Superpower Relations - Cold War

• What are the main two countries involved in the Cold War?

  United States and Soviet Union
• When did the USA develop the Atomic Bomb?


  1945
• What was the name of the USA's project for the development of the atomic bomb?

  Manhattan Project
• When did the USSR develop an atomic bomb?

  1949
• What was the concept that avoided a nuclear conflict between the two superpowers?

  Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)
• Why was the USA more powerful after the war compared to the Soviet Union?

  The USA had a large economic growth after the war, and most of the USA's territory had suffered no damage from the war, different from the Soviet Union due to Hitler's Operation Barbarossa.
• Since both superpowers avoided nuclear conflict due to MAD, how did conflict happen?

  Rivalry and conflicts happened through spies, secret services and their missions, negative propaganda and proxy wars.
• What are proxy wars?

  When one superpower provides economical and military assistance to a capitalist or communist country, such as supplying weapons or sending troops.
• State 3 features of capitalism:

  1. Businesses and individuals are free to make as much money as they can and run their own businesses
  2. Democracy: free elections with multiple different parties allowed. The government is chosen by the public.
  3. Freedom of Speech - the population is free to speak their opinion and the media is not censored
• State 3 features of communism:

  1. All property is owned by the state
  2. All goods and services are owned by the state
  3. All decisions are made by the state
  4. Wealth is shared equally
  5. Dictatorship: although elections do take place, only one political party is allowed
  6. No freedom of speech and media is censored
• When did the USSR become communist?

  1917
• What was the Grand Alliance?

  Alliance between the United States, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom during World War II to defeat Nazi Germany.
• Who were the Big Three?

  Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Stalin.
• When was the Tehran conference?

  1943
• State three events of the Tehran conference:

  1. the Big Three make plans for D-day invasion
  2. Stalin agreed that, after the war, the USSR would join the United Nations
  3. USSR to join the USA on a war against Japan once Hitler was defeated
• When was the Yalta Conference?

  February 1945
• State three things that were agreed in the Yalta Conference:

  1. Stalin wanted the USSR to have a 'sphere of influence' amongst Eastern Europe - this led to most countries freed by the Red Army to become communist
  2. Germany and Berlin to be divided into four zones that were controlled by France, USA, Britain and the USSR
  3. USSR to join the effort against defeating Japan together with the USA and the USSR was to receive reparations from a defeated Germany
• What happened to Eastern European countries that were freed by the Soviet Red Army?

  They fell under Soviet influence/control, becoming communist as the previously agreed 'elections' did not take place.
• When was the Potsdam conference?

  July 1945
• Why is Potsdam known as the 'badly-tempered conference'?

  Tensions between the Allied leaders (Stalin, Truman, Churchill/Attlee) led to disagreements and a difficult atmosphere.
• State two differences, relating to the USA, between the Yalta and Potsdam conference:

  1. Franklin D. Roosevelt had died in 1945 and Henry Truman had become US president - Truman was much more anti-communist than Roosevelt
  2. the USA had developed an atomic bomb earlier that year, and Stalin (due to his spies) had known about this and judged the USA's to a future threat
• Why was Stalin frustrated because of the atomic bomb and the war with Japan?

  An atomic bomb meant the USA did not need the USSR to defeat Japan, meaning that Soviet forces were not able to extend their 'sphere of influence' towards East and Southeast Asia.
• State the outcomes of the Potsdam conference:

  1. The division of Germany and Berlin was finalised
  2. Germany would pay reparations to the USSR in form of industrial equipment
• What did the end of the war mean to the USA and USSR?


  Since the war was over, there was no common enemy and no reason for them to work together, meaning they could now focus on their rivalry with each other.
• When was the Long Telegram sent?

  February 1946
• Who wrote the Long Telegram?

  George Kennan
• What did George Kennan write in the Long Telegram?

  He believed that the USSR was determined to spread its influence and communism as far as possible and that it saw the USA as its enemy - any cooperation between the two superpowers was doomed to fail.
• When was the Novikov Telegram written?

  September 1946
• Who wrote the Novikov Telegram?

  Nikolai Novikov
• What did Novikov write on his telegram?

  Novikov believed that the USA was determined to dominate the word and spread its capitalist influence as far as possible. He also believed that the USA was economically powerful and should not be trusted.
• Who were the Soviet Union's satellite states?

  East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia (1948)
• Who were the government of the Satellite States loyal (and controlled by) to?

  Soviet Union
• When did Churchill do the Iron Curtain speech?

  1946
• What was the Iron Curtain?

  The Iron Curtain was a metaphorical division between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc, who had two different political ideologies and governments.
• When was the Truman Doctrine proposed?

  1947
• What was the Truman Doctrine?

  The containment of communist - the USA saw communism as a threat and made his (Truman's and the USA's) determination to stop the further spread of communism - he promised to support any country that was under the threat of becoming communist.
• What was the Soviet response to the Truman Doctrine?

  Cominform
• What was the Cominform?

  The bringing together of communist countries in Eastern Europe into one group that followed the same principles and policies.
• What was the consequence of the Cominform?

  Stalin now had a tighter control over the communist countries of Eastern Europe.
• When was the Marshall Plan proposed?

  1947