History (Cold War)

• Marshall plan (1948)

  1. was introduced to stop countries weakened by war falling to communism
  2. promised 1.7 billon to aid to European countries to help rebuild their economies
  3. was rejected by the ussr and satellite states because stalin saw it as the USA trying to increase its influence in Europe
• (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) 1949


  1. it was created to counter the Marshall Plan and support the economies of the USSRs satellite states.
  2. The USSR actually used it to control the economies of their satellite states, taking goods and food produced in each country and then distributing them back out
• Berlin Crisis (Blockade), August 1948-May 1949

  1. Caused by the USA, Great Britain and France joining their zones of Germany and Berlin together (Trizonia)
  2. · They then introduced a new currency called Deutschmark
  3. Stalin saw this as a threat to communism and an attempt to make it look weak.
  4. ·Stalin ordered all roads and railways to Berlin to be cut off, trying to force the Western Powers out of Berlin
• Berlin Crisis (Airlift Operational Vittles) August 1948- May 1949

  1. The USA and Great Britain responded to Stalin's blockade with the Berlin Airlift.
  2. They flew over 8000 tons of supplies a day into West Berlin via Templehof Airport.
  3. · Pilots dropped candy for the children
• NATO (1949)


  NATO stood for the ‘North Atlantic Treaty Alliance’

  1. It was a military alliance between Western Countries including the USA, Britain and France.

  2· All NATO countries agreed that if one member was attacked, they would all respond together.
• Warsaw Pact, 1955


  The Warsaw Pact was the communist version of NATO

  · The Warsaw Pact was made up of the USSR and it’s satellite states (except from Yugoslavia)

  · Its aim was to strengthen the defensive capability of Eastern Europe and strengthen relations between communist countries.
• Arms Race, 1945-1960


  The USA dropped two atom bombs on Japan in August 1945,

  one on the city of Nagasaki, one on the city of Hiroshima. USSR successfully tested its 1st Atom

  bomb in 1949.

  · The arms race had begun, with the USA and USSR competing to build more and more powerful

  weapons

  · the USA had developed their hydrogen bomb in 1952. The USSR successfully tested it’s 1st Hydrogen bomb in 1953.

  · Both tested intercontinental ballistic missiles in 19
• Paris summit (1960)

  1. the Paris Summit of 1960 was supposed to help solve the problem of Berlin.
  2. Just days before the summit, the USSR shot down an American U2 spy plane over Soviet Territory

  • President Eisenhower denied it was a spy plane. The USSR then brought out the pilot and the wreckage to prove it was a spy plane.

  • The summit ended in disaster as Khrushchev walked out when Eisenhower refused to apologise.

  The problem of Berlin was not solved
• Berlin Crisis (Refugee), 1958-1961

  1. Refugee Crisis -Due to the poor living standards, many East Germans were leaving East Germany to live in West Germany.. (By 1961 ,3 million East Germans had left)
  2. Brain Drain.—East Germany economy damaged even further as most of the skilled workers were leaving. By 1961, 2000 workers a day were leaving East Germany.
  3. Berlin was the place where people crossed from East to West Germany. In 1958 ,Khruschev issued an ultimatum to the West,

  saying they had to leave West Berlin or else..
• Berlin Wall begins being built, 13th August

  1961


  • The West did not give in to Khrushchev's ultimatum and refused to leave.

  • To stop the Refugee Crisis, Khrushchev ordered a wall to be built around West-Berlin.

  Preventing people from crossing the border.

  • 13th August 1961, a 27 mile fence of barbed wire was put around West-Berlin. This was fortified with guard towers and concrete walls.
• Cuban Revolution, 1959

  1. Since 1952 Cuba had been ruled by Batista, ruthless dictator, the USA were happy because he allowed American businesses to make huge profits in Cuba.

  2• Many Cubans hated Batista and the fact that America was getting rich at the expense of poor Cubans

  .In 1956, Fidel Castro led an uprising against the pro -American Batista and by 1959 had overthrown him

  
  

  • America was worried it would lose power and influence in Cuba, so threatened to stop buying Cuban Sugar if Castro didn’t work with them. The USSR, however, stepped in and said they would buy Cuba’s sugar.
• Bay of Pigs, April 1961


  The threat of a communist country so close to America was too much for President Kennedy

  • The USA planned an invasion of Cuba using Cuban Exiles (Cubans who had fled to America when

  Castro took power) to restore a pro-American ruler.

  • Around 1200 Cuban Exiles landed in the Bay of Pigs in April 1961.

  However, Castro was waiting for them. They were quickly defeated and Castro knew America was behind the invasion
• Cuban missile crisis , October 1962


  • 1961 Cuba asks the USSR weapons to defend themselves against America

  • October 1962—A US U2 spy plane spotted missile bases being built on Cuba—only 80 miles away from US mainland.

  • President Kennedy demanded that the USSR dismantle the bases and stop the ships carrying the missiles to Cuba.
• 13 days (Cuban Missile Crisis), October 1962


  October 14—missile bases spotted on Cuba

  • October 22—President Kennedy orders a naval blockade to stop missiles reaching Cuba.

  • October 23—Khrushchev writes a letter telling JFK his ships will continue through the blockade

  • October 26/27—Khrushchev says he will dismantle sites if US promise not to invade Cuba and, secretly, remove their missiles from Turkey

  • October 28—JFK announces crisis over
• Prague Spring

  (Czechoslovakian Uprising), Jan –Aug 1968


  • Students and writers protested in Czechoslovakia because they wanted more freedoms , including freedom of speech and movement

  • Jan 1968– Alexander Dubcek became leader of

  Czechoslovakia and introduced reforms, including freedom of speech and travel to the West.

  These freedoms lasted four months.

  • August 1968—500,000 soviet troops invaded and crushed the Prague Spring
• Brezhnev Doctrine, August 1968


  • The leader of the Soviet Union, Brezhnev, announced his doctrine after the invasion of Czechoslovakia

  • It stated the USSR would use force to stop any country leaving the Warsaw Pact, or communism.

  • Brezhnev justified this by saying the use of force was to protect
• Détente, 1970-1979


  Détente means ‘relaxation of tension’

  • It describes the period of time when the USA and USSR were communicating and co-operating

  with each other

  • This period of co-operation was symbolised through the joint US-USSR space mission, Apollo-Soyuz, that took place in 1975
• SALT I , 1972 


  Stood for the 'Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty'

  1. was an agreement between the USA and USSR to place a limit the number of nuclear weapons each could build.

  • Limited the number of ABMs (Anit-Ballistic Missiles) each superpower could stock pile

  • Placed temporary limits on the number of ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) each super-power could have.

  (1054 for USA, 16818 for USSR)
• Helsinki Accords, 1975


  Agreement made between the USA, the USSR and many other countries (33 in total)

  Agreements can be remembered by RICE:

  • Rights: Countries agreed to uphold human rights (freedom of speech, movement and travel)

  • International-Co-operation: agreed to trade and share technology as well as joint space mission (Apollo-Soyuz)

  • Europe: Countries agreed not to use force to achieve their goals as well as recognising existing

  borders.
• SALT II, 1979


  This treaty banned the USA and USSR from launching new missile programmes

  • The treaty was never ratified (approved) by the US Senate.

  • The Treaty was abandoned when the Soviets Invaded Afghanistan
• Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, Dec 1979


  The USSR was worried about the spread of fundamentalist Islam along its southern border.

  • A civil war broke out in Afghanistan and Islamic rebels tried to over through the Pro-communist government

  • The USSR used this as an excuse to invade as they were already worried that the leader, Amin, was secretly working with the USA
• Carter Doctrine,1980


  The USA saw the Soviet invasion as an attempt to increase their influence in the Persian Gulf, where the USA had oil interests.

  • President Carter said that the USA would use military force to stop the spread of communism in the Persian gulf

  • The USA then boycotted the Moscow Olympics along with 65 other countries
• President Ronald Reagan, 1981


  President Reagan was a hard-line anti-communist

  • In a speech, President Reagan called the USSR and 'Evil Empire' and said the Cold War was a fight
• Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) 1983


  Stood for 'Strategic Defence

  Initiative' but was nick named 'Star War's

  • Was a program to develop weapons in space that would have been able to shot down the USSR's

  nuclear weapons

  • SDI never actually worked, but the USSR believed it did.
• Gorbachev’s ‘new thinking’ 1985

  1. Gorbachev wanted to improve the lives of people living under communism.
  2. He also abolished (removed) the Brezhnev Doctrine.

  • Introduced 'Perestroika' to improve the economy. It involved more capitalist style trade and business ownership

  • Introduced 'Glasnost', giving people in the USSR more freedoms, including freedom of speech and some elections
• Collapse of Berlin Wall,Nov 1989


  • May 1989 - Hungary opened its borders to non-communist Austria.

  Thousands of East Germans used this route to escape communism

  • October 1989 - Mass protests in East Germany against the communist regime. The East German

  government agreed to open the border

  • Nov 1989- Confusion over when the border would open led to people demanding to cross. Border guards gave in and the floodgates opened.

  People started flooding into West Berlin and began tearing down the Berlin Wall
• Collapse of Soviet Union 1991


  Satellite states started declaring

  independence (Lithuania -March

  1990)

  • Without the Brezhnev Doctrine in place, satellite states were not worried about being invaded

  and all declared independence, getting rid of their communist governments.

  • Hard-line communists tried to remove Gorbachev in a coup. It failed due to support for Gorbachev by the Russian people. However, more Socialist states used the coup to declare independence and Gorbachev
• Cominform (Communist Information Bureau), Sep 1948


  Stalin said it was designed to help communist countries share information and ideas.

  · Actually was used a way for Stalin to control other communist countries.
• Truman Doctrine, March 1947


  USA announced its policy of Containment by saying it would support any nation threatened by communist takeover.

  · It said the USA would provide political, military and financial support

  · It was made in reaction to the threat of Turkey and Greece falling to communism
• Novikov Telegram, Sep 1946


  Was sent from Russian Ambassador, Nikolai Novikov, in Washington to Stalin in the Kremlin

  · It said that the USA wanted ‘world supremacy’

  · It said that the USA was trying to limit the influence of the USSR in Europe
• long telegram feb 1946


  Was sent from George Kennan, the US

  ambassador in Moscow to President Truman

  · It said that Stalin had given a speech saying that Capitalism needs to be destroyed.

  · It said the USSR was building its own military
• Potsdam conference July 1945


  The exact division of Germany and Berlin was agreed. Both would be split into four, with USA, Great Britain and France occupying the West. USSR

  would occupy the East.

  · President Roosevelt had died and been replaced by Truman, who took a tougher stance against the USSR.

  Winston Churchill had been replaced by clement Atlee.

  · Between the Yalta Conference and this conference, Stalin had installed a communist government in Poland and arrested democratic leader
• Yalta Conference, Feb 1945


  Talks agreed that Germany would be divided at the end of the war.

  · USSR, USA, Britain and France agreed that free elections would be held in Europe.

  · The USSR and USA had different ideas about how Germany should be treated after World War I
• Tehran Conference, Nov 1943


  Talks focussed on plans to defeat the Nazis (including the opening of a second front)

  · Started to discuss what would happen to Europe after World War II (USSR to have a ‘sphere of influence’ in Eastern Europe)

  · Political differences were still put aside whilst the Nazis were still a threat