Cold war revision notes PDF

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Modern Europe revision notes/summary notes for Cold War...

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Cold War The Cold War – revision notes – chapter 27 and 28 Characteristics Cold war was a military stand of, resting upon the decision to go to war. This concept is used to describe the worsening relations between the West and East. There were two chances for the West to stop the cold war 1) Preventing Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe by placing troops in Poland and Bulgaria. However, this would have killed many British and American troops 2) Drop the atomic bomb – however too many deaths would have occurred to do so. They decided to use the approach of containment instead – which was the concept of keeping communism within the countries it already existed in and not leading it spread due to fear of the domino effect. Causes - Conflicting ideologies – capitalism V communism - Domino theory – embodied in change of US foreign policy - Yalta – Polish borders - Potsdam – including plans for Germany - Liberation of Europe – Nazi massacre in Poland - Iron curtain speech Containment in order to contain communism the West introduced two polices Truman Doctrine Truman gave a deliberate dramatic speech on march 12th to appeal to congress. Truman stressed the seriousness of the international situation and how Europe was increasingly becoming divided into two mutual blocs. Stalin initially dismissed the speech as an exercise in propaganda, it soon became the marshal plan. This was the basis of the cold war policy becoming containment and has a direct link to the Marshall plan “two halves of the same walnut” Marshall Plan Marshall aid was a programme funded by the West to restore the economies of Europe by supplying aid packages i.e. arms, medicine etc. the main incentive of this was to help build up economies and stop them from falling to communism. Americans were already pumping money into Western Europe and preventing economic collapse and now they were offering their aid to the East too. They wished to use this as a barrier to communism. Stalin saw this as a big threat and that they would pull states out of the Soviet bloc, making Stalin feel vulnerable hence the boycott of the peace negotiations and the creation of Cominform. The West were annoyed at the East boycotting negotiations and Stalin feared that the West were trying to break down the Russian buffer zone. Increasing tension between them both. Important events/characteristics Arms race The arms race was a ‘race’ between the Soviets and the West as to who could have more sophisticated weaponry and a higher amount of them. An arms race developed because both wanted to be the most superior, to make the other one see them as a threat. However, realistically this but a big strain on the resources of both sides, so the more the arms race escalated the more the tension grew as both were fighting against each other to be better than one another. NATO Tito’s relations with the West proved that the Soviet bloc was more fragile than they thought. This led to NATO trying different ways to weaken the USSR i.e. filling complaints to the UN about soviets breaching human rights, this significantly increased tensions as it was threatening to the Soviets. This was a military alliance, to show the soviets that they were uniting and had developed an ‘attack on one, attack on all policy’ of collective security. This increased tensions as it

Cold War then became inevitable that if the Soviets invaded/attacked any of the countries within NATO then a War would begin, so in response the Warsaw Pact was created. Warsaw Pact Khrushchev set up the Warsaw Pact in 1955 - a military alliance of communist countries to rival NATO. America responded by increasing the number of NATO troops in Germany. Berlin Wall The number of refugees that fled from East Germany to West Germany rapidly increased in 1960-61 because Khrushchev signed a separate peace treaty with the GDR. Khrushchev decided that the border between West Berlin and East Berlin would be closed due to the increase in people fleeing to the West. The border was sealed with barbed wire and later a more permanent wall was built. This was good propaganda for the West as it looked bad on communism. It shown that the USSR had to build a physical barrier to stop people from turning away from communism, this use of propaganda and humiliation for the Soviets increased tension as the Soviets were displeased with the propaganda and the West were unhappy about the wall. However, Kennedy tried to decrease tensions by exploring the possibilities of an agreement over Berlin and the Cuban missile crisis temporarily forced the Berlin question into second place. Cuba (1962) Cuban missile crisis – American spy planes found missiles in Cuba that could attack America instantly without warning = brink of nuclear war Hotline established to ensure close communication Resulted in removal of missiles in Cuba but placed elsewhere – America also place missiles elsewhere = these new locations still neighboured each other’s (areas of influence) – just not the Soviet Union and USA Détente Détente was a period of reduced tension between the West and the East. Partial test ban treaty – showing the beginning of co-operation with the two – reduces costs on defence spending. Helsinki The three ‘baskets’ of agreements were:  Both sides agreed to recognise the current borders of European countries.  Both sides agreed to respect human rights and freedoms in their respective countries.  Both sides agreed to help each other economically and technologically. This really showed a big improvement with relations between both sides, they agreed to let each other do what they wished and to respect one another and furthermore, help each other. This showed that for the first time since WW2 both sides were happily and willingly co-operating with one another. SALT I Signed by US President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1972. This was the first agreement under which both superpowers put limits on the number of nuclear missiles that could be produced. However, proliferation continued after this as the limits were so high and only some types of weapon systems were to be controlled. The salt treaties marked a highpoint of Détente showing how they significantly improved relations. However, they did take a long time to agree upon, showing that relations were never really that good and that there were many disagreements between the two sides. SALT II There was agreement over limiting the production of long-range missiles. These agreements never came to much - the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and the Cold War began to escalate once more

Cold War This showed that the improved relations by the SALT treaties were limited, it took so long to prepare them and so many disagreements that SALT II was never ratified because the Cold War had began once again. Reasons for détente? - Economic USA - Economic USSR - Political – fear of nuclear war - Sino-Soviet Split Why détente ended - Reagan came into power - Never came to any fundamental agreement - Afghanistan Success or failure? Success Failure SALT I Reagan purposely made the soviet economy rely on America Apollo Soyuz Brezhnev doctrine still in use Helsinki accords Jimmy carter linked détente to human right concessions Ostpolitik Soviet exploitation in Africa Nuclear test ban treaty Deployed armed weapons towards one another The second cold war Afghanistan War: Afghanistan was important to the USSR because it was viewed by Moscow as an important buffer state. The growth of Muslim fundament passed a threat to Soviet interest because they don’t believe there should be any division and have a strict way of life. Soviets also do not allowed religion so did not want it to spread. The soviets were hoping to achieve a pro-soviet government in Afghanistan. They justified the invasion by the Brezhnev Doctrine (any Warsaw pact country under threat should be helped). However, Afghanistan was not in the Warsaw pact and it then became known as the Soviet Vietnam. This also led to widespread condemnation of the USSR and was perceived in the West, bringing an end to détente. SDI: proposed missile defence system – said that they were developing a programme that would defend them from any attack from ballistic strategic nuclear weapons – concept by Reagan. Clearly would not happen as it would be impossible to develop – however, at the time the Soviets believed that the Americans could develop such a system and therefore be immune to their attacks thus ending the concept of MAD = increasing tensions. End of the cold war Gorbachev  Perestroika  Glasnost  Dissolution of Article 6  Dissolution of Brezhnev Doctrine  Act’s like this encouraged the Baltic states to push for independence from the USSA – given support from solidarity in Poland.  USSR had no choice but to allow this due to the response from the Baku War – thousands of communists burnt their party cards  Yeltsin was also becoming increasingly popular Role of the West  Reagan came into power in 1980 and took a hard line approach against communism  Reagan also introduced trade restrictions  Held back technological advancements  Star wars plan in 1984  However, Reagan’s foreign policy was never intended to

Cold War

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end the cold war, just to weaken the USSR – it simply provided a catalyst for Gorbachev Afghanistan war Stagnating economy No basic human rights within the USSR meant that Gorbachev had to reform the country in order to save the soviet economy – these conditions caused the reforms that led to the end of the Cold War...