cold war gcse

• The Cold War was the conflict between the USA and USSR that lasted for 45 years after World War II
• Cold War

  A war of words, propaganda and threat between the USA and USSR, but without direct confrontation
• Proxy wars


  Wars where the USA and USSR helped their allies fight each other, but did not become directly involved
• Differing ideologies of the USA and USSR


  • USA: democratic and capitalist, with free elections, private industry and agriculture, free press and movement
  • USSR: one-party state, no free elections, state-owned industry and agriculture, lack of freedom and strict censorship
• Stalin's suspicion of the West

  • Believed the West wanted Hitler to destroy communism
  • Slow to open a Second Front against Germany in WWII
• The Grand Alliance


  The alliance between the USA, USSR and Britain to defeat the Axis powers in WWII
• Yalta Conference


  1. Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan

  2. All 3 agreed to join the United Nations

  3. Germany to be divided into 4 zones of occupation

  4. Berlin to be divided into 4 zones

  5. Stalin to have 'a sphere of influence' in Eastern Europe

  6. Free elections to be held in liberated countries
• Potsdam Conference


  1. USSR to gain eastern Poland

  2. Poland to be compensated with some German territory

  3. Nazi Party to be banned and war criminals put on trial
• The USA tested the atomic bomb


  This made Stalin suspicious and encouraged an arms race
• The Long Telegram


  Kennan's report to Truman that the USSR was opposed to capitalism and building military power, and that the USA should seek to contain communism
• The Novikov Telegram


  Novikov's report to Stalin that the USA desired to dominate the world and was preparing the public for war with the USSR
• Creation of satellite states in Eastern Europe


  1. Rigged elections, violence, intimidation used to gain control

  2. All Eastern European states except Czechoslovakia had communist governments by 1947
• The USSR justified its actions in Eastern Europe as creating a buffer zone against the West, fear of US atomic power, and fear of attack
• The USA claimed the USSR had seized control of Eastern Europe and rejected free elections as agreed at Yalta
• Truman Doctrine


  Policy designed to stop the spread of communism - it was called containment
• The USA believed that the USSR was determined to expand and that the USA should use any means possible to stop that expansion
• Domino Theory


  The USA should prevent one country from falling to communism to stop others from following suit
• It was believed that it was America's duty to protect democracies from the threat of communism
• The USA provided money, aid, advisors or even weapons to any country threatened by communism
• Marshall Plan


  Aimed to rebuild the shattered European economy so that it could contain the spread of communism
• A fund of $15 billion was made available to any nation who applied for it
• Stalin called the Marshall Plan 'dollar imperialism' and claimed the USA was trying to control industry and trade in Europe
• Cominform


  An alliance of European communist parties to help them plan and to work together and spread Stalin's ideas
• Comecon


  Set up to coordinate the production and trade of the eastern European communist countries
• Britain, France and the USA had merged their zones of West Germany into one in March 1948
• Britain, France and the USA had then introduced a new currency called the 'Deutsch mark' to western Germany
• Stalin felt threatened by Germany's growing strength and was angry that the west had not consulted him before making changes in their zones of Germany
• In June 1948 Stalin cut off all road, rail and canal links to West Berlin – the Berlin Blockade
• The West responded with a massive airlift - food, fuel and supplies were flown into Berlin for 10 months
• The division of Germany into two separate states - in May 1949 the new Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was set up. In October, the eastern zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR)
• NATO


  A military alliance that committed all members to the defence of all the others
• Warsaw Pact


  A defensive military alliance of the USSR and its satellite states in Eastern Europe, intended as a counter-force to NATO
• Stalin died in 1953
• Khrushchev became the new ruler of the USSR in 1955
• In the 'Secret Speech' at the Twentieth Party Congress in 1956, Khrushchev attacked Stalin, saying that Stalin was a murderer and a tyrant
• Khrushchev said that he wanted peaceful co-existence with the West
• Causes of the Hungarian Uprising


  • Poverty
  • Russian Control
  • Religious issues
  • Help from the West
  • De-Stalinisation
• Events of the Hungarian Uprising

  1. Riots of students, workers and soldiers

  2. Imre Nagy took over as Prime Minister

  3. Khrushchev agreed to pull out Russian troops

  4. Nagy announced Hungary was leaving the Warsaw Pact

  5. 1000 Russian tanks rolled into Budapest
• Khrushchev put in Janos Kadar, a supporter of Russia, as Prime Minister
• Nagy was executed