Origins of the Cold War

What is communism? (3)

An ideology which grants the government power over all assests, aiming to provide a classless society

The government controls all assests and distributes them evenly across the population

The Soviet Union was a communist state

What is capitalism? (3)

An ideology that prioritises private ownership, meaning the quality and output of your work greatly influences your pay

The government has little control over personal assests

Great Britain and The USA are capitalist regions

Who was the leader of the USA at the beginning of the Cold War?

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Who was the leader of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Cold War?

Joseph Stalin

Who was the leader of Britain at the beginning of the Cold War?

Winston Churchill

When was the Tehran Conference?

November - December 1943

What was agreed by the USA and Britain at Tehran?

They agreed to open up a second front by invading Nazi-occupied Europe

What was agreed by the Soviet Union at Tehran?

They agreed to declare war on Japan once Germany was defeated

What was agreed about Poland at Tehran? (2)

Its boundaries would be moved westwards

It would gain territory from Germany and lose territory to the Soviet Union

What was agreed by all the superpowers at Tehran? (2)

They agreed to set up an international body to settle future disputes between countries

This set the scene for the establishment of the United Nations

When was the Yalta Conference?

February 1945

What was agreed about Germany at Yalta? (2)

When defeated, it would be reduced in size, demilitarised and divided into four zones between France, the Soviet Union, the USA and Britain

It would also have to pay reparations

What was agreed about Europe at Yalta? (2)

It would be rebuilt along the lines of the Atlantic Charter (lines of transport and trade)

Countries would have democratic elections meaning they would have the right to pick their own government

What was agreed about international relations?

The United Nations would be set up

What was reaffirmed by the Soviet Union at Yalta?

They would declare war on Japan once Germany was defeated

What was agreed about Poland at Yalta?

It would be in the Soviet “sphere of influence”, but would be run on a broader democratic basis

When was the Potsdam Conference?

July - August 1945

Who replaced Winston Churchill as Prime Minister and attended the Potsdam conference?

Clement Attlee

Who replaced Roosevelt as President of the USA and attended the Postdam conference? (2)

Harry S. Truman

He was a hard-line anti-communist who made his opinions very clear during Potsdam

Why were tensions high during Potsdam? (3)

Stalin and Truman’s ideological differneces were apparant

Truman revealed the successful testing of his atomic bomb

Although Stalin already knew of this due to his spies, he still complained about the secrecy between supposed allies

What was set up at Potsdam?

A Council of Foreign Ministers to organise the rebuilding of Europe

Which party was banned and prosecuted after Potsdam?

The Nazi Party and war criminals

What was reaffirmed about Germany at Potsdam?

It was to be reduced in size and divided into four zones of occupation run by Britain, France, the USA and the Soviet Union

What was agreed about Berlin?

It was to be divided into zones of occupation controlled by the four Allied powers: USA, Soviet Union, Britain, and France.

What were the outcomes of the conferences?

Although Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union were able to defeat Germany and Japan, their differing ideologies and post-war goals led to increasing tensions and, eventually, the Cold War

A superpower (3)

An extremely powerful and influential country.

It has political, economic and military power far greater than other countries

The two superpowers were the USA and the USSR

The Cold War (2)

A period of tension and rivarly between the US and the USSR and their repsective allies

There was no direct military conflict between the superpowers, only political

What did the USSR want for Germany post-war?

They were determined to make Germany as weak as possible, so they wanted them to pay lots of reparations and be demilitarised

What did Britain want for Germany post-war?

They wanted Germany to rebuilt and made financially stable, avoiding the detrimental outcomes that came from the Treaty of Versailles

What did the USA and Britain want for Europe post-war? (2)

They wanted Europe to be a capitalist democracy

Roosevelt believed that democracy meant different political parties working to win votes support in freee elections

What did the USSR want for Europe post-war? (3)

They wanted Europe to be a communist democracy

Stalin believed that because only communism truly represented the workers, democracies could only be communist

The USA didn’t believe them as they made Poland into a solely communism state

What is an ideology?

A set of political ideas about how society should be run

The USA and the USSR had opposing ideologies

What did capitalist countries believe? (4)

Everyone should be free to make money for themselves

Individuals are better at deciding what to make/sell than the state

Trade between countries makes everyone richer

They believed communism enslaved people

What did communist countries believe? (3)

Capitalism only makes some people rich by exploiting everyone else

Individuals are not as strong as everyone working together for the same aim

The state should take control of the economy and run it to benefit everyone

What and when was the Long Telegram? (2)

February 1946

A secret report from the US ambassador Kennan in Moscow to President Truman

What did the Long Telegram say? (3)

The USSR saw capitalism as a threat to communism that had to be destroyed

The USSR was building its military power

Peace between a communist USSR and a capitalist USA wasn’t possible

What and when was the Novikok Telegram? (2)

September 1946

A report from Novikov, Soviet ambassador to the USA addressed to Stalin

What did the Novikov Telegram say? (3)

The USA wanted world domination and was building up its military strength

The USSR was the only country left after the war that could stand up to the USA

The USA was preparing its people for war with the USSR

The Grand Alliance (1)

The partnership between Britain, the US and the USSR to defeat Nazi Germany in WW2

Wartime conferences (1)

Meetings between the leaders of the Grand Alliance to decide important matters in WW2

Satellite States (1)

Eastern European countries controlled by the USSR

Buffer zone (1)

An area giving protection to a country

Puppet leader (1)

A leader who is controlled by someone else

Containment (1)

Stopping the spread of something

Propaganda (1)

Information used to support a biased viewpoint

Destalinisation (1)

A reversal of Stalin’s brutal tactics by Krushchev

M.A.D (1)

The understanding that using nuclear weapons would result in Mutually Assureed Destruction by both sides

Krushchev (1)

Soviet leader from 1953 - 64

Cominform (3)

1947

A union of the communist parties in Europe

Strengthened Stalin’s control over communist parties in Europe

Comecon (3)

1949

Offered financial aid to communist countries (countering the Marshall Plan)

Built up trade links between communist parties in Europe

Impact of Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Cominform and Comecon (3)

Divided Europe into two camps

West Germany recovered strongly

USSR strengthened its grip on satellite states

Why did the Berlin Blockade happen? (4)

The Western Allies joined their zones in Germany to create Trizonia, which hugely benefited from the Marshall Plan money

This angered Stalin for two reasons

It made the West look much better than the weakening East

He didn’t want Germany to become strong enough to start another war

When was the Berlin Blockade? (2)

June 1948

Stalin gradually began cutting off access to West Berlin by train, cars, boats then cut off all land access

What was the Berlin Airlift? (2)

To avoid war by ignoring Stalin’s orders, the allies decided to supply West Berlin by air

For 11 months, the Western Allies flew planes bringing 5,000 tonnes of supplies to West Berlin every day, costing over £350 million.

What was the impact of the Berlin Blockade/Airlift? (4)

Huge propaganda win for the US as the USSR appeared aggressive and threatening

NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955)

West Germany become a country called the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)

East Germany became a country called the German Democratic Republic (GDR)

What is N.A.T.O? (3)

Formed in 1949

A defensive military alliance who have a policy of collective defense for all its members

The US placed nuclear missiles in N.A.T.O countries to protect them

What was the Warsaw Pact? (2)

Formed in 1955

A military alliance of Soviet controlled countries

What was the Arms Race? (2)

Began in 1949

The US and the USSR racing to develop new weapons

The impact of NATO, the W.P and the Arms Race (3)

Europe was now divided into 2 opposing military camps armed with nuclear bombs

Both sides followed the policy of MAD

The USSR further strengthened its grip on its satellite states

The Hungarian Uprising: Causes (3)

Hungary suffered under Stalin’s control

Rakosi, the Hungarian leader, was brutal and ruthlessly wiped out opposition

Fodd and industrial products were shipped off to Russia, leaving less for the people

The Hungarian Uprising: Triggers (3)

Destalinisation: Krushchev gave a speech hinting there would be more freedom in 1956

In October 1956, poor harvests and food shortages meant Hungarians began demonstrating against communist control

Statues of Stalin were pulled down and local communists were attacked

The Hungarian Uprising: Nagy’s reforms(4)

Stalin installed Imre Nagy as the new Hungaian leader

He wanted to leave the Warsaw Pact and become a neutral country

Hold free elections leading to no more single-party communist government

UN protection from the Soviet Union

The Hungarian Uprising: Consequences (4)

Krushchev was worried that if Nagy succeeded in Hungary, other countries in Eastern Europe would follow, causing the Warsaw Pact to collapse

In 1956, 200,000 soviet troops invaded Hungary

5000 Hungarians were killed and Nagy was executed

A new puppet leader called Janos Kadar was installed in Hungary, who immediately began “normalising” Hungary