Cold War

• Instead of directly fighting, how did USA and USSR fight?


  Proxy wars
• Three most examples of proxy wars

  Korea, Cuba, Vietnam
• Other examples of proxy wars, excluding the three most famous

  Middle East, Africa and Latin America
• What did success in the Cold War mean to the USA?

  Establishment of:

  - Their political belief in democracy

  - Their economic belief in maintaining production of wealth

  - Social beliefs in the goodness of American culture
• What was success in the Cold War going to require?

  - Military backing

  - Wholehearted support of the American people
• How did the USA fulfil the requirements for success in the Cold War?

  Establishment of patterns of spending and national expectations.
• What event meant that the USA's former policy to achieve success in the Cold War was no longer feasible, and when did this change begin to come about.

  Disaster of the Vietnam War, with this taking place during the 1970s.
• Which decade ended the post-war economic boom?

  1970s
• During the 1970s, why was there a lack of confidence in the American political system?

  - Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal

  - Neither Presidents Ford nor Carter could inspire confidence or initiate policies to make America feel powerful again.
• What negative event occurred at the end of the 1970s?

  Iran hostage crisis
• Briefly summarising, why was the Iran hostage crisis significant?

  American diplomats held hostage in Iran were unable to be rescued by the USA.
• What simple message did Ronald Reagan have, once becoming president in the 1980s?

  Fight communism
• Prior to Ronald Reagan's policy regarding Communism, what was the previous policy regarding it?

  Containment of Communism
• What were the six great powers before the Second World War?

  USA, Soviet Union, Britain, France, Germany and Japan.
• Why were Germany and Japan no longer considered global powers?

  Both defeated and seriously weakened.
• Why was France no longer considered a global power?

  Defeated and occupied by Germany during the Second World War
• Truman Doctrine


  Committed the U.S to the policy of containment.
• When was the Truman Doctrine established?

  March 1947
• As part of the Truman Doctrine, how much money was given to Greece and Turkey?

  $400 million
• Why did the U.S. start giving money to Greece and Turkey, as part of the Truman Doctrine?

  The U.K. had been giving financial aid to them since 1944, but following World War Two could no longer afford to do so.
• Marshall Plan


  President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any countries which suffered the effects of the second World War, so long as they did not turn to Communism.
• In what form would the Marshall Plan take?

  Cash, machinery, food and technological assistance
• When was the Marshall Plan announced?

  June 1947
• What did the countries involved with the Marshall Plan had to agree?

  They would buy US goods and allow US companies to invest capital in their industries.
• By 1953, how much money did the US had to provide?


  $13 billion.
• How did Stalin respond to the Marshall plan?

  - Prevented any eastern countries, like Poland and Czechoslovakia, from being involved.

  - Did not trust the USA and did not want to show how economically weak the Soviet Union was.
• When did Stalin blockade Berlin?

  24th June, 1948
• How was Berlin split after World War Two?

  Into four zones of occupation, with the western allies being allowed to access their sectors via road, rail, canal and air.
• Issue with western countries' access to Berlin


  Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet zone.
• Purpose of the Berlin blockade

  Starve the allies out of Berlin
• What happened following the Berlin blockade?

  - Establishment of NATO

  - Showed that the policy of containment had worked.
• When was NATO established?

  April 1949
• How did Stalin perceive the creation of NATO

  - Aggressive alliance aimed at the Soviet Union

  - Established the Warsaw Pact
• When was the Warsaw Pact established?

  1955
• Warsaw Pact


  Military alliance of eight nations headed by the Soviet Union, designed to counter the threat of NATO.
• What did the National Security Act establish?

  - Department of Defense

  - Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

  - National Security Council
• What was the purpose of the CIA?

  Co-ordinate intelligence-gathering across the government.
• NSC-68


  Advocated a massive expansion of US spending on military power.
• Who wrote NSC-68?


  Paul Nitze
• When was NSC-68 written?

  1949