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The origins of the Cold War - Coggle Diagram
The origins of the Cold War
Ideological differences between east and west
The USA and Great Britain were capitalist nations
The Soviet Union was communist
Capitalist believe everyone should be free to own property and businesses and make money
Communists believe that all property including homes and businesses should belong to the state to ensure that every member of society has a fair share
differences between leaders
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin were the leaders of their respective countries in 1941
the leaders had their own political beliefs and suspicions of one another
The grand alliance
this was an alliance between the USA, Great Britain and the USSR
it was formed in order to bring down germany and japan during the second world war
after the defeat of these countries, Britains power was greatly diminished due to its losses during the war so the USA and USSR remained as the two main world superpowers
The grand alliance met three times during the war
Tehran (1943
Yalta (February 1945)
Potsdam (july 1945)
significance of the conferences
Tehran
the usa and britain would open a second front in western europe which would ease pressure on the eastern front
stalin would declare war on japan and supply soviet troops to help the usa but only once the war was over
poland was to be given land from germany but the soviet union could keep land that it had seized in 1939
an international body would be set up to avoid any further disputes
Yalta (february 1945)
germany would be split in four zones.
the un would be set up and all nations could join
stalin agreed that future governments of countries in eastern europe would be decided in free elections
polands borders would be changed to their 1921 borders
Potsdam (July 1945)
the german economy would be run as a whole
berlin would be divided into four zones
Impact of the atom bomb on relationships between the USA and USSR
on 6th august 1945, the USA detonated an atom bomb over the city of hiroshima
this made stalin determined to make the soviet union more secure
the effect on us-soviet relations was the opposite to what the us had hoped for
the bomb drastically increased cold war tension
resulted in the arms race
the kennan long telegram and the novikov telegram
the kennan long telegram
said that stalin wanted to see the destruction of capitalism
if it faced a strong resistance it would back down
the telegram was very long, hence its name
the novikov telegram
said the usa wanted to use their military to dominate the world
said that americans no longer wanted to cooperate with the soviet union
said the american people would support their government if it came to a war
the creation of soviet satellite states
the us saw the soviet satellite states as the USSR spreading communism which they did not like
made relations between the two countries worse
bulgaria, romania, hungary, caechoslovakia, poland and east germany were all satellite states
The truman doctrine and marshall plan
the truman doctrine
truman said that the us would provide 400 million dollars in aid to greece and turkey
he would also give economic aid to any country trying to resist communism
the truman doctrine was announced on 12 march 1947
the marshall plan
this was a practical outcome of the truman doctrine
Provided economic aid to european countries in order to stop the spread of communism
The formation of cominform and comecon
Cominform 1947
Also known as the communist information bureau
It had nine members
It gave stalin a way of controlling the governments of the satellite states
At the first meeting, it rejected the marshall plan and began to spread propaganda accusing america of being no different to nazi germany
Comecon 1949
Was also known as the council for mutual economic assistance
It was established two years after the marshall plan
It was in direct competition with the marshall plan as it aimed to support econimic development in communist states
It was used to help organise industrial planning across all satellite states
Each state had a five year plan
It aimed to increase trade between the comecon countries
The berlin crisis 1948
At the time, in berlin, there were soldiers on the streets and the division between the two sides had lasted much longer than expected
The western zones were united to form trizonia in march 1948
The deutchmark became the new currency of trizonia which gave it economic unity
Stalin saw the formation of trizonia as another way for the west to gang up on him.
The berlin blockade
In june 1948, stalin shut off the land routes across soviet controlled germany into berlin
He did this to show britain , france and the usa that a divided germany would not work
The west knew that they could not attempt to force supplies along the land routes as it would be considered an act of war
Operation vittles
Was also known as the berlin air lift
Food, coal and other necessities were flown int west berlin.
The pilots took a huge risk as they could not be sure whether the soviets would shoot them down or not
A whole new runway was built so that supplies could be landed in the western zones
The americans flew in around 1000 tonnes of supplies each day
The blockade was lifted on 9th of may 1949. There were no allied casualties
The formation of east and west germany
On 23rd of may 1949, the usa, britain and france permitted their zones to come together as a state known as the federal republic of germany
Germans in the new country were allowed to elect their own parliament called the Bundestag
The federal republics new capital was bonn and the country was much bigger than east germany
The german democratic republic was created in october 1949. It was only recognised as a country by the bloc countries
The creation of two armed camps
NATO (1949)
Stood for the north atlantic treaty organisation
Its origional members were the usa, britain, france and nine other western countries
If one member state was attacked, all members would come to its assistance.
NATO resulted in an ongoing american military presence in europe during the cold war
The warsaw pact (1955)
In response to the formation of nato, the soviet union formed an equivalent communist military alliance.
The leadership of the warsaw pact was entirely soviet
The formation of these two separate alliance meant there was now no doubt that europe was split in two.
The significance of the arms race
The us development of the atomic bomb could be considered the starting factor of the arms race.