The Cold War Quotes and Dates

just a shorter version for light revision before the SAC - use the longer more detailed one preferably as it goes over everything the SAC checklist encompasses!

Timeline of Stalin’s salami tactics?

1945 - 48

When was Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech?

March 1946

When was the long telegram sent and what is a quote from it?

22nd March 1946, “greatest task our diplomacy has ever faced”

Policy of containment

rather than direct confrontation, US would counter USSR through diplomatic, economic and military means.

Truman Doctrine - when and quote?

1947, “The doctrine became an idealogical shield behind which the US marched to rebuild the Western political and economic system and counter the radical left” - Walter LaFeber

Marshall Plan, when and what

1948, reviewed European workplace conditions to guarantee political and social stability and safeguard the future of the US economy.

Berlin Blockade, when?

24th June 1948, to 12th May 1949

Berlin Airlift, when?

June 1948

NATO formation, when and quote?

April 1949, First NATO Secretary General stated the goal was to “keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”.

Warsaw Pact, when and why

1955, after Western Germany joined NATO to justify USSR’s military presence in Europe

Berlin Wall background

In 1952, borders between East and West Berlin closed, but 3 million still managed to move from the East to the West, causing Khrushchev to create the Berlin wall in the coming years.

Berlin Wall

Khrushchev issues an ultimatum that Western troops must be removed from Berlin, and when this is not met, he build a wall of 154 kilometres separating Berlin in August 1961.

Germany becoming two different countries - what and when

Federal Republic of Germany - West, May 1949

German Democratic Republic - East, Oct 1949

Orthodox historian quote

“Marxism Leninism gave Russian leaders a view of the world in which any anti-communist state was, by definition, a threat to the Soviet Union” - Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.

Post revisionist historian quotes and view

John Lewis Gaddis argued war grew out of common misconceptions on both sides.

“The cold war was dangerous and complex .. Policymakers on both sides were .. scared by what was happening” - Nicholas Guyatt

Additional quotes

“Stalin’s post war goals were security for himself, his regime, his country and his ideology, in precisely that order” - John Lewis Gaddis

“It must be the policy of the US to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation” - Harry S. Truman