KT1 Origins of the Cold War 1941-1958

• Which countries formed the Grand Alliance?

  • Britain
  • Soviet Union
  • USA
• What was the aim of the Grand Alliance?

  To work together to defeat Germany and Japan
• Why were the members of the Grand Alliance suspicious of each other?

  They had different ideological beliefs
• What was the ideological belief employed by the USSR?


  Communism
• What was the ideological belief employed by the USA and Britain?

  Capitalism
• When was the Tehran conference?

  1943
• Where was the Tehran Conference?

  Tehran in Iran
• What was discussed at the Tehran Conference?

  • An invasion of Nazi-occupied France
  • Stalin wanted the USA and Britain to open a second front against the Nazis in the West to split their forces on two fronts
• What was agreed at the Tehran Conference?

  • The USA and Britain would invade France in 1944
  • The USSR would join the war against Japan once the Nazis were defeated
• When was the Yalta Conference?

  February 1945
• Where was the Yalta Conference held?

  Yalta in the Ukraine
• What was discussed at the Yalta conference?

  What would happen to Europe after the war ended
• What was agreed at the Yalta Conference?

  • Germany would be split into 4 zones each controlled by France, Britain, the USA and the USSR respectively
  • Germany would pay reparations
  • The United Nations would be set up
  • Free elections would be held in Eastern Europe after liberating them from Nazi control
• What were there disagreements about during the Yalta Conference?

  What should happen to Poland and therefore wider Eastern Europe
• When was the Potsdam Conference held?

  July 1945
• Where was the Potsdam Conference held?

  Potsdam in Germany
• What happened just before the Potsdam Conference?

  Germany surrendered
• Who were the leaders at the first two conferences of the Grand Alliance?

  • Stalin
  • Roosevelt
  • Churchill
• Who were the leaders at the Potsdam Conference?

  • Stalin
  • Truman
  • Attlee
• Why were relations strained between the West and the USSR at the Potsdam Conference?

  Truman had a much more hard-line approach towards communism than Roosevelt and didn't want to help the USSR
• What was agreed at the Potsdam Conference?

  • Germany would be divided into four zones
  • Berlin was in the USSR's zone
  • Berlin would be split into 4 zones as well
  • The power controlling each zone would take reparations of their choosing from the zone
• What were disagreements about at the Potsdam Conference?

  • Stalin wanted higher reparations to compensate for Soviet loss but the other members disagreed
  • The Western powers were concerned that Stalin had not allowed the free elections agreed upon and that he was taking control
• What piece of technology did Truman reveal to Stalin at the Potsdam Conference?

  The atomic bomb
• Why did the USSR want communist and allied countries between itself and the West?

  To create a buffer zone to reduce the West's influence
• What did the USSR and USA become known as due to them dominating world affairs?

  Superpowers
• What happened to the Grand Alliance after WW2?

  It was disbanded
• What is a Cold War?

  A war where no battles are fought directly between the two countries
• How did the two countries compete against each other while avoiding direct conflict?

  • Building up the military
  • Using propaganda
  • Controlling and financing other countries
  • Spying on each other
• When did Germany surrender?

  May 1945
• When did the USA drop the atomic bombs in Japan?

  August 1945
• Where did the USA drop two Atomic bombs?

  Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• When did the USSR create their first atomic bomb?


  August 1949
• In what year were the Novikov and Long Telegrams sent?

  1946
• Who sent the Long Telegram?

  George Keenan, the US Ambassador in Moscow
• Who sent the Novikov Telegram?

  Nikolai Novikov a Soviet Diplomat in Washington
• What did the Long Telegram state?

  The USSR wanted to destroy capitalism and was heavily armed
• What did the Novikov Telegram state?

  The USA wanted to spread their influence globally and reduce the threat of communism
• What is a Satellite State?


  A country that is technically independent but it is under the influence of another country
• What was the term for the group of countries inside the Soviet sphere of influence?

  The Eastern Bloc
• How did Stalin take control of so many Eastern European countries after WW2?

  His armies were already there after liberating them from Nazi rule and so he took over and ensured they had allied communist governments