These notes cover the Cold War, the events in Berlin, the Cuban Missile Crisis, China's relations and it's involvement as a superpower. It is a complete summary consisting of definitions, precise dates and events and a list of facts for each section which will be useful in the essay and descriptiv...
The Cold War
Cold War: refers to tensions/conflicts and a struggle for dominance
between USA and USSR that played out in a number of areas, but did not
escalate into a direct, full-scale (or hot) war between the two powers
- Propaganda war
Definitions:
Brinkmanship: a policy of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of
safety before pulling back
Proxy war: a war between two countries where these countries do
not fight each other directly but instead become involved
in a conflict in another country on opposing sides
Deterrence: the action of discouraging an action or event through
instilling doubt or fear of the consequences.
Spheres of influence: a region that is politically influenced by a major
power
Imperialism: a policy of extending a country's power and influence
through colonization, use of military force, or other
means.
1917
The Bolshevik Revolution
- The Soviet Union wanted world revolution to secure its economic
system
1939
Non-Aggression Pact
- Between USSR and Nazi Germany, and together they invaded
Poland
- Alliance of convenience
Churchill described the Soviet Union as a “riddle wrapped in a
mystery inside an enigma”
1941
Germany invaded the Soviet Union
- USSR became part of the allied countries
- USSR was critical to the defeat of Nazi
Germany
, Japanese attack on US naval base at Pearl Harbour
- USA originally wanted to retain her policy of isolation from the
political affairs of Europe
Facts:
the Soviet grew in power and was able to make territorial gains in
Eastern Europe during the overthrow of Nazi Germany
the war itself had left Europe damaged and
there was generally uncertainty as to whether
capitalism would be able to solve these
problems, leading the US to fear the spread of
communism
the USSR was distrustful because of its military
secrets, for example they had no knowledge of
the atomic bomb until it was dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
the USSR suspected its Western Allies of
delaying the end of the war in order to weaken the Soviet military
and ensure that it would not be a threat after the fall of Nazi
Germany
-
1943
Teheran conference
- Open up a second front in Europe to help the Soviet Army defeat
the Nazis
- Stalin promised to declare war against Japan once Germany had
been defeated
- Preliminary discussions were held as to the geographical fate of
Eastern Europe after the war
- Roosevelt suggested that the United Nations should replace the
now defunct League of Nations
1945
the big 3: Stalin (USSR), Churchill (UK) and Roosevelt (USA)
Germany was divided and taken control over by the USA, UK,
France and the SU (the allies)
the Yalta conference:
- Democratic elections for Germany
- Germany would be divided into areas of occupation.
Allies would extract reparations from their areas of
occupation
, -
The Soviet Union would gain land from
Poland in order to improve its security.
In return Poland would gain land from
Germany
- Germany would be “de-Nazified”
- United Nations would be set up, with
the primary goal of preventing another
war
The Potsdam conference:
- Germany is divided into four
occupation zones (USA, UK, France
and USSR). This was meant to be temporary
- Germany would be administered by the Allied Control Council
- Berlin (in Soviet zone of occupation) remains capital of Germany
but is also divided into four zones
- allies had the western zone, the Soviet Union had the eastern
zone
- Western access to Berlin was verbally agreed to, but not
guaranteed
- Spheres of interest: soviets want a buffer zone of countries to
be protected from future aggression after WWII. The USA sees
this as expansionist
- Nazi leaders would be tried in the Nuremburg Trials, the first
time that Crimes Against Humanity were brought to a court of
law
The USA informed the USSR that they had a “secret weapon” which
they could use against Germany, but did not share any details
Facts: creating spheres of interest
Stalin was deeply afraid of invasion and sought
to protect the USSR by creating a “buffer zone”
of Soviet-friendly states along her western
border
The USSR saw this as a defensive move, rather
than an aggressive or imperialist one
Stalin believed that the USSR had a right to
reinforce her strength and protect her future as
WWII was extremely costly for USSR and without
their contribution Hitler may have won the war
- Over 20 million Russians had died during the
war, including over 8 million military
personnel
She annexed the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania,
Estonia) which became a direct part of USSR
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