Cold War II
How did salami tactics work?
1) the Soviets supervised organization of governments in Eastern European states, initially establishing a broad alliance of 'anti-fascists'. 2) each of the parties was 'sliced off ', one after the other. 3) Communist 'core' was left, and ultimately the local Communists replaced with Moscow-trained people if needed
List the eight steps that have resulted in the breakdown of the Grand Alliance
1. Wartime conferences (Yalta, Potsdam) 1945 2. Kennan's Long Telegram 1946 3. Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' Speech 1946 4. Truman Doctrine and Cominform 1947 5. Marshall Plan 1947 6. Red Army Occupation of Eastern Europe 1945-1945-47 7. Czech coup 1948 8. Berlin Blockade 1948
When did Kennan write his long telegram?
1946
How did the issue of opening a 'second front' create mistrust between the USSR and the West?
Allies agreed to open a second front 'in principle' but said that they would not be able to open this second front until the time was deemed right → Stalin was suspicious that they were deliberately delaying this offensive in the hope of seeing the Soviet Union permanently weakened by the continuing German onslaught
What marked the beginning of the Grand Alliance?
Churchill and Roosevelt sending aid to Soviets following the Nazi attack on the USSR in June 1941 (Operation Barbarossa)
When was the Yalta conference?
February 1945
Where and when did Churchill hold his Iron Curtain speech?
Fulton, Missouri 1946
When was the Tehran conference held?
November 1943
What was Stalin's reaction to Churchill's Iron Curtain speech?
Stalin had compared Churchill to Hitler, saw the speech as both 'racist' and as 'a call to war with the Soviet Union'. Moreover, the USSR • withdrew from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) • stepped up the tone and intensity of anti-Western propaganda • initiated new five-year economic plan of self-strengthening.
How has Stalin's position changed in the Yalta conference?
Stalin's diplomatic position was greatly strengthened by the fact that the Red Army occupied most of Eastern Europe
What was the state of war during the Tehran conference? What was discussed?
Status: • Allies had begun to win the war, Britain and USA drove out Germans from North Africa and attacked Mussolini's Italy • Soviets now pushed Germans intro retreat in Eastern front Discussion: • Stalin continued to press allies to open 'second front' • war against Japan in the Pacific which had entered brutal 'island hopping' phase
What were the three big wartime conferences?
Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam
What was the percentages agreement
bilateral agreement between Churchill and Stalin made in Moscow 1944 which divided spheres of influence in terms of percentages in Eastern European countries
How had Stalin's intentions with regard to Poland been seen with the Katyn Forest massacre and the failure of the Soviet forces to assist the Polish underground in the Warsaw Uprising ?
both actions killed Poles - led by London Poles - who were likely to favor a free, independent Poland after war
What was the significance of Kennan's Long Telegram in the context of the Cold War?
hardened attitudes in the USA and was to play a key role in the development of the US policy of containment
What did Stalin demand from the Western powers?
opening of a 'second front' in the West to take some pressure off the Red Army
What did Churchill say that showed his dislike of the Soviet leader?
remarked to secretary: 'If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons'
What were Salami tactics?
way of increasing political control over Eastern Europe by slicing off one country after the other
What was the Katyn Forest massacre?
• 1943 discovery of mass grave in Katyn Forest of 10 000 Polish officers who had been captured by the Soviets in 1939. • Soviets blamed the Germans for the massacre, but many Poles suspected (rightly) that Soviets were responsible
What was the state of war in at the Potsdam conference?
• 7 May 1945 Germany surrender unconditionally • USA was planning to use new atomic weapon against Japan
What was discussed about the United nations during the Tehran conference?
• Americans were very keen to establish replacement for League of Nations to settle international conflicts through collective security → UK & US gave general approval
What was discussed about Germany at the Yalta conference?
• Germany would be disarmed, demilitarized, de-Nazified & divided (4 D's) • Germany would be split into four occupation zones (US, UK, France, USSR) • Allied Control Council (ACC) set up to govern Germany • Germany would pay $20 billion reparations 50 per cent would go to USSR.
How were salami tactics applied in Poland?
• Polish Peasant Party had 246 candidates disqualified; 149arrested, 18 murdered. • 1 million voters were taken off the electoral register for some reason or another
What were the crucial developments that took place between the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences?
• President Roosevelt died in April 1945 and was replaced by Truman, who was to adopt a more hardline policy towards the Soviets. • Germany finally surrendered unconditionally on 7 May 1945. • Winston Churchill's Conservative Party lost the 1945 UK general election, Clement Atlee succeeded him • As the war in Europe ended, the Soviet Red Army occupied territory as far west as deep inside Germany. • On the very day after the Potsdam Conference began, 17 July 1945, the United States successfully tested its first atomic bomb.
What showed that Roosevelt and Stalin worked well together?
• Roosevelt publicly stated in a radio broadcast: 'I got along fine with Marshal Stalin ... I believe that we are going to get along very well with him and the Russian people ...' • Roosevelt seemed to believe that the more serious problem for post-war stability was British imperialism rather than Soviet strength. Roosevelt is supposed to have told the leader of the Poles who were in exile in London, '... of one thing I am certain, Stalin is not an imperialist'.
What was the state of war during the Yalta conference?
• Second front had opened in Normandy → Germany on the brink of defeat • Soviets driven Germans out of Eastern Europe and pushed to Germany • Japan prepared for final desperate defence of homeland
What was discussed about the future of Eastern Europe during the Tehran conference?
• Soviets demanded the right to keep the territories that they had seized between 1939 and 1940 (Baltic States, and parts of Finland and Romania) the Americans and the British agreed to the Soviet annexation of these territories. against the 1941 'Atlantic Charter' agreement
What was discussed about the UN at the Yalta conference?
• Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would join the UN • Allies agreed that there would be five permanent members of Security Council, each with veto power
What was discussed about Eastern Europe at the Yalta conference?
• Stalin agreed to free elections in Eastern Europe → perceived as major victory for USA and Britain
What was discussed about the future of Poland during the Tehran conference?
• Stalin argued that Poland had been traditional launching pad for invasions against Russia → wanted a buffer zone to prevent fighting on Soviet ground and install a pro USSR government, in turn Poland would be given territory from Germany
How did the Soviets pressure Iran? How did this create tension?
• Stalin left 30.000 troops in north Iran claiming that they were needed there to help put down internal rebellion. • Soviet troops encouraged Communist uprising, • Iranian government complained to US & Britain • US & UK demanded that Stalin remove his troops immediately, breach of Tehran agreements -> refused, believed that after the war he had as much right to Iranian oil as former allies. ∙ Iran had made formal protest to UN. Under this new pressure, Moscow finally pulled its troops out.
What was discussed about Japan at the Yalta conference?
• Stalin promised to enter war with Japan, as soon as the war in Europe was won • Soviets demanded territoy in return as 'reward' → US and Britain accepted, USSR would gain South Sakhalin and Kuril islands
What was discussed about Poland at the Potsdam conference? [2]
• Truman challenged decision over new western frontier between Poland and Germany (the Oder-Neisse line) • wanted an entirely new government, did not feel that there had been a 'free and democratic' vote • Stalin's offer to include more London Poles within predominantly Lublin-led government did not appease USA.
What was discussed about Eastern Japan at the Potsdam conference? [3]
• Truman was told during this conference that the atomic bomb tests had been successful. • Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima, Nagasaki -> Japan unconditional surrender 2 September 1939 • Truman did not tell Stalin the full story about this new 'super weapon'
What was discussed about Japan during the Tehran conference?
• US and UK pressed Stalin to open war against Japan → could not be convinced until war with Germany was won
What was the content of Kennan's Long Telegram? [5]
• USSR's view of the world was a traditional one of insecurity • Soviets wanted to advance Muscovite Stalinist ideology • Soviet regime was cruel and repressive and justified this by perceiving nothing but evil in the outside world. • the USSR was fanatically hostile to the West - but it was not 'suicidal' ∙ 'Impervious to the logic of reason Moscow [is] highly sensitive to the logic of force'
What was discussed about UN at the Potsdam conference? [2]
• United Nations became a reality. It was officially created in San Francisco in 1945, when 50 nations signed the United Nations Charter • Stalin used veto power to block any initiatives that he perceived to be against Soviet interests.
What were the three main positive outcomes of the Yalta conference?
• agreement on the United Nations • Soviet agreement to join war in the Pacific against Japan • Big Three signing a 'Declaration for Liberated Europe' promising their support for democratic governments based on free elections in all European countries
What was decided about Germany at the Potsdam conference [4]
• allies decided to carry out de-Nazification and demilitarization in their own ways in their own respective zones • German economy limited to domestic industry & agriculture • SoSoviets were to receive 25 per cent of reparation bill from Western zones. • more agricultural Eastern zone was to give food in exchange.
What was discussed about Poland at the Yalta conference?
• border between Poland and the USSR was to be drawn at the 'Curzon Line' • compensated by gaining German territory east of 'Oder-Neisse line' • British supported London Poles, Stalin Lubin Commitee
From what you have read so far in both chapters 1 and 2, what do you consider to be the 'seeds' of East-West conflict that were sown from 1917 onwards?
• change in US leadership • West intervention in Russian Civil War • appeasement of Hitler by West • different ideology
Look over the issues that were discussed at the three conferences. Which issues were satisfactorily resolved?
• creation of UN • agreement on weak post war Germany
Which decisions at the wartime conferences were likely to cause tension in the future?
• democratic and free elections in Eastern Europe • Poland's borders
Did 'free elections' as promised by Stalin in Yalta occur? [3]
• elections not held until 19 January 1947. • Before elections there was campaign of murder, censorship, and intimidation • over 50 000 people deported to Siberia prior to elections.
With what events did the Grand alliance break down completely?
• establishment of Nato 1949 • establishment of both East and West Germany
What was the significance of the Iron Curtain speech?
• led to a further hardening of opinions on both sides • Churchill had publicly defined the new front line in what was now being seen as a new war
Who were Baggage train leaders? Give examples
• men who had spent much of the war in Moscow, and were considered by the Soviets to be 'trustworthy' • Bierut (Poland), Kolarov (Bulgaria), Pauker (Romania), and Rakosi ( Hungary).
What was discussed about Eastern Europe at the Potsdam conference? [2]
• new US leadership was unhappy about the Percentages Agreement between Stalin and Churchill in October 1944 • Truman did not want to see Eastern Europe become a Soviet 'sphere of influence', but without threatening to push the Red Army back with ground forces there was little that the United States could do
What was discussed about the future of Germany during the Tehran conference?
• no agreement made • unconditional surrender of Germany was objective • Roosevelt supported 'Operation Overlord' (Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944)
What were the key issues under discussion at the wartime conferences?
• state of war • status of Germany, Poland, Eastern Europe, Japan • UN
What was the Warsaw uprising? What evidence does it provide for Stalin's actions?
• when the red army approached Poland in 1944, Stalin ordered to halt before Warsaw to allow Germans to defeat a rising by the Polish Home Army, 15 000 partisans were killed • USSR did not want Poland to 'liberate' itself - it wanted the home army, and any civilian resistance to future Soviet control, crushed
