part 2

• • 25 million Soviets killed in WW2
  • 1 million UK and US killed in WW2


  1939-1945
• • Yalta Conference
  • Big Three: Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
  • They get on
  • Agree to divide Germany into 4 zones
  • Agree to punish German war criminals

  1945 FEB
• • Potsdam Conference
  • Big Three: Stalin, Attlee, Truman
  • Don't get on
  • Disagree about reparations
  • Disagree about Soviet behaviour in Europe
  • Disagree over Poland's border


  1945 JULY
• • Nuclear attack on Japan
  • USA nukes Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  • Around 150000 killed
  • US willing to use nukes on civilians

  1945 AUGUST
• General Clay (governor of US zone) refuses to pay reparations (annoys Stalin)

  1946
• • Iron Curtain
  • Stalin takes over Eastern Europe using salami tactics
  • Elections are rigged
  • Opposition leaders arrested
  • Jan Masaryk (Czechoslovakia) thrown out of window


  1945-1947
• • Truman Doctrine
  • It looks like Communists might take over in Greece
  • Truman gives $400 million to Greece and Turkey
  • The policy is to CONTAIN Communism


  1947
• • Marshall Plan
  • Truman Doctrine works so well it is spread to all of Europe
  • US gives $18 billion to Europe in aid
  • Stalin refuses to allow countries in the Iron Curtain to accept it
  • The US Congress only agrees to it after Jan Masaryk (Czech politician) is found dead outside his window

  1948
• • Cominform and Comecon
  • Set up by Stalin to control the Communist Parties and economies of Eastern Europe

  1948
• • Yugoslavia
  • The Communist leader of Yugoslavia (Tito) accepts Marshall Aid and falls out with Stalin


  1948
• • Berlin Blockade
  • At the London Conference the USA, UK and France decide to create West Germany
  • At the London Conference the Deutschmark is created
  • Stalin responds by blockading West Berlin
  • The blockade lasts for 11 months
  • A plane lands at Tempelhof airport every 90 seconds
  • NATO is formed as a response to the blockade in 1949
  • West and East Germany are formed in 1949

  1948-1949
• • China becomes Communist
  • Chairman Mao is the leader of Communist China
  • The US comes up with the Domino Theory after China becomes Communist


  1949
• • Korean War
  • North Korea invades South Korea in 1950
  • A UN force (led by the US) helps South Korea
  • China gets involved on the side of North Korea
  • The US general in charge of the fighting (MacArthur) wanted to nuke China. Truman sacked him
  • The war ends roughly where it began (38th parallel)


  1950-1953
• • The Vietnam War
  • A war between North and South Vietnam
  • The US is involved from 1961 to 1975 (fighting from 1964-73)
  • 58000 US soldiers killed


  1954-1975
• • Death of Stalin and De-Stalinisation
  • Stalin dies in 1953
  • Khrushchev takes over in 1955
  • He 'de-Stalinises' the USSR (shuts down prison camps, restricts the power of the secret police)
  • He makes a secret speech in 1956 denouncing Stalin as a tyrant


  1953-1956
• • NATO and the Warsaw Pact
  • The Warsaw Pact is formed in 1955 after West Germany joins NATO
  • Both sides have military alliances backing them up


  1955
• • Hungarian Uprising
  • Rakosi (Stalin like leader of Hungary) is sacked by Khrushchev
  • Gero is the new leader of Hungary
  • Mass protests in Hungary for Nagy to be prime minister
  • A statue of Stalin is pulled down during the protests
  • Nagy is made prime minister by Khrushchev
  • Nagy releases political prisoners and shuts down the AVO (the secret police)
  • Nagy tells Khrushchev Hungary will leave the Warsaw Pact
  • Khrushchev attacks Budapest. Up to 30000 are killed. Nagy is executed


  1956
• • Arms Race
  • 1945: US develop atomic bomb
  • 1949: USSR develops atomic bomb
  • 1952: US develops the hydrogen bomb
  • 1957: USSR develops ICBMs
  • 1961: USSR develops the Tsar Bomb. Largest bomb ever detonated
  • 1963: Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed


  1945-1963
• • Space Race
  • 1957 (Oct): SPUTNIK I launched by the USSR
  • 1957 (Nov): SPUTNIK II (with Laika the dog) launched by the USSR
  • 1958: US satellite (Explorer) launched
  • 1961: Yuri Gagarin (first man in space)
  • 1961-69: the Apollo program (US program to get a man on the moon)
  • 1969: US lands a man on the moon


  1957-1969
• • U2 Crisis
  • A peace summit is due to happen on May 14th, 1960
  • On 1st May 1960 a U2 spy plane is shot down over the USSR. The pilot, Gary Powers, is captured
  • Khrushchev 'plays' Eisenhower by getting him to deny the planes existence before producing the pilot
  • When the summit happens on May 14th Khrushchev storms off home


  1960
• • Berlin Wall
  • Between 1945-1961 3.5 million East Germans leave East Germany via West Berlin
  • The wall is built on August 13th, 1961 to stop this
  • The wall stabilises the East German economy by stopping skilled workers leaving
  • It is a propaganda disaster for the Communists

  1961
• • Cuban Missile Crisis
  • In 1959 there is a Communist Revolution in Cuba
  • Fidel Castro is the new leader of Cuba
  • In 1961 the US launch a failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs
  • In October 1962 a U2 spy plane notices that the Soviets are putting missiles onto Cuba
  • The US launches a blockade of Cuba
  • For 13 days it looks like the USA and the USSR are about to go to war
  • A deal is made eventually. The USSR will remove missiles from Cuba if the USA removes missiles from Turkey
  • The removing missiles from Turkey is kept secret
  • Both sides were scared at how close they came to nuclear war. They signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963


  1962
• • Prague Spring
  • Dubcek became the new Communist leader of Czechoslovakia. He aimed to reform Communism in Czechoslovakia
  • He wanted to create 'Socialism with a human face'. A more chilled out form of Communism
  • He eased censorship, cut down on the secret police's powers and allowed politicians to be interviewed on TV
  • He promised to stay in the Warsaw Pact
  • In August 1968 the USSR invaded due to pressure from East Germany and Poland
  • Dubcek was made Ambassador to Turkey (not executed)
  • The Brezhnev Doctrine is an outcome: one a country is Communist it remains Communist even if it means there is a war


  1968
• • Why Détente Happened
  • The US lost the Vietnam War. The war cost $20 billion a year and made the Americans lose confidence
  • The USSR and China's relationship got worse. It made the USSR try to improve its relationship with the USA
  • The arms race was expensive
  • Both sides feared a nuclear war


  1969-1980
• • Détente Achievements
  • SALT I and SALT II were arms limitations talks
  • In 1972 President Nixon visited China
  • The Helsinki Accords agreed the borders of Europe


  1969-1980