Cold War and Superpower relations

Tehran Confrence 1943

- Roosevelt was keen to build relationship with Stalin
- Agreed Germany should pay repartitions
- Working together

Lead up to the Cold War 1941-45

-USA, USSR and Britian all worked together to defeat Nazi Germany
-However USA was capitalist and USSR were communist

Yatla Febuary 1945

-USSR was promised land in Poland but they wanted more
-Germany was split into 4 zones once defeated. Stalin felt he got the poorest zone
- Tension and mistrust increased

Potsadam July 1945

-Truman was determined to stop the spread of communism into Europe
- No agreement over land in eastern Europe
-Truman told Stalin they had developed a new weapon

The Truman Doctrine

-Truman feared communism would spread via the Domino effect
-The Marshall Plan provided 13 billion in aid to help rebuild countries turning to communism in desperation
-Stalin refused to allow eastern Europe countries to accept Marshall Aid

Aug 1945-48

-The USA dropped the atomic bomb onto Japan
-US ambassador in Moscow sent the Long Telegram to Washington arguing USSR wanted to end capitalism but would back down to strong resistance.
- Soviet ambassador in Washington sent 'Novikov Telegram' to Stalin warning that the US was preparing for war with the USSR
-Stalin created a buffer zone of communist countries in Eastern Europe by fixing elections and arresting opposition

Berlin Blockade 1948-49

-Britain, France and the USA combined their German zones into Trizonia
- Stalin believed they intended to reunite all of Germany under capitalism
- He blockaded West Berlin (within his zone) hoping for a victory against the allies to give him all of Berlin.

Berlin Airlift 1948-49

-Blockade lasted 318 days in which the USA airlifted supplies into the city
-May 1949 Stalin backed down humiliated

Consequences of Blockade and Airlift

-USA had won a propaganda victory over USSR
-NATO was formed
-Krushchev created the Warsaw PAct after West Germany joined NATO

Comicon and Coniform 1947-49

-Coniform was founded to help Stalin control satellite states from Moscow. Encouraged to trade only with each other and reject the Marshall Plan.
-Comecon was introduced as the Soviet equivalent of the Marshall Plan

Arms Race 1945-57

-USA dropped the atomic bomb on Japan
- The USSR tested its first atomic bomb 1949
- The US developed its first hydrogen bomb 1952
- The USA and USSR both tested ICBMs 1953
- They both destroyed each other in nuclear war - mutually assured destruction.

Hungarian Uprising 1956

-Anti-communist protestors began in Hungary
-Imre Nagy was appointed by Krushchev to bring calm. Instead, he proposed having free elections and leaving Warsaw Pact
-Krushchev feared this would lead to the end of Soviet control of Europe. 200,000 Soviet troops were sent to Hungary

Hungarian Uprising Consequences 1956

- The USA did little to help despite having previously encouraged eastern European countries to rebel
-NATO members were afraid of starting war with the USSR so did nothing
-Other soviet satellite countries saw that the USA wouldn't help them

Berlin Summits 1959-61

- In 1960 a U2 spy plane was shot down before a summit in Paris. Eisenhower refused to apologise.

Berlin Wall 1961

- Tension over Berlin had increased the flow of refugees from East to West Germany
- East Germans constructed a barb wire wall overnight which eventually turned into a concrete wall
- Events proved people would rather live under capitalism
- Worked in stopping East Germans leaving the USSR but had to give up hopes of uniting Berlin

Bay of Pigs incident 1959-61

-Communist revolution in Cuba
- The USA previously had large business with Cuba but lost it
- Cuba turned to the USSR as they started buying there sugar
- Kennedy agreed to a CIA plan to train and help Cuban exiles invade Cuba

Bay of Pigs Incident Consequences 1959-61

-Plan failed and US involvement was discovered
- Krushchev announced he would help defend Cuba

Prauge Spring 1968

Prague Spring 1968

-Alexander Dubeck became new Czech leader
-Suggested government should offer communism 'with a human face'
-Relaxed censorship and government control and suggested holding multi-party elections in future
- When Dubeck invited the leaders of Romania and Yugoslavia to talks Brezhnev sent 500,000 Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia

Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

-In response to the Bay of Pigs incident and the US missiles in Turkey, Krushchev played missiles in Cuba
-US spy planes identified missile sites
- Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of the island to prevent the USSR from delivering missiles there
- Krushchev agreed to remove the missiles if the USA agreed not to invade Cuba.
- In private the USA also agreed to remove missiles from Turkey

Cuban Missile Consequences 1963-68

- Fear of nuclear war began moving towards détente
- Hotline created between Washington and Moscow
- Banned nuclear weapons testing except underground
-Banned putting weapons into outer space
-Banned sharing weapons with others

Prauge Spring Consquences 1968

-The USA and NATO members made formal protest but no action was taken
- A new government was set up loyal to Moscow
-Many Czech protested - 1000s arrested
- Brezhnev Doctrine - The USSR would step in if the Warsaw Pacts stability was threatened by any member