SGQ # 10

Guiding questions:
Analyze the origin of East-West rivalry and explain why it developed into the Cold War.
When and why did the Cold War end?
How did the Cold War develop?

MWH p. 117-140

1. What were the effects of WWII?
a. evidence of enormous destruction?
-almost 40 million people were killed
-21 million people had been uprooted from their homes (sent to concentration/labor camps, or fled)
-destruction of cities and French wealth
b. no all-inclusive peace settlement - what was there?
# of separate treaties:
-Italy lost african territories and and claims to Albania and Ethiopia
-USSR took eastern Czech and some others...
-Romanians took back Transylvania from Hungary
-in 1950 Japan agreed to give back all territory gained in last 90 yrs -? full withdrawal from china
c. examples social changes?
-populations movements during war; after war people had to move, especially germans to west germany so germany couldn't claim areas in future
-urban redevelopment as ruined cities were rebuilt (esp. in germany and USSR)
-1942 Beveridge Report, a plan for introducing a Welfare State in Britain
d. nuclear weapons - so what?
-had horrifying effects, but made both sides of Cold War so scared of consequences that they wouldn't fight each other
e. European domination of the world ended - why?
Because the biggest powers were weakened: Germany was ruined and divided, France and Italy were on the verge of bankruptcy, and Britain was closely and uncomfortably dependent on the USA for loans (which came at high interest)
f. emergence of the superpowers - who?
USA and USSR (no longer as isolated as during war; America had biggest air-force and navy, and altho weakened Russia had biggest army) --> they were both suspicious about each other's intentions
g. decolonization - what happened to the territories?
gradually they achieved full independence, but not without a struggle many times
h. the United Nations - so what?
the United Nations ORGANIZATION became the successor and did a much better job keeping world peace.

2. What caused the Cold War?
a. what are the differences of principle?
-the communist system of following Karl Marx; centrally planned... life.
-the capitalist system based on private ownership and pursuing profits
b. what were Stalin's foreign policies?
He wanted to take advantage of military situation to strengthen russian influence over Europe -> he tried to occupy as much german and other land as he could
c. what were US and British policies?
-After Roosevelt died and Truman became president, the attitude was tightened towards communists
-Britain's delay in launching invasion of France was aimed towards exhausting russian army ?
-West had atomic bomb, USSR did not.

3. How did the Cold War develop between 1945 and 1953?
a. what four things were agreed upon at the Yalta Conference?
i. United Nations created instead of League of Nations
ii. Germany was split into Russian, American, British (and later French) zones
iii. Free elections would be allowed in the states of eastern Europe
iv. Stalin promised to join war against Japan if he could have some territory (partly from Manchuria)

b. why were Germany and Poland the major concerns at the Potsdam Conference (July 1945)?
-It was a big question of When Germany's parts would be able to re-join (other things like her reparations and trade/food supply from russia were settled).
-Poland made the biggest disagreement: the pro-communist Polish government expelled 5 million Germans, which was not agreed on at Yalta
c. how was Communism established in eastern Europe?
-Russia systematically interfered in countries (such as poland) and imprisoned or murdered opponents if necessary
-allowed free elections in Hungary but made sure Cabinet was full of communists
d. how did Russia exert its influence in eastern Europe?
-they kept enforcing communism, rigging elections and ditching opponents
-Stalin treated russian part of germany like russian; only communist party was allowed, and Germany was drained of resources
-Yugoslavia was the only one with an elected leader and less russian control
e. what were the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan?
-Truman Plan helped grecians receive arms and supplies to defeat communists, and gave turkey 60 million dollars of aid
-Marshall Plan (June 1947) economic extension of truman doctrine --> one of its aims was to promote european recovery --> Marshall Aid fostered recovery of agriculture and industry
f. what was Cominform?
Communist Information Bureau, soviet response to Marshall Plan (set up by Stalin in September 1947) which tightened grip on communism throughout europe (industrialized, collectivized, centralized) --> later Molotov Plan offered russian aid to satellites
g. what happened to Czechoslovakia?
Communists were blamed for Czech rejection of Marshall aid --> Communist coup seized power before elections could be held
h. what happened in Berlin?
after the 3 western zones of germany united and requested the russian zone join too, the russians blockaded their zone, but the americans kept flying in food and supplies on planes to the zone, and the russians finally gave up and removed blockade --> power to west but bad relations with Russia, formation of NATO
i. what is NATO?
North Atlantic Treaty Organization: America, Britain, and lots of other european countries signed this to guarantee each other future military security if one of them was attacked
j. what happened to Germany?
westerners set up WEST germany, and russia set up east germany, so they were separated until 1990 when communism collapsed
k. what developed with nuclear weapons?
america was scared of russia and newly Communist (Maoist) China --> USA increased expenditure on arms and invented hydrogen bomb much bigger than atomic bomb

4. To what extent was there a thaw after 1953?
a. why was there a thaw?
i. Stalin died and new russian leaders wanted better relations with USA (mostly because of hydrogen bomb)
ii. anti-communist senator mccarthy was discredited after he went too far with accusations and then america had better feelings toward soviet people

b. how do we know there was a thaw?
i. singing of peace treaty at Panmunjom ended Korean War in 1953, in 1954 the war in Indo-china ended
ii. Russians made important concessions
1. gave up military bases in finland
2. lifter veto on admission of 16 new member states to UN
3. quarrel w/ Yugoslavia healed
4. Cominform was abandoned -> more freedom to satellite states
iii. Austrian State Treaty (May 1955)

c. what evidence suggests only a partial thaw?
i. Warsaw Pact 1955
ii. Russians continued to build up nuclear armaments
iii. situation in Berlin caused more attention
iv. Khrushchev installed soviet missiles in Cuba (<100 miles from American coast)

5. The nuclear arms race and the Cuban missile crisis
a. how did the arms race accelerate?
Russians produced own atomic bomb -> America makes more powerful H bomb -> Russia does too, w/ far range -> Americans remain ahead in numbers of bombs, but -> 1957 Russians produce Inter-continental ballistic missile -> americans make own version, and lots of them, plus shorter range bombs -> Russia launches earth satellite -> america does too.
b. what happened in Cuba? how was it resolved?
Fidel breaks off USA relations and buddies up with Russia -> america tries to invade Cuba with 1400 troops but fails -> Fidel claims Cuba as Marxist -> america keeps attacking -> russians set up missile base in cuba, pointing at USA -> USA and Russia come to agreement to remove missiles from Cuba and turkey
c. what happened to the arms race in the 1970s?
Russia continued competing with america, and caught up (they both developed several new types of missiles - multi-headed ones, low-flying ones...)
d. how effective were anti-nuclear protests?
British protested for a one-country banning of nuclears but the gov't was scared of an attack from USSR... However, maybe the grand scale of this contributed to the eventual understandings...