2.2 Superpower relations - early developments in the Cold War

Question 1

impact of the Truman doctrine and the Marshall plan on international relations

Answer 1

-Grand Alliance was gone, US had set itself up in direct opposition to the Soviet Union
-Stalin’s suspicions of the West strengthened, believed he had evidence the US was trying to destroy the USSR
-Europe became divided into two economic and political camps

Question 2

Why did Stalin create Cominform and Comecon?

Answer 2

to economically and politically challenge The Marshall Plan

Question 3

Why was NATO created?

Answer 3

-Stalin’s threat to Berlin and the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia persuaded the Western powers they needed a formal military alliance
-wanted to send Stalin a message about their determination to stand firm against communism

Question 4

what are satellite states?

Answer 4

Countries that are under heavy political economic and military influence of another state

Question 5

what countries were soviet satellite states in 1945?

Answer 5

Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Romania

Question 6

Who wrote the Long Telegram?

Answer 6

George Kennan

Question 7

When was the Long Telegram sent?

Answer 7

February 1946

Question 8

What did the Long Telegram say?

Answer 8

-Stalin wanted to destroy capitalism
-if USSR felt strong resistance it would soften its position (the Soviet Union were not self-destructive)

Question 9

what was the American policy of containment?

Answer 9

Stop the spread of communism

Question 10

When was the Novikov Telegram?

Answer 10

September 1946

Question 11

What did the Novikov Telegram say?

Answer 11

That the USA wanted to use its military power to dominate the world

Question 12

When was Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech?

Answer 12

March 1946

Question 13

What did Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech say?

Answer 13

made it clear he thought the Soviet Union was threat to freedom and world peace

Question 14

why did the Iron Curtain speech worsen relations between the East and the West?

Answer 14

Churchill made the speech in the US and Stalin thought that what Churchill said was reflecting American beliefs too

Question 15

When was the Truman Doctrine announced?

Answer 15

12th March 1947

Question 16

What was the Truman Doctrine?

Answer 16

economic aid to anyone who was resisting communism

Question 17

What did the Truman Doctrine speech state?

Answer 17

likened communism to evil, Truman believed communism should not be allowed to grow and that the USA was prepared to send aid to countries trying to resist it

Question 18

What was America’s policy of isolationism?

Answer 18

not getting involved in the affairs of other countries

Question 19

What was the Marshall Plan?

Answer 19

practical outcome of the Truman Doctrine - the economic recovery package of aid from the United States to western Europe after World War II

Question 20

When was the Marshall Plan?

Answer 20

1948-1952

Question 21

How much money worth of aid did the US give in the Marshall Plan?

Answer 21

$13.7 billion

Question 22

what was dollar imperialism?

Answer 22

the soviet belief that the Marshall plan was a way of using economic might to divide Europe in two and establish an American empire

Question 23

What was Cominform?

Answer 23

Communist Information Bureau - association of Communist parties from all over Europe, gave Stalin a way of directing and controlling the governments of the satellite states.

Question 24

when was cominform set up?

Answer 24

September 1947

Question 25

what was Comecon?

Answer 25

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance - communist alternative to Marshall Aid so communist states kept their independence from capitalist governments

Question 26

when was Comecon set up?

Answer 26

January 1949

Question 27

what was bizonia and when was it created?

Answer 27

1947, Britain and America combined their zones of Germany into 'Bizonia'

Question 28

what was trizonia and when was it created?

Answer 28

March 1948, France joined Bizonia

Question 29

In June 1948, what was the currency in Trizonia changed to?

Answer 29

Deutschmark, for economic unity

Question 30

why were the Soviets furious with the decision of the new currency in trizonia?

Answer 30

it created a separate economic unit from the East, it accepted that there were two Germanys: East, west

Question 31

what did Stalin see the form of Trizonia as?

Answer 31

a means of developing the three zones of Germany more effectively, and deliberately forcing the Soviet zone into poverty

Question 32

When did the Berlin Blockade start?

Answer 32

June 1948

Question 33

Why was the Berlin Blockade created?

Answer 33

Stalin wanted to take over the part of Berlin held by the three western powers - he wanted to force them out as the people of Berlin would soon run short of food

Question 34

When did the Berlin airlift start?

Answer 34

June 26, 1948

Question 35

When did the Berlin blockade end?

Answer 35

9 May 1949

Question 36

After the Berlin blockade, what did the Allies do to create a separate West Germany?

Answer 36

-3 days after the blockade ended, Britain, US, and France permitted their zones to come together as the Federal Republic of Germany -the three western-controlled zones of Berlin continued and became known as West Berlin

Question 37

how did Stalin respond to the creation of the federal republic of germany?

Answer 37

created the German Democratic Republic in October 1949

Question 38

When was NATO created?

Answer 38

April 1949

Question 39

what did cominform do?

Answer 39

Sent out instructions to Communist governments about what the Soviet Union wanted them to do, spread propaganda and accused US of being like Nazi Germany

Question 40

what did Comecon do?

Answer 40

supported economic development in Eastern European countries through trade agreements, loans and industrial planning. discouraged trade with the USA and Western Europe

Question 41

What was the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 41

the land routes across Soviet-controlled Germany into Berlin were shut off

Question 42

What did NATO do?

Answer 42

agreed that if any member was attacked, all members of NATO would come to its assistance

Question 43

how many tonnes of supplies were lifted to West Berlin as part of the Berlin airlift

Answer 43

2.3 million tonnes from June 1948 to September 1949 (blockade ended in may 1949 but they wanted to build a reserve of supplies in West Berlin to ensure that they could survive another blockade)