cold war

• What was the main aim of the Tehran conference in November 1943?


  To plan a strategy to win World War II
• What agreement was made between the USA and Britain at the Tehran conference?


  To open a second front to ease pressure on the Eastern front
• What commitment did Stalin make regarding Japan during the Tehran conference?


  To declare war on Japan and supply troops to help the USA against Japan
• What was the impact of the Tehran conference on Stalin's perception of the USA and Britain?

  Stalin no longer felt that the USA and Britain were trying to delay the second front
• What was the outcome of the agreement between Stalin and Roosevelt at the Tehran conference?


  It led to good relations between Stalin and Roosevelt
• What was the main aim of the Yalta Conference?


  To discuss the aftermath of World War II
• What significant military action was launched during the Yalta Conference?


  The second front was launched
• potsdam

  • july-aug 1945 aim (none)
  • agreement that germany would be split into 4 zones, berlin into 4, soviets get poorest zone but could take 1/4 of industrial equipment
  • disagreements over the gov of eastern europe, stalin wanted pro communist gov how much reparations germany should pay as stalin wanted more but usa and britain said it wouldnt be fair to germanys economy
• atomic bomb

  16th august: USA successfully tested 1st a bomb during potsdam conference

  truman was unwilling to share the technology and it made stalin suspicious
• the secret telegrams

  • long telegram; stalin gave a speech calling for all destruction of capitalism, america could not have peace with ussr while it opposed capitalism, russia was building a military and usa should seek to contain communism
  • novikov telegram; america had a desire to dominate the world, no longer interested in co-operation with ussr, usa was preparing for war
• iron curtain speech

  1946

  churchill made a speech in fulton about an imaginary line that had divided communist east and capitalist west
• satellite states

  • lithuania, latvia, estonia were conquered in 1940
  • bulgaria and romania voters were intimidated in 1944-5
  • hungary voters were intimidated in a campaign in 1947
  • czechslovakia were a democratic state and seen as a threat so stalin staged a coop in 1948
• truman doctrine

  • 1947
  • stop spread of communism (containment) and send troops and economic aid to help them resist communism
  • showed this by when usa installed ballistic missiles in turkey
  • consequences; rivalry increased(truman said 2 ways to live free and unfree),usa more involved in europe, stalin retaliated with cominform in 1947
• marshall plan

  aim; rebuild european economy to contain communism, revise living standards to reduce appeal of communism, rebuild germany and weaken soviet control over eastern europe

  consequences; by 1953 usa had provided 17 billion to help europe, europe became firmly divided, stalin accused usa of using plan for selfish reasons- to dominate europe and boost us economy "dollar imperialism"
• cominform

  • 1947
  • alliance of european communist parties to spread stalins ideas
  • increased stalins control over these countries and limited independence
• comecon

  • 1947
  • coordinate the production and the trade of eastern europe communist countries, expected to trade with one another and not with the west
  • favoured ussr more than anyone else
• berlin crisis

  causes and its consequences

  • causes; britain, france and usa had combined their zones of west germany in march 1948, new currency called "deutchsmark" (intended to strengthen western germany), capitalism was drawing people away from communist east for oppotunities in the west
  • consequences of this was that stalin felt threatened by germany growing strength, angry he was not told, wanted the "cancer" of the west berlin to be removed
• berlin crisis

  events

  in june 1948...

  1. stalin cut off all road, rail, canal links to west berlin
  2. city only had 6 weeks worth of supplies
  3. stalin aimed to starve 2 million people into submission as he believe truman would either give up or go to war
  4. west began the airlift which flew in food, fuel, supplies were flown into berlin for 10 months
  5. stalin did not shoot down any planes as that would be an act of war
  6. called off in may 1949
• berlin crisis

  consequences

  • propaganda victory for the west as truman showed policy of containment wouldnt fail
  • stalin was humilated as he failed to extend influence
  • division of germany into 2 separate states in may 1949
  • the new federal republic of germany was set up
  • in october the east german democratic republic was set up
  • confirmed divisions of germany and berlin
  • increased tensions
  • led to nato
• NATO

  april 1949

  set up during blockade

  promise of american help in an emergency-stalin saw nato as a threat to ussr forces

  consequences; usa was fully committed to the defence of western europe, increased tensions as stalin belienved it was set up and aimed at ussr, intensified the arms race between the 2, soviets set up warsaw pact within 6 years
• warsaw pact

  1955

  defensive military alliance of ussr and satellite states, a counter force to nato, helped make eastern europe an effective "buffer zone" for ussr and west
• after stalins death in , khrushchev said he wanted to with the west

  1953, peacefully co-exist
• the arms race

  • 1945=usa developed a bomb
  • 1949=soviets develops a bomb
  • 1952=usa test h bomb
  • 1953=soviets test h bomb
  • 1957=usa test icbm
  • 1957= soviets make icbm launch

  importance = balance of terror-could destroy the world, each side felt threatened by other, each side made more alliances and built more weapons
• Hungarian uprising

  events

  • october 1956, riots in budapest because, hungary began to protest about their lack of political freedom and about the problems caused by fuel shortages and poor harvests
  • soviet troops restored order
  • khrushchev replaced rakosi with imre nagy who was communist but believed their should be personal freedom
  • khrushchev hoped he would end protests
  • nagy announced set of reforms which reorganised hungarian gov to include members of non communist states, eneded one party state
  • nagy left warsaw pact
  • 1000 russian tanks attacked
  • nagy was executed by khrushchev
• hungarian uprising

  causes

  1. poverty- hungarians were poor, yet much of their food they produced was sent to russia
  2. russian control- secret police,russian control of what schools taught
  3. religious issues- communism banned religion and put leader of catholic church in prison
• hungarian uprising

  consequences

  • 200,000 hungarian refugees fled into austria
  • russia stayed in control behind the iron curtain
  • clear to eastern europe that west would not come to their aid to help overturn communism
• berlin war causes

  • high standards of living in west berlin, contrasted with the condition in communist east; reminder communism was not successful system to live under
  • estimated 2.7 mil had crossed boarder from east to west berlin between 1945-60; young, skilled, professional people- east suffered "brain drain"
• summit meetings

  1. geneva may 1959= proposals on how berlin should be governed- no agreement
  2. camp david sep 1959=no agreement about berlin, soviet withdrew ultimatum, better relations
  3. paris may 1960= ussr announced shot down us u-2 spy plane, eisenhower no apology, khrushchev left meeting
  4. vienna june 1961= jfk presidant of usa, khrushchev renewed berlin ultimatum of 1958
• events of the berlin war

  • 13 august 1961- east germans began building a wall around west berlin. initially a barbed wire fence then turned into concrete.
  • the allies did nothing to stop the building
  • all movement between east and west was stopped
  • for several days soviet and us tanks faced each other across the divided berlin streets.
• consequences of the berlin wall

  • the wall became a symbol of the division of east and west; western nations were given a propaganda victory, as it seemed that communist states needed to build a wall to stop their citizens leaving
  • peace was maintained, but at a price for the german people. families were split, and travel restrictions made it very difficult for relatives to see one another; between 1961 and 1989 only 5000 people managed to escape across it
• causes of the cuban missile crisis

  1. fidel castro (socialist) had overthrown the american-backed leader batista in 1959
  2. cuba was miles off coast of american- they didnt want a socialist country in their "backyard" so usa trued to ruin them by cutting off their main export (sugar)
  3. facing financial collapse, castro made a deal with ussr- would buy cubas sugar crop
  4. cuba nationalised american companies and sold off us-owned properties
  5. usa refused to acknowledge Castro's ties to communism and his government.
  6. castro removed us influence from cuba and moved closer to ussr
• bay of pigs events

  • in 1961, usa organized an attempt to overthrow castro
  • fail for kennedy
  • CIA convinced that cubans would revolt against castro
  • but they underestimated his popularity and their was no uprising
  • 1400 cuban exiles landed in cuba but were met with 20,000 cuban soldiers ready to defeat them and no support from the cubans
  • dissaster for kennedy as castro grew closer to the ussr and in may 1962 they agreed to station soviet nuclear weapons in cuba
  • cuba declared himself as a communist and asked khrushchev to help defend cuba against attacks from usa
• the thirteen day crisis 1962

  • 14th oct 1962- usa u-2 spy plane flies over cuba and takes photos revealing that missile sites were being built
  • 16th oct 1962- kennedy was told khrushchev intended to build missile sites
  • 18-19th oct 1962- hawks wanted an aggressive policy but doves wanted peaceful solutions after kennedy held talks
  • 20th oct 1962- kennedy decided to impose a naval blockade around cuba to prevent arms and missiles from entering cuba. they would check any suspected ships carrying missiles or arms
• the thirteen day crisis 1962 part 2

  
  

  • 21st oct 1962- kennedy made a broadcast to americans informing them if their was a potential threat and his intentions
  • 23rd october 1962-khrushchev sent a kennedy a letter insisting that soviet ships would force their way around the blockade
  • 24th oct 1962- Khrushchev issued a statement insisting that the soviet union would use nuclear weapons in an event of war
  • 25th oct 1962- kennedy wrote to khrushchev asking that he withdraws missiles from cuba
• the thirteen day crisis part 3

  • 26th oct 1962- khrushchev replied to the letter by saying he would withdraw the missiles if the usa promised not to invade cuba and to withdraw its missiles in greece and turkey
  • 27th oct 1962- us spy plane was shot down over cuba. robert kennedy proposed a deal with the soviet union. the usa would withdraw missiles from turkey as long as it was kept secret
  • 28th oct 1962- khrushchev accepted
• consequences of the cuban missile crisis

  • a hotline was set up between moscow and washington so that the leaders could speak directly. this was to try avoid future crises before they became serious
  • two realised how close to war they were so signed a number of treaties : limited test ban 1963- both agreed to stop testing nuclear weapons above ground and underwater
  • khrushchev seemed to have failed- he backed down in the face of american pressure making kennedy seem like a hero but the pubilc didnt know he secretly agreed to remove missiles in turkey
• causes of soviet invasion of czechoslovakia

  • the czech economy was in serious decline in the 1960s. this led to a fall in the standard of living
  • many czechs began to demand greater democracy-including dubcek
  • dubcek elected in 1968- soviets approved of dubcek and trusted him to make the gov of czechoslovakia more effective and less unpopular
• the prague spring

  1. april 5th 1968 dubcek created reforms that brought back political democracy and greater personal freedom, called prague spring
  2. he announced he wanted the czech communist party to remain the main party in czechoslovakia but wanted oppressive parts of the party to be removed
  3. communist party members were given the right to challenge party policy
  4. dubcek announced the end of censorship and the right of czech citizens to criticize the government
  5. trade unions were given increased rights to bargain for their members
  6. reforms were met with great enthusiasm
• soviet response to prague spring

  • aug 20-21st troops from warsaw pact invaded czechoslovakia to reassert authority of moscow, there were 500000 troops who entered and ended prague spring
  • little opposition to the invasion
  • brehznev had ordered the czech army to remain in its barracks
  • czech people could not do anything to stop it
  • some threw petrol bombs at soviet tanks, buildings were set on fire
  • invaders were told they were to restore law and order by the czech government
  • dubcek was arrested
  • dubcek replaced with gustav husak(1969)
• consequences of prague spring

  • proved that the soviet union was not willing to even contemplate any member of the warsaw pact leaving it. warsaw pact remained strong and deterred anyone form leaving as soviets showed what would happen if anyone decided to leave
  • brezhnev doctrine- use of warsaw pact forces to intervene in any eastern bloc nation which was seen to compromise communist rule and soviet denomination, either by trying to leave soviet sphere of influence. redefined communism as a one-party state