The cold war

Question 1

What was the nature of the relationship between the USA and USSR during WW2?

Answer 1

They never trusted each other

The Alliance during WW2 was described as a ‘shotgun marriage of convenience’.

Question 2

What event led to the collapse of the Alliance between the USA and USSR?

Answer 2

The suicide of Hitler on April 30th and Germany’s surrender on May 8th

This removed the common enemy that united the two powers.

Question 3

How did Stalin view the intentions of the West?

Answer 3

He saw them as enemies of the USSR who wanted the Soviets to ‘slog it out’ with the Nazis.

Question 4

What was the perception of FDR and Churchill towards Stalin?

Answer 4

They had too much faith in Stalin but understood him to be untrustworthy.

Question 5

What are the primary ideological differences between the USA and the USSR?

Answer 5

The USA is Capitalist and the USSR is Communist.

Question 6

What was the USSR’s aim regarding Eastern Europe after WW2?

Answer 6

To create a buffer zone of ‘friendly’ (i.e. Communist) states between the USSR and Germany.

Question 7

What did the USA want to avoid repeating from 1918?

Answer 7

They wanted to set up Capitalist, democratic countries in Europe.

Question 8

How many American and British soldiers were killed in the Russian Civil War?

Answer 8

279 American soldiers and 359 British soldiers.

Question 9

Who did the USA and UK back during the Russian Civil War?

Answer 9

They backed the Whites.

Question 10

What was the outcome of the Russo-Polish War for the French?

Answer 10

The French backed the Polish.

Question 11

What was Churchill’s stance on Communism in the 1920s?

Answer 11

He made a speech about ‘strangling Bolshevism in the cradle’.

Question 12

What did Molotov sleep with under his pillow during his visit to London in 1941?

Answer 12

A revolver.

Question 13

What significant pact did the USSR sign with Nazi Germany in 1939?

Answer 13

The Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Question 14

What massacre occurred at Katyn Forest?

Answer 14

22000 Polish Army officers were executed.

Question 15

Which countries did the USSR invade before Nazi Germany invaded the USSR in 1941?

Answer 15

Poland, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania.

Question 16

What happened during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944?

Answer 16

The Nazis crushed the uprising.

Question 17

What action did the USSR take in Romania in March 1945?

Answer 17

Backed a Communist coup.

Question 18

When did the USSR join the war with Japan?

Answer 18

At the very end.

Question 19

What was the fate of governments in exile after WW2?

Answer 19

They were not invited back.

Question 20

How many UK/US soldiers were killed in WW2 compared to Soviets?

Answer 20

1 million UK/US soldiers compared to 25 million Soviets.

Question 21

What did Stalin feel about the Americans’ involvement in the fighting?

Answer 21

He felt the Americans were letting the Soviets do all the fighting.

Question 22

What did the US and UK refuse to do between 1942-44?

Answer 22

Open a second front.

Question 23

What did Stalin suggest as targets for a second front?

Answer 23

Attacking Cherbourg or the Channel Islands.

Question 24

What significant development did the USA keep secret during WW2?

Answer 24

The development of the atomic bomb.

Question 25

What was Stalin doing in Eastern Europe by 1945?

Answer 25

Setting up Communist governments.

Question 26

What percentage of the vote did the Communists receive in Hungary in December 1945?

Answer 26

17%.

Question 27

In Czechoslovakia, how many seats did the Communists receive in the Provisional Government?

Answer 27

8 seats.

Question 28

What happened to 47000 Poles between 1944-45?

Answer 28

They were arrested by the Soviets.

Question 29

What happened to non-Communist politicians from Poland who returned after WW2?

Answer 29

They were arrested.

Question 30

What did the USA and USSR disagree over during the conferences post-WW2?

Answer 30

Reparations.

Question 31

What changes did Stalin demand regarding the Polish border?

Answer 31

Changes in both the east (Curzon Line) and west (Oder-Neisse line).

Question 32

When did the USA test the atomic bomb in relation to the Potsdam Conference?

Answer 32

On July 16th, the conference started on July 17th.

Question 33

When did the Russian civil war take place

Answer 33

1918-1922

Question 34

Which 2 vital ports did the British and Americans sent small detachments to?

Answer 34

Archangel in the Arctic circle, and Port Arthur in the Russian Far east

Question 35

How many American soldiers were killed in the Russian civil war

Answer 35

279

Question 36

How many British soldiers were killed in the Russian civil war?

Answer 36

359

Question 37

When was the Russ-Polish war?

Answer 37

1920

Question 38

What was soviet foreign policy throughout the 1930's attempting to do?

Answer 38

form an alliance against Nazi Germany

Question 39

How many dies in the Holodomor famine in Ukraine?

Answer 39

3 million (1932)

Question 40

when was the great purge?

Answer 40

1937

Question 41

How many were killed in the great purge?

Answer 41

1 million, including Trotsky who was axed to death by an NKVD agent

Question 42

When was the Nazi-soviet pact signed?

Answer 42

August 1939

Question 43

what did the Nazis and the Soviets secretly agree on in the Nazi-soviet pact?

Answer 43

invade and divide Poland

Question 44

What was the Nazi-soviet pact called?

Answer 44

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Question 45

hen was the Katyn forest massacre>

Answer 45

1940

Question 46

How many were killed in the Katyn forest massacre?

Answer 46

22000

Question 47

When did the Polish uprising begin and what happened on that day

Answer 47

August 1st 1944. The Polish home army rose up against the Nazis in Warsaw expecting the Soviets to launch an attack on the same day, but they never did

Question 48

When was the Warsaw uprising defeated?

Answer 48

October 2nd 1944

Question 49

What happened on the final day of the Warsaw uprising?

Answer 49

200000 were killed fighting and the city was destroyed

Question 50

how many were sent to concentration camps after the Warsaw uprising?

Answer 50

150000

Question 51

What happened to the surviving members of the Polish home party after the Warsaw uprising?

Answer 51

they were either executed by the NKVD, of sent to prison camps

Question 52

What happened to Romania in 1944?

Answer 52

Romania was liberated and a provisional government was set up by the Red Army, which include a mixture of communists and non-communists

Question 53

What happened in Romania in March 1945?

Answer 53

the Red army helped Romanian communists to organise a coup against the provisional government. The coup created a pro-soviet government called the national democratic front

Question 54

When was Hungary liberated

Answer 54

December 1945

Question 55

I Hungary's first free election what percentage of the vote did the communists achieve?

Answer 55

17% but 3 key posts in the new government