USSR and The Cold War
- Created by: book.of.wisdom
- Created on: 01-08-20 14:32
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- USSR and The Cold War
- Causes
- World War II
- They no longer had any reason to be allies
- Lack of organisation and understanding after WW2
- Provoked one another at Potsdam and Yalta
- Secrets were withheld causing suspicions of each other
- mmediately after WW2, during a speech in February 1946 to the supreme soviet, Stalin blamed the conflict on the monopoly capitalism of the west
- USA saw communism as a threat
- Rich Americans held all the power and didn't want to loose their wealth or power
- They would be quite a significant standard in living in a communist USA
- threat to the American way of life > self-aspiration
- Differing ideologies
- Capitalism V Communism
- Lack of trust and cooperation
- Tension
- US mistrust of the USSR
- the discovery of a communist spy network in canada
- the association of Russia with a newly established communist regime in North Korea
- Mounting tensions
- Stalin creates a buffer zone of communist countries (1945-1948)
- this worries the usa they dont want the domino effect of communism
- in 1945 the usa drops the atomic bomb
- could have been used to send a warning to the USSR
- Stalin paranoid of invasion
- USA had delayed opening second european front during war to relieve pressure on USSR
- Stalin thought it was to make USSR exhausted from fighting
- USA had delayed opening second european front during war to relieve pressure on USSR
- Stalin creates a buffer zone of communist countries (1945-1948)
- World War II
- Consequences
- Social
- Destalinization leads to Gulags largely disappearing
- MVD mostly dealt with ordinary criminal acts and civil order
- standards of living plummeted
- russian people were not afraid to express their discontent
- E.g. Novocherkassk worker protests, 1962
- protests were ruthlessly dealt with
- Destalinization leads to Gulags largely disappearing
- Militaristic
- Arms race increased over cold war = high levels of investment in heavy industry
- This prevented more investment in consumer products and caused unrest
- E.g. Novocherkassk worker protests, 1962
- This prevented more investment in consumer products and caused unrest
- Cuban Missile Crisis showed Soviets were willing to confront the West
- Military spending was cut dramatically
- which left hundreds of millions unemployed
- Social
- Destalinization leads to Gulags largely disappearing
- MVD mostly dealt with ordinary criminal acts and civil order
- standards of living plummeted
- russian people were not afraid to express their discontent
- protests were ruthlessly dealt with
- Destalinization leads to Gulags largely disappearing
- Social
- which left hundreds of millions unemployed
- Arms race increased over cold war = high levels of investment in heavy industry
- Political
- Khrushchev enacted a policy of destalinisation
- To present a more favourable picture of Russia to the West
- this was especially important at a time when the USA was determned to enforce its containment policy towards Russia
- The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991
- Khrushchev enacted a policy of destalinisation
- Economic
- 5 year plans continued Virgin Land Campaign
- The Russian economy suffered after the end of the Cold War
- Capitalist economic reforms led to a severe recession
- the USSR was not financially strong enough to participate in another full blown war
- before 1964 the russian government managed to cope
- Capitalist economic reforms led to a severe recession
- The Russian economy suffered after the end of the Cold War
- before 1964 the russian government managed to cope
- Social
- Causes
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