International Relations 1945-91

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What was Nazi Germany called during WW2?
The 'common enemy' that created a 'marriage of convenience' between the Grand Alliance
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Who was in the Grand Alliance?
The US, the USSR and Britain
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Which two conferences occurred in 1945 between the Big Three?
Yalta and Potsdam
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Who sent the 'Long Telegram' in 1946?
The Deputy Head of US mission, George Kennan
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What was the Iran Crisis of 1946?
The USSR refused to withdraw its troops from Iran and Britain and the US condemned this 'aggressive imperialist policy' and led to a clear division within the Grand Alliance
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Who gave the 'Iron Curtain' speech in 1946, and what did they say?
Churchill said during this speech that there was a metaphorical Iron Curtain that divided Europe and that Soviet influence in Eastern Europe was increasing
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What did the 1947 Truman Doctrine state?
That the world had become divided between Communist tyranny and democratic freedom. It went on to say that the US would commit themselves to saving government that were potential victims to Communism
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When was the Marshall Plan created?
June 1947
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What was the Soviet Union's reaction to the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan and what did it do?
The creation of COMINFORM in 1947 where the USSR imposed control over aspects of Eastern European governments
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What did the death of Stalin in March 1953 give way for?
It provided new Soviet leadership opportunities as well as the possibility of a new relationship between superpowers and a relaxation of Cold War tensions
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What was included in the Secret Speech of Feb 1956?
Denounced the leader for promoting the cult of personality, using purges and persecution to consolidate personal rule and reducing the party to endorsing total control. Khrushchev's speech was viewed as a sign of change.
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What did Khrushchev wish to bring to socialism?
Wanted to create a 'human face to socialism' and show that he was a 'man of the people'
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What were examples of high risk events that Khrushchev undertook?
The Berlin Ultimatum (1958), Berlin Wall (1961) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1963)
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What was the Austrian State Treaty of 1955?
Khrushchev agreed to withdraw USSR troops from Austria if the country was left neutral throughout the Cold War
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What occurred in Finland in 1955-56?
The USSR decided to remove Soviet presence from Finland and the naval base Porkkala was handed back to Finland
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Why did the USSR pursue 'Peaceful Coexistence'?
A greater sense of security had been established with confirmed spheres of influence with the economic and military implications of the nuclear arms race encouraging a need for reduced tensions
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Who replaced Gero as Polish leader due to the Polish riots?
Wladyslaw Gomulka
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What did Nagy do that led to the Soviet Union executing him along with 35,000 Hungarians?
He gave in to popular demands for multi-party democracy, a free press and the withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact
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What was significant about the Polish and the Hungarian revolts show about the Soviet Union?
Showed the loss of control from the USSR and showed the delicate balance of liberation and total control
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What was the impact of the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian rising?
Suppression of the revolt showed the limitations of Eisenhower's 'New Look' policy with condemnation the only reaction seen from the West and showed that 'roll-back' was impossible
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Why was Eisenhower willing to work with the Soviet Union against his public hard-line rhetoric?
He was aware of the danger of nuclear confrontation, concerned with high military spending (12% of GDP) and U2 spy planes showed that the US had the advantage in the arms race
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What were the five key features of 'New Look'?
Massive retaliation, brinkmanship, increased use of covert operations, domino theory and the Eisenhower Doctrine.
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What was not agreed on during the Geneva Summit (July 1955)?
What was to be done about Germany as a neutral reunification was rejected, the replacement of NATO/Warsaw Pact and Eisenhower's proposed 'Open Skies' initiative that was rejected by Khrushchev
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What were the two negatives that happened during the 1959 Camp David visit?
Khrushchev was refused entry to Disneyland and accused the US of hiding nuclear weapons. He also said that the USSR would 'bury' the US in terms of economy yet the context of nuclear weapons made this a blunder
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Why did Khrushchev storm out of the Paris Summit in May 1960?
Gary Powers, a U2 spy plane pilot, was shot down in Russian airspace and it revealed the US U2 spy planes that had been flying over the USSR
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What was significant about the Vienna Summit of June 1961?
Kennedy had been humiliated at the Bay of Pigs and so Khrushchev viewed him as weak and inexperienced and tried to dominate the new US President which made Kennedy nervous
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Why was the Berlin Wall built in August 1961?
Skilled workers were leaving East Germany which was bad propaganda and was harming the economy and so the Wall was built to stop the flow of refugees and it stopped free movement
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What occurred at Checkpoint Charlie in October 1961?
US diplomats were being escorted by the US army across the Berlin Wall and on 27th October 33 Soviet tanks crossed into Berlin and a tense standoff began with 10 tanks on both sides facing each other in a 16 hour deadlock
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What was the TU20 Bear and who was it designed by?
It was an advanced plane created by the USSR but it became clear that planes were an inefficient method to deliver bombs
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What was 'Sputnik', when was it created and who by?
'Sputnik' was the first satellite to be sent into space by the USSR in 1957
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What confirmed the USSR's lead in rocket technology?
In April 1961 when the USSR sent Yuri Gagarin into space which was the first time this had ever been done and encouraged the US to be the first country to put a man on the moon
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What increased the fear of the 'missile gap' and why?
The 1957 Gaither Report and the failure of the Vanguard satellite the same year as it confirmed that this the USSR was ahead
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Was the 'missile gap' with the USSR ahead real?
No as the US had more nuclear weapons and developed superior weapons, U2 spy planes showed the USSR had low amounts of weapons and USA deployed IRBMs to Britain, Italy and Turkey
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What was limited war and when did it begin?
Limited war was where countries do not use their best weapons i.e. nuclear weapons when involved in conflict such as the Korean War 1950-53
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When was massive retaliation created, who by and what was it?
Eisenhower created this in 1954 and was a greater reliance on nuclear weapons using brinkmanship to force the enemy to back down
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What was Kennedy's Flexible Response?
Flexible Response was where the President had a greater choice of reactions in times of crisis rather than all-out nuclear war or total humiliation
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When was Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) coined?
1963
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What were the stabilising effects of nuclear weapons?
Acted as a deterrent for direct confrontation, presence of nuclear weapons led to a mutual respect, superpowers had to cooperate to reduce nuclear threat and US and Soviet leaders acted responsibly such as the USSR refusing nuclear weapons to China
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What were the destabilising effects of nuclear weapons?
Soviets obtaining the atomic bob escalated the arms race, the culture of secrecy fueled fear and mistrust, nuclear weapons encouraged superpower brinkmanship, the arms race placed large economic strains on both sides and did not stop other conflicts
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When was the Cuban Revolution and who was it led by?
January 1959 led by Fidel Castro
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How did Castro attempt to make the island of Cuba independent?
He distributed land to the peasants and threw out all of US businesses from the island
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What did Castro sign in February 1960?
He signed a trade deal with the USSR to nationalise US interests in Cuba that was worth over $1 billion
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What did the US do in July 1960?
They imposed an economic blockade by refusing to buy Cuban sugar and so this was bought by the Soviet Union and in early 1961 Castro formally embraced Communism
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What was the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961?
Kennedy authorised a CIA-backed Cuban invasion to spark a revolt to overthrow Castro and the 1,400 Cuban exiles were overwhelmed which caused Kennedy total humiliation
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What happened during Operation Mongoose in October 1961?
This was six months after the Bay of Pigs where the CIA aimed to destabilise the Cuban government and between January and July 1962 60,000 acts of sabotage including murder and arson
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What was thought to be the reasons why Khrushchev place missiles on Cuba?
It was cheaper to place short term missiles on Cuba rather than long term missiles on Soviet soil, attempt to defend Cuba from the US, as a bargaining tool to remove Italian and Turkish missiles and further humiliate Kennedy
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What were Kennedy's options during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Place diplomatic pressure on Khrushchev, do nothing, a surgical air attack, Cuban invasion or place a blockade around the island
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What were the two letters received by Kennedy from Khrushchev on 26th-17th October?
The first was long and rambling and said that if the blockade was lifted and the US pledged to never invade Cuba the missiles would be removed. The second was shorter and included the demand for Turkish missiles to be removed
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What were the consequences for Kennedy?
Gave Kennedy foreign policy success, could claim to have removed the Soviet threat, the Democrats won the biggest ever Senate majority for 20 years. However he had not removed Castro from power and had secretly agreed to remove US Turkish missiles
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What were the consequences for Khrushchev?
Khrushchev could claim credit for protecting Cuba from the US and could say he had removed the missiles from Turkey. However he had chosen peace over brinkmanship and the Soviet military never forgave Khrushchev and partly caused his removal in 1964
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What were the consequences for Castro?
Castro was furious at Khrushchev and the USSR due to the removal of missiles and nothing being done about Guantanamo Bay. Despite this, Cuba still remained highly dependent on the USSR for economic aid
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What two things occurred in 1963 a a direct consequence of the Cuban Missile Crisis?
The 'hot-line' agreement in June placed a telephone link between the White House and the Kremlin. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in August was a formal agreement that stopped atmospheric, underwater or space based nuclear tests
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What was included in the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance in February 1950?
A loan of $300 million, equipment for 50 major construction projects, agreement to share trade knowledge and established a military alliance against 'Japanese militarism'
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How did the creation of the PRC in 1949 impact on US government policy?
Increased military support for Taiwan, increased military support for the Philippine government, financial support for the French in Vietnam, aid and support for South Korea and the NSC-68 outlined a more active role for the USA fighting Communism
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What were Stalin's aims for the Korean War?
Soviet troops must not meet US troops due to risk of nuclear attack, China must be willing to do the most of the fighting, consolidation of Communist control in Korea and the USSR should not be forced to fight in Korea under the terms of the Treaty
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How did Stalin force Mao to fight with minimal Soviet aid?
Persuaded Kim Il-Sung to attack South Korea by promising Soviet backing, the UN troops forced their way back to 38th parallel and the Stalin refused to help as China were fighting the UN not a capitalist nation
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What was the consequences of the Korean War on Sino-Soviet relations?
Consolidated the friendship as the huge cost of the war increased China's dependence on the USSR, the war proved China as a worthy ally to the Soviet Union and created two further Sino-Soviet agreements were signed in 1953 and 1954
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What did the Shanghai Communique of 28th February 1972 include?
Acknowleged substantial disagreements over Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan, committed the US and China to peaceful coexistence, stated that the US and China would seek normalisation by 1976, pledged to resist any country that threatened Asia
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What as the impact on the USSR of Sino-US rapprochement?
Since 1969 the USSR had been monitoring US interest in China, the USSR was scared of planning to fight a 'war on two fronts', USA could now focus its defensive strategy on the USSR and the Soviet leaders were concerned the US may give up detente
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What were the reasons for the US to pursue detente?
They were losing in Vietnam and need to reassure their world position, inflation was at 6% in 1970 and unemployment was rising in the US, Kissinger developed Realpolitik which was a more realistic approach to the USSR and normalising relations
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What were the reasons for the USSR to pursue detente?
The economy of the USSR was a sixth of the US and could not provide many consumer goods and detente would provide a calm down in arms development, nuclear parity had been reached and they wanted this to stay and Sino-US relations were a concern
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What was the increase in Western imports between 1974 and 1975?
96%
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How much did US defence spending reduce by between 1970 and 1976?
Spending fell from $406 billion to $284 billion
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What was included in the Basic Principles Agreement 1972?
It established a framework for the superpowers to work together and extended the guidelines to be used by both sides to minimise the development of nuclear war
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How much did US defence spending increase under Reagan?
Increased by 13% in 1982 and over 8% over the next two years
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Between 1981-86 how much aid did the USSR send to Cuba and Vietnam respectively?
Cuba received $4 billion and Vietnam received $6 billion
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What was Perestroika?
It allowed Gorbachev to restructure the Soviet economy to promote efficiency and high quality goods
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What was Glasnot, and what was 'bad' about it?
This was Gorbachev's policy of openness that encouraged new ideas and initiative. However this opened up the way for criticism which could be seen to have weakened the Soviet Union and led to its collapse
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What were the consequences for the USSR from the invasion of Afghanistan?
Over 15,000 soldiers were killed and it cost $8 billion per annum
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When was the Geneva Summit?
November 1985
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When was the Reykjavik Summit?
October 1986
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When was the Washington Summit and what happened?
December 1987. This was where the previous deadlock was broken and the INF Treaty was signed by Reagan and Gorbachev
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When was the Moscow Summit and what happened?
May-June 1988. More arms agreements were signed and further arms cuts occurred
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When was the Malta Summit and what was its significance?
December 1989. Both leaders (Bush Snr and Gorbachev) announced the Cold War to be over
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When was the Berlin Wall dismantled by 'people power'?
9th November 1989
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Who was in the Grand Alliance?

Back

The US, the USSR and Britain

Card 3

Front

Which two conferences occurred in 1945 between the Big Three?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Who sent the 'Long Telegram' in 1946?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What was the Iran Crisis of 1946?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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