Cold War

• Reasons for the Cold War

  • Fear of nuclear war
  • Propaganda: media, speeches
  • Space race
  • Arms Race: weapon production race
  • Spies
• Capitalism


  Freedom of speech, Democracy
• Communism


  Shared wealth
• Differences between Soviet Union and USA/Britain

  • Politics: Single party rule vs Democracy + voting rights
  • Social Structure: Classless society-everyone is equal vs Some people have more power than others due to wealth or background
  • Economy: All property owned by the state. No individual ownership vs Private ownership and a competition between businesses
  • Rights: Rights on all workers are more important than individual rights vs Individual freedoms valued but limited by majority opinion
• They both believe in EQUALITY -> equality of opportunity(Capitalism) -> Equal outcome(Communism)
• 1939 Allies and Enemies

  • Allies: Great Britain, France, China
  • Enemies (Axis): Germany, Soviet Union, Italy
  • Neutral: America, Japan
• 1941 Allies and Enemies

  • Allies: Great Britain, France, China, Soviet Union, USA
  • Enemies (Axis):Germany, Japan, Italy
  • Neutral: 0
• The Big 3


  • Winston Churchill - British prime minister
  • FDR - President of USA
  • Stalin - USSR dictator
• When FDR and Churchill met Stalin


  Stalin was playing along pretending to be nice. Churchill was really not fond of Stalin-hated him. Stalin was trying to cause tension between USA and GB by pretending to be nice, Churchill was angry at FDR for trusting Stalin. Stalin also hates Churchill because in 1918 Churchill sent British soldiers to Russia
• Tehran Conference 1943 November

  1. USA and GB will open a second front by invading Europe through Nazi occupied France

  2. The USSR would invade Nazi Germany from the East

  3. The USSR would invade Japan once the Nazis were defeated

  4. The Polish boarder would be moved to the west to gain territory form Germany, and lose it from the USSR from the East

  5. An organisation would be created to settle international disagreements- The United Nations
• Sources of tension between the members of the big 3 during the Tehran conference

  • Churchill wanted the 2nd front to be opened up at the Balkans not in France
  • FDR viewed GB's colonialism as a greater threat than communism
• Yalta conference, February 1945


  1. The big 3 decided to split Germany into 4 different zones after the war. Each zone would be controlled by a different power: USA, Britain, France and USSR. Germany would pay $20bil in reparations (half the money would go to the USSR.) and the Nazi party would be banned

  2. Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan 3 months after the defeat of Germany

  3. United nations were set up, the first meeting was 25th of April 1945. All nations could join , but USA and France disagreed with Stalin's suggestion to let all the 16 USSR republics to join as individual countries. Just Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were admitted

  4. Stalin agreed that future governments future governments of countries in Eastern Europe would be decided in free elections

  5. Poland proved to be a big issue in the Yalta conference. It was agreed that boarders of Poland would be returned to their position in 1921(would give USSR gains) and there would be free elections. But Stalin expected those elecrions to bring a pro-communist government wjere GB supported the non-communist 'London Pols'
• Free elections =multi party elections, any election.=, anyone can vote for anyone. Stalin SAYS he will allow free elections, but he won't
• Berlin is the most volnurable point of 'the west' (DE), countries would threat to take berlin for power
• London Poles and Lublin Poles


  • London Poles-democratic government (GB, USA supported)
  • Lublin poles-communist government (Stalin supported)
• Potsdam Conference, July-August 1945(post-war)

  1. Now FDR died and Churchil was made to leave the big three, Atley now took the position of Churchill and Truman took over FDR's spot

  2. Germany divided and Berlin divided Zones. But Economy is to be run as one unit

  3. Arguments over Reparations (compensation) and Eastern Europe

  4. Avoid the mistakes of Versailles

  5. Soviet union lost 60 mil

  6. Stalin wants to punish Germans but Britain and France wants to go soft on the Germans which angers Stalin

  7. At this point the US has the ATOMIC BOMB. Stalin doesn't react with anything when told America has an atomic bomb. Truman drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to not let Stalin get to Japan but also to intimidate Russia
• An atomic bomb makes the world Safer: MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction)
• Relationship status


  • 1945
  • communist groups
  • Czechoslovakia was invaded
  • Poland
  • The big 3
  • Communism
  • An attack
  • Tehran
  • Help US attack Japan
• Salami tactics


  Stalin's takeover of Eastern Europe has often been referred to as 'Salami tactics'
• Salami tactics


  1. The Baltic states were conquered by the USSR in 1940, after that treated as USSR

  2. From 1919 Czecoslovakia was the only democracy in Eastern Europe. After WW2 a coalition tries to restore the pre-war democracy. Stalin saw this as a threat the secure buffer zone he was trying to set up. Supported by the Soviet union, communists overthrew government was set the Czech president Eduard Benes in feb 1948 and a communist government was set up under Klement Gottwald

  3. In hungary there were elections 1945. Some communists were elected, but not enough to form a government. In the next election in 1947 they were threatened in a campaign supported by Moscow and a communist party government as elected. By 1949hungary was a one-party, communist state

  4. Communists ask ask for important jobs (eg about economy, army etc)

  5. Opponents disappear or intimidated by mudere

  6. Elections-communists win!

  7. Salami tactic- Stalin takes countries 'slice by slice' creating a buffer zone so the west doesn't notice what USSR is doing
• In 1947(check date) Churchill made a famous speech in the USA


  • USA attitudes- worried, scared of Stalin
  • USSR attitudes- angry
• George Kennan


  American ambassadeur in Moscow
• What does George Kennan do?

  1. Writes the 'Long telegram'

  2. 'Long telegram'-a warning the US government about Stalin. Reported that Stalin wants to destroy capitalism (eg., democracy) and the American way of life, and spread communism. Kennan says that it is impossible to change Stalin's mind

  3. All America can supposedly do is containment. (containment-limiting the spread of something. Preventing the spread of communism)
• Russia had their own long telegram from a soviet diplomat Nikolai Novikov
• Truman Doctrine


  America will help any country that is threatened by the Communists
• Truman Doctrine


  1. Greece and Britain

  2. After WW2 Britain was so poor that it couldn't provide military support for Greece, there was a civil war there between communists and pro-royalists. And Britain was putting the communists down. Truman decided to take over and fight communism in Greece instead of Britain

  3. Why was it introduced?

  4. 1)Contain communism

  5. 2)State what differences he saw between democracy and communism
• Marshal Plan


  Giving money to poor European countries which are therefore vulnerable to communism. Money offered money to the Russians but they obviously didn't accept it making America look good
• IF WESTERN EUROPE IS CONQERED BY COMMUNISTS- USA IS NEXT
• Pope and Vatican encouraged capitalism, because America gave money to the mafia to murder communists and scare Italians of communists
• 1948 Berlin Crisis


  1. British and Americans had already combined their zones into 'Bizonia'

  2. French added their zone to make it 'Trizonia'. Berlin was now split into two parts. West-Trizonia, East-USSR controlled Germany

  3. Trizonia allies created a currency -> soviets were furions because the new currency created a separate economic unit from the east , it accepted that there are 2 germanies. West went again the Potsdam agreement

  4. To retaliate, Stalin created a blockade, which created a deficit of food and other resources. To get resources the west used planes-Operation Vittles. A new airport was created

  5. Soviets lifted the blockade. The west responded peacefully to the blockade to make Stalin look irrationsal
• RESULTS OF THE BLOCKADE

  FRG: Federal Republic Germany (WEST)

  GDR: German Democratic Republic (USSR)

  GERMANY GET'S TURNED INTO 2 COUNTRIES UNTIL 1990 -IMPACTFUL
• Creation of NATO


  Stalin's threat to Berlin( creation of buffer zone) and the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia(same year) persuaded the West to form a formal military alliance to protect themselves from USSR

  April 1949 – USA, Britain, France + 9 other Western countries formed NATO (North Atlantic traty organisation)

  In NATO, if one country gets attacked the rest come to protect it

  USA's membership of NATO was unlike it's usual behaviour/mindset which was isolationist, now America was totally involved with Europe by sending weapons, supplies etc
• Why did relationship between USSR and USA get worse?

  • Contrasting political beliefs
  • 1948 Marshal plan
  • Truman doctrine
  • NATO
  • Atomic bomb
  • Trizonia (eg., change in currency)
  • Buffer zone
  • 'Dollar imperialism'
  • Berlin blockade!!!
• The main reason for the worsening relations between the Soviet union and the USA in the years 1945-49 was the Berlin crisis (1948-9)
• USA STARTS THE ARMS RACE

  ICBM=Intercontinental ballistic missile
• Korean war 1950-3


  North Korea is communist

  South Korea is capitalist

  America supports any country that isn't communist including South korea

  In 1950 The communist north korea attacks the capitalist south

  China became communist in 1939
• Why did the Korean war start?

  North Korea invaded south Korea. USA wanted to help South Korea. USA was afraid of a domino effect to take place (one country turning communist will make the other one turn too)
• What happened in the Korean war?

  Gene MacArthur was the commander of American troops is south Korea. He pushed the North Korean troops back across the 38th parallel
• Hungarian Uprising 1956


  Hungary is currently communist and wants to escape from the buffer zone

  They were oppressed under communist rule, and were suffering from all the ridiculous laws communist government installed in its nations eg., non-communist political parties were banned, government officials were chosen by Stalin, poor harvests, fuel shortages. between 1949-1956 more than 300,000 Hungarians were sent to prison. Therefore, Hungarians wanted to act

  Khruschev made a speech that criticised Stalin's regimes and therefore inspired the satellite states including Hungary to rise against him. Hungarians PROTESTED
• How did the USSR react?

  USSR felt threatened that the satellite states will fall apart. Tanks were sent to Budapest, supporters of Nagy begged the West for support and put up a fight against the tanks. 20,000 hungarians were killed, Nagy was later executed. Khrushchev used the neutralizing of the uprising as an example of what happens when the USSR is opposed