1.1 Flashcards

1
Q

What is “grand alliance” ?
Who was leaders of Soviet Union , USA and Britain?
What does ideology mean?
What does communism mean?
What does capitalism mean?

A

During Second World War
- Soviet Union ( russia in exam don’t write Russia in brackets) , USA and Britain formed an alliance to fight against hitler and nazi germany and japan after 4 million German troops invaded Soviet Union
- Britain’s prime minster = Winston Churchill and Britain had capitalist ideology
- Soviet Union = Joseph Stalin and he they had communist ideology
- USA = Franklin d Roosevelt and they had capitalist ideology

Key words
Ideology = shared belief of how country should run
Capitalism= everyone should be free to own property and business and make money
Communism = believe that all property including business and home belongs to state and everyone has fair share

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2
Q

What is Tehran , yalta and Potsdam conferences?
When was Tehran conference and what was agreement?

A
  • leaders of grand alliance met three times during war : Tehran, yalta and Potsdam
  • Tehran ( 1943) - first Time meeting to plan a strategy to end the war
    Agreements made at Tehran (1943)
    1. USA and Britain would open a “second front” by launching an attack on Germany and this would ease pressure on the eastern front where soviets were suffering heavy loss
    2. Stalin would declare war on japan and supply soviet troops to help USA with war against japan
    3. They also discussed what will happen to Germany after war. There was no formal agreement but they believed Germany should remain weak after war
  • however in Tehran conference there was tension between USA and Britain. Because Roosevelt viewed British colonialism as more of threat to world peace than Soviet Union. So it meant that Roosevelt and Stalin might create a position where big three was becommnng big two

Yalta ( February 1945) - met up again two years later to discuss winning the war. By then second front had been launched and soviets defeated Germany.
Agreement made at yalta :
1. After war Germany would split in four zones and be controlled by : France, USA , Britain and Soviet Union and Germany would pay 20 billion reprations half which would go to Soviet Union.
2. Stalin agreed to join the war against japan three months after the defeat of Germany
3. Stalin agreed that future government of countries in Eastern Europe would be decided in free elections
- Roosevelt and Stalin were pleased to get agreement on free elections.

Potsadam ( July - August 1945)
- there were many changes
1. Roosevelt died in April 1945 and was replaced by harry truman
2. Winston Churchill and Conservative Party lost 1945 general elections
3. New prime minster was clement Attlee
World events
1. Germany had surrendered in may 1945
2. Scientist in USA developed an atomic bomb
- new people and events meant that relations between leaders at Potsdam was very different from earlier conferences.

Agreements in Potsdam:
- Berlin would be divided into 4 zones controlled by diffferent countries even though it was based well inside soviet controlled Germany.
- Soviet Union wanted Germany to pay heavy reprations but Truman was concerned that this would make it harder for Germany economy to recover. Truman also rejected the control that soviet had over countries it had liberated from nazi rule he was beginning to see red army as army of occupation but there was little he could do.
- Germany would be divided in to 4 zones but Germany economy would be run as a whole.

  • although grand alliance agreed on many things it was clear that they did not agree with many things for e.g soviet wanted control over Eastern Europe however Truman believed that Stalin wanted to spread communism
  • USA exploded atomic bombs over japanease cities and it was estimedated that 120,000 Japanese civilians were killed by two bombs.
  • America though having the atomic bomb would make it easier to persuade Stalin to allow Eastern Europe to have more freedom and Truman believed he had upper hand and confident in Potsdam conference. However soviet scientists were already working on their own version of atom bomb and Britain ,France and china also had atomic bomb
  • the bomb dramatically increased Cold War tensions a war that used atomic weapons could kill millions of people and destroy world many times over.
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3
Q

What was Kennan long telegram and novikov telegram and why did it exist?

A
  • both Truman and Stalin feared that break up from grand alliance might lead to future conflict so they wanted to know what rivals were thinking. So both asked embassies to report on each others countries
  • this came in form of telegrams - written message sent over telegraph line

George Keenans long telegram ( American spy that was spying on Soviet Union ) = George Keenan americas ambassador in Moscow who lived and worked in Soviet Union as diplomat
- whilst most telegram were short.keenan telegram was more like letter so his message becem known as long telegram
- it contain message that worried americans he reported that Stalin wanted to see destruction of capitalism.
- however Keenan felt Soviet Union was not suicidal so with strong resistance they would backed down an this was important message which played a key role in American policy towards Soviet Union

Novikov telegram ( soviet spy that was spying on Americans )
- Nikolai was soviet diplomat working in Washington.
- his telegram revealed that USA wanted to use their massive military to power dominate the world
- since Roosevelt death the Americans wanted to no longer to coperate with Soviet Union.

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4
Q

What was Winston Churchill “iron curtain speech”

A
  • Winston was no longer prime minster but he gave a speech called “iron curtain speech” he was said that Soviet Union was threat to freedom and world peace he said this because communist government had recently been set up in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria
  • this speech along with novikov telegram increased tension and mistrust and led soviets to strengthen its forces
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5
Q

What was the creation of soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe and why did it cause tension?

A
  • in 1944 and 1945 - soviet red army freed many countries in Eastern Europe from nazis as it advanced west towards Germany
  • when war was over Stalin did not want to give up control over these countries as they were useful buffer zones between soviet and Germany
  • Truman saw this as evidence that soviet wanted to spread communism and relations between USA and soviet became worse.
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