History Notes
Important Definitions:
- The Berlin Blockade…
= Stalin cuts off roads and railways between Western Berlin (Allied controlled)
and the Allies to stop trage and thus West Berlin is dependent on Soviets to live.
- Berlin Airlift…
= The Allies create care packages (fuel and food) which are dropped of by a
plane over West Berlin.
= This stops Stalin’s plan of making West Berlin dependent on Soviet Russie.
= Candy Bomber from USA dropped sweets, chocolates for the children.
- Berlin Wall…
= A wall between West and East Berlin.
= Was not an ideological erection but rather to stop the BRAIN DRAIN.
- The Marshall Plan…
= Financial aid was made for the satellite states to rebuild their economies.
= And to stop the spread of communism through the implementation of
Capitalism.
= Sates that accepted this aid would become Capitalist and trade with the USA.
- The Molotov Plan…
= Created in retaliation to the Marshall Plan.
= The Eastern block would receive aid from the USSR and remain Communist
and only trade with the USSR.
- The Truman Doctrine…
= Propaganda campaign in which Communism was shown to be evil.
= Often referred to as scaring the hell out of the world.
- Nationalisation…
= Industries, mines or economy is placed under Government control.
- CIA…
= The USA needed people to find info on any country that was communist or
terroristic.
- The Cuban Missile Crisis…
= Kennedy implemented a crisis task team as nuclear missiles were spotted in
Cuba.
= The Cuban Blockade was done through a task team.
, - The Cuban Blockade…
= USA navy ships placed around Cuba.
= So no exporting or importing was allowed.
= This was done to force them to give up their missiles.
= Area the ships were in was called the Quatantine Zone.
- The Arms Race…
= Competition between the USSR and the USA to out do eachother by having
the best weapons.
= Mostly on Nuclear Weapons.
- NATO members allied to America.
- Warsaw members allied to the USSR, Russia.
- There is an ideological difference between Eastern and Western Europe.
Tensions Before World War Two
Why The West Mistrusted The East:
- Communism threatended western values and life.
- During WW1 the bolshevik government had arrested Russia’s allies by making
peace with Germany (Treaty Of Brest Litovsk OR Non-Aggression pact), it was a
betrayal of Poland by Russia.
- They did not believe in the totalitarian policies of Stalin which caues forced
labour, public trials, deaths and purges.
- Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet-Non-Aggression-Pact in 1939.
Why The East Mistrusted The West:
- Communists believed, capitalist system was wrong because rich people prosper.
- After Bolsheviks took power in 1917 the Western powers sent aid to the “white”
army (Royalist’s) who fought against the Bolsheviks (Red Army) in the Civil War.
- End of WW1 1919, Russia pulled out 2 yrs earlier (agreement with Germany).
- 1919 the allies gave Russian land away because of the Paris Peace Conference.
- 1921 the USSR was left out of the League of Nations and only invited in 1934.
- 1930s Stalin distrusted the policy of Appeasement, assuming the Allies thought
Russia was more of a threat than Germany.
- This was strengthened when the Soviets were left out of the Munich Conference
in 1938. (between Hitler and Chamberlin)