Cold War Up to 1949

Post war conferences, Germany

What did Churchill do to protect British interests in the Balkans?

He made a percentages agreement with Stalin in 1944 to decide the percentage of predominance that Britain and the USSR would have in Europe (e.g. Britain 90% of Greece, USSR 90% of Romania)

When was the Yalta conference?

February 1945

What were the main tensions at the Yalta Conference (name 4)?

• Stalin’s efforts to guarantee security through a network of Eastern European allies

• Differing objectives

• The future of Germany

• How economic reconstruction should be achieved

What 4 things were agreed at Yalta?

• Germany and Berlin was to be divided into 4 spheres of influence

• The United Nations was ratified

• The USSR would gain land from Poland and Poland would be expanded

• Declaration of Liberated Europe

What determined the land that Germany had to lose after WWII?

The Oder-Neisse line

What were 4 main points of the Declaration of Liberated Europe?

• To establish conditions of internal peace

• To carry out emergency measures for the relief of distressed peoples

• To form temporary governments that represented the people

• To facilitate free elections

How did tensions increase after Yalta?

• Disagreement over the interpretation of the Declaration of Liberated Europe and how it applied to Poland

• Stalin kept the (communist) Lublin government in place, but Roosevelt strongly disagreed with this interpretation of the declaration

When was the Potsdam Conference?

July 1945

Who were the 3 leaders at the Potsdam conference?

• Stalin

• Truman

• Attlee

What were 3 main tensions at Potsdam?

• The USA’s atomic monopoly

• The “confrontation rather than cooperation” stance of Truman

• Stalin’s belief that the west had an anti-Soviet agenda

What 5 actions in Germany were agreed at Potsdam?

• Disarmament and demilitarisation

• De-Nazification

• Decentralisation of the political system

• Freedom of speech, press, religion

• Creation of a single economic unit

What did the USSR gain as a result of the Potsdam Conference?

Reparations from their zone of occupation and 25% from other zones

When was Kennan’s Long Telegram and what did it stress?

• 1946

• The need to contain the aggressive expansionism of the USSR 

When was Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech and what was it’s iconic quote?

• 1946

• “From Stettin in the Baltic to Triest in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent”

What was the USSR’s response to the Iron Curtain Speech?

• They felt that the USSR was unappreciated for its contributions to WW2

• Molotov departed from the Declaration of Liberated Europe

When was the Truman Doctrine?

March 1947

What year was the Marshall Plan and what was its official title?

• 1947

• The European Recovery Program

Which two men formulated the Marshall Plan?

• George Marshall

• Dean Acheson

How much money did the Marshall Plan give an to how many countries?

• £13.5 billion

• 16 countries

How did the Marshall Plan impact international relations (2 points)?

• Accelerated the division of Europe

• Further undermined cooperation

When was Cominform created?

September 1947

What were the 2 main purposes of Cominform?

• To unite communist groups throughout Europe to function as a whole under Moscow

• To consolidate Soviet control of Eastern Europe

How did the four German zones coodinate?

Through the ACC (Allied Control Council)

What 4 groups did Stalin allow in the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany?

• Christian Democrats (CDU)

• Communists (KPD)

• German Social Democrats (SPD)

• Liberals (LDPD)

Which 2 groups were merged and what group resulted?

• The Communists and the Social Democrats were merged 

• This formed the German Socialist Unity Party

What was the Soviet Zone of Germany subjected to?

The Soviet model of people’s democracies that was emerging across eastern Europe

Who merged the Communists and the German Socialist Democrats?

The Soviet Military Administration of Germany (SMAD)

How was the Soviet administration in Germany perceived?

A place of tyranny and repression

Despite its initial pro-joint occupation stance, what was America’s decisions in the spring of 1947?

• No to the Soviet demand that the Ruhr should be placed under joint allied control

• No to the continued economic deprivation of the German populations in the English and US zones

• No to the Soviet desire of creating a centralised Germany

When was Bizonia formed?

Jan 1947

When was Trizonia formed?

June 1948

When did the US introduce the Deutsche mark?

June 1948

When was the East German Mark introduced into the Soviet Zone?

July 1948

When was the Berlin Blockade?

June 1948 - May 1949

What did Stalin do on the 24th of June 1948?

He severed all road, rail, and canal links with West Germany

How many tons of supplies were flown into Berlin?

2 million tons

When was the FRG formed?

May 1949

When was NATO formed?

April 1949

What is purpose of NATO (North Atlantic Trading Organisation)?

• To reassure European states in the face of Soviet aggression

• To make a collective defence treaty among Atlantic states

When was the GDR formed by the USSR?

October 1949