Causes of the Cold War

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  • Created by: xlivxia
  • Created on: 10-01-16 13:26
Who were the Big Three who met at Yalta in February 1945?
Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill
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What was agreed about the war in Japan?
Stalin was the enter the war against Japan once Germany had surrendered.
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What would happen to both Germany and Berlin?
They would be divided into four zones of Allied occupation. These Allies were: France, Britain, America and the Soviet Union.
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What would happen to Nazi war criminals?
They would be hunted down and punished.
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How would countries liberated from German occupation be governed?
They would be allowed to hold free elections.
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How would peace be kept after the war?
The Big Three all agreed to join the United Nations Organisation.
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Why should eastern Europe be seen as a 'soviet sphere of influence'?
An estimated 20 million Soviets had died during the war so Stalin was concerned about the future safety of the USSR.
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Why was there a disagreement about Poland?
Stalin wanted the border of the USSR to move westwards into Poland and argued that Poland could move its border westwards into German territory. Churchill and Roosevelt opposed to Stalin's plans but didn't mind so as the USSR stayed out of Greece.
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Which countries did Stalin's troops occupy by the time of the Potsdam Conference?
Baltic States, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.
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How did Stalin explain his control of Eastern Europe?
He said it was a defensive measure against possible future attacks.
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How did America's new president, Truman, differ from Roosevelt?
Truman was more anti-Communist and more suspicious of Stalin. He saw Soviet actions in eastern Europe as preparations for a Soviet takeover of the rest of Europe.
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What occurred on 16th July 1945?
The Americans successfully tested an atomic bomb.
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Who replaced Churchill in July 1945?
Clement Atlee
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What effect did this have on the conference?
The conference was dominated by rivalry and suspicion between Stalin and Truman due to the absence of Churchill.
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How did Stalin and Truman disagree over Germany?
Stalin wanted to cripple Germany to protect the USSR from future threats. Truman did not want to repeat the mistake of the Treaty of Versailles.
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Why was Stalin so determined to get compensation from Germany?
20 million Russians had died in the war and the Soviet Union was devastated.
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The pro-Soviet governments in Europe led to what reaction?
Truman became very unhappy about Russian intentions and soon adopted a 'get tough' attitude towards Stalin.
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What is Churchill's 'Iron Curtain'?
The border between Soviet-controlled countries and the West.
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How did Stalin tighten his control on eastern Europe?
The secret police imprisoned anyone who opposed to the Communist rule or who might oppose at a later date. He made Czechoslovakia a Communist one-party state.
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What was set up in October 1947?
The Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) - to coordinate the work of the Communist parties of eastern Europe.
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As distrust grew, what did both sides do after the war?
They increased their stock of weapons and spoke in public about the threat of war between the two countries.
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By denouncing each other's policies/plans, what type of war developed?
A Cold War
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Why did each side distrust each other greatly?
The leaders of the USA and the USSR shared different beliefs such as Capitalism and Communism. Many Soviets remembered when US troops were sent to fight the Communists in Russia's Civil War (1918-21).
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How did the USA and USSR emerge from the war?
They emerged as the two 'superpowers'.
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How?
The UK and France had been involved in important international affairs but were demoted to a second division as they were not big enough or rich enough to exercise real international leadership. Only the UK and USA could do this.
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What rival groups existed in Greece?
The Monarchists and Communists
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Why did the USSR protest to the UN?
The USSR thought that British troops were a threat to peace in Greece.
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What effect did Communists attempting to take control by force have?
A civil war quickly developed.
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How had royalists taken control by 1950?
America paid for British troops to stay and fight in Greece.
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What was the USA prepared to send under the Truman doctrine?
Money, equipment and advice to any country threatened by a Communist takeover.
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What did containment mean?
A policy which aimed to stop Communism spreading any further than Eastern Europe. Others argued that the policy stated clearly that any Soviet expansion over a given limit would be met by military force.
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What did General George Marshall find when he was sent to assess the economic state of Europe?
A ruined economy, the countries of Europe owed $11.5 billion to the USA, extreme shortages of all supplies, a coal shortage in 1947 where Britain had to turn off all electricity for a period each day.
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How much would be needed to rebuild Europe?
$17 billion
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What happened in Czechoslovakia in March 1948?
Anti-Soviet leaders were purged and one pro-American Minister, Jon Masaryk, was found dead beneath his open window.
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How did the Congress react?
They accepted the Marshall Aid and made $17 billion available over a period of four years.
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How was Marshall Aid motivated by American self-interest?
They wanted to create new markets for American goods to prevent another worldwide slump such as the Depression of 1930s.
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How did Stalin react to Marshall Aid?
He viewed it with suspicion and refused to have anything to do with it. He forbade any of the eastern European countries to apply for Marshall Aid.
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What did Stalin and the Allies want to happen in Germany?
Stalin wanted Germany crippled. The Allies saw that Germany could not feed its people if it was not allowed to rebuild its industries so they wanted to combine their zones.
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What happens in 1946?
Britain, France and the USA combined their zones to create West Germany.
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What happens in 1948?
They reformed the currency.
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What does Stalin do in June 1948?
He blocked all supply lines, cutting off the two million strong population of West Berlin from western help.
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Why were the Americans not prepared to give up?
Truman wanted to show he was serious about his policy of containment. He wanted Berlin to be a symbol of freedom behind the Iron Curtain.
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How do the Allies get supplies into West Berlin?
The only way into Berlin was by air.
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How was the situation developed by May 1949?
It was clear that the Berlin blockade would not make the Western Allies give up on Berlin so Stalin was forced to re-open communications.
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What happens at the height of the crisis of the Berlin Blockade?
The Western powers met in Washington and signed an agreement to work together. The new organisation they formed in April 1949 was known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
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What new organisation is formed?
NATO
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How long does Germany stay divided?
41 years
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How does Berlin remain a symbol of Cold War tensions?
US viewpoint - an oasis of democratic freedom in the centre of Communist repression. USSR viewpoint - an invasive cancer growing in the worker's paradise of East Germany.
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Card 2

Front

What was agreed about the war in Japan?

Back

Stalin was the enter the war against Japan once Germany had surrendered.

Card 3

Front

What would happen to both Germany and Berlin?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What would happen to Nazi war criminals?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

How would countries liberated from German occupation be governed?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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