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Flashcards in Origins of the Cold War Deck (28)
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1
Q

When was the Potsdam conference?

A

July 1945

2
Q

Which leaders were at the Yalta conference?

A

Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill

3
Q

Which leaders were at Potsdam?

A

Roosevelt had died and Churchill had lost the 1945 election,

So Truman, Attlee and Stalin were the leaders at the meeting

4
Q

What was agreed on at Yalta?

A

Germany will be split into 4 zones of occupation,
Germany will pay reparations,
Free elections were to be held in Eastern Europe,
Russia would help against Japan

5
Q

What was disagreed at the Potsdam conference?

A

Arguments about the details of the zones boundaries,

How much reparations to take from Germany

6
Q

What were Truman and Attlee annoyed about following the Potsdam conference?

A

That Stalin had arrested the non-communist leader of Poland and put in place measures to remove other non-communists,
That in Eastern European countries communists were coming to power

7
Q

What was Stalin annoyed about following the Potsdam conference?

A

That Truman had dropped the atomic bomb in Japan before the Russians even got involved,
That America had tested and dropped an atomic bomb in July 1945 but he had not been told

8
Q

Why were there disagreements on how much to take as reparations from Germany?

A

Russia could take however much they wanted from their zone and 10% of the rest of the zones, Truman thought this was too much and that it was the crippling reparations of WWI that led to WWII, however Stalin was keen to make sure Germany couldn’t invade Russia for the third time

9
Q

What were the differing aims for Germany of the Americans and Soviets that caused conflict between the two?

A

America wanted to restore Germany as it was a strong trading ally.
The Soviets however wanted to cripple Germany so it could not attack them again and so they could have a buffer zone of friendly states around them

10
Q

When and where did Churchill give his Iron Curtain speech?

A

In 5th March 1946 in a speech in Fulton in the USA Churchill declared an Iron Curtain had fallen on Europe

11
Q

Between 1945 and 1948 what countries had become communist under Stalin’s regimes?

A

Albania, Bulgaria and East Germany in 1945
Romania, Poland and Hungary in 1947
Czechoslovakia in 1948

12
Q

What different methods did Stalin and communists use to take control of Eastern European countries?

A

In some countries coalition governments were set up and then the communists executed the non-communists.
In some countries communist leaders took over the police and forced their control of the government.
Some elections were rigged.

13
Q

What did Truman tell congress in March 1947? What was this known as?

A

He told congress that it was America’s job to stop communism growing, this became known as the Truman Doctrine

14
Q

How did the situation in Greece prompt the Truman Doctrine?

A

Greece was a one of few countries in Eastern Europe not communist and only because of the British troops there, when Britain told Truman they couldn’t afford to keep their troops their Truman stepped in and offered to help fund them

15
Q

After visiting Europe what did George Marshall find and decide needed to be done?

A

He saw that Europe was so poor that the whole of Europe was about to turn communist.
Marshall and Truman asked Congress to fund a recovery program nicknamed the Marshall Plan

16
Q

How much money did Congress give the Marshall Plan and what was it spent on?

A

$17 billion, 70% was spent on buying US commodities like raw materials, food, fertiliser, machinery and fuel

17
Q

What was Cominform and when was it set up?

A

In September 1947 it was set up by Stalin for European Communist parties, he did this in the hope of making them not just communist but Russian-Style Communist.
It industrialised & collectivised East Europe and states were expected to trade only with Cominform states

18
Q

In 1949 what was introduced into Cominform to help its states?

A

Comecon was set up to coordinate economic policies within the Cominform states and distributed aid around the countries in most need of financial support

19
Q

In June 1948 what did Britain, France and America decide to do?

A

They decided to combine their zones of Germany into a new county: West Germany.
On the 23rd of June they introduced a new joint currency for trade purposes

20
Q

On what day did Stalin impose the Berlin Blockade?

A

24th June 1948

21
Q

What did blockading Berlin involve and why did Stalin do it?

A

He cut off all rail and road links to west Berlin, it was an attempt to starve Berlin into surrender

22
Q

How did they get round the blockade and why?

A

Breaching the blockade would be an act of war so rather than entering by land they flew over the blockade and brought supplies into Berlin by plane.
Shooting down the planes would also be an act of war, neither wanted to start a proper war

23
Q

How long did the Berlin Blockade last?

A

318 days

24
Q

How many supplies did planes drop into Berlin during the blockade?

A

275,000 planes transported 1.5 million tons of supplies, a plane landed every three minutes at Berlin’s Templehof airport

25
Q

When did Stalin abandon the Berlin Blockade?

A

On the 12th of May 1949

26
Q

How did Stalin react to the USA’s Marshall Aid?

A

He forbade Cominform countries to take part or accept any aid from America

27
Q

As a result of the beginning of the arms race what was formed in 1949?

A

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) as a military alliance to resist Soviet Russia

28
Q

When was the Yalta conference?

A

February 1945