-
Tehran Conference
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met in Tehran in 1943. The aim of this conference was to set a date for D-Day.
Agreements:
- Open up a second front against Germany
- USSR would wage war with Japan
- United Nations would be set up
- Eastern Poland would be given to the USSR -
Bulgaria
A communist government was set up in Bulgaria and in November 1945 they held elections which were rigged to assure a communist victory. All other political parties in Bulgaria were banned -
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia became communist however their leader Tito refused to become a Satellite State and take orders from Moscow. As a result he was banned from Cominform. Tito accepted help from the west (the Marshall Aid) -
Yalta Conference
The Allies met here in order to discuss what to do as the war ended and what would happen to Germany.
Agreements:
- Germany and Berlin would be divided into 4 zones
- USA and USSR would join together in war against Japan
- Important Nazis would be hunted down and put in front of an international court
- Liberated Countries would hold free elections
- All would join the United Nations
- Eastern Europe would be under a 'Soviet Sphere of Influence' Disagreements:
- Reparations
- Poland -
Potsdam Conference
By the time of Potsdam things had changed between the Allies.
Truman replaced Roosevelt; Churchill lost the elections and was replaced by Attlee; USA successfully tested the A-Bomb.
All the Potsdam agreements were the same as Yalta.
Disagreements:
- What to do with Germany : USSR wanted huge compensation from Germany but Truman refused since he didn't want a repeat of Versailles
- Free Elections: Stalin refused to allow free elections since he believed that the US involvement was unwelcome. -
WW2 ended
-
Greece
Since 1944 the British had been supporting the royalist government to fight the communist resistance. In 1946 the communists were defeated in the elections and launched a guerrilla war against the government. Britain had 40,000 troops in Greece. By 1947 they could no longer afford it. In response the USA gave financial military aid of $400 million to Greece. Stalin took this as a direct hit since they had no reason to give this aid other than to stop communism. -
Iron Curtain Speech
Churchill made a speech where he said 'An iron curtain has descended across Europe'.
It separated the east and west by those who were under Stalin and his 'sphere of influence' -
Poland
A coalition government was set up in Poland and all non-communist leaders were arrested and any non-communists were exiled. -
Romania
In 1945 the King was forced to appoint a left-wing coalition government.
In 1946 the communist party received 80% of votes.
In 1947 the Monarchy was abolished. -
Czechoslovakia
There was lots of Communist support in Czechoslovakia and by 1947 they were the largest party in the coalition government. However Czechoslovakia showed interest in the Marshall Plan. The Soviet Union seized control of the army and all non-communists were arrested. The foreign secretary was murdered. Rigged elections were held in which all other political parties were banned. -
Hungary
Hungary was invaded by Russians and Stalin allowed free election where the non-communist party won. However some communist were elected. One of them was called Rakosi. Rakosi demanded that any groups which opposed him should be banned. If not then he threatened that Russia would take over. He took over the police and arrested all opposition, By 1947 they had complete control -
Truman Doctrine Speech
The Truman Doctrine was a policy of Containment. It was a policy of containing communism within Russia (and it's sphere of influence).
He created this policy for 3 reasons:
-USA believed that Stalin was trying to spread communism worldwide
-USA had the atomic bomb and was going to use this to pressure the USSR
-Events in Greece Results:
-Greek government defeated the communists
-USA were involved in European affairs
-Marshall Plan was set up
-Cominform was set up -
Cominform Set Up
Cominform is the Communist Information Bureau. It was set up in order to coordinate the work of the communist parties in Eastern Europe. It made sure all the countries leaders were following Stalin's foreign Policy. It introduced ideas such as collectivisation and state controlled industry. Anyone who disagreed with Moscow would be kicked out (e.g. Tito). -
Marshall Plan
Marshall was sent to Europe to see how much money was in need to recover from war. He found a damaged economy with a shortage of necessary goods. He suggested $17 billion in aid but it was declined by congress. They eventually agreed after seeing the extent the USSR would go to spread communism (Czech). In the end a total of $13.6 billion was given to 16 countries. It was given in the form of: food, machinery, grants or money. The US gained: open trade, markets, investment in their companies. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was a blockade by the USSR to prevent any trains or vans to get into West Berlin. Stalin did this in an attempt to cause the Allies to pull out of Bizonia. He thought that the allies joined together in order to attack the Soviet Zones in Germany. Truman wanted to stop this since he knew if West Berlin fell to Stalin it would only be a matter of time till the rest of Germany fell too. He found that the only solution was the Berlin Airlift (also known as Operation Vittles). -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift was an operation to fly supplies into west Berlin. Planes were flown from air bases in West Germany to 3 bases in West Berlin. Stalin couldn't shoot down any planes or it would be considered an act of war. For 11 months they flew supplies with 275,000 flights landing carrying 2 million tonnes of supplies. To obtain the most amount of supplies one pane had to land every 3 min and be flying again within 30 min. 79 men died in total. On 12 May 1949 Stalin called off the blockade. -
Comecon Set Up
Comecon is the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. It was set up in 1949 in response to the Marshall Plan. It meant that Russia had control of their Satellite States Economy. Stalin could theoretically give these countries financial aid if he thought they needed it. It also gave the USSR access to these countries resources. -
NATO set up
NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. It is the alliance of 12 states with the main purpose to provide collective security against the USSR. It was said to 'Keep Russians out, Keep Germans down and Keep Americans in' -
Period: to
Korean War
The Korean war was a fight between North and South Korea. North Korea is communist lead by dictator Kim Il-Sung and was backed by the Soviet and Chinese. South Korea was capitalist and was backed by the USA and United Nations. -
KW- Phase 1
North Korea takes over the majority of the South except for the South East. The United Nations got involved in September 1950 (with the influence of America) and pushed North Korea back to the 38th parallel. -
KW- Phase 2
The UN carried on pushing till South Korea took over the North Korea up till the Yulu River at the Chinese Border. -
KW- Phase 3
On October 1950 the Chinese troops joined the North Korean troops. General MacArthur underestimated them and the UN forces were pushed back into South Korea past Seoul -
KW- Phase 4
Truman and MacArthur fall out since MacArthur wants to cause another war by invading China. MacArthur threatened to invade China so Truman fires him. -
KW- Phase 5
The fighting continues but a stalemate was reached on the 38th parallel. In June 1951 peace talks began and lasted for more than 2 years. -
Cuban Revolution
Cuba was run by a US backed dictator called Batista. In 1953 a revolution run by Castro overthrew the US backed government. All US businesses were told to leave so as a result the US boycott the Cuban Sugar. This led to the USSR buying the Cuban Sugar instead (in order to gain influence in Cuba) -
KW- Phase 6
Armistice is signed with a border on the 38th parallel. Stalin dies and Truman is replaced. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was similar to NATO but it was an Alliance of all of Stalin's Satellites States. It was set up in response to NATO which Stalin saw as a 'aggressive alliance' -
Bay of Pigs invasion
In 1961 all diplomatic relationships with Cuba were severed. The US planned to overthrow Castro by training Cuban exiles. The CIA trained them to start an uprising in Cuba. They named themselves Brigade 2506 with 1400 men.
The invasion took place on 17/4/1961. It was a failure since the CIA shouldn't assume that the Cuban exiles would start the uprising. Castro was very popular and told everyone to go into lock down to prevent an uprising. -
U2 plane
On the 14th October a U2 spy plane sent by the US spotted a missile base being set up in Cuba. -
Tuesday 16th October: Kennedy's Cabinet
Kennedy with his cabinet of 12 people try to decide what to do with Cuba.
They had 5 options:
- Invade Cuba (however this could end in turning the cold war hot)
- 'Surgical' air attack to destroy the bases
- Blockade Cuba (stop any ships reaching Cuba)
- Diplomatic pressure to persuade them to remove the missiles (would have to negotiate which might end in them having to remove the American missiles in Turkey)
- Nothing! -
Period: to
Cuban Missile Crisis
13 day standoff between the US and USSR. When the US discovered nuclear missiles in Cuba they wanted them removed so Kennedy called a committee meeting where they decided to blockade cuba till the USSR removed the missiles. After and exchanged of letter Khrushchev and Kennedy agreed that Khrushchev would remove the missiles and once this was done Kennedy would remove their missiles in turkey. -
22nd October
Kennedy sent a message to Khrushchev through national television that they would blockade any Soviet ships going into Cuba. -
23rd October
Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy saying that they wouldn't observe the blockade -
24th October
Kennedy demanded that the Soviets remove their missiles or else the US would invade Cuba. Khrushchev didn't believe that they would actually invade since Kennedy had already failed in the Bay of Pigs. However Soviet ships were seen to start to turn around. -
25th October
Despite the Soviets turning around the Cubans carried on building the missile bases -
26th October
Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy saying that the missiles were simply defence and that they offered to remove them if the US stopped the blockade. This is was the first time he admitted to the missiles in Cuba -
27th October
Khrushchev sent another letter to Kennedy where he promised to remove the missiles if the US removed their missiles in Turkey. He forgot to say this is the first letter.
Kennedy ignored this letter.
A US spy plane was shot down over Cuba which could've lead to war but Kennedy held back. Instead he responded to the first letter saying he would call off the blockade and if the soviets didn't respond accordingly then he would invade Cuba. -
28th October
Khrushchev accepts the offer and agrees to remove the missiles. Kennedy agrees to remove missiles in Turkey but he kept this quiet since he didn't want to be seen as weaker than he already was.