History chap 2

• Albania, Romania, Hungary


  1945
• Bulgaria


  1946
• Fulton, Missouri, USA


  1946
• Poland


  1947
• Sequence of key events

  1. Communists seize power. Hold an election with only communist candidates.

  2. Mass demonstrations lead to a communist government.

  3. Non-communist government elected, Communists gradually take over government departments

  4. Communist 'People's Militia' terrorises the population and communists take power in rigged election.
• Winston Churchill: 'An 'Iron Curtain' existed and that an Anglo-American alliance should be formed.'
• Half a million Red Army soldiers stay in Poland until 1947
• Elections in 1947 claimed by West to be fixed
• Britain stops funding anti-communist forces in Greece

  March 1947
• Britain stops funding anti-communist forces in Greece

  Truman announces policy known as Truman Doctrine and congress decided to help Greece
• Truman Doctrine


  Use of either economic or military means to stop the spread of communism
• Marshall Plan


  Plan to help European counties recover economically after WW2
• $400 million aid sent to Greece
• Marshall Plan $13.3 billion COST
• Marshall Plan


  • Large amounts of the money was spent on spending defence and armaments, as well as roads, machinery and factories
• Soviet attitude towards Marshall Plan

  They felt that it was 'dollar diplomacy'. Blocked Iron Curtain countries from receiving Marshall Aid.
• US logic behind Marshall Plan

  • US felt that economic strife was fertile soil for communism to grow in. Strong economies in western Europe would be a barrier against communism and people would find communism less appealing if there was economic prosperity.
• The telegrams set the scene for the Cold War. USSR dominated Eastern Europe. The US committed to a policy of containment.
• George Kennan


  American diplomat who argued that the USSR wanted to spread communism worldwide
• George Marshall


  US Secretary of State who toured Europe in April 1947 and who proposed investing in Europe
• Nikolai Novikov


  Soviet Ambassador to the USA
• Communist take-over happens. Congress approves expensive Marshall Plan.

  8 February-March 1948
• Rigged election


  When the result has been fixed and isn't truly democratic
• Alliance


  When countries join forces
• Communist Information Bureau (Cominform)

  Aimed to ensure that communist countries in eastern Europe worked together effectively. Established in 1947.
• Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon)


  Soviet version of the Marshall Plan encouraging economic co-operation among Iron Curtain states. Established in 1949.
• Containment


  Preventing the spread of communism
• The Long Telegram


  Telegram sent from George Kennan to US government where he said that the USSR was heavily armed, feared the outside world and was determined to spread communism
• The Novikov Telegram


  Telegram sent to the USSR government warning that the USA was economic strong and bent on world domination