The cold war develops

• What was the Truman doctrine?

  • is a speech give in 1947
  • it talks about they should try and contain communism
  • the USA would provide money and troops to help countries to combat communism takeover
• What was the Marshall plan?

  • 13 billion dollars from the USA was used to help rebuild Europe
  • they hope that giving people money would stop communism as they had a stake in the capitalist system
  • sixteen western countries took money the money
• What is NATO?

  • was set up 1949 it was military alliance made up of the US, Britain, France, Belgium and many other countries as well
  • the principle was that if one country was attacked then the other countries had to assist
  • it was directed against a possible military attack from the soviet union
• What is Cominform and Comicon?

  • It was set up in 1947 and Cominform got rid of an opposition to the soviet control to the satellite states
  • encouraged communist parties to not take the Marshall aid assistance
  • Comicon was set up 1949
  • it was the alternative to the Marshall aid
  • it built trade links between Comicon countries and it included Hungary, Poland and many other countries
• How was Germany and Berlin split?

  • USA, Britain and France were given the west and soviet union were given the east
  • the West came together to make Bizonia and was included into the Marshall plan
  • Stalin was not happy with it as he suspected that the USA was aiming to permanently divide Germany into richer Western Germany and poor Western Germany
• What was the Berlin Blockage?

  • Eastern Germany grew most of the food that West Germany ate
  • so in June 1948 the soviet union closed all the roads, rail and links into West Germany
  • they also blocked all of there supplies into Berlin to show that they had the power to stop the divide Germany from working
• What different views did US and the Soviet have for Germany and Berlin?


  • usa wanted a united and captalist Germany to stop the spread of communism
  • where the soviet wanted Germany to be weak and divided so that they would never be able to attack them
• What was the Berlin Airlift?

  • it was how the West responded to the Berlin Blockage it was between June 1948-September 1949
  • thousands of supplies where flown in daily
• The nuclear arms war race

  • 1945 USA dropped two atomic bombs of Japan
  • 1949 Soviets union test there first atomic bomb
  • 1952 USA develop hydrogen bombs
  • 1953 Soviets develop Hydrogen bombs
• What was the significance of the Arms Race

  • by the mid 1950s the developments of there nuclear weapons meant that any nuclear war between them both would destroy both sides
  • Resulting in MAD (mutually Assured destruction)
  • so the USA and the soviets had to find ways to stop the disputes between them turning into a dangerous war
• The formation of the Warsaw pact

  • was set up 1955
  • there was now two opposing alliances in Europe
  • it also gave the soviets direct control over armed forces of its satellite states
• What happened when Hungary started to move away from the soviet's influence?

  • the soviets had to tighten there control so that other countries won't follow as well
  • any opposition in Hungary was ruthlessly wiped out
  • the people suffered a lot
  • communist rule became unpopular
• what is desalination?


  • when Stalin dies and Khrushchev took over in 1956
  • his secret speech hinted that the soviet control would relax
  • but in October 1956 poor harvest and shortages meant that Hungarians started to go against communism
  • Khrushchev appointed prime minister Nagy to try and control the situation
• What aims did prime minster Nagy have for Hungary?

  • leave the Warsaw pact and become a neutral party
  • hold free elections so no more single communist party
  • wanted the UN protecting from the soviet union
  • however if Hungary was able to leave the Warsaw pact then other countries in Eastern Europe would want to do the same
  • then the Warsaw pact would collapse
• Why did the soviets invade Hungary

  • 1956 soviets invaded Hungary because Khrushchev disapproved of Nagy's reform
  • he saw Nagy's action a threat to communism as he claimed that communist were being slaughtered
  • so Khrushchev feared that the unrest would spread amongst the other satellite state
  • on November 1956 Khrushchev sent 200,000 troops to Hungary to dispose Nagy and restore order
• What happened in the soviet invasion of Hungary

  • over 5000 Hungarians were killed
  • Nagy was arrested and executed, Khrushchev done this to show what would happen if people rebelled
  • a new leader called James Kadar was appointed and he introduced the fifteen point programme to help re-establish communist rules
  • the aim was to improve Hungary standard of living, the USA was not prepared to help them so they just accepted it
• What was the international reaction against the invasion


  • the UN condemned their actions
  • the USA supported Hungary with money and medical aid and accept 80,000 refugees
  • but the USA could not sent troops, as it could risk a nuclear war
  • this meant that Hungary had to give in