The cold war 1943-56

Question 1

When did the Tehran conference take place?

Answer 1

1943

Question 2

Who attended the Tehran conference?

Answer 2

Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill- also known as ‘The Big Three’

Question 3

What was agreed at the Tehran conference?

Answer 3

They all agreed that the Soviet Union could have a ‘sphere of influence’ on Eastern Europe.

Question 4

What was disagreed at the Tehran conference?

Answer 4

Stalin disagreed with Churchill and Roosevelt over what to do with Germany. Stalin wanted to keep Germany crippled and weak, he also wanted them to pay reparations for all their damage. He wanted this because Germany had invaded Russia twice already, he wanted to keep them weak to be safe from future invasions. However, churchill and Roosevelt wanted to rebuild Germany and make it strong again.

Question 5

Why did the Tehran conference take place?

Answer 5

it looked like Germany would lose ww2 so the big three met to discuss what to do with Europe after they had won the war.

Question 6

When did the Yalta conference take place?

Answer 6

February 1945

Question 7

what did the leaders agree at the Yalta conference?

Answer 7

• Stalin would enter war on Japan when Germany was defeated
• Germany would be split into 4 zones and Berlin into 4 sectors
• Liberated countries would be able to hold free elections
• Agreed to all join the United Nations to keep peace after the war
• Eastern Europe would be seen as a Soviet Sphere of Influence

Question 8

What did the leaders disagree about at the Yalta Conference?

Answer 8

-Stalin wanted to move the border of the USSR into Poland arguing Poland could move its border into Germany. Churchill did not approve but couldn’t do anything as the Red Army was in both these countries. He agreed providing the USSR didn’t interfere with Greece

Question 9

When did the Potsdam conference happen?

Answer 9

July 1945

Question 10

Who was at the Potsdam conference?

Answer 10

Truman, Stalin and Atlee

Question 11

What was agreed at the Potsdam conference?

Answer 11

• Nazi party to be banned and leaders tried as war criminals

- A line was to be formed between Poland and Germany

Question 12

What was disagreed at the Potsdam conference?

Answer 12

• There were disagreements over Germany- Stalin wanted to cripple Germany to protect the USSR and Truman wanted it to recover. Stalin was suspicious over why they wanted to protect Germany.
• Reparations- Stalin wanted huge compensation from Germany but Truman did not want to repeat the same mistake.
• The soviet policy of Eastern Europe- despite the agreement on free elections in liberated countries, Stalin seemed to be setting up communist govs in eastern countries.

Question 13

How did relationships between leaders change over the course of the conferences?

Answer 13

Relationships worsened as tension between the the Soviet Union and Britain and USA rised.
This was because
- of the new usa president- Truman, he was very anti-communist and was suspicious of Stalin’s eagerness to take control of Eastern Europe.
- Stalin was angry about Truman’s development of the atomic bomb in the USA , he was annoyed because Truman had not mentioned it and he was suspicious that Truman may be planning to use it.

Question 14

What was the iron curtain speech and how was it important in relations?

Answer 14

The ‘iron curtain’ speech was made by Churchill in 1946. He said that an iron curtain had descended across the continent
meaning that there were now two parts in the world, the capitalist west and communist east. Stalin had cut off most contact with the west and had complete control of these countries. This worsened relationships as it confirmed the divide between east and west as tensions rose because Stalin saw Churchill’s speech as a declaration of war.

Question 15

When was the Warsaw Pact set up?

Answer 15

1955

Question 16

What was the warsaw pact?

Answer 16

The warsaw pact was created by Krushchev the eastern equivalent of NATO, but instead the members were forced to join. It was an alliance of eight communist states headed by the Soviet Union. Each nation pledged to support each other if attacked, Russia dominated the pact.

Question 17

How did the US respond to the Warsaw Pact?

Answer 17

by increasing the number of NATO troops in Germany

Question 18

What is the importance of the warsaw pact in international relation?

Answer 18

The warsaw pact was important in worsening international relations. It showed the lack of trust between the superpowers as they were willing to take precautions by gaining support from other countries, this built more tension and caused relations to worsen.

Question 19

What was Cominform and when was it introduced?

Answer 19

Cominform was introduced in 1947 and it was the communist information bureau. Cominform was an organisation made by the Soviet Union to co-ordinated the work of communist parties in Eastern Europe. The countries met in Moscow and were briefed by Stalin, it also allowed the Soviet Union to remove members who disagreed with Moscow.

Question 20

What was Comicon and when was it introduced?

Answer 20

Comecon was introduced in 1949 as a reaction to Marshall aid. It was set up by the Soviet Union so the USSR could financially support Eastern countries. However, it was mainly so the Soviet Union could control the economies of the states and give them access to the State’s resources.

Question 21

What was the importance of comecon and cominform in international relations?

Answer 21

It was important as it worsened relations. The Grand Alliance (USA, Britain and France) saw this as a threat of communist takeover of Eastern Europe as it looked like Stalin was tightening his control on each country. This went against their agreements at the conferences that liberated countries would hold free elections, but Stalin was forcing states to be communist. This lead to the US increasing their stock of weapons and also lead to the Truman Doctrine which highlights this distrust.

Question 22

when did Khrushchev make his ‘secret speech’?

Answer 22

1956

Question 23

What did khrushchev say/do in his secret speech?

Answer 23

Khrushchev made an attack on Stalin at the Communist party International. He brought up gory evidence of Stalin’s purges and denounced him as a wicked tyrant who was an enemy of the people and kept all the power to himself.

Question 24

What were khrushchevs actions, following his speech?

Answer 24

He began a programme of de-Stalinisation:

• He released more political prisoners
• He closed down Cominform
• He agreed to remove Soviet troops from Austria

Question 25

How was khruschevs secret speech important in international relations?

Answer 25

it improved relations as the western allies recognised that Khrushchev might be the start of a ‘thaw’ in the cold war as he had a different approach to Stalin and was keen to de-stalinise communism, he also talked about a ‘peaceful-co-existance’ with the west which also looked promising for the US therefore this eased tensioned and began to improve relations between the superpowers. However, improved relations didn’t last long as the US discovered in the Hungarian uprising that Khrushchevs policy of ‘de-stalinisation’ would only go as far as he wanted it to.

Question 26

What was the cause of the Hungarian Uprising?

Answer 26

In 1947 Hungary had become another communist country in Eastern Europe. Hungary was lead by Rakosi who was a follower of Stalin, Hungary joined cominform and the Hungarian communist party took its orders from Moscow.

Rakosi used terror and brutality to keep control, he killed an estimate of 2000 in the purges and imprisoned 200 000 political opponents.

Living standards were poor and in 1952 Hungary experienced its lowest agricultural output ever.

Question 27

When did the hungarian uprising begin?

Answer 27

23rd October 1956

Question 28

What did the hungarian people do during the uprising?

Answer 28

Students demonstrated in Budapest, demanding free elections, free press and the withdrawal of soviet troops. A statue of stalin was pulled down and dragged through the streets.

Question 29

How did Khrushchev react to the events in Hungary?

Answer 29

He sent tanks to Budapest to try to restore peace, the tanks open fired and killed twelve and wounded more than a hundred. The day after Nagy was reinstated as prime minister for Hungary.

Question 30

What reforms did Nagy bring to Hungary?

Answer 30

• withdraw Hungary from the warsaw pact
• bring back other political parties which had been banned under Rakosi.
• announced a coalition government on the 3rd of November.

Question 31

How did Khrushchev respond to the reforms in Hungary?

Answer 31

he was anxious not to be seen as weak, so he sent 200 000 soviet troops and 6000 tanks back to Hungary. The soviet army quickly captured bridges, airports and key road junctions.

Question 32

What were the results of the Hungarian uprising?

Answer 32

Soviet Union had maintained its empire and sent out a warning to any satellite state thinking of breaking away. It also showed Khrushchev’s policy of de-stalinization would only go as far as he wanted it to.

Question 33

Why did the berlin blockade happen?

Answer 33

In 1946 Britain France and the USA combined their zones in Germany to form one zone, or a ‘trizonia’. The allies wanted to help and rebuild Germany, so they reformed the German currency and marshall aid also helped Western Germany to recover, within months there were signs of improvement in Germany.
Stalin completely disagreed with his, he thought the us handling of western germany was provocative, he could do nothing about the changes in West Germany but he felt he could stamp his authority in Berlin. —> Hence the blockade

Question 34

How did Stalin Blockade berlin?

Answer 34

In June 1948, Stalin blocked all routes in and out of Berlin. Road, rail and canal routes were all blocked, preventing food and supplies getting to West Berlin.

Question 35

How did the US respond to the blockade?

Answer 35

For 11 months, the western allies flew in supplies, this was known as the ‘Berlin Airlift’
By doing this, they were not giving in to Stalin but were also not provoking war.

Question 36

How did Stalin respond to the airlift?

Answer 36

Stalin could not shoot down the planes as this was an act of war, which is something nobody wanted so in May 1949 Stalin called off the blockade.

Question 37

How did the blockade and airlift change relations?

Answer 37

Worsened relations as it was proof of Stalin’s intentions to take over Europe, and this increased tension.
Neither of them trusted each other, the Soviets were suspicious of US motives in a strengthening Germany and Western Allies thought the Soviets wanted to turn Europe communist–> tension
Resulted in NATO and the Warsaw Pact- defensive alliances set up because neither power trusted each other.

Question 38

What was NATO and why was it set up?

Answer 38

During the Berlin Blockade, war between the USSR and the USA seemed possible, at the height of the crisis, the Western Powers met in Washington and signed an agreement to work together. The new organisation formed in April 1949 was called NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation).
Nato was to provide collective security against at attack, if one country was attacked everyone else supported them. It was also formed to try and prevent expansion of communism.