Cold War key 1

• Grand Alliance


  The USA, the USSR and the UK created in 1941 to defeat the Nazis
• The Big Three


  • Roosevelt (USA)
  • Stalin (USSR)
  • Churchill (UK)
• The USSR was the only one of the three countries that was invaded by Germany and Soviet soldiers did most of the actual fighting
• Outcome of the Tehran Conference (Nov 1943)

  1. The USA and the UK would open a 'second front' by launching an attack on Germany in Western Europe

  2. The agreement on the second front pleased Stalin and annoyed Churchill, who wanted a 'second front' in the Balkans instead

  3. It was agreed Stalin would declare war against Japan once the war in Europe was over

  4. Germany would have to surrender unconditionally

  5. It was agreed an international body would be set up to settle disputes through discussion (this became the U.N.)
• Outcome of the Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)


  1. Germany would be split into four zones to be administered by the USA, USSR, Britain and France

  2. It was agreed Germany would pay $20 billion in reparations, half of which would go to the USSR (in fact, only the USSR ever took reparations)

  3. The United Nations was set up; it first met on 25 April 1945

  4. Stalin agreed that the liberated countries in Eastern Europe would be allowed free elections, but he later went back on this

  5. Poland's borders would return back to their position in 1921 (this gave the USSR significant gains and there would be more disagreement about this at Potsdam)

  6. There was disagreement about the future of Poland. The USA wanted free elections, and the USSR wanted a communist government; this would cause ongoing problems at Potsdam
• Outcome of the Potsdam Conference (August 1945)


  1. Although Germany was divided into four zones, they agreed to run the economy as a whole (this never really happened, with each side getting separate currencies later)

  2. Berlin would also be divided into four zones

  3. There was disagreement about whether to charge reparations, so each country was allowed to take reparations from its own zone

  4. The USSR was allowed to take a quarter of the industrial equipment from other zones

  5. Truman objected to the Red Army occupying Eastern Europe; this led to ongoing disagreement over the governments in these countries

  6. Truman objected to the Polish borders that had already been agreed
• Ideological differences between the superpowers

  • Britain and the USA were capitalist democracies; the USSR was a communist dictatorship
  • Churchill was from an aristocratic family and believed in the British Empire
  • Stalin had ruled the USSR since the 1920s and was convinced that the West wanted to destroy communism
  • Truman was much more suspicious of the USSR than Roosevelt had been
• Atomic bomb


  The USA dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, and on Nagasaki on 9 August. Over 120,000 Japanese civilians were killed.
• Knowing only the USA knew how to make this bomb


  Made Truman more confident at Potsdam
• The countries of Western Europe felt more secure


  Placing themselves under American protection
• Stalin felt even more determined

  To create a 'buffer zone' of communist countries in Eastern Europe to protect the USSR from the West
• Soviet scientists developed their own bomb on 29 August 1949. This was the start of the arms race.
• Cold War tensions increased

  But arguably the terrible consequences of the bomb made war less likely
• Long Telegram


  Kennan said Stalin wanted to see the destruction of capitalism around the world but would back down in the face of strong resistance
• Truman Doctrine


  America should be prepared to send troops and economic aid to any country trying to resist communisms
• The Truman Doctrine


  Signalled the intention of the USA to move away from isolationism and replace it with containment
• Impact of the Marshall Plan


  1. America provided economic aid to war-torn countries in Europe to prevent the spread of communism

  2. Between 1948 and 1952, American gave $12.7 billion dollars of aid to Western Europe

  3. They offered it to Eastern European countries, but none accepted

  4. The Soviets described this as 'dollar imperialism'

  5. The Marshall Plan tied Western European countries into supporting the USA, and when Stalin set up his own economic plan in response, Comecon, it divided Europe clearly into two economic camps

  6. It also led Stalin to establish Cominform in 1947

  7. Over time, it contributed to Western European economies becoming much stronger than Eastern European ones, a contrast that was particularly marked in Berlin
• Cominform


  The Communist Information Bureau, established in September 1947 to allow Stalin to direct and control the governments of the satellite states
• Comecon


  The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, established in January 1949 in direct competition to the Marshall Plan and aimed to support economic development in its member states
• The Berlin Crisis of 1948-9

  1. In March 1948, talks between the Soviets and the West about reunifying Germany broke down

  2. In March 1948, the British, Americans and French decided to unify just their zones instead, calling it 'Trizonia'

  3. In June 1948, the three Allies decided to introduce a single currency, the Deutschmark

  4. In response, Stalin shut off land routes across Soviet-controlled Germany into Berlin. This was the 'Berlin blockade'

  5. The West decided to fly in key supplies like food, coal and medical supplies. This was called Operation Vittles, the 'Berlin Airlift'

  6. In January 1949, 170,000 tonnes of supplies were sent into Berlin by air

  7. On 9 May 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade; Stalin's efforts had failed
• The Berlin Crisis


  • Germany was now permanently divided, into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
  • The West realised they needed a formal military alliance and created NATO
  • The USA had shown they were prepared to stick to the Truman Doctrine
  • It was an embarrassing defeat for the USSR, while Western propaganda portrayed it as a huge success
• The formation of the Federal Republic of Germany and German Democratic Republic


  1. 23 May 1949: the USA, Britain and France brought their zones together as a single state

  2. 14 August 1949: a new parliament was elected, called the Bundestag

  3. 15 September 1949: the new Chancellor, Adenauer, took office

  4. The German Democratic Republic was created in October 1949
• The division of Germany

  • It was clear the division of Germany was now permanent
  • When West Germany joined NATO, this was a trigger for the formation of the Warsaw Pact
  • Neither German state officially recognised the other, leading to tension and subsequent Berlin Ultimatum
  • This contributed to later tension over Germany, including the Berlin Refugee Crisis
• The formation of NATO

  1. In April 1949, the USA, Britain, France and nine other Western countries joined together in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

  2. They agreed that if any member was attacked, all members of NATO would come to its assistance

  3. This was a defensive alliance and went further than the Truman Doctrine in committing the USA to helping Western Europe

  4. This resulted in an ongoing American military presence in Europe and further emphasised the division in Europe

  5. When West Germany joined in May 1955, the Soviet Union responded by forming the Warsaw Pact
• The formation of the Warsaw Pact

  1. West Germany joining NATO in May 1955 led the USSR to fear an armed and powerful Germany on the border of Eastern Europe

  2. Within a week it had formed its own defensive alliance

  3. The member were the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and East Germany
• The significance of the arms race

  1. The Americans dropped its first atomic bombs on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945

  2. The Soviets developed their own bomb in 1949

  3. The Americans then developed a hydrogen bomb in 1952

  4. In 1953 the Soviets developed a hydrogen bomb

  5. In 1957, the USA developed an ICBM which could fire a missile more than 4,500 km

  6. Also in 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the world's first satellite. This caused panic in the USA, and triggered the start of a space race

  7. This cost both sides huge amounts of money, which was particularly difficult for the USSR, and increased tension, as each side had ICBMs capable of hitting the other

  8. Now both sides had enough weapons to destroy each other ('Mutually Assured Destruction' – MAD), weapons became less about winning wars and more about deterrence

  9. Concerns about the cost and escalating tension led to Khrushchev's attempts to establish 'peaceful co-existence', eg the Geneva
• The Hungarian Uprising


  1. At the end of WW2, the Soviets appointed Matyas Rakosi as a puppet leader of Hungary

  2. 1956 the people of Hungary began to protest about their lack of political freedoms, and fuel and food shortages

  3. In October there were riots in Budapest

  4. Soviet troops restored order, but allowed the more reformist leader Imre Nagy to replace Rakosi

  5. Nagy allowed reforms like non-communists to enter government and the release of political prisoners

  6. On 1 November Nagy said Hungary would leave the Warsaw Pact

  7. This was too far for Khrushchev who ordered a Soviet invasion

  8. On 4 November, 1,000 Soviet tanks entered Budapest

  9. When the Hungarian people fought back, 20,000 were killed

  10. Nagy was replaced by the pro-Soviet Kadar, and in July 1958 Nagy was executed
• The Hungarian Uprising


  • US President Eisenhower was sympathetic and some NATO countries took Hungarian refugees
  • No military support was offered. This showed that the USA would contain communism but not follow a policy of 'roll back' – it wouldn't help existing communist countries overthrow communism
  • This made Khrushchev's position stronger
  • It made future uprisings in the Warsaw Pact less likely as they knew the West would not help
  • The USA's public criticism of the invasion made relations between East and West even worse