-
Period: to
Joseph Stalin
Died in 1953 and was succeeded by Nikita Khrushchev -
Period: to
Franklin Roosevelt
Present at Tehran and Yalta conferences
Died in April and was replaced by Harry Truman -
Period: to
Winston Churchill
Present at Tehran and Yalta
Defeated in election in July and replaced by Clement Atlee -
Alliance
Hitler attacks the Soviet Union which allies with Britain and USA -
Tehran Conference
Held in Tehran
The grand alliance - USA, S.U and Britain attended
Agreements :
Open 2nd front
Stalin would declare war against Japan
Create UN to settle disputes peacefully -
Yalta Conference
Held in Yalta (S.U)
Attended by the Big 3
Agreements :
Germany to be split into 4 zones
UN would be set up and all nations could join
Stalin would join in war against Japan
Most countries in E. Europe would come under soviet sphere of influence -
Period: to
Harry Truman
Attended the Potsdam conference
Succeeded Roosevelt -
Atomic bomb 1st successful testing
important
Day before the conference, the USA successfully tested its first atomic bomb. Now the USA had a significant advantage in terms of military power over the USSR. Increased tensions and mistrust between them as Japan could be defeated by the USA w/o the help of USSR -
Potsdam conference
Attended by Clement Atlee (UK), Harry Truman (US) and Joseph Stalin (S.U) Agreements :
Germany would be divided into 4 zones, administered by UK, US, S.U and France but economy would be run as a whole - Finalised after talks in Yalta
Berlin would also be split into 4 zones - it was fully in soviet-controlled Germany Disagreements :
Disagreed on how to punish Germany
Stalin was reluctant on countries in E. Europe holding free elections as communism may lose -
Long Telegram
George Kennan - 2nd in command in USA embassy in Moscow sent a telegram to the USA- USSR was determined to spread its influence
- USSR was an enemy of the USA
- Any attempt of cooperation with the USSR would fail
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Novikov Telegram
Nikolai Novikov the soviet ambassador in the USA sent a telegram to Moscow- USA was determined to spread their influence
- USA was economically powerful
- USA should not be trusted
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Marshall Plan
$13 billion were given to countries that denounced communism, accepted aid, and spent part it on US goods
Aid was offered to countries in Europe. 15 countries accepted : UK, France, Italy, W. Germany, Greece, Turkey etc. (All E. Europe countries controlled by the USSR refused) Communism was prevented in spreading to W. Europe
Division between East and West Europe grew -
Truman Doctrine - Policy of Containment
Harry Truman gave a speech to congress stating his hatred towards communism and that the Soviets had to stop their expansion of communism in Europe 1.Communism was a threat, the USA would do anything to stop it, 2.USA would support countries in danger of becoming communist, 3.Communism had to be 'contained' -
Cominform
Communist Information Bureau
- Stalin saw the Truman Doctrine as a threat to communism
- Brought countries of the Eastern Bloc together to form one group that followed policies set by Stalin -
Bizonia
USA and Britain combined their zones into Bizonia without consulting the USSR Western allies used money from the Marshall Plan to rebuild their zones in invest in Berlin whereas Stalin neglected his part of Berlin resulting in increased standards of living in W. Berlin and decreased standards in E Berlin Made capitalism looks successful and communism unsuccessful -
Berlin Blockade
Stalin wanted UK, USA and France to withdraw from Berlin
Supplies reached W. Berlin through S.U controlled E. Germany and then Berlin Blockade started Soviets blocked all roads leading into W. Berlin from W. Germany - preventing any food, fuel and medical supplies from reaching W. Berlin
Increased tensions majorly as 2.5M inhabitants of W. Berlin had only 6 weeks of food and fuel left -
Berlin Airlift
Western allies started Operation Vittles also known as the Berlin Airlift
- Sent supplies like food and coal
Huge risk as Soviets could have shot them down
- West Berliners and Western troops joined forces to build new runways + a whole new airport
- Americans and the British were able to send around 1000 tonnes of supplies every day
- Peak amount was Jan 1949 = no fewer than 170,000 were sent to Berlin -
Comecon
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Alt to Marshall Plan)- Stalin viewed the Marshall Plan as dollar imperialism - USA using its wealth to secure and spread capitalism around the world
- Stalin said E. Europe countries should not accept Marshall aid
- Comecon was used for countries to work together and share resources to rebuild their countries
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NATO
Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia and Stalin's threat to berlin led to the need for a formal military alliance
- USA, France, UK and 9 other western countries formed NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation)
- If a member of NATO were attacked, all members of NATO would help the attacked member -
Warsaw Pact
West Germany joined NATO = Soviets scared as West Germany was now powerful (backed up with other powerful nations through NATO) Soviet Union formed a equivalent communism defensive military alliance - Warsaw Pact
- Members inc. SU, Poland, Hungary, Romania etc (Eastern Bloc)
- Entirely Soviet leadership -
Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
- 3 days after the end of Berlin Blockade.
- USA, UK and France combined their zones together to form the Federal Republic of Germany
- Known as West Berlin
-
German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
Stalin created it as a response to the West creating Federal Republic of Germany.
- Only communist bloc countries recognised it as a nation.
- Fed. Republic refused to recognise that Germany had split to two until 1970s -
Period: to
Dwight Eisenhower
- Strongly against communism
- Determined to block Soviet Expansion
- Wanted and was open to more talks between the 2 superpowers
-
Hungarian Uprising
- 1956, Hungarian students began protesting - pol. freedom
- Khrushchev wanted protests to stop - replaced Rakosi with Nagy Imre Nagy - Communist but believed there should still be freedom Nagy introduced reforms (Khrushchev allowed them if unrest was calmed) but when he announced that Hungary would leave the Warsaw Pact :
- Khrushchev could not allow it and Soviet troops invaded Hungary West did not help despite their strong stance against communism Ended with Nagy being executed
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Period: to
Nikita Khrushchev
- Criticised Stalin's policies
- Suggested there should be peaceful co-existence with the West
-
Berlin Untimatum
Problem - East German's were crossing over to West Germany (more prosperous than East Germany) through Berlin
- Losing skilled workers and propaganda disaster for communism
Initially demanded for Western countries to recognise E. Germany as an official country but they refused Result
- Khrushchev demanded Berlin - Demilitarised and Western troops withdraw
- Berlin becomes a free city Outcome
- West outraged but not prepared to go to war over Berlin
- Talks to try resolve conflict -
Geneva
First summit meeting
- Foreign ministers met (not leaders)
- Both had proposals about Berlin but no agreements were made
- Eisenhower invited Khrushchev for further talks in USA -
Camp David
Khrushchev and Eisenhower met face-to face for the first time
- Led to withdrawal of Berlin Ultimatum
- No agreement on Berlin
- Relations were established to be better -
Paris
Before
- May 1, Soviets shot down a American U2 spy plane
- Interrogated pilot who admitted on being on a spy mission During conference - May
- Eisenhower was embarrassed and refused to apologise
- Khrushchev walked out of meeting and no decisions were made