1)Def cold war

The term used to define the tense relationship which developed between us
& ussr from 1945 to 1949 and which ended with the dismantlement of the
soviet union in 1991.
2)Distinction betw communism & capitalism
CAPITALISM: -freedom of speech, association, press
-disregard for human rights
-one party, controlled elections
-emphasis on community, not on individual
COMMUNISM: -censorship of individual, speech, religion
-human rights
-free elections+multiple parties
-emphasis on the individual
3)Idealism vs self interest in us & ussr
IDEALISM USA: -idealism of presidents wilson & roosevelt
-struggle for a better world based on collective security, political self
determination & economic integration
-peace, freedom, justice and plenty
*achieved by democracy/capitalism & international cooperation
SELF-INT USA: -the need to establish markets & open doors to free trade
-the desire to avoid another economic crisis of the magnitude of 1929
-president truman & most of the post war US administration's belief that
what's good for america is good for the world

IDEALISM USSR: -marxist idealism & stalinism

-struggle for a better world based on international socialism
-peace, freedom, justice & plenty
*achieved by spreading soviet-style communism

SELF-INT USST: -the need to secure borders

-the need to recover from the effects of ww2
-the need to regain strength as the 'nursery of communism'
-stalin's belief that what's good for the ussr is good for workers of the world
4)Def & explanation of stalinism
-The system imposed in a soviet union was called Stalinism and it
represented Stalin's approach to communism.
-Stalin used collectivization to take control of the russian territory by passing
the land from the ownership of peasant to ownership of state. This led to the
death of millions of agricultural workers.
-In industry, stalin used 5 years plans to increase industrial production.
-In politics, stalin began the purges of all political opponents as well as
civilians, who were executed or sent to the gulags. (slave labor camps)
Stalinism involved:
-Stalin's total control over the country
-A powerful state security machine
-The purge of all opposition
-The rule of violence and paranoia
5)Stalin's role in the 2WW
6)Military economic and political reasons why the us & ussr were
superpowers
MILITARY: -to defeat germany, USA had become the nb one air-force power in
the world
-to defeat germany, USSR had become the nb one land-force power in the
world
-Fr & Br were inable to defeat germany, therefore became 'second rank'
power
-USSR now lacked strong military neighbours therefore became the regional
power
ECONOMIC: -USA's economy was strengthened by the war, it was now able to

out-produce all the other powers put together

-USA was committed to more 'open trade'. its politicians and bs ppl wanted to
ensure liberal trade and market competition flourished. the US was willing to
play an active role in avoiding the re-emergence of the disastrous pre-war
pattern of trade-blocs and tariffs
-USA had the economic strength to prevent a return to instability in europe
-the small eastern european countries created after the 1ww were not
economically viable on their own and needed the support of a stronger
neighbour. ussr replaced Gr in this role
POLITICAL: -for the west, the outcome of the 2ww showed that the ideals of
democracy and international collaboration had triumphed oveer fascism. ->
the political system of the USA was the right path for the future
-for the soviet union, it was communism that had triumphed over fascism.
indeed, communism had gained widespread resprect in europe bcs of its part
in resisting germans
-ussr's huge losses, and the role of the red army in defeating the nazis, gave
stalin a claim to great influence in forming the post war world
-ussr had political strengthto prevent a return to instability in eastern europe.
communism could fill the political vacuum there
7)Def & ideas of liberalism, fascism, socialism, conservatis, maoism
LIBERALISM= Liberals put their main emphasis on the freedom of the
individual. economically they believe in minimal interference by the state,
and in foreign policy they promote the ideas of free trade and co-operation.
They believe in:
->civil liberties(freedom of conscience, speech)
->universal suffrage
->parliamentary constitutional government
->independent judiciary
->diplomacy rather than force in relations betw states
FASCISM= ideas very opposite to liberalism.
They believe in:

->limiting individual freedoms in the interest of the state

->extreme nationalism
->use of violence to achieve ends
->keeping power in the hands of an elite group or leader
->an aggressive foreign policy
SOCIALISM= developed in early 19th centuryin the contextof industrial
revolution.(marxist ideology uses this term to apply to the transitional stage
of the revolution before the state withers away)
They believe in:
->a more egalitarian social system
->gov providing for the more needy
->international cooperation and solidarity
CONSERVATISM= implies a belief in maintaining the existing or traditional
order.
They believe in:
->respect for traditional institutions
->limiting gov intervention in ppl's lives
->gradual and limited changes in the established order
MAOISM= form of communism adapted by Mao Zedong to suit China's
situation.
Mao believed:
->revolution could be achieve by the peasants, not necesarily by urban
proletariat as marx envisaged
->class conflict was not as important in revolution as using the human will to
make and remake revolution, hence his use of 'mass movement'
->revolution should be continuous
8)Karl Marx's theory of revolution and the stages through which a
society must pass
9)Timeline of the steps of political economic military division of Eu

1. Wartime conferences: tehran 1943, yalta 1945, potsdam 1945

2. Kennan's long telegram, february 1946
3. Churchill's iron curtain speech at fulton, missouri, march 1946
4. Truman doctrine, march 1947 and cominform , october 1947
5. Marshall plan, june 1947
6. Red army occupation of eastern europe, 1945-1947
7. Czech coup, february 1948
8. Berlin blockade, june 1948
* 1949- NATO established, april
-west germany established, september
-east germany established, october
10)What led to the creation of the grand alliance and why did it
breakdown?
11)Important issues discussed at: Tehran, yalta, potsdam
TEHRAN:
-agreement on a new international organization
-agreement on the need to have a post war germany
YALTA:
-agreement on the UN
-soviet agreement to join the war against the pacific in japan
-the big three signing a declaration for liberated europe pledging their
support for democratic gov. it based on free elections in all european
countries, including eastern eu
POTSDAM:
-agreement for the immediate practical control of the defeated gr
-establishment of the UN
12)The big three at tehran, yalta, potsdam

13)Why did the big three agree at yalta and disagree at potsdam?
14)Which crucial events took place betw yalta & potsdam?
->President Roosevelt died in april 1945 and was replaced by truman, who
was to adopt a more hardline, or get tough, policy towards the soviets
->gr finally surrendered unconditionally on 7 may 1945
->winston churchill's conservative party lost the 1945 UK general election
and churchill was succeeded as prime minister by the labour party leader,
clement atlee
->as the war in europe ended, the soviet red army occupied territory as far
west as deep inside germany
->on the very day after the potsdam conference began, 17 july 1945, the
united states succesfully tested its first atomic bomb
15)Def & stages of the salami tactics
Def= Elimination of the opposition in which an opponent's strength are
systematically sliced away. 'slicing off salami, piece by piece'
->Stage 1: soviets supervised the organization of governments in the eastern
european states, initially establishing a broad alliance of anti-fascists
->Stage 2: each of the parties was sliced off, one after the other
->Stage 3: the communist core was left, and then ultimately the local
communists were replaced with moscow trained ppl
16)The soviet pressure in iran
-ussr tried to increase its political control in iran
-at tehran conf, it was agreed that br & soviets withdraw troops from iran
after the war
-uk did, but stalin left 30,000 troops in north, claiming they were needed to
help put down internal rebellion
-soviet troops encourafed a communist uprising, iran complained to ussr's
former allies and br & usa demanded stalin to remove the troops
-first he refused. he believed that he has as much right to black sea straits
and to iranian oil as br & usa
-4 days later, truman wrote to his secretary of state, james byrnes, sayig that

he thought the ussr was planning an invasion of turkey and the black sea
straits. he also said that unless russia is faced with an iron fist and strong
language, war is coming.
-in march, UN had its first crisis to deal with; iran. iran made a formal protest
that soviet forces were still there. under the new pressure, moscow finally
pulled its troops out
17)Instability in greece & turkey
After ww2, there were anti-imperialist, nationalist and pro communist
rebellions in greece and turkey. The british, and usa, believed that these
rebellions were being directed and supported by the soviets. churchill was
annoyed at stalin's apparent disregard for their 'percentages agreement'
18)Communists in italy & france
Communist parties in both italy and france grew stronger in post-war europe.
their membership increased due to economic deprivations and hardships at
the end of the war. USA & br were suspicious that these new comm parties
were receiving encouragement from moscow. there was concern that italy
and france could be weak links in anti communist western eu.
19)Kennan's long telegram main ideas & importance
Main ideas:
-the ussr's view of the world was a traditional one of insecurity
-the soviets wanted to advance Muscovite Stalinist ideology (not simply
marxism)
-the soviet regime was cruel and repressive and justified this by perceiving
nothing but evil in the outside world. that view of a hostile outside
environment would sustain the internal stalinist system
-the ussr was fanatically hostile to the west- but they were not suicidal
IMPORTANCE:
Kennan's logic of force argument helped to harden attitudes in the usa and
was to play a key role in the development of the us policy of containment

20)Iron curtain speech (def, basIs of the speech, soviet reaction &
importance)
->In 1946, churchill held the speech in US where he announced the existance

of an iron curtain in europe

->The term iron curtain was used to describe the separation betw the
capitalist states of europe and the soviet dominated communist states of
europe
BASIS:
-By 1946, the soviet union that influenced the elections in the countries under
their sphere of influence, not respecting not promise to organize free
elections
-Churchill was also bothered by the presence of the red army in the countries
liberated from germany one year after the war
SOVIET REACTION:
-The russians were outraged
-Stalin considered the speech racist and called to war with the soviet union
STEPS TAKEN BY THE SOVIET AFTER:
-They withdrew from international monetary fund (imf)
-They intensified anti-western propaganda
-They initiated a 5-year plan to strengthen the defences of the speech
! It yet again, contributed to the hardening of opinion on both sides