Emerging Superpower Rivalry

Question 1

Actions of the USSR

Answer 1

In the closing years of WW2 the Soviets had taken over most of the countries in Eastern Europe. At Yalta, Stalin promised democratic elections for these countries but every election held resulted in the election of governments friendly to Moscow. The West suspected that the elections were not democratic or fair at all. By 1947 Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania

Question 2

US response to Soviet actions

Answer 2

The US’s view of Soviet actions was influenced by the American diplomat George Kennan who stated that it is in communism’s nature to spread whenever possible. Truman took him at his word and made the policy of containment

At the same time the US failed to see how the USSR was obsessed with its own security

Question 3

Iron Curtain speech

Answer 3

On March 1946 Churchill condemned Stalin’s attempts to control Eastern Europe

Question 4

Truman Doctrine

Answer 4

The Truman Doctrine stated that it would be the USA’s policy to use military or economic means to stop countries falling to communism either from external invasion or internal revolution

Question 5

Marhsall Plan

Answer 5

Truman believed communism would spread more easily if countries were poor. Thus he began helping countries that were impoverished and vulnerable to communism recover through the Marshall Plan program

The plan is a four year long investment of $13.3 billion into Europe. It also opens the countries markets to western goods