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Summary Key Facts For the Transformation of the Soviet State
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Key facts for the Transformation of the Soviet State
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The transformation of the Soviet Union’s international position: the emergence of a ‘superpower’;the formation of a soviet bloc; conflict with USA and the capitalist West; the death of Stalin and
Stalin’s legacy at home and abroad
-7.5 million well-equipment soldiers
-The USSR had developed an atomic bomb by August 1949
-Between 1945 and 1948, the Soviet Union consolidated its dominance over East Germany and the states
of East Central Europe. In 1948, Communist coup in Czechoslovakia
-‘Salami tactics’ enabled pro-soviet governments to control Hungary (1947) and Czechoslovakia (1948)
-The Baltic States and Eastern Poland were occupied by the USSR under the terms of the Nazi-Soviet pact
-Communists under Tito gained control over Yugoslavia
-Tehan (1943) showed key ideological differences between the Grand Alliance of the ‘Big Three’, Yalta
(1945) dominated by conflicting ideas about Poland and Germany post-war borders; Potsdam (1945)
leadership change highlighted West-East tensions (e.g Truman remarked that he was ‘tired of babying the
Soviets’). Especially as, just before the conference began, the US just test launched their atomic bomb- a
clear demonstration of hard power. Disagreements over reparations
-August 1945, Hiroshima and Nagasaki
-‘The Long Telegram’ by US diplomat Kennan in 1946 urged the US to contain communist expansionism
-USSR responded with Novikov telegram in 1946 warning of US hegemony
-Churchill gave a speech in 1946 warning of an ‘iron curtain’ descending upon Europe, advising that
‘strength’ was needed to deal with the USSR. Churchill spoke of ‘communist fifth columns’ which increased
suspicion of communism and led to the ‘red scare’ in US
-Stalin responded by calling Churchill a ‘warmonger’
-By 1947, Western Europe was plagued by economic decline and political instability with strong communist
parties in Italy and France, with up to 2 million party members
-March 1947 announced the Truman Doctrine, committing the US to a policy of containment
-A month later, the Marshall Plan was announced (over $12 billion) and received a hostile Soviet response,
with Stalin calling it ‘Dollar imperialism’. It acted as US power propaganda
-The USSR responded with the Molotov aid to keep Eastern bloc countries on side
-1948 NATO formation against Soviet threat to the west. The USSR made their own defensive alliance with
the Warsaw Pact in 1955
- The original agreement on the partition of Germany ended up slowly centralising with the US, France and
the UK forming the ‘trizone’ which led to the creation of the West German state.
-The Allies then introduced the, much more stable, Deutsch mark currency, which they didn’t inform the
soviets of. This along with the Allied Control Council increasingly excluding the soviets led to increased
tension
-The Berlin Blockade (1948-1949) blocked road and rail routes, meaning 12,000 tonnes of food and coal
couldn’t transport from west to east, which previously kept east germany alive. 318 days long.
-Launch of the Berlin airlift created jobs for Berliners, lasted 11 months. Berlin needed 2,000 tonnes of
supplies to keep citizens alive.
-USSR created their own atomic bomb in 1949.
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