A complete guide to the Cold War, supporting GCSE (Edexcel) History.
Includes: The Origins of the Cold War, Cold War Crises, the Arms Race, Detente, the Second Cold War and the Collapse of the Soviet Union.
Covers a period from .
Information grouped into importance and consequences to support w...
and THE COLD WAR
The COLD WAR – an ideological conflict between the USA and USSR which involved no direct fighting.
characterized by the building up of military and weapons (eg. arms race), propaganda and
espionage.
describes the fighting takes place.
ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR
COMMUNISM vs CAPITALISM:
CAPITALISM – an economic system where all factors of production (trade, industry, business & agriculture)
are owned and controlled by private individuals or firms, to make profit.
Includes democracy (the public can vote for any political party) and free press (press should be free
to criticize the government).
COMMUNISM – a social system where all factors of production are owned and controlled by the state on
behalf of the community.
Wealth is shared between individuals, the public should be allowed to vote between communist
parties or not at all (one political party) and censorship of the press.
(Can develop into a COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP – one individual holds complete political power.)
America believed in CAPITALIST principles whereas the USSR believed in COMMUNIST principles (the USSR
became the first communist country in 1917 after the Bolshevik Revolution).
America and the Soviet Union both wanted to prove that their ideology was superior.
This created a divide between the WEST (the USA and the capitalist countries of western Europe – including
Britain and France) and the EAST (the USSR and the communist countries of eastern Europe).
The east wanted to try and spread communism.
The west feared the spread of communism they had intervened in the Russian Civil War
(1918-21), giving arms and supplies to the White army who were trying to overthrow Lenin and
the communists.
,THE GRAND ALLIANCE & CONFERENCES:
During WWII the USA and Soviet Union worked as allies against Nazi Germany – they were part of the GRAND
ALLIANCE including the USA, the Soviet Union and Britain. The three countries shared the aim of defeating
their common enemy – Nazi Germany.
BRITAIN – democracy, led by Chuchill (joined the war in 1939 since Germany first invaded Poland)
The SOVIET UNION – one-party communist state, led by Stalin (involved in the war since 1939 aiding
Germany, who they were allied to, with the invasion of Poland, though allied with Britain in 1941 when
Germany started invading their territories)
The USA – democracy, led by Roosevelt (joined the war in December 1941 when Japan, an ally of Germany,
launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor)
During the war the allies met three times to discuss the war:
▪ Tehran (1943)
▪ Yalta (February 1945)
▪ Potsdam (July – August 1945)
THE TEHRAN CONFERENCE: (1943)
WHO: Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (USA) & Churchill (Britain)
OBJECTIVE: to discuss the planned invasion of Nazi occupied France.
OUTCOMES:
✓ The USA and Britain agreed to open a second front by invading Nazi-occupied France by May 1944
this relieved Stalin who was annoyed that Britain and USA had not yet opened a second front
and was convinced that they were waiting until the USSR had been seriously damaged.
✓ The Soviet Union would declare war on Japan once Germany was defeated, joining the USA and
Britain.
✓ An international body would be set up after the war to settle disputes between countries – this
later became the United Nations
The Soviet Union would gain part of Poland – borders moved further West (it would lose an area of
land to the USSR and gain some from Germany)
Stalin wanted to have control of Poland to prevent future invasions (buffer) – the USSR
had now been invaded by Germany twice and also infiltrated by the USA and Britain
during the Russian Civil War.
,ATMOSPHERE:
▪ Success for Stalin – got most of what he wanted.
▪ Less of a sucess for Churchill.
▪ Roosevelt was unwell and tended to side with Stalin.
▪ Churchill was suspicious of Stalin’s motives in Eastern Europe (thought he would try and control
the countries liberated from the Germans) and had been a previous opponent of Russia during the
Bolshevik Civil War in 1918-21.
Became even more suspicious when, in 1943, German troops discovered a mass grave of
10,000 Polish officers murdered by the Soviets in 1939.
Also, in August 1944 soviet troops watched as German forces crushed a Polish
resistance in Warsaw, leaving them defenseless against the Soviets from taking
Warsaw.
❖ The three countries had a common aim – to defeat their shared enemy, Nazi Germany.
▪ This meant they were willing to co-operate with each other.
THE YALTA CONFERENCE: (February 1945)
WHO: Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (USA) & Churchill (Britain)
OBJECIVE: to discuss what to do with Germany once it had been defeated.
OUTCOMES:
✓ To divide Germany and Berlin into 4 zones of occupation (American, Soviet Union, British and
French) – caused some tension as Stalin was aggrieved that he would receive the poorest zone.
✓ All countries liberated from Nazi Germany to be allowed free elections.
✓ The Soviet Union would be allowed a ‘sphere of influence’ in Eastern Europe (compromise to Stalin
for allowing free elections).
✓ The United Nations would be set up – to maintain world peace after the war.
✓ War criminals to be found and tried.
Disagreed on how much Germany would have to pay in reparations – Stalin wanted Germany to
pay a much larger sum – this was delayed until the next conference.
Stalin wanted the Polish/German border to be further West and a ‘friendly’ Polish government –
eventually agreed to allow free elections.
ATMOSPHERE:
▪ Still had a common enemy though less of a threat as Germany was close to defeat, so able to make
some agreements.
▪ Stalin and Roosevelt had a good relationship, causing Churchill to feel isolated.
, THE POTSDAM CONFERENCE: (July – August 1945)
WHO: Stalin (USSR), Truman (USA), Atlee (Britain)
CHANGES:
▪ Germany had been defeated in May 1945.
▪ Roosevelt had died and been replaced by Truman – suspicious of Stalin, unwilling to co-operate
with him and a firm hater of communism (Truman had automatically succeeded Roosevelt as he
was vice president at the time of his death).
▪ Attlee had replaced Churchill after the UK general election in July 1945 (halfway through the
conference) – very new to the role.
▪ Soviet troops (the Red Army) moved into Eastern European countries liberated from Germany and
began setting up a communist government in Poland – this broke the agreement of the Yalta
conference.
▪ On the 16th August 1945, the USA successfully tested an atomic bomb in a desert in America.
▪ Truman informed Stalin of this “new weapon of unusual destructive force” at the start of the
conference to gain an advantage. This angered Stalin, despite his already knowing of the
Manhattan Project through spies as he, due to there being secrets between the powers.
OBJECTIVE: To finalize a post-war agreement.
OUTCOMES:
✓ Nazi party banned
✓ Council of Foreign Ministers to be set up to organize the rebuilding of Europe.
✓ Poland’s borders to be moved further west.
✓ Borders of the zones within Germany decided.
✓ Germany to be demilitarized.
✓ To re-establish democracy in Germany.
✓ Germany to pay reparations in equipment and materials (most going to the USSR who had suffered
the most)
✓ Eventually, decided that each country would take reparations from its own zone and that the USSR
would receive ¼ of the output produced in the British, American and French zones in return for food
and coal from the Soviet zone.
Stalin wanted Germany to pay harsh reparations which would permanently cripple German.
Truman and Atlee disagreed as they didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of the Treaty of Versailles
which had severely punished Germany and made it hard for them to recover. Truman wanted
Germany to be able to recover to act as a potential barrier to communist soviet expansion.
Truman wanted free elections in the Eastern European counties occupied by Soviet troops, however
Stalin refused. Stalin wanted pro-communist governments in these countries so that they would
support the USSR.
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