THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOVIET UNION'S INTERNATIONAL POSITION

Question 1

During the war what was built up?

Answer 1

a vast new military-industrial war machine

Question 2

By May 1945, the armed forces of USSR consisted of how many people?

Answer 2

7.5 million well equipped troops

Question 3

How did the USSR increase its territory?

Answer 3

by absorbing the Baltic states and large areas of Eastern Poland

Question 4

What was the USSR, Britain and the United States alliance?

Answer 4

The Grand Alliance

Question 5

What were the major summit meetings?

Answer 5

Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam

Question 6

When was Tehran?

Answer 6

November 1943

Question 7

When and where did Stalin meet Churchill?

Answer 7

Moscow October 1944

Question 8

Where and when did the Big Three meet?

Answer 8

Yalta February 1945

Question 9

What happened at Potsdam?

Answer 9

The Three Allies met
by this stage it was becoming clear than Britain, exhausted and bankrupt by the war

Question 10

when was Potsdam?

Answer 10

July 1945

Question 11

When did the US reveal it had developed an atomic bomb?

Answer 11

in 1945

Question 12

what was this bomb used for?

Answer 12

to end the war with Japan

Question 13

Who was in charge of soviet bomb?

Answer 13

Beria

Question 14

When was the first successful test ?

Answer 14

August 1949

Question 15

when was the United Nations formed

Answer 15

1945

Question 16

why was UN significant

Answer 16

the USSR was one of the 5 permanent members of the UN security council

Question 17

How did the USSr exert military presence over neighbouring national states?

Answer 17

used military presence to encourage the formation of governments that were friendly to the Soviet Union

Question 18

What had happened to most of these states by 1948

Answer 18

most had became satellite states

Question 19

what were satellite states

Answer 19

countries which retained their national identity but had pro-soviet governments

Question 20

What were buffer states?

Answer 20

a term used to describe the satellite states of Eastern Europe emphasising Stalin’s intention that these should provide security for the USSR’s western borders

Question 21

What happened at the Katyn Forest Massacre

Answer 21

22,000 Polish army officers were killed by the NKVD in the forest to eliminate Polish nationalist elements who might oppose communism

Question 22

when was the Katyn Forest Massacre

Answer 22

April –> May 1940

Question 23

What happened when the Red Army entered Poland?

Answer 23

A provisional government was set up in Lublin

Question 24

which other countries did Communist regime dominate?

Answer 24

Bulgaria and Romania

Question 25

what were 'salami tactics'

Answer 25

Tactics used to extend the soviet bloc in east Central Europe Allowed pro-soviet governments to gain power in Hungary in 1947 and Czechoslovakia 1948

Question 26

why were they named salami slice tactics/what did they consist of?

Answer 26

the subverting of bourgeois parties to gain power from within by small, incremental steps e.g. infiltration of trade unions e.g. harassment or violence E

Question 27

why were they named salami slice tactics/what did they consist of?

Answer 27

the subverting of bourgeois parties to gain power from within by small, incremental steps e.g. infiltration of trade unions e.g. harassment or violence E

Question 28

examples of harassment/violence - salami slice tactics

Answer 28

in 1948, the anti-soviet foreign minister Czechoslovakia died in a fall from a high window in Prague

Question 29

What issues became clear in the conference at Tehran in 1943

Answer 29

the Allies agreed to demand unconditional surrender from Germany to prevent Britain and the US from making separate peace with Hitler

Question 30

what disagreement arose at the meeting between Stalin & Churchill in Moscow 1944?

Answer 30

disagreements about future of Poland

Question 31

what conflict was present at Yalta conference

Answer 31

conflicting ideas about the post-war borders of Germany and Poland

Question 32

What happened at Potsdam?

Answer 32

ended with no final peace agreement

Question 33

how was the US fear of Soviet expansionionism exacerbated?

Answer 33

by a telegram sent to Washington from Moscow in February 1946

Question 34

who was the telegram sent by?

Answer 34

George Kennan a long serving American expert on soviet affairs who had been sent to moscow after the war

Question 35

who was the telegram sent by?

Answer 35

George Kennan a long serving American expert on soviet affairs who had been sent to moscow after the war wha

Question 36

what did the telegram become known as?

Answer 36

the long telegram

Question 37

When did Churchill make a speech about the horror of what was happening in Eastern Europe?

Answer 37

March 1946

Question 38

where did he make the speech

Answer 38

Missouri USA

Question 39

what is significant about Churchill at this point?

Answer 39

he is EX prime minister here

Question 40

what did the speech suggest

Answer 40

that an 'iron curtain' had descended over Europe

Question 41

what did he speak of during the speech?

Answer 41

'communist filth columns' in western and souther Europe & advised strengh in dealing with the USSR

Question 42

By which year was Western Europe in a crisis?

Answer 42

early 1947 1

Question 43

When did the Truman Doctrine assert new policy?

Answer 43

March 1947

Question 44

What was the new policy?

Answer 44

'containment' and 'rolling back' of Communism

Question 45

what new plan was put forward by the US?

Answer 45

The Marshall Plan

Question 46

When was the Marshall Plan put forward?

Answer 46

June 1947

Question 47

what was the Marshall plan?

Answer 47

massive injection of aid to rebuild Europe the plan was supposedly generous offer of assistance open to all countries

Question 48

What did Stalin think of the plan?

Answer 48

That it was hostile to Soviet interests and was a part of the US drive for dominance

Question 49

What did Stalin instruct soviet bloc countries to do?

Answer 49

reject Marshall Aid

Question 50

What set the context for the Berlin crisis of 1948?

Answer 50

the communist take over in Czechoslovakia

Question 51

How did Stalin view Berlin?

Answer 51

as a single city where soviet interests ought to be paramount

Question 52

What alarmed Stalin?

Answer 52

the introduction of a separate currency in Berlin in June 1948

Question 53

What happened the next day?

Answer 53

Stalin launched the Berlin Blockade

Question 54

What did the Berlin Blockade do?

Answer 54

cut off all road and rail links between Berlin and the west

Question 55

What defeated Stalin's plan with the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 55

The Berlin Airlift

Question 56

What was the Berlin Airlift

Answer 56

a massive operation led by US military governor which flew in essential supplies to West Berlin

Question 57

After how many days was it called off?

Answer 57

318 days

Question 58

when was it called off?

Answer 58

May 1949

Question 59

what did the end of the Berlin Blockade confirm?

Answer 59

the division of Germany and of Berlin

Question 60

What was NATO

Answer 60

North Atlantic treaty organisation

Question 61

why was NATO formed

Answer 61

formed to defend Western Europe against Soviet aggression

Question 62

In CHina, what happened?

Answer 62

the long civil war ended with victory of Chinese Communist revolution

Question 63

What alliance was struck between China and USSR

Answer 63

met in Moscow to agree a treaty of alliance