war criminals put on trial

Disagreement at Potsdam

Boundaries for the four occupied zones of Germany and the amount of reparations the USSR wanted to take away from Germany

Truman Doctrine

Truman's declaration that the US would support people resisting communism. US spends 400 million in aid to turkey and Greece.

Marshall Plan

A plan that the US came up with to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13.6 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe.

Cominform

Formed a buffer zone between the Soviet Union and the West/allow Stalin to monitor and control European Communists, and remove potential dissenters

Comecon

Established trade control between the Soviet Union and its satellite states (acted as response to Marshall plan)

Arms Race

Cold war competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union to build up their respective armed forces and weapons

Space Race

A competition of space exploration between the United States and Soviet Union.

Reverse Domino Theory

Countries that fall under communism will turn democratic

The fall of the Berlin Wall date

9th November 1989

Detente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Berlin Blockade

The blockade was a Soviet attempt to starve out the allies in Berlin in order to gain supremacy. The blockade was a high point in the Cold War, and it led to the Berlin Airlift. (June 1948)

Iron Curtain

A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe after WWII, restricting their ability to travel outside the region

Checkpoint Charlie

This was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Germany and West Germany during the Cold War.

Life in East Germany

Limited private ownership of business/everyone has housing/lower wages/secret police (Stasi)/No trade unions

East German Uprising

The first of many uprising against the Soviets. June 1953,
working class people joined together to try to stop Soviet power.

East German Uprising statistics

June 16th 1953: 300 construction workers walked off job

Mutual Assured Destruction

idea that both sides would face certain destruction in a nuclear war, as the USA & USSR spent billions

Arms race development Timeframe

1949 to 1961

Fears of nuclear war between the USA & USSR

200,000 fallout shelters built by 1965, With investors predicting the industry to gross at $20 billion USD

When did Neil Armstrong walk on the moon?

21st of July, 1969

Space race duration

October 1957 starting with Sputnik 1 to July 1969 after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalisation effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe.

Ronald Reagen

Described Soviet Union as an "evil empire"

George Bush Sr.

US president 1988-93 and was the president which saw the end of the Cold War

Leonid Brezhnev

Was a hardline communist who began to ease relations with the west through détente

17th July 1975

US astronauts meet and successfully docked Apollo 18 with Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

montagsdemonstrationen (Monday demonstrations)

Demonstrations which started on 4/9/1989 in Leipzig to protest anti-communist ideals

glasnost (introduced 1986)

Was taken to mean increased openness and transparency in government institutions and activities within the USSR

Quote about the iron curtain

“an iron curtain has descended across the continent” Winston Churchill March 5th 1946