Cold war : 1943-72

ideological differences expressed in 1917-18, in the communism of Lenin’s Bolshevik revolution and the democracy and freedom demanded by Wilson’s 14 points

direct conflict between western allies and the Bolsheviks in russian civil war - west supported whites against reds

after Hitler’s invasion of USSR and Pearl harbour in 1941, USA, UK and USSR became allies - tensions continued throught the war

USSR (stalin) , US (roosevelt) , UK (churchill) present

decisions about how to win the war against Germany + Japan

agreed on forming the UN

USA and UK would open a 2nd front by invading France to help the USSR

controlled by communist forces

held rigged elections

stalin claimed he needed control of eastern europe as a buffer zone to protect the USSR from future attacks

deciding what to do after Hitler is defeated - military division of Germany between allies

tension over punishment for Germany - USSR wanted huge reparations, USA wanted to avoid the mistakes of ToV

USA tested their first atomic bomb

bomb used after Potsdam meeting

the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - August

tensions grew

new US president Truman more hardline than FDR had been in his distrust of Stalin - opposed communism heavily

arguments over reparations continued

Truman’s new atomic bomb encouraged him to be more aggresive in negotiations

Churchill had been replaced by Attlee as prime minister in July 1945

his speech in 1946 was in support of Truman - was to ensure that USA didn’t retreat into an isolationist policy, but instead stood up to the danger the USSR posed in Europe and the world

referred to communism as lowering an “iron curtain”

his final coup took place in Czechoslovakia in Feb 1948 - elected gov was replaced by communists

the US gov recieved a report from their diplomat in Moscow, underlining the threat that Stalin’s regime posed

UK had no resources to stand up to USSR - Truman put forward a policy

stated that USA would to everything it could to contain the spread of communism with a policy of containment

a huge amount of money would be sent to Europe to restore it’s economy and make it less vulnerable to communism

greece and turkey were given 400 million dollars to stop them being influenced by communism

practical outcome of the Truman doctrine

17 billion dollars was offered to countries to aid with recovery post WW2

Stalin refused to allow eastern europe to accept aid as he feared it would lead to greater US influence and control

western europe benefited

Stalin’s response to the Truman doctrine + Marshall plan

cominform - the communist information bureau

included all communist govs in eastern europe + communist parties in west europe

it’s function was to allow Stalin to gain further control over communists across europe

re-inforced the division between East and West

in Yalta and Potsdam, Germany was decided to be split into 4 military zones occupied by : US, USSR, UK + france

stalin wanted to impose communist control over a unified Germany

western powers proposed to unite their three zones into a new country + currency (trizonia, soon to become West Germany)

stalin felt threatened and isolated

berlin was inside the soviet military zone so the western troops were surrounded by soviet troops + access to the western zones of Germany could be easily cut off

stalin cut of the rail/road access through Berlin hoping to force the West into surrendering the city to him

west supplied 1.5 million tons of supplies to the city by plane

tensions were very high but USSR didn’t shoot planes down to avoid war

successful - in May 1949, Stalin re-opened the roads to west berlin

stalin imposed greater control over eastern europe

COMECON - the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance

to administer its own Molotov Plan of financial aid to keep the Eastern Bloc countries on side.

enabled the USSR to extract resources from these countries

military alliance between 12 counties where they would help each other if any were attacked

formed as a direct result of the berlin blockade

it was to prevent the spread and influence of communism

months after NATO was formed, USSR tested their first atomic bomb

communist Mao took over China

mirrored in the space race

when the two opposing korean govs threatened each other, Stalin provided weapons to the North who invaded much of South Korea in June

US had to respond

truman sent troops who re-took the south and then invaded the north

after 3 years, millions died and China and USA despised each other

Korea divided along the 38th parallel

two alliances formed with the USA to prevent further communist expansion

prevented communist excursion in the middle east

USA expanded NATO and formed more alliances in an effort to contain the USSR

possibility of nuclear war in Korea as both sides had created the Hydrogen bomb

US feared that the USSR had been able to created their H-bomb

offered the hope that relations might improve with a new leader in power

in 1955, NATO expanded and west germany joined - USSR furious

formed as a result of west germany joined NATO

its aim was to resist an attack on the Soviet bloc by the USA or its NATO allies.

formal military alliance of eastern european countries :

USSR, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, East Germany (GDR), Albania.

after stalin’s death there was a two year power struggle in the USSR

Khrushchev won in 1955

he made a secret speech in 1956 denouncing Stalin and started a policy of de-Stalinisation

he wanted tension with the west to end

in Hungary, communist leader Rakosi was replaced by Imre Nagy in Oct 1956

Imre demanded : that soviet troops leave hungary

that free democratic elections take place

that Hungary leave the Warsaw pact

Khrushchev felt that he had to act since losing Hungary would mean that USSR had lost its military buffer zone

he had to re-impose his authority

soviet troops were sent to Hungary in nov 1956

thousands were killed

Nagy was executed and replaced by hardliner Kadar

western countries did little as they were focused on their argument over suez

In geneva, representatives agreed to more meetings

in Camp David, Khrushchev agreed to withdraw his ultimatum

missiles were now able to carry nuclear bombs instead of planes increasing tension

USA had more long range missiles that the USSR created a ‘missile gap’ in the race

the US used U2 planes to spy on the soviet nuclear programme

in may 1960, the USSR shot one down - Eisenhower denied it was a spy plane, but the pilot confessed

this led a breakdown in relations

between 1941-61 2.7 million people moved from E. to W. Germany

around 2,000 per day from 1949, since West Berlin was seen as a window to the West and people began to flee for a better life

Khrushchev had to stop this since it damaged the GDR’s economy

in 1958-61, Khrushchev issued an ultimatum to the West

'remove troops from Berlin or all routes in and out would be controlled by the east’

Khrushchev resolved the crisis by starting to build a wall between E. and W. Berlin in Aug

the divide became a symbol of cold war divisions

the wall solved the GDR’s refugee crisis whilst not threatening western control of W. berlin

in 1959, communist Fidel Castro had taken control of Cuba and turned to the USSR for help

Kennedy sent troops to cuba in an attempted counter-revolution in Aug 1961

but when they landed at the Bay of pigs, they were easily defeated by Castro’s forces

Kennedy appeared weak

The theory of MAD - was that the USA and USSR would never start a nuclear war since they knew the enemy could launch it’s own missiles before they were all destroyed

this theory was severely tested in 1962 in Cuba

Khrushchev secretly sent missiles to Cuba in 1962

his motives were that it would negate the missile gap that had grown

the U2 spy planes discovered the missile bases being built on Cuba

USSR agreed to removed Cuban bases if the USA agreed not to invade Cuba and to not removing their secret bases in Turkey

Kennedy seen as strong but also a defender of peace

hardliners criticised Khrushchev for backing down and in 1964, he was replaced by Brezhnev

Brezhnev invested heavily on building more long-range missiles

to improve communications a direct hotline was set up in 1963 between Moscow and Washington DC

used to good effect

sought to end all nuclear weapons tests; expect underground ones

largely respected

two sides agreed not to develop weapons systems to put into space or eventually the moon

successful

stated that only the countries who already had nuclear weapons (USA, USSR UK, France and China) should be allowed to have them

tried to make future nuclear war less likely

partially successful

Dubeck became in charge of Czechoslovakia and wanted socialism + in March 1968 introduced a series of limited reforms known as the ‘prague spring’

Brezhnev feared their independence and demanded that strict communist rule was re-imposed

dubeck took no action + 500,000 soviet and WP troops entered

70 died and Dubeck was replaced

Brezhnev stated that the USSR had the right to invade countries in Eastern europe who threatened the security of the eastern bloc

detente developed

USA needed relations to improve to end the costly war in Vietnam

the USSR wanted to cut the huge amount of money it has spent of the arms race which was hurting the economy

the rise of China forced the USA and USSR to improve their relations

limited the number of ICBM’s on both sides

showed evidence that both sides wanted to slow the arms race down

USA finally accepted that the communists should take up China’s seat on the security council at the UN

Nixon made a public visit to Beijing in 1972

the USA and USSR improved relations by working together in space exploration