Week Taught Content Knowledge Organiser Homework Class Test Questions

1 Yalta Conference/Events from

1945-1949

A Questions on the Yalta

Conference/Events from 1945-

1949

2 The Berlin Blockade and Berlin

Airlift

B Questions on the Yalta

Conference/Events from 1945-

1949 and the Berlin Blockade and

Airlift

3 Significance of the Berlin

Blockade and the Warsaw Pact

C Questions on the Berlin Blockade

and Airlift and significance of the

Berlin Blockade and Warsaw Pact

4 Issues in China and Korea

D Questions on issues in China and

Korea

5 Issues in Vietnam

E Questions on issues in China and

Korea and Vietnam

6 and 7 The Hungarian Uprising

H Questions on Vietnam and the

Hungarian Uprising

Why did relations between America and the USSR become tense

between 1945 and 1949?

Reason 1 - Changes in leadership before the Potsdam Conference

Reason 2- The continued presence of Soviet armies in Eastern Europe

Reason 3 – The USA’s detonation of atomic bombs on Japan

Reason 4 - The Truman Doctrine

Reason 5- The Marshall Plan

Reason 5- The Marshall Plan

Stalin’s reaction to the Truman Doctrine and the

Marshall Plan

-The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan caused

further tension between the USA and USSR as Stalin

viewed both policies as unjustified American

interference in European affairs and he therefore

barred any Soviet-controlled nation from applying for

Marshall Aid. It also made him introduce Cominform

and Comecon to strengthen his control over his Eastern

European territories.

-Cominform instructed each Soviet-controlled

government how to rule and helped him determine

which leaders were incapable, meaning he could quickly

replace them with ones who’d be more effective in

imposing Communist ideas.

- Comecon co-ordinated trade between Soviet-

controlled countries to ensure they only traded with

each other and fixed the price of goods such as coal

and iron from them to ensure the USSR could always

buy them cheaply, thereby keeping its economy strong.

The Berlin Blockade

-Stalin was determined to keep the Soviet-controlled eastern side of

Germany completely crippled.

-The fact that Berlin was located deep in this side and depended on

resources from the western side made him determined to stamp his

authority on the city.

-He therefore launched the Berlin blockade in June 1948 whereby roads,

railways and canals which linked West Berlin (controlled by Britain, France

and the USA) to the rest of Germany were blocked to prevent any supplies

reaching the two million people there. He hoped they’d be ‘starved’ into

accepting Stalin’s control over it.

Reasons why the Berlin Blockade became an international crisis

-It was the first time a piece of Capitalist land controlled by the USA,

Britain and France had been threatened by the USSR. If these countries

had stood by and allowed Stalin to seize control of West Berlin, it would’ve

sent him a message that he could take any other Capitalist territory he

wanted without being challenged. Therefore, these countries launched the

Berlin airlift whereby their planes airlifted food, clothing and raw materials

into Berlin’s Templehof airport every three minutes for the next 10 months!

-The Berlin airlift which followed was highly risky as it involved planes

flying over USSR territory (Eastern Germany) to reach Berlin. Had the USSR

shot down a US plane, it could’ve potentially led to a full-scale war

occurring between both nations. Thankfully, this was not the case, but the

risk was always apparent.

Significance of the Berlin blockade for the Cold War

The Warsaw Pact

-New USSR leader Nikita Khrushchev felt the USA’s decision to invite West Germany to join NATO in 1955 as unacceptable given they were rearming a former Soviet enemy. -He therefore responded by creating the Warsaw Pact – an alliance of every Soviet-controlled territory except Yugoslavia – in which all nations agreed to support each other if one was agreed.

Significance of the Berlin blockade for the Cold War

-The Berlin airlift had highlighted the lengths Truman was prepared to go to stop any other part of Europe becoming Communist. By May 1949, Stalin therefore ended the blockade as he knew it would not make the western powers give up on West Berlin.

-Germany was divided into two nations after the blockade ended– West Germany (established in May 1949 under the control of Britain, France and the USA) and East Germany (established in October 1949 under the control of the USSR.)

-The conflict also illustrated that both nations weren’t prepared to use all out military force against each other as the USSR had ample opportunity to shoot down US planes during the airlift, but did not do so.

-The fact the USA feared all-out war with the USSR during this crisis meant NATO was created during it – an alliance of 12 Western European countries which supported the USA’s anti-Communist beliefs and promised to support each other in the event of a USSR invasion and allow US forces to have bases in their lands to resist such an invasion.

The rise of Communist China

-China became Communist in 1949 under Chairman Mao’s leadership after defeating their rivals the nationalists.

-Mao looked Stalin for support in maintaining communism in China and signed the Treaty of Friendship with the USSR in 1950, whereby it would

receive $300 million in aid from the USSR to protect it from American influence.

-Although the USA were terrified of Communism spreading through Asia and offered funds to countries like Japan and Taiwan to prevent them

becoming Communist China’s takeover was regarded as a failure of ‘containment’ in Asia.

The Korean War

-When North and South Korea became separate countries in 1948, Kim Il Sung (a communist) became leader of North Korea and

developed a strong relationship with Stalin. Syngman Rhee (a capitalist) became leader of South Korea and developed a strong

relationship with Truman. 7,500 US troops were sent there to protect it from a potential invasion by North Korea’s army.

-In 1949, Kim Il Sung asked Stalin to support him in invading South Korea. Stalin refused to send in Soviet troops as he didn’t want to risk all-out

war occurring between the USSR and USA as a result. However, he did persuade communist China to support them and also provided Soviet

weapons.

-When North Korea’s army invaded South Korea in 1950, the USA responded skilfully by asking the UN to call for a ceasefire. The UN agreed and

ordered the withdrawal of North Korea’s troops. The fact the USSR was boycotting the UN at that time meant it couldn’t block this decision and,

when no ceasefire emerged, the US sent troops to support South Korea’s army and knew it couldn’t be accused of acting on its own against a

Communist country given it had the backing of the UN. However, like Stalin, Truman didn’t want to the situation in Korea to lead to all-out war

with the USSR and even dismissed General MacArthur when he requested nuclear weapons be dropped on China to make them withdraw their

soldiers from North Korea.

Leadership changes

* Dwight Eisenhower became the new President of the USA in 1952.

* Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the USSR in 1953.

Issues in Vietnam

-Although Vietnam had long been controlled by capitalist France, by 1952 Communist Vietnamese rebels had taken control of the northern

region and received weapons from the USSR and China to support them in keeping it. Despite the US funding weapons and equipment to

support the French in recapturing it, they were unsuccessful in doing so.

-Consequently, the USSR and France agreed at the Geneva Conference in 1954 to split Vietnam into two new countries – North Vietnam and

South Vietnam, with the French retaining control of South Vietnam and the Communist Vietnamese retaining control of the north. However,

President Eisenhower refused to sign this agreement as he was felt that if North Vietnam remained Communist then Communism would quickly

spread to other Asian nations – an idea Americans called the ‘Domino Theory’. However, he didn’t favour military action and instead opted for

the ‘New Look’ policy whereby American money, weapons and military experts were sent to support South Vietnam to ensure its government

wasn’t overrun by the North Vietnamese.

-Suddenly, in 1960 the Vietcong was established – an alliance of Communists from North Vietnam who wanted to invade South Vietnam,

remove its leader Diem from power and establish Communism there. John F. Kennedy became President that year and therefore sent

thousands of additional military advisers to Vietnam to support the South Vietnamese. In 1963, President Lyndon Johnson replaced Kennedy and

ordered full US military involvement to defeat the Vietcong to try to return Vietnam to being a fully capitalist nation. Such actions of the 1960s

highlights the increasingly desperate lengths the USA were prepared to go to keep the USA

The anti-Communist uprising in Hungary in 1956

-Soviet-controlled Hungary had been controlled by radical Communist Matyas Rakosi since 1945.

However, most Hungarians were anti-Communist and hated his refusal to allow freedom

of speech and that food supplies were being shipped back to the USSR.

-In June 1956, anti-communist Hungarian students, workers and soldiers attacked the secret police

and Soviet soldiers. The Kremlin therefore replaced Rakosi with the more moderate Imre Nagy.

He became popular for giving farmers greater control over their land, introducing freedom of

speech and persuading Khrushchev to move Soviet troops out of Hungary.

Nagy attempts to withdraw Hungary from the Warsaw Pact

-However, Nagy angered Khrushchev by announcing on 3 November 1956 that Hungary was going to leave the Warsaw Pact. Khrushchev outright refused and the next day ordered Soviet troops to advance into Budapest. Two weeks of fighting followed in which the Hungarians fought Soviet troops with machine guns to try stopping them from retaking the city and re-introducing radical Communist ideas. 3,000 Hungarians and 8,000 Soviet troops were killed and Nagy was arrested and executed.

-Khrushchev installed Janos Kadar as leader who kept some of Nagy’s popular reforms, but accepted Hungary’s involvement in the Warsaw Pact and the USSR’s control of Hungary. He had 35,000 anti-Communist activists arrested and crushed all remaining anti-Communist resistance. Khrushchev also sent in two additional military divisions to strengthen his hold over Hungary.

How the Hungarian Uprising became an international crisis

-The Hungarian Uprising became an international crisis as it occurred at a time when the British and French

had invaded Egypt in an attempt to recapture the Suez Canal - a move which angered the USA and led to a

brief spat between these nations. Thus, with these nations focused on matters elsewhere, the USSR could

deal with the Hungarian rebels brutally without fearing a response from these nations.

-The Hungarian Uprising also exposed a long-term weakness the USA and other NATO members faced in their

attempts to challenge the USSR’s influence in Eastern Europe - a reluctance to launch a military response.

The fact Hungary was so close geographically to the USSR meant that the USA would’ve had to send troops

through other Soviet-controlled lands to reach it and therefore could’ve triggered a full-scale war.

Although US politicians condemned Khrushchev’s actions in Hungary, they only did so through angry speeches

and during debates at the United Nations. This merely gave the USSR the confidence that it

could continue to impose its authority over Eastern Europe through brutal means for the foreseeable

future - as it did in Czechoslovakia in 1968 - as it didn’t fear a US military response.