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Period: to
Sovietisation
Definition: The seizure of the control of the Eastern European governments by local communists backed by Soviet troops which were currently occupying the various countries
Impact: No shift of Soviet-controlled territory and to stop compromising and babying the Soviets -
Yalta Conference
Revision of the Polish border and inclusion of London Poles inside Lublin commitee
Signing of the Declaration of Liberated Europe which pledged free elections and democratic instituitions -
Potsdam Conference
Truman offered Stalin information about the atomic bomb in return for the reorganisation of Soviet-controlled governments in Bulgaria and Romania (Atomic diplomacy) -
Kennan's Long Telegramme
Decisive factor in the Truman administration's change of course to a policy of firmness towards the USSR -
Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech
Hardened the attitude of the American public -
The German Question
Illustrates the role of misinterpretation and the difference in postwar aims
Definition: The question of Germany's role in Europe after WW2
Impact: In September 1946, American change plans for Germany; from destruction to reconstruction was made public
Led to the division of Germany -
The Clifford-Elsey Report
Reflects the US perception of the USSR which had crystallised by this point of time; justification for the US perspective of the Soviets -
The Baruch Plan
Represented the fact that the US were no longer sincere in cooperating with the Soviets at this point in time and hence, the unaccepable Plan for Soviets -
The Truman Doctrine
Impact: Elicited no immediate response from or any change in American relations with the USSR but simply accompanied by an increase in US military preparedness as precautionary measure
Laid the foundation for the Marshall Plan later in June -
Marshall Plan
Cemented the economic schism in Europe; effectively dividing Europe into 2 economic blocs -
The Berlin Blockade
Caused by the establishment of the Deutsche mark
Blockage of all roads and rail routes to Berlin
Impact: Led to the formation of North Alantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) later in 1949 due to the increased feeling of military insecurity -
NATO
Began the military split but provoked no direct Soviet response -
Warsaw Pact
A military alliance of communist nations in eastern Europe
Includes Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union.
