the cold war, facts

what was agreed at the tehran conference?

us + britain would open a 2nd front by invading germany, ussr would declare war on japan, boundaries of poland would gain territory from germany and lose it from ussr, an international body would be set up to settle future disputes between countries (set the scene for the un)

what was agreed at the yalta conference?

un would be set up, ussr would declare war on japan once germany was defeated, poland would be in the ‘soviet sphere of influence’ but run on a democratic basis, europe would be rebuilt according to the atlantic charter- countries would have democratic elections, germany would be divided, demilitarised, charged reparations

when was the tehran conference, and which leaders were there?

nov-dec 1943, roosevelt, churchill, stalin

when was the yalta conference, and which leaders were there?

feb 1945, roosevelt, churchill, stalin

when was the potsdam conference, and which leaders were there?

july-aug 1945, stalin, attlee, truman

what was agreed at the potsdam conference?

a council of foreign ministers was set up to organise the rebuilding of europe, nazi party was banned and war criminals to be prosecuted, germany to be reduced in size and divided (berlin as well), ussr was to receive 25% of the output from the other three occupied zones

when did the grand alliance begin to come to an end?

may 1945, at the end of the second world war

us drop two atomic bombs on japan

aug 1945

ussr explode its first atomic bomb

1949

us developed its first hydrogen bomb

1952

ussr developed their own hydrogen bomb

1953

when was the long telegram

1946

when was novikov’s telegram?

1946

what was the long telegram?

a secret report from the us ambassador kennan in moscow to president truman

what did the long telegram say?

ussr saw capitalism as a threat to communism that had to be destroyed, ussr was building its military power, peace between a communist ussr and a capitalist us was not possible

what was novikov’s telegram?

a report from novikov, a soviet ambassador in us

what did novikov’s telegram say?

us wanted world domination and was building up its military strength, ussr was the only country left after war that could stand up to us, us was preparing its people for war with ussr

how did bulgaria become communist?

a communist government was elected in 1945, and all elected non-communists were executed

how did romania become communist?

a comunist-led coalition took power, however by 1947 the communists had taken over and romania because a one-party state

how did poland become communist?

a yalta stalin promised to set up a joint communist/non-communist government, but he then invited 16 non-communist leaders to moscow and arrested them- thousands of non communists were arrested; the communists then ‘won’ the 1947 election

how did czechoslovakia become communist?

benes set up a coalition government, however the communists retained control of the army, the radio and the secret police, in 1948 they seized power completely, turning the country into a communist state

how did hungary become communist?

the communists lost the 1945 election but the communist leader rakosi took control of the secret police, executed and imprisoned his opponents and turned hungary into a communist state

how did east germany become communist?

the original soviet zone of occupation in germany became a communist state in oct 1949

when was the truman doctrine?

1947

what did the truman doctrine state?

countries faced a choice between capitalism or communism, communism was bad because it meant people could not be free, us must try to contain the spread of communism, us should provide money and troops to help free governments to combat communist takeovers

when was the marshall plan?

1947

what did the marshall plan contain?

about $13 billion from us to help rebuild europe, countries must trade with us to get the money, 16 european countries took the money including france, uk and west germany, ussr criticised the marshall plan as an attack anthem because it threatened communist control, communism appealed to most people so this plan hoped to stop communism by giving people a stake in capitalism

when was nato set up?

1949

what was nato?

a military alliance based around the principle of collective security, it was directed against a possible military attack from ussr on western europe

when did west germany join nato?

1955

when was cominform set up?

1947

when was comecon set up?

1949

what were the key points of cominform?

it got rid of any opposition to ussr’s control in satellite states, it encouraged communist parties in western countries to block marshall plan assistance

what were the key points of comecon?

it built up trade links between comecon countries, it prevented comecon countries signing up to the marshall plan

sum up the truman doctrine in one word:

containment

when did east germany join comecon?

1950

the german democratic republic was also known as…

east germany

when was the warsaw pact set up?

1955

what was the warsaw pact?

a collective defense treaty

what was the significance of nato?

it showed that after the berlin blockade and ussr development of the atomic bomb, neither us or western european governments were prepared to accept future soviet aggression, led to ussr forming the warsaw pact

what was the significance of the warsaw pact?

meant there were now two opposing alliances in europe separated by the iron curtain, both alliances planned for military action against the other (including the use of nuclear and normal weapons), the warsaw pact gave ussr control over the armed forces of its satellite states- strengthening its grip on eastern europe

what was the impact of soviet rule in hungary?

hungary suffered a lot under stalin’s control, food and industrial products were shipped off to russia, any opposition in hungary was ruthlessly wiped out, rakosi was a brutal ruler, communist rule became very unpopular

what reforms did nagy want for hungary?

leave the warsaw pact and become a neutral country, hold free elections leading to no more single-party communist governments, un protection from ussr

when was khrushchev’s ‘secret speech’? and what did he hint at in it?

1956, he hinted that soviet control would relax (so appointed imre nagy, a more liberal prime minister, for hungary)

why did soviet troops invade hungary?

khrushchev disapproved of nagy’s reforms

when was the soviet invasion of hungary?

nov 1956

how many troops were sent by khrushchev into hungary, and what was their aim?

200,000 troops were sent into hungary in order to depose nagy and restore order

give consequences of the soviet invasion of hungary

over 5000 hungarians and 1000 soviet troops were killed, nagy‘s government was deposed, kadar was appointed who introduced the fifteen point programme which aimed to establish communist rule in hungary but on a more moderate level

what did the soviet invasion of hungary show to satellite states?

the us would not defend them against ussr

international reactions and consequences to the soviet invasion of hungary

some countries boycotted the 1956 olympics in protest, us accepted 80,000 refugees from hungary

how many east germans crossed from the east to the west in berlin between 1949 and 1961?

2\.7 million, called the ‘brain drain’

khrushchev’s berlin ultimatum

nov 1958

what did khrushchev’s berlin ultimatum state?

all berlin belonged to east germany and occupying troops just leave in six months (he couldn’t push the west out by force- us had more nuclear weapons)

when was the geneva summit? who did it involve?

may 1959, involved foreign reprasentatives only

when was the camp david summit? who did it involve?

sep 1959, eisenhower and khrushchev

when was the paris summit? who did it involve?

may 1960, eisenhower and khrushchev

when was the vienna conference? who did it involve?

june 1961, kennedy and khrushchev

what was the outcome of the geneva summit?

no solution, only agree to meet at the camp david summit

what was the outcome of the camp david summit?

no solution but a further meeting arranged in paris

what was the outcome of the paris summit?

disaster, khrushchev stormed out because ussr had shot down a us spy plane over russia

what was the outcome of the vienna conference?

neither was willing to back down, khrushchev saw kennedy’s inexperience as a weakness and reissued his ultimatum for the us to remove its troops from berlin

what was the impact of the bay of pigs incident?

ended all chances of a friendly us-cuba relationship, castro announced that he was a communist, cuba and ussr started building closer ties (including military defence for cuba)

when was the bay of pigs incident?

april 1961

why did kennedy go through with the invasion of cuba?

the cia told him that: most cubans hate castro, castro’s control of cuba is very weak, the invasion will look like a cuban revolt (they had trained cuban exiles and disguised old us planes as cuban), a us-backed invasion of cuba would solve the problem of having a socialist country to close

what happened in the bay of pigs incident?

planes were recognised as us planes and photographed (the info was then published), the world knew us had backed the invasion, castro knew of the invasion in advance and 1400 us-backed troops met 20,000 of castro’s troops- the us-backed troops surrendered

what was the impact of soviet rule on czechoslovakia?

czechoslovakian’s economy and living standards declined, any opposition to communism was crushed, communist rule became very unpopular

when did dubček become leader of czechoslovakia?

jan 1968

about dubček

good friend of soviet leader brezhnev, communist and supporter of the warsaw pact but wanted to make communism easier to live under: ‘socialism with a human face’

what were dubček’s reforms?

relaxation of censorship, more democracy allowed other parties alongside the communist party, powers of secret police reduced, soviet control reduced, market was reformed with ‘market socialism’ allowing for some ‘capitalist elements’

how did the czechoslovaks responded to dubček’s reforms?

it was welcomed apart from members of the secret police and senior army officers who lost their power

why was brezhnev worried about the prague spring?

he feared it would lead to demands for reform elsewhere in the eastern bloc that would threaten communist rule in europe

when was the berlin wall built?

aug 1961

when was the prague spring?

jan 1968

how many east germans were shot whilst trying to cross the berlin wall between 1961 and 1989?

over 200

why did khrushchev build the berlin wall?

he could not risk nuclear war with us but he still needed to solve the refugee problem that existed in berlin

when did us spy planes photograph the cuban missile sites?

oct 1962

brezhnev’s response to dubček’s reforms?

in aug 1968, the soviet union sent tanks to prague and dubček was arrested, czechoslovakia returned to being under strict soviet control under gustav husak (known as ‘normalisation’)

when did the brezhnev doctrine happen?

1968, following the prague spring

what did the brezhnev doctrine state?

ussr had the right to invade any eastern bloc country that was threatening the security of the eastern bloc as a whole

why was the soviet invasion of czechoslovakia important?

other east european states, e.g. poland or hungary, were required to rigidly stick to soviet-style communism or risk invasion

consequences of the brezhnev doctrine

western european communist parties were horrified and declared themselves independent from the soviet communist party, yugoslavia and romania backed off from ussr, weakening ussr’s grip on eastern europe

when did kennedy visit west berlin?

1963

why was kennedy’s visit to berlin important?

he claimed ‘ich bin ein berliner’, his speech was an expression of solidarity with the people of west berlin, it demonstrated the us and nato were prepared to defend west berlin from communist attack

what did kennedy also want to show by giving a speech in berlin in 1963?

that he was not ‘soft on communism’

short-term consequences of the cuban missile crisis:

communist cuba survived as kennedy gave assurances the us would not invade cuba again, ussr looked weak (the world didn’t know us had removed missiles from turkey), why brezhnev replaced khrushchev

what did the cuban missile crisis ultimately lead to?

détente

long-term consequences of the cuban missile crisis:

hotline, limited test ban treaty, mad, outer space treaty, non-nuclear proliferation treaty in 1968, 1963 kennedy speech

what happened on 16th oct 1962?

kennedy is informed that us spy planes have found missile sites on cuba

what happened on 22nd oct 1962?

kennedy decides against an attack- instead he orders a blockade of cuba

what happened on 24th oct 1962?

soviet union says blockade is an act of aggression and its ships will ignore it

what happened on 25th oct 1962?

us and ussr prepare for immediate nuclear attack

what happened on 27th oct 1962?

cuba prepares for invasion, khrushchev offers to remove missiles from cuba if us does the same from its italy and turkey bases, us spy plane is shot down over cuba, kennedy sets up a deal in which us would secretly withdraw warheads from italy and turkey

what happened on 28th oct 1962?

khrushchev agrees to the deal: missiles withdrawn in return for us agreeing never to attack cuba and taking its missiles out of italy and turkey

when was the helsinki conference?

1975

when was salt i (strategic arms limitation treaty)?

1972

what did salt i state?

no further production of strategic ballistic weapons, no increase in number of intercontinental ballistic weapons, no new nuclear missile launchers, the anti-ballistic missile treaty limited both sides to two deployment areas

how effective was salt i?

slowed down the arms race by placing limits on the number of bombers, icbms, and slbms each side could have, led to further negotiations (like salt ii in 1979), ensured neither side had a decisive advantage in strategic nuclear weapons

how was salt i limited?

it did not cover intermediate nuclear weapons, which both sides continued to deploy in europe during the late 70s

what was agreed at the helsinki conference in 1975?

east and west germany accepted each other officially, all disputes to be settled peacefully (through un), trade cooperation between ussr and us, sharing of scientific knowledge, countries to respect human rights, no country to interfere in the internal affairs of another country

what was the trade cooperation between ussr and us?

us agreed to buy oil from ussr, ussr agreed to buy wheat from us