Smartass Cold War

Nagasaki

The OTHER atomic bomb, dropped on the Japanese port of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, three days after the bomb 'Little Boy' had been dropped on Hiroshima.

Kurchatov

Igor Kurchatov: the Soviet scientist who developed Russia's atomic bomb in 1949.

Mutually Assured Destruction

The thing that led to the particular nature of the Cold War as a war without direct fighting - both sides had so many nuclear weapons that each together ('mutually') were sure ('assured') to be destroyed in a nuclear war.

USSR

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - Soviet (= elected assemblies), Socialist (= communist), republics (= a state without a king). The proper name for 'the Russians'; in fact, Russia was just one republic within the USSR.

Capitalism

A system of economics - including personal ownership of the means of production, the right to make personal profits from business, free trade and the employment of labour as a factor of production (ie, those whom the Communists called 'wage slaves'). The western world was 'capitalist'.

Communism

Initially, a system of economics - including state ownership of the means of production ('nationalisation), the duty to contribute to the economy as you can, but to take only what you need, and the 'controlled economy' (by the state, eg in '5-Year Plans'). Communism was also a way of looking at history (seeing it as a class war between the rich and the poor) and, increasingly, a system of politics (eg elections were 'free', but only communists were allowed to stand for election/ close control of what people thought by means of propaganda and secret police). The USSR and eastern Europe was 'communist'.

Buffer

A ring of countries (East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria) around Russia's borders to protect Russia from direct invasion from Germany.

Protocol of Proceedings

The official name for the document which recorded the agreements made between the Big Three - America (Roosevelt and Truman), Russia (Stalin) and Britain (Churchill and Attlee) - at Yalta (Feb 1945) and Potsdam (July 1945).

Zones

At Yalta, confirmed by Potsdam, Germany was divided into four 'zones of occupation', administered by France, America, Britain and Russia. Berlin, also, was divided into four zones - this caused superpower confrontations in 1948-9 (the Berlin Blockade) and in 1961 (Berlin Wall).

Government of National Unity

During the Second World War, Poland developed TWO governments - the non-communist government (led by Stanislaw Mikolajczyk of the Polish Peasant Party),which had been set up in London and helped the allies, and a communist one (led by Wladyslaw Gomulka) created by Stalin and which sat in Moscow. At Yalta, there was tension between Russia and the western powers about which government should take over control of Poland after the war. In the event, it was agreed that there should be a 'Government of National Unity' containing both communists and non-communists. During the interval before Potsdam, Stalin engineered the triumph of Communism in Poland by accusing the non-Communists of treason and arresting them, so that the Communists took over - this led to direct confrontation between the Big Three at Potsdam.

Declaration of Liberated Europe

A joint declaration made by the Big Three at Yalta, promising to help the freed peoples of Europe to set up democratic and self-governing countries by helping them to (a) maintain law and order; (b) carry out emergency relief measures; (c) set up governments; and (d) hold elections

Babying

By Potsdam, Roosevelt had died and was replaced by Truman who adopted a much more aggressive stance towards Stalin, declaring: 'The Russians only understand one language - ‘how many armies have you got?’ I'm tired of babying the Soviets.'

Reparations

A major cause of conflict between the Big Three at Potsdam. America and Britain wanted to rebuild Germany's economy and prosperity. Russia wanted to weaken Germany and rebuild their own industry ruined by the Nazi invasion. In the end, Russia was allowed to take reparations from the Soviet Zone, and also 10% of the industrial equipment of the western zones as reparations. America and Britain could take reparations from their zones if they wished.

Salami

During the war, Stalin had trained eastern European communists who had fled to Russia in how to take over once the war was over. At first they joined in democratic, coalition governments. They tried to gain positions as minister, especially in key ministries such as the police and the army. Then they accused non-Communists of treason, and co-operated with Communists in the country to get the non-Communists dismissed or arrested. They used the secret police to eliminate opposition. When they had thus taken over the government, they organised a 'fixed' election which returned a communist government. 'Salami tactics' was not an official name for this policy: it was the way the Hungarian Communist Rakosi described how he took power in Hungary - a bit at a time.

Rakosi

Matyas Rakosi was a Hungarian army officer in the First World War who became a communist in 1918. When the Red Army liberated Hungary in 1945, Rakosi returned and became general secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. In elections held in November 1945, the Hungarian Communist Party won only 20% of the votes, but the communist took all the important posts and Rakosi became the leading figure in Hungary. The Hungarian Communist Party became the largest party in the elections in 1947 and Rakosi became Prime Minister of a coalition government. The communists gradually gained control of the government, particularly using the AVH (eg Laszlo Rajk, the non-Communist foreign secretary, was arrested and executed when he criticised Stalin. 2,000 people were executed and over 100,000 imprisoned).

Gottwald

Klement Gottwald became general secretary of the Czechoslovak Communist Party in 1930. He went into exile in Moscow during the war. Returning to Czechoslovakia in 1945, he became Vice Premier in the coalition government of 1945, then Premier after the elections in the following year. Gottwald used this position to complete the communist seizure of power in 1948 (eg by sensational `deviationist´ trials in which several of his opponents were executed). In 1948 he became president.

AVH

The Allamvedelmi Osztaly (AVO - the 'State Security Section') was set up in Hungary in 1945 with Gábor Péter (a Jewish tailor and former NKVD agent) as its Director. It was used by the communists to take power, systematically arresting, torturing and killing opponents of the Communists. It became the Allamvedelmi Hatosag (AVH - the 'State Security Authority') in 1948.

GDR

The German Democratic Republic, formed in October 1949 out of the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany, in response to the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG: 'West Germany') by America, Britain and France out of their zones of occupation (the former 'Trizonia').

Totalitarian

Government control of all activities within a country, overtly political or otherwise, as in fascist or communist dictatorships. It carries overtones of tyranny and oppression.

Imperialistic

Literally, 'wanting an empire'. The Communist argument of the Soviet government was that the western powers were still as much empire-builders as they had been in the 19th century - only now they used economic, not warfare

Kennan

George Kennan: an Embassy official who had lived in Moscow since 1933, but who hated Communism. In 1946 the American State Department asked the American Embassy in Moscow for an analysis of Soviet policy in eastern Europe. Kennan's 8,000-word reply - 'the Long Telegram' - said that the Russians were determined to destroy the American way of life, that they had to be stopped, and that the best way to do so was by educating the public against Communism, and by making people wealthy, happy and free.

Iron Curtain

A phrase invented by Winston Churchill for his speech in Fulton in America on 5 March 1946, to describe the barrier between the democratic countries of the west, and the Soviet-dominated communist countries of eastern Europe.

Truman Doctrine

Harry S Truman, President of the United States 1945-53. He was aggressively anti-Communist. In February 1947, when the British army pulled out of Greece, he sent American soldiers there and persuaded Congress (12 March 1947) that it was America's duty to interfere to 'help free peoples to work out their own destiny in their own way'. This was entirely opposite to America's policy of isolationism before the war - it was, in fact, a decision to fight the 'cold war'. Its key aim was 'containment' - the desire, not to push back or attack Communism, but to stop it advancing any further.

Containment

The key aim of the 'Truman Doctrine' - the desire, not to push back or attack Communism, but to stop it advancing any further.

Frank Kofsky:

an historian who in 1993 suggested that Truman whipped up the Cold War to secure funding from Congress which would stop the US airforce and aircraft industry plunging into bankruptcy.

Marshall Aid

In June 1947, the American general George Marshall went to Europe. He said every country in Europe was so poor that it was in danger of turning Communist! Europe was ‘a breeding ground of hate’. He said that America should give $17 billion of aid to get Europe’s economy going and stop Communism.

Cominform

The Soviet Union hated Marshall aid. Stalin forbade Communist countries to ask for money. Instead, in October 1947, he set up Cominform - the Communist Information Bureau - a meeting of the nine communist parties (Soviet, Czechoslovak, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Yugoslav, French, and Italian) with their headquarters in Belgrade. It allowed Stalin control of the Communists in Europe, and helped to convince western countries that the Communists had a Soviet-controlled plan to take over the world.

Bizonia

As part of their policy of restoring German prosperity, in January 1947, Britain and the USA joined their two zones of occupation in Germany together. They called the new zone Bizonia (‘two zones’). France joined in 1948 to create 'Trizonia'.

Currency

the system of money used in a country. On 23 June 1948, Britain and America introduced a new currency into Bizonia and west Berlin. Because it was backed by the wealthy countries of the west, the new mark was much stronger than the old Reichmark still being used in Russia's eastern zone. Everybody - even in the Russian zone - rushed to get rid of the old money and change it into the new. This threatened to cause an economic crisis in the Russian zone, and this was the reason given by Stalin for closing the borders and mounting the Berlin Blockade of 1948-1949.

Templehof

The main airport of Berlin, into which the Americans and British flew supplies during 318-day blockade of west Berlin, 24 June 1948 to 12 May 1949.

B-29

The American bombers which carried the atomic bomb. During the Berlin Blockade they were stationed in Britain, within flying distance of east Germany and Russia - they were threatening nuclear war if Stalin tried to escalate the crisis.

FRG

Federal Republic of Germany - set up from Trizonia by America, France and Britain in May 1949, prompting Stalin to set up the German Democratic Republic from the Russian zone as a retaliation.

NATO

In 1949, the western Allies set up NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) as a defensive alliance against Russia. NATO countries surrounded Russia. The original members of NATO were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Greece and Turkey joined in 1952,and West Germany in 1955 (prompting Stalin to set up the Warsaw Pact). In 1960 a permanent multinational Allied Mobile Force (AMF) was established with headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, to move immediately to any NATO country under threat of attack.

Warsaw Pact

The alliance of eight communist eastern European countries (USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania). It had plans for nuclear war.

Arms Race

The competition of the two superpowers to build a superiority of weapons - not just more conventional weapons, but more powerful nuclear weapons - ostensibly as a deterrent to the other side.
1945 USA got the atomic bomb/ 1949 Russia got the atomic bomb
1952 USA got the hydrogen bomb/ 1953 Russia got the hydrogen bomb
1955 USA developed the Titan1 rocket/ 1957 Russia got ICBMs
In 1964, Dr Seymour Melman of Columbia University, and industrial engineer, estimated that the USA had enough nuclear weapons to kill every living thing on earth 1250 times, and Russia 145 times. "Isn't 1,250 times overkill enough?" he wrote to The New York Times.

38^th parallel

The line of latitude which separated Communist North Korea from capitalist South Korea.

Kim Il Sung

The Communist leader of North Korea who started the Korean War by attacking South Korea in 1950.

Syngman Rhee

The leader of South Korea who provoked the Korean War by boasting that he would attack North Korea.

Domino

The theory that, if one country in the far east fell to Communism, others in the region would follow, falling like a row of dominoes.

NSC68

In April 1950, the American National Security Council issued a report (NSC 68) recommending that America abandon 'containment' and start 'rolling back' Communism; it led the US government to take a harder line against North Korea in 1950.

Mao Zedong

The leader of Communist China who, with Stalin, encouraged Kim Il Sung to attack South Korea. In 1950 he wrote to Stalin saying that he would be happy to fight the Americans: 'If we are to fight, it should be now'.

NKPA

The North Korean People's Army in the Korean War.

ROKs

The Republic of Korea's army (the ROKs)

Inchon

The place, north of Seoul (ie behind the NKPA front line) where MacArthur's UN forces made an amphibious landing in the Korean War, 15 September 1950. This completely outflanked the NKPA and they retreated in chaos.

Amphibious

A water-borne landing of land forces. MacArthur's UN forces made an amphibious landing at Inchon, 15 September 1950.

People’s Volunteers

The Chinese army, which entered the war on 25 November 1950. After initial successes, they were driven back with huge losses.

MacArthur

The UN commander in Korea. Aggressively anti-Communist, he wanted to destroy the communists in Korea, wanted the use the atomic bomb, and publicly criticised Truman when he was ordered to halt hi advance at the 38th parallel - for which Truman dismissed him.

Human wave

The Chinese tactic of attacking using thousands of soldiers in order to overcome defenders with superior weapons - one American soldier described them as like a crowd at a football match. Like World War I, it led to slaughter - the Chinese admitted to losing 390,000 men dead, but UN sources put the figure at more like a million.

Eisenhower

Ike Eisenhower, President of America in 1953-1960. Although he was a general, he was generally cautious, and often quoted Churchill's dictum that 'Jaw-jaw is better than war, war'.

Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet leader 1958-1964. He believed that the arms race would destroy mankind, and urged 'peaceful co-existence' - although superpower tension actually increased.

Tito

Communist leader of Yugoslavia, 1945-1980. In 1953 he had broken free from Soviet control and followed a policy of 'positive neutralism'. In 1955, Khrushchev appeared to accept this, saying that 'there `are many roads to Communism'. This increased the general perception of Khrushchev as a more reasonable/weaker Soviet leader.

Co-existence

Khrushchev believed that the arms race would destroy mankind, and urged 'peaceful co-existence' - he said: 'there were only two ways - either peaceful co-existence or the most destructive war in history. There is no third way'. Actually, however, by this he meant something more like 'peaceful competition' - he built up allies by offering economic aid, and waged an arms race, space race and propaganda race against the USA. He once said that Communism and capitalism would only agree ‘when shrimps learned to whistle’.

Destalinisation

In a speech in 1956, Khrushchev attacked Stalin, saying that Stalin was a murderer and a tyrant. Khrushchev began to ‘de-stalinise’ Russia. Political prisoners were set free and Beria (Stalin’s Chief of Secret Police) was executed. This increased the general perception of Khrushchev as a more reasonable/weaker Soviet leader and led to riots and rebellions in the Stalinist states of eastern Europe.

Economic aid

Used by Russia to build up allies in countries such as Afghanistan and Burma.

Sputnik

At first, Russia was ahead in the space race. In 1957 Russia launched Sputnik, the first satellite.

Gagarin

At first, Russia was ahead in the space race. In 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first astronaut to orbit the earth.

McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy, US Senator for Wisconsin who claimed 'the government is full of Communists' and began a 'red-hunting scare'. Many writers and actors were accused of being Communists, after which they never worked again.

Red Nightmare

An America film (1949) about a Communist take-over of America.

Duck and Cover

A children's film about what to do in a nuclear strike - the cartoon figure of a tortoise advised them to 'duck and cover' (hide behind something and cover themselves).

Shute

May people were frightened of nuclear war and joined the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). In 1957, Neville Shute wrote On the Beach, about a group of Australians waiting for the nuclear cloud to reach and kill them.

Gomulka

Wladyslaw Gomulka: Polish Communist. When, in 1956, the Poles rioted against their Communist government (led by the Stalinist hard-liner Boleslaw Bierut), Khrushchev had to send in Russian troops to restore order. Khrushchev put Gomulka into power in Poland, where he stayed loyal to the USSR, but 'destalinised the country'.

Mindszenty

Cardinal Joszef Mindszenty, leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary. One of the reasons that the Hungarians hated the Stalinist regime of Rakosi was that Communism attacked the Christian religion (as 'the opium of the people') - but the Hungarians were devout Catholics. One of the first things they did when they rebelled in 1956 was to restore freedom of religion, and Mindszenty joined the new government.

Nagy

Imre Nagy: became Prime Minister of Hungary after Rakosi fell from power in the rebellion of 1956. At first Khrushchev cooperated with him, and acceded to Nagy's request to take the Russian troops out of Hungary. When Nagy announced he was leaving the Warsaw Pact, however, Khrushchev sent in the Russian army to restore control. He was captured by the KGB, convicted of treason and shot.

Kadar

Janos Kadar: Hungarian Communist. Imprisoned 1950-1953 for being anti-Stalinist, he was allowed to join the party again after Stalin died. At first, he cooperated with Nagy's revolution, but when the Russians invaded to supported the destruction of the revolution. Khrushchev made him Prime Minister, and he remained in power until 1988. He is typical of the leader that Khrushchev wanted - pro-Russian and Communist, but prepared to destalinise the government.

Refugees

200,000 people fled from Hungary into Austria when the revolution was crushed in 1956.

Castro

Fidel Castro: Cuban Communist who overthrew the American-supported right-wing regime of General Batista in 1959. He introduced a centralised Communist government, including nationalisation of Cuban industry in 1960, which led America to cut off economic trade.

Kitchen Display

Khrushchev talked about peaceful co-existence and was prepared to meet western leaders at Summit Meetings, but he was still fiercely communist, and believed that Communism was so evidently better than capitalism that eventually the rest of the world would come round to his way of thinking. Once, when American Vice-President Nixon visited Russia in 1959, he invited Khrushchev to see an exhibition at the US Trade Fair. At the kitchen display, he had a very public argument with Nixon about which was the better way of life, communism or capitalism.

Open skies

Eisenhower wanted an 'open skies' policy, where both sides would allow the other to send spy-planes over each other's territory. Khrushchev refused to agree to this.

U2

US spy-planes. On 5 May 1960, Russia shot down an American U2 spy-plane. At first, the Americans tried to claim that it was a weather-plane that had gone off-course. However, the Russians put the pilot Gary Powers on trial for spying, and the Americans admitted it was a spy-plane.

Summit

Meetings of the USSR and US leaders. They were designed to reduce tension, but often they actually caused tension. At Paris (14 May 1960) Khrushchev walked out when Eisenhower would not apologise for the U2 spy-plane incident. At the Vienna summit of June 1961, there was tension when Khrushchev demanded that the Americans leave West Berlin and Kennedy refused - this led directly to the Berlin Wall.

Inaugural

In 1960, seeking a President who would be tougher on the Soviets, the Americans elected John F Kennedy. Kennedy's inaugural speech (when he took the oath to become President) was a famous call for Americans to go to war: 'Let every nation know that we shall pay any price, bear and burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, for the survival and success of freedom... Ask not what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your country.'

Sabotage

Khrushchev claimed, with some truth, that the Americans were using West Berlin for spying and sabotage.

Charley

On 13 August 1961, Khrushchev closed the border between east and west Berlin – and built the Berlin Wall. There were only three crossing points into West Berlin - called (after the phonetic alphabet, Alpha, Bravo and Charlie). Checkpoint Charlie was the only crossing point in Berlin itself.

Berliner

The Berlin Wall became the symbol of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain. Kennedy used it as a propaganda opportunity. In 1963 he visited Berlin, giving a speech which was could be heard by a crowd which had gathered out of sight on the east side of the Wall, claiming that the Wall proved that Communism and Capitalism could never co-exist, and stating proudly that 'Ich bin ein Berliner'.

Nationalisation

The ownership of industry by the state. Castro's nationalisation of Cuban industry in 1960 provoked the breakdown of relations with America.

CIA

The America Central Intelligence Agency which arranged the Bay of Pigs invasion if Cuba by ant-Castro exiles.

Bay of Pigs

In April 1961 the CIA encouraged, funded and transported an attempt by anti-Castro Cuban exiles to invade Cuba. It failed miserably, greatly embarrassing Kennedy. In September 1961, therefore, Castro asked for – and Russia publicly promised – weapons to defend Cuba against America.

ICBMs

Inter-continental ballistic missiles - nuclear warheads on rockets which could deliver a nuclear bomb to a target thousands of miles away. When the USA discovered Khrushchev was building missile sites on Cuba, it put all of the USA within range of a Russian strike - that was why Kennedy HAD to stop the missile sites.

A fitting reply to the aggressor

When Kennedy announced that he was going to mount a blockade to stop Russian weapons being delivered to the missile sites, Khrushchev threatened that - if the USA carried out what he called 'piracy' - he would make 'a fitting reply to the aggressor', which Kennedy took as a threat of nuclear war.

Hotline

Good did come out of the Cuban Missiles Crisis. Both sides had had a fright. They were more careful in future. Khrushchev and Kennedy set up a telephone ‘hotline’ to talk directly in a crisis.
In 1963, they agreed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In this way, Cuba was the start of the end of the Cold War.

Your Smartass List of

Cold War Specialist Terms