History Cold War part 1

The two superpowers had very different ieologies which caused tension

USA: 

• democratic government, chosen in free elections
• Capitalist county i.e. privatley owned businesses so individuals can make profit but also go bankrupt
• believe in freedom of the individual
• 1920-30 = isolationism, after the truman doct.= prepared to help other countries

USSR:

• Communist State
• Could only vote for one party
• peoples lives were closely controlled
• Rights of the individual less important than society as a whole
• Planned economy, gov. controlled production

Attended by: The Big Three - Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt

Agreed: 

• SU to have a sphere of influence in the East
• UN to be set up after the war
• Poland given more land from Germany - border moved to the Oder-Neisse river lines

Disagreed:

• Stalin wanted G to pay severe reparations
• Churchill and Roosevelt wanted to rebuild Germany - after last war G had to pay reparations and led to Hitler ****

Impacts etc?

• Agreement to meet for the Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)

Attended: Big 3 - They knew they had won the war and got on well

Agreed:

• The SU would join the war on Japan once Germany was defeated
• Germany would be split into four zones and Berlin into four sections
• Nazi Party banned and leaders tried as war criminals

Disagreed:

• Still no agreement on the extent of reparations to be paid

Attended: Attlee, Truman and Stalin - there was no longer the personal trust between them and Truman did not trust Stalin. He delayed the conference until the atomic bomb was developed - S had not been told about it and mistrusted the Allies further. No longer had a common enemy.

Agreed:

• Nazi party banned and leaders tried as war criminals
• Free elections to be held in Germany
• Germany to be demilitarised

Disagreed:

• Reparations - still undecided. Stalin suspicious why they wanted to preotect Germany
• Stalin wanted a naval base in the medditaranian but Truman and Attlee wouldn't let him as they saw no reason for him to have one there

A speech made by Churchill in 1946, while in America, so clearly supported by Truman

• said an iron curtain has decended across the continent, behind which the capitals of countries are highly controlled by Moscow
• he meant there were ffectively two camps - democratic and communist, stalin had complete control of these countries

Stalins response:

• Said Churchill now adopted he positin of a warmonger
• Said Churchill has friends in the USA, and likened them to Hitler and his friends
• Took the speech as as a declaration of war

Worsened tensions between the superpowers as clearly weren't Allies anymore, didn't trust eachother and Stalin saw it as a declaration of war

The Long Telegram - from America's Ambassador in Moscow to Truman

• Stalin had given a speech calling for the destruction of capitalism
• There could be o peace with the USSR while it was opposed to Capitalism
• The USSR was building up its military power

The Novikov Telegram - from the Mosow Ambassador in America to Stalin

• America wanted to dminate the world
• Following Roosevelt's death, the American gpvernement was no longer interested in co-operation with the USSR
• The American public was being prepared for war with the USSR

Following the telegrams both counties believed they were facing the possibility of war.

Cause: After the Long Telegram of 1947, the USA realised that Communsim would look v. appealing to poorer countries, so set up to address this

The Doctrine itself was a statement of intent made by Truman in March 1947. It stated the world had a choice between communist tyranny and freedom, America had a responsibility to fight for freedom and Communism should be contained. 

Effects: A change in American policy of Isolationism, devided the world into two clear ideologies, marked the end of the Grand Alliance, showed Truman commited to containment

The Marshall Plan: Committed $13 billion of American money to rebuild devastated economies in Europe. Countries who accepted had to trade freely with America - it benefitted them aswell

Cause: It was thought by encouraging prosperity the appeal of communism would be weakened

Effects: Stalin insisted Eastern countries under his sphere of influence refuse the aid, 16 countries accepted, comecon and cominform

A satellite state is a country that is officially independant ut in reality is controlled by another country.

Stalin set them up by:

• leaving soviet troops in the country
• having the communist party infiltrate key areas of the government
• having the communist party win the election

Examples of satellite states include: Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania

Causes: As Communist alternatives to the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan after Stalin made Eastern European countries reject the aid. Cominform helped Stalin extend his control.

Cominform: An organisation that represented communist countries and bought them together under the USSR. Diredcte communist parties in other countries.

Effects: It consolidated the power of the USSR in Eastern Europe by stamping out and removing opposition who were not totally loyal to Stalin. It also ensured the loyalty of Eatern European countires.

Comecon was the Marshall Plan for communist countries.

Effects: It minimised the wstern influence in the East and meant Eastern European countries did not have access to Western prosperity, as it prevente trade with the West

Causes:

• In April 1948 the 3 zones came together to form Trizonia - became West G in June. 
• Didnt want a separate state - G's most valuable eco. res. in Western G and didnt want USA to have further influence over Germany
• Angry a new currency had been bought into Western Germany
• Wanted to cut Germany off from Berlin so that the new governement couldnt control WG. Want to prove a divided Germany wouldnt work

On June 24th, Stalin cut off all rail,road and canal links between WG and WB, hoping to force the allied troops out the city.

The Allies responded with the Airlift - supplis transported round the clock. 600 tonnes a day increased to 1000. Its peak in Jan 1949 lifted 170,000 tonnes in a day. Ended in May 1949.

Effects: Relationship with the USSR destroyed, Truman's peaceful respone made the blockade look aggressive - propaganda triumph. Blockade ended.

NATO - the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was formed in 1949. It was joined by Western European countries, USA, and Canada. 

It established an aliiance - should 1 country come under attck the others would come to its aid. It was a military alliance with the specific aim of defending the west against the spread of communsim. 

The USSR's response was the Warsaw Pact.

The Warsaw Pact was the communist eviqualent of NATO - a military alliance of Eastern European countries.

It increased the influence of the SU as it created a joint control of the armed forces, and could coorinate other member's foreign policies. It also bound it's members to come to the aid of others. 

Krushchev came into power in 1953. He made an attack on Stalin at the Communist Party International, dreging up evidence of Stalin's purges and denounced him as a tyrant who was an enemy of the people. 

He began a program of Destalinisation:

• released more political prisoners
• closed down cominform
• dismissed Stalin's foreign minister, Molotov
• Agreed to remove Soviet Troops from Austria

Although this seemed to be signalling that Eastern Eurpean countires would now have reater freedom, this wasn't the case, as evidenced by Hungary in 1956

Causes: 

• Matayas Rakosi - the hungarian leader in power from 1946-1956 - was a brutal ruler - called the 'bald butcher' and 'Stalin's best pupil' - he used 'salami tactics'
• Destalinisation made the people in Hungary think they'd be allowed more freedom and hated the Russian control, partiularly:
  • control of the economy made Hugary poor
  • secret police
  • censorship and lack of freedom

On the 23rd of October student demonstrations caused a statue of Stalin to be pulled down.

Events:

• Imre Nagy became PM and wanted reforms such as:
  • Hunagary to leave the Warsaw Pact
  • Communist government should end
  • Free elections with more than 1 party
  • abolish the secret police
  • ask the UN for protection from Russia

Krushchev couldnt accept this as it would leave a gap in the iron curain and the buffer zone would be broken.

He was worried other countries wouuld follow if he allowed them to leave. 

In November 1956 200,000 Soviet Troops and 1000 tanks mived into Hungary to crush the Uprising

Effects:

• 200,000 Soviet troops and 1000 tanks moved into Hungary to crush the uprising
• 2,500 civilians killed and over 200,000 fled to Austria
• Nagy's government were defeared and replaced with pro-soviet Janos Kadar
• Hungary remained a member of the Warsaw Pact
• No help from the west - preoccupied with the Suez Crisis --> other countries believed they'd get no support if they too rebelled
• The UN condemned the invasion
• Other soviet states didnt challenge Soviet Authority