Cold War: P3 Flashcards
Contextual Knowledge and Common Themes (25 cards)
what are the four schools of thought + who do they blame?
Traditional/Orthodox: blames USSR
Revisionist: blames USA
Post-Revisionist: blames both
Post-Post-Revisionist: blames Stalin specifically, talks about his personal ambitions and how far he went to escalate the CW.
When was Comintern founded and disbanded?
1) founded 1919
2) disbanded 1943
When were Stalin’s Great Purges?
1936-1938
When was the Lend-Lease Act passed?
+
What was it?
1) passed in 1941
2) war supplies were lent or leased to nations that were deemed vital to USA’s defence
When was the Tehran Conference?
1943
What was the context of each power going into the Tehran conference?
-> First meeting of the big 3
-> Britain and the US wanted to gain the USSR’s cooperation in defeating Germany in ww2.
What were the decisions made in the Tehran Conference?
1) Britain and the USA would open a second front by invading Europe thru Nazi-occupied France.
2) The USSR would invade Nazi Germany from the east.
3) The USSR would invade Japan once Nazi Germany was defeated.
4) The polish border would move westwards and occupy territory from Germany, USSR would move into Polish territory in the east.
5) An organisation would be created to settle disagreements once the war was over. This would eventually become the United Nations.
What were the effects of the Tehran conference?
1) Positive impact on relationship of USA and USSR
- Stalin loved that USA agreed to open a second front thru invading France instead of the Baltic states like Churchill wanted
- Stalin agreed to join and support USA and Britain in their invasion of Japan once Germany was defeated.
Yipeeee happy days with the twinnies.
2) Negative impact on relationship of USA and Britain
- Churchill salty that USA chose USSR’s method of opening up the second front.
When was the Yalta Conference?
February 1945
What were the aims of the Yalta conference?
Discuss winning the Second World War and postwar Europe
What was the position of the Eastern and Western leaders going into the Yalta conference?
Stalin:
Confident bargaining position, Red Army had strength, insister the conference to be in Russia, wanted more control over Eastern Europe.
Roosevelt+Churchill:
Duped/cheated by Stalin, were led to believe Stalin’s word of holding free elections in occupied Eastern European states.
Decisions made in Yalta?
1) After Germany’s defeat, they would have to pya $20 billion in reparations and would be split into 4 occupation zones.
2) USSR confirmed they would support USA and Britain in invading Japan.
3) Agreement that there would be free elections held in Soviet-occupied Eastern European states.
4) USSR would gain land in Poland.
5) Agreement to the formation and establishment of the United Nations.
Effects of the Yalta Conference?
- Tensions high due to the clash in aims of the leaders.
- Roosevelt died, replaced by Truman, very harsh and hostile approach towards the Soviets.
- Relations between UK and USSR worsening bc Stalin wanted a Communist gov in Poland while the UK supported the non-Communist London Poles.
When did the Potsdam Conference happen?
May 1945, shortly after Germany’s surrender and the end of WW2
What is the background of the leaders’ relations going into the Potsdam conference?
- What to do with Poland and Germany?
- Churchill replaced with Clement Atlee
- Tensions had been growing since Yalta
- Roosevelt died and replaced with Harry Truman, he took a hardline approach, unfriendly w/ the USSR.
- He halted the lend-lease act because it was clear that USSR was getting more dependent on their aid. They had economic advantage.
- The US had a successful nuclear bomb that could end the war in Japan much quicker and prevent the possibility of the Red Army occupying Japan.
- United Nations had been established
What were the decisions made during Potsdam?
- Germany divided into 4 occupation zones controlled by Britain, France, USA, and the USSR respectively.
- Nazi Party banned and war criminals were to be persecuted.
- Berlin divided into 4 zones.
- USSR would receive 25% of the industrial equipment from Germany’s 3 other zones.
What were the effects of Potsdam on the Grand Alliance relations?
1) US and USSR completely broken down relations
2) Shift in American FP
3) Truman mentioned to Stalin about the successful nuclear bomb the USA had.
4) USSR wanted harsher reparations of Germany, keep them poor, keep them communist. USA wantd the opposite so Germany’s economy could prosper with hypothetically the rest of post-war Europe.
5) Truman getting scare of Stalin’s growing control over Eastern Europe.
When was the Truman Doctrine announced?
1947
Method (what was done) and success of Truman Doctrine?
METHOD:
- Truman announced that the USA would provide financial, economic, and military aid to countries that were under Communist threat.
SUCCESS:
- it was quite successful in Greece and Turkey.
When was Bizonia formed? + what was Bizonia?
1) 1947
2) the British and American zones of Germany were merged to create Bizonia
When was the Marshall Plan established?
1948
What was the Soviet response to the creation of Trizonia and the Deutschmark?
Berlin Blockade 1948
What was the West’s response to the Berlin Blockade?
Berlin Airlift 1948-1949
When was NATO formed?
1949
