IEB Matric 2019 History
Notes
Theme 1:
The Cold War
Please note that these notes have
been adapted from Mrs Claire
Paterson of SAHETI School’s notes
as well as the Oxford ‘In Search of
History- Grade 12’ textbook. They
have further been checked and
approved of by Mrs Claire Paterson.
Compiled by: Taneil Thompson
, Taneil Thompson
Theme 1
The Cold War (1945-1970’s)
(freedom vs. tyranny)
Definitions:
1. Communism: the belief that all property and means of production
should be shared by the community or state
2. Capitalism: economic system in which the property and industry is
privately owned
3. Bloc: people of countries combined by a common interest
4. Détente: constant effort by the superpowers to improve US-Soviet
relations
5. Cold War: political war between two antagonistic ideologies to gain
land and power
6. Hot war: a war that involved direct confrontation between the two
sides (Cold War never became hot due to mutually assured
destruction)
7. Brinkmanship: pushing a situation to the point of disaster without
quite going over the edge
8. Iron Curtain: an imaginary boundary running from Stettin in the North
to Trieste in the South which divided Europe into communist East and
democratic West
9. Amnesty: allowing prisoners to be free despite the fact that they have
committed a crime
10. Guerrilla Warfare: fighting that avoids pitched battles and is
based on tactics like ambush and sabotage
Long Term Causes:
Context
- Mistrust between America and Russia began in 1917 when Russia
became communist (Bolshevik Revolution)
- Suspicions continued to grow until World War two when they had to
set their differences aside to defeat a common enemy, Hitler. (they
had formed the Grand Alliance after 1941 when Hitler broke the
Nazi/Soviet Pact)
- Grand alliance: unnatural, purely strategic friendship
- USA and USSR emerge as superpowers after WW2 due to their
immense military strength
SAHETI School, 2019
, Taneil Thompson
- One half of the world supported the USA (the West) and the other half
supported the USSR (the Soviet bloc)
- Clash between capitalism (USA) and communism (USSR) who both
wanted world domination
- End of World War Two: USA mistrusted Russia’s aims regarding
Eastern Europe
- USSR conquer and annex three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania) and Red Army occupy countries in Eastern Europe that it
had liberated from Nazi control, USA want free and fair elections
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was USA’s main spy agency
- KGB (part of Soviet Security Service) was the main USSR spy agency
1. Arms Race: 2. Spying and Propaganda:
-race to get nuclear weapons -spying on each others
-led to mutually assured destruction developments
(both had weapons that could -encourage populations to support
destroy the other) their own ideaologies
The Cold
War
4. Proxy Wars: 3. Space Race:
-war between USA and USSR in -race to get to space first which
different parts of the world would show who had the better
technology and therefore the
-Korea and Vietnam better ideology
Short Term Causes:
A. The Yalta Conference
February 1945
- World War Two nearing end
- Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta
in USSR to:
1. discuss end of war
2. discuss future of Germany and Eastern European countries
3. discuss future of world
- Grand Alliance- purely strategic alliance
- USA and Britain suspicious of Stalin’s intentions in Eastern Europe.
SAHETI School, 2019
Notes
Theme 1:
The Cold War
Please note that these notes have
been adapted from Mrs Claire
Paterson of SAHETI School’s notes
as well as the Oxford ‘In Search of
History- Grade 12’ textbook. They
have further been checked and
approved of by Mrs Claire Paterson.
Compiled by: Taneil Thompson
, Taneil Thompson
Theme 1
The Cold War (1945-1970’s)
(freedom vs. tyranny)
Definitions:
1. Communism: the belief that all property and means of production
should be shared by the community or state
2. Capitalism: economic system in which the property and industry is
privately owned
3. Bloc: people of countries combined by a common interest
4. Détente: constant effort by the superpowers to improve US-Soviet
relations
5. Cold War: political war between two antagonistic ideologies to gain
land and power
6. Hot war: a war that involved direct confrontation between the two
sides (Cold War never became hot due to mutually assured
destruction)
7. Brinkmanship: pushing a situation to the point of disaster without
quite going over the edge
8. Iron Curtain: an imaginary boundary running from Stettin in the North
to Trieste in the South which divided Europe into communist East and
democratic West
9. Amnesty: allowing prisoners to be free despite the fact that they have
committed a crime
10. Guerrilla Warfare: fighting that avoids pitched battles and is
based on tactics like ambush and sabotage
Long Term Causes:
Context
- Mistrust between America and Russia began in 1917 when Russia
became communist (Bolshevik Revolution)
- Suspicions continued to grow until World War two when they had to
set their differences aside to defeat a common enemy, Hitler. (they
had formed the Grand Alliance after 1941 when Hitler broke the
Nazi/Soviet Pact)
- Grand alliance: unnatural, purely strategic friendship
- USA and USSR emerge as superpowers after WW2 due to their
immense military strength
SAHETI School, 2019
, Taneil Thompson
- One half of the world supported the USA (the West) and the other half
supported the USSR (the Soviet bloc)
- Clash between capitalism (USA) and communism (USSR) who both
wanted world domination
- End of World War Two: USA mistrusted Russia’s aims regarding
Eastern Europe
- USSR conquer and annex three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania) and Red Army occupy countries in Eastern Europe that it
had liberated from Nazi control, USA want free and fair elections
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was USA’s main spy agency
- KGB (part of Soviet Security Service) was the main USSR spy agency
1. Arms Race: 2. Spying and Propaganda:
-race to get nuclear weapons -spying on each others
-led to mutually assured destruction developments
(both had weapons that could -encourage populations to support
destroy the other) their own ideaologies
The Cold
War
4. Proxy Wars: 3. Space Race:
-war between USA and USSR in -race to get to space first which
different parts of the world would show who had the better
technology and therefore the
-Korea and Vietnam better ideology
Short Term Causes:
A. The Yalta Conference
February 1945
- World War Two nearing end
- Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta
in USSR to:
1. discuss end of war
2. discuss future of Germany and Eastern European countries
3. discuss future of world
- Grand Alliance- purely strategic alliance
- USA and Britain suspicious of Stalin’s intentions in Eastern Europe.
SAHETI School, 2019
