Test Your Understanding

Origins of the Cold War, 1945-1953

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•  Who was Prime Minister of Britain in 1945?
  • Winston Churchill
•  Who was president of the USA in February 1945?
  • Franklin D Roosevelt
•  Who became president of the USA in 1945?
  • Truman
•  Who was leader of Russia in 1945?
  • Stalin
•  What is a ‘cold war’?
  • America and Russia were enemies but they didn’t declare war. But they did everything to oppose each other short of war.
•  List FOUR causes of the Cold War.
  • Beliefs
  • Aims
  • Resentment about History
  • Events
•  What do Communists believe?
  • That the means of production should be owned and controlled by the government.
•  The USA is a ‘capitalist democracy’. What do these words mean?
  • Capitalists believe that property and industry should be privately owned.
  • Democracy is where the people can elect their own government.
•  Name TWO historical complaints that Stalin had against Britain and the USA.
  • In 1918 Britain and the USA had tried to destroy the Russian Revolution.
  • Stalin thought that they had not given him enough help in the Second World War.
•  What could Britain and the USA not forgive Stalin for (from 1939)?
  • Stalin had signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Germany in 1939.
•  Give TWO things that Stalin wanted from the peace.
  • huge reparations from Germany a ‘buffer’ of friendly states to protect the USSR from being invaded again.
•  What worried Britain and the USA about Stalin’s plans?
  • that large areas of eastern Europe were falling under Soviet control.
•  When did Russia develop the atomic bomb?
  • 1949
•  List TEN events leading up to the Cold War, Feb 1945 to Mar 1948.
  • Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)
  • Potsdam Conference (Jul 1945)
  • Hiroshima (Aug 1945)
  • Salami tactics (1945-48)
  • Fulton Speech (Mar 1946)
  • Greece (Feb 1947)
  • Truman Doctrine (Mar 1947)
  • Marshall Plan (Jun 1947)
  • Cominform (Oct 1947)
  • Czechoslovakia (Mar 1948)
•  Give FOUR things agreed at Yalta.
  • divide Germany into four ‘zones’, which Britain, France, the USA and the USSR would occupy after the war.
  • hold elections in the countries of eastern Europe.
  • set up a government in Poland which would contain both Communists and non-Communists.
  • set up the United Nations.
•  Explain TWO reasons why the Potsdam Conference was less successful than Yalta.
  • In March 1945, Stalin had invited the non-Communist Polish leaders to meet him, and arrested them.
  • America had a new president, Truman, who was determined to ‘get tough’ with the Russians.
•  Name THREE things that the ‘Big Three’ disagreed about at Potsdam.
  • the details of how to divide Germany.
  • the size of reparations Germany ought to pay.
  • Soviet policy in eastern Europe.
•  What were ‘salami tactics’?
  • gradually getting rid of all opposition, bit-by-bit.
•  Was is ‘totalitarianism’?
  • where the government has total power over the people.
•  Was does the word ‘imperialistic’ mean?
  • wanting to build and empire. Communists used it as an abuse-word to describe the western powers.
•  What was Churchill’s Fulton speech (5 March 1946) about?
  • He said ‘a shadow’ had fallen on eastern Europe, which was now cut off from the free world by ‘an iron curtain’.
  • Behind that line, he said, the people of eastern Europe were ‘subject to Soviet influence . . . totalitarian control [and] police governments’.
•  Why did Britain keep soldiers in Greece after the Second World War had finished?
  • To support the Greek free government against the Communists.
•  What happened when the British could no longer afford to keep soldiers in Greece?
  • America paid for the soldiers, and also gave economic aid to Greece.
•  What did the Truman Doctrine say?
  • Truman told Americans that it was America’s DUTY to stop Communism.
  • His policy towards the Soviet Union was one of ‘containment’ – he did not try to destroy the USSR, but he wanted to stop it growing any more.
•  Why did Marshall propose the Marshall Plan?
  • He said every country in Europe was so poor that it was in danger of turning Communist.
  • Europe was ‘a breeding ground of hate’.
•  How much aid did the Marshall Plan want to send to Europe?
  • $17 billion
•  Which country turned Communist in March 1948?
  • Czechoslovakia
•  What rival to Marshall Aid did Stalin set up in 1947?
  • Cominform
•  Give FIVE causes of the Berlin blockade.
  • Cold War was just getting started
  • Aims
  • Bizonia
  • American Aid
  • New Currency
•  How long did the blockade last?
  • 318 days
•  How did the US and Britain supply the Berliners?
  • by airplane
•  List FOUR results of the Berlin blockade.
  • Cold War got worse
  • East and West Germany
  • NATO and the Warsaw Pact
  • Arms Race