The Iron Curtain & East-West Rivalry Flashcards
All 15 cards in this deck
What was Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' speech (1946)?
A speech at Fulton, Missouri in March 1946 in which Churchill said an 'iron curtain' had descended across Europe; Stalin regarded it as a deliberate provocation.
True or false? The countries of Eastern Europe freely chose communist governments after 1945.
False. Stalin created satellite states — countries under Moscow's control — through rigged elections and the removal of opposition.
What was the Truman Doctrine (1947)?
Truman's promise that the USA would support free peoples resisting communism (containment), starting with $400 million of aid to Greece and Turkey.
What was the Marshall Plan (1947)?
American aid (around $13 billion) to rebuild Europe's economies; Stalin called it 'dollar imperialism' and forbade eastern European states from accepting it.
What was Cominform (1947)?
The Communist Information Bureau, set up by Stalin to co-ordinate Europe's communist parties under Moscow's control, in response to the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan.
What was Comecon (1949)?
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, set up by Stalin to co-ordinate trade and economic development in the Eastern bloc as an alternative to Marshall Aid.
What was the Berlin Crisis of 1948–49 (blockade and airlift)?
Stalin cut off road, rail and canal links to West Berlin in June 1948; the Western Allies flew in supplies for 11 months until Stalin lifted the blockade in May 1949.
What was the Long Telegram (February 1946)?
A secret report sent to Washington by George Kennan, a US diplomat in Moscow. It warned that Stalin saw capitalism as an enemy, and that the USSR would build up its armed forces while working to split and undermine the Western powers.
What is meant by 'containment'?
The US policy of stopping communism from spreading any further, rather than removing it where it already existed; set out in the Truman Doctrine of 1947.
What happened between Stalin and Yugoslavia in 1948?
Tito refused to take orders from Moscow, so Yugoslavia was expelled from Cominform; it remained communist but independent of Soviet control and accepted Western aid.
What action by the Western Allies led Stalin to begin the Berlin Blockade in June 1948?
Britain, France and the USA merged their zones and introduced a single new currency into West Germany and West Berlin; Stalin feared a recovered Germany would threaten the USSR.
What contrasting views did the West and communist supporters take of the spread of communism in Eastern Europe?
The West believed communism was being forced on countries through murderous acts; communist supporters argued it created equality for ordinary people and that the USSR had helped countries such as Poland.
What happened in Czechoslovakia in February 1948?
The communists took full control in a coup, ending its democracy. It was the last Eastern European state to fall to communism, and it alarmed the West.
Why did the USA offer Marshall Aid to Europe?
It feared poverty after the war would make communism attractive, so it rebuilt European economies to contain communism and create markets for US goods.
Give one consequence of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948–49) for the superpowers.
It was a propaganda win for the USA, which showed it would stand up to Soviet pressure, while Stalin had failed to drive the West out of Berlin.