Unit 11: The Early Cold War

Question 1

Yalta Conference

Answer 1

Stalin had promised to respect the independence of Eastern European nations after WWII. Instead, he sent the Red Army to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, & East Germany. So, Eastern Europe became part of the communist bloc.

Question 2

Soviet leaders after death of Stalin

Answer 2

Nikita Khrushchev & Leonid Brezhnev - criticized the dictator for his abuse of power (including the gulags & secret police), but they were not willing to allow Eastern European countries to choose their own government

Question 3

Countries that had unsuccessful revolutions

Answer 3

Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia

Question 4

US two very effective program

Answer 4

Marshall Plan & Truman Doctrine - support struggling Western European nations & contain communism; the Secretary of State & the President offered (billions in ) financial & military aid, and as a result Western Europe recovered & Greece and Turkey remained democratic and capitalist

Question 5

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Answer 5

the US and Western European countries committed to democracy & capitalism

Question 6

Warsaw Pact

Answer 6

the USSR and Eastern European countries committed to communism

Question 7

ideological competition

Answer 7

the USSR and China had been US allies during WWII & Germany and Japan had been US rivals; but afterward, it was the opposite

Question 8

decolonization

Answer 8

India’s independence from Britain & the Philippines’ independence from US; France fought but lost control of their colonies Vietnam & Algeria

Question 9

Apartheid

Answer 9

Former colonies still struggled, one in particular, South Africa, which institutionalized segregation during Apartheid

Question 9

Germany division

Answer 9

USSR controlled East Germany & East Berlin and the US, Britain, and France controlled West Germany & West Berlin (within East Germany)

Question 10

Berlin Blockade & Berlin Airlift

Answer 10

the Soviets blockaded Berlin & deprived the West Berliners of food & supplies; they expected them to accept communism and Soviet control, but the US airlift of care packages kept them fighting and free

Question 11

“Red China”

Answer 11

Mao Zedong & the Communists defeated Chiang Kai-Shek & the Nationalists (Democrats) and Chinese Civil War ended with “Red China” and the new nation of Taiwan

Question 12

Mao Zedong

Answer 12

Mao was comparable to Stalin in his repressive rule, especially during the Great Leap Forward & Cultural Revolution

Question 13

Korean War

Answer 13

started with the Soviet occupation of the North and US occupation of the South after WWII. Then, the Communist North Koreans led by Kim Il-Sung invaded the Democratic South led by Syngman Rhee, & US General MacArthur and American forces fought to defend the South. Ultimately, the war ended in an armistice & Korea was divided along the 38th parallel. Nearly 40,000 Americans and 300,000 Koreans died in this “forgotten war”

Question 14

Gamel Abdel Nasser

Answer 14

Egyptian leader with Soviet support who tried to nationalize the Suez Canal & Britain, France, and Israel nearly fought a war to protect their access to the waterway. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower helped resolve the situation

Question 15

Cuban Missile Crisis

Answer 15

US President John F. Kennedy & Soviet leader Khrushchev nearly went to nuclear war but negotiated a peaceful end. Kennedy agreed not to return to Cuba to overthrow the Communists and to remove missiles from Turkey that would have been fired on the USSR & Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba that could have been fired on the US; Kennedy was assassinated the next year & Khrushchev was replaced by Brezhnev